Course Description

This course aims to examine the development of mass society, mass production, consumption and the American consumer from the late 19th century to the present. Areas considered may include industrialization and the development of work in relation to leisure, Worlds Fairs, the development of the advertising industry, the impact of American suburbanization on consumer behavior, television, technology, shopping, mass production and consumption.



Course Instructor: Matthew Ferguson, Department of American Studies - Rutgers University

Friday, November 18, 2011

CA Blog; Mirror Neurons and Consumerism


Like most other good-to-do Americans, I frequent my local movie theatre from time to time. When a movie ‘catches my eye’, whether it be a 30 second trailer in between the new episode of Mad Men, or an overly enthused rant from my one of my buddies, I make a some-what serious attempt (nothing I do is really that serious) to go see it. Recently, I saw Drive, a movie featuring Ryan Gosling, which tells a tall tale of a race car driver who gets in with the wrong people for what he sees as the right reasons. Let’s discard the IMDB synopsis, though. What is important, however, is the feeling I came away with after leaving the theatre- I felt like a bad-ass. Why? Because Ryan Gosling is a boss, and not only is he a boss, he is a boss driver. Did you see the jet-black mustang? Did you see his craftsmanship in handling that magnificent beast? Of course you did. And of course, if you are a creature built of testosterone, you envied Gosling’s skill at driving, and what’s more, you envied the medium in which he performed this action- his mustang. Needless to say, my drive home (which in a dinky Civic is usually as thrilling as drinking my morning tea) was the most exhilarating of recent memory. Take a look:


This imitation on my part, my desire to be like Gosling, connects to our text, Buy-ology, by Martin Lindstrom, in regards to what the author cites as mirror neurons. Lindstrom explores this phenomena by relating our consumer potential to what we view, whether in movies (like my current obsession with black Mustangs) or in windows, and how the latter impacts the former. In an attempt to visualize mirror neurons at work, Lindstrom portrays a theoretical teen passing by Abercrombie models, and the effects it has on the consumer; “Let’s say you’re a socially uncertain fourteen-year-old. As you pass by the store, your mirror neurons fire up. You can imagine yourself among them: popular, desired, at the center of it all” (Lindstrom 65). What’s vital to our understanding of mirror neurons is not simply that we like to imitate other’s belongings; we strive to imitate the behaviors of those we see as “cool”. Companies that can successfully exploit our desire to be cool indeed exploit our behavior. We like ‘cool’: That kid is cool. In addition, his Converse are cool. I am going to buy a similar pair.

Earlier in the book, Lindstrom also touches on the consumer’s behavior that emotion trumps reason. In a study highlighting the difference between Pepsi and Coke, unknowingly consumers preferred Pepsi over Coke, but once known which of the two drinks volunteers would absorb, almost always Coke trumped Pepsi. Thus, we can appropriate Pepsi to our ‘rational thinking’, and Coke to our ‘emotional’ thinking. Lindstrom says, “…two areas in the brain were engaged in a mute tug-of-war between rational and emotional thinking” (Lindstrom 26). Lindstrom also touches on product placement and the often-failed attempts that companies commit to this phenomenon. In order for product placement to be successful, Lindstrom says that the specific product must be fully “integrated into the program” (Lindstrom 49).
 
Do you think that the concept of mirror-neurons and their use in advertising is bound to be the next big thing in the world of marketing, or do you think the traditional methods of 30-second commercials will retain their hold on commercial America?


2 comments:

  1. It is possilbe that the amount of consumers who buys the products are associated with familiarity with the product, for example Coke, or witnessing how the product created an indepth of the plot for a film, like Spielsburg using Reeces for ET. The study of neurology is new like how Coke intergrated into the consumer's sub-conscious by merging their products with the interior design of the American Idol. However, I am not sure if this movie clip is relaited to advertisment for cars. It is more relaited to the old version of car commercials using crash dummies to show air bags, wearing seat belts. Proving that this car is crash proof.
    Jennifer Chen
    Section 01

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  2. Just reading your short paragraph about this movie actually made me want to watch it, and i never go to the movies! The "bad-ass" ness that you felt after watching it is clearly shown in your writing! I must say that sometimes after i do watch a movie i know exactly what your talking about. the mirror neurons was one of my favorite things talked about in buyology. I see it every time i go to the mall with my little sister, shes the sweetest little girl but for some reason in her mind dressing in all black and always frowning is "cool" to her. the people in her school that are "cool" all dress like this im assuming and watching her fall for this trap is freightning.

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