I know a lot of people, in 40-odd years you meet lots of people. In retail you meet a lot of people, online one meets* lots of people, leave the house and one meets lots of people.
I have family, friends, neighbors, associates**, and even friends of friends. I know lots of people.
Most of these people are smart, some are brilliant. None of them are stupid. Not one.
I also try to listen to radio and television programs. "Try" is an operative word here.
If one digs around long enough he/she can generally find a subject matter or style of tv/radio show in which he is interested. This is not about the format of any such show or the quality of the programming, just assume that there is a program of some sort that you/me/we chose to "tune in to".
I also understand that most tv and radio programming is funded by monies generated by selling advertising time/space in and around these programs. I understand that the tv and radio stations, like any successful business, must generate profits for the corporations that own them. I have no problem with that.
The problem I have is that the advertising populating the spaces between programming on these stations is apparently written for folks who have very low intelligence. There are key concepts in psychology that the advertising agencies and commercial writing folks have latched onto and steadfastly refuse to let go. It's probably cheaper that way***.
Brainwashing. Go look that up, it was a household word in the 1970's. That's what they're up to. The modern word for it is "Branding".
Pavlov's dog-remember that one? It's the old experiment (clinically proven) where Ivan Pavlov rings a bell every time he feeds a dog and eventually the dog becomes so accustomed to that arrangement that he salivates upon the ringing of the bell even with no sound, sight, or smell of food present. We have become the dog.
We used to have "jingles", which required a bit more thought than the"tinkles" of today (can you name the "tinkle" commercial series?). The "tinkles" are the three or four note sounds you'll hear in nearly every advertising set of "themed" commercials. Just as you can recall jingles from 20 years ago (or more--ask your parents for some from their day), you'll soon have a head full of tinkles-which, i say, are there to promote Pavlovian responses in the brain with regard to the advertised product or service.
You'll also notice a certain "set" in wardrobe/characters/setting for these brainwashing...er branding exercises. Forget the words (they are only loosely based in truth), notice how you've become "accustomed" to this or that figure or sound or color scheme in association with this/that product.
I'm a bit sick of it. But then I'm not able to "filter it out". Hyper-focus is a great aspect of my mind, but it cannot be dialed up every 2.45 minutes to "tune out" a advertisement (as multi-focus (scattered) is the flip-side of hyper-focus (ADD). This alters my perspective, and I share lest you think i'm just another nut case.
Intelligence has been taken out of the advertising scene, it is all now based on the endless repetition of non-factual concepts, images, and audio designed to make you a docile and predictable consumer.
In Branding we have dumbed down the whole process of selling to a rote exercise in psychology that works on most everybody. (repeat, rinse, repeat.)
My problem with this advertising is that it treats the consumer as a moron. Of all the people that I know, only a couple of them are morons. The advertising folks use enough repetition for imbeciles to grasp, and of course imbeciles aren't as smart as morons. These are old psychology terms, I am not making fun of anyone of compromised intelligence ("idiot" is actually lower than "imbecile").
I am indicting an industry for treating the whole of the consuming public as if Nurse Ratchet has already ordered a lobotomy for us all.
SO when I get fully and completely and utterly disgusted with the obnoxious, repetitive, simplistic, mind-numbing advertising being run by X-company, i quickly resolve to never ever buy the product X-company has to offer. Now or ever.
That's all I can do, beyond changing the station or turning the whole mess off. I refuse to PAY FOR advertising/branding that offends my sense of having a smidgeon of a brain. The only way to do this is to avoid the product/service. It is very easily done-so long as we have choices or are willing to do without.****
For many of us cyclists, there's a three-week race coming up. It's the biggest, most prestigious stage-race in the world. It's over the pond, so once again, I'm not going. I'll conveniently watch it from home- were we'll look at daily coverage and be subjected to the same five (could be 12 seems like 5) commercials over and over and over again for three weeks. It makes watching nearly as painful as racing...mentally at least.
Yes, I know that i'm a minority. If a majority of folks thought like me, then the advertising industry would have folded or changed by now. But I'm not here to change it. I have to work on me-I don't need external "causes".
Just sayin'!
WP
* some online personas are actually representative of the person.
** this word means more than "employee" -except in corporations.
***and you pay for it. we pay for every repeated word of advertising, every drop of fuel, and every dime of labor when you buy goods (plus the margins).
****subject for later.
