A Sensory Overload

After taking a seat and reflecting on just how far marketing has reached in manipulation, the realization I came to was simply disturbing. Now, everyone is used to being bombarded by visual stimulus in advertising all the time so much that visual advertising has become ineffective; “Studies have shown that the more stimulated we are, the harder it [simply is] to catch our attention” (Lindstrom 142). Because we are so visually over-stimulated, our awareness and defenses against visual marketing are at an all time high. So, why would I be so disturbed on the topic of advertising? It’s because I’m disturbed by the advertisement that we are being bombarded by on the subliminal level. The idea of “Sensory Branding” which involves not just presenting a visual advertisement, but coupling that with the “pumping of fragrances into our nostrils and music into our ears as well” (Lindstrom 143).

The notion that Sensory Branding is at work seems unfamiliar at the offset, but it at the most basic levels it’s easy to find anywhere when you look for it Now, cutting aside more obvious examples, I would like to point out one place where Sensory Branding reigns supreme. That place is Barnes & Nobles. As a student I like to study there. Now why am I more likely to study there than I am at the school or public library? I mean, logically speaking everything at Barnes & Nobles costs money and libraries are bound to be equipped better with books that might help in my studies. So, It makes no sense …until you think of the atmosphere. At any library it’s generally quiet with a dreary setting. At Barnes & Nobles it is completely the opposite. The setting is a bookstore with a Starbucks Café to sit in. What this consists of is an experienced jam packed full of visually enticing Baked goods, the aromas of various coffees and baked goods spread around all coupled with a great mix of calming music to you feel at home. Some obvious advertising cues might be the smell of coffee or the sight of the café as “Of all our senses, smell is the most primal, the most deeply rooted. When we smell something, the odor receptors in our nose make an unimpeded beeline to our limbic system, which controls our emotions, memories, and sense of well being. As a result our gut response is instantaneous”(Lindstrom 147). We have no control over our sense of smell, and sometimes it can and will dictate what we buy, in this case it might be that triple chocolate cookie with a coffee; a cookie that you probably had no intention of initially buying. It is obvious that smell sells, and we are generally unable to control this as smell is most primal of senses, but I wouldn’t deem it the only thing to watch out for. Another form of sensory branding that seems dangerous is sound branding in the music which creates an ambiance of a café in the store. “Sound s trigger strong associations and emotions and can exert a powerful influence on our behavior” (Lindstrom 159). It may seem preposterous, but they infiltrate every level of our subconscious, evoking strong associations with the café setting at B&N. Whether it is a smell which might affect our appetite or music which makes an illusion of a café, the simple fact of the matter is that we are being assailed on every front by Sensory Branding. What Barnes and Nobles has created is not just a book store or a café to sell products, but they have created a unique setting full of Sensory Branding designed to keep a customer there for as long as possible, which will consequently boost sales. In conclusion, I want to say in an age where books are becoming extinct in place of E-Books and where even their competitor Borders has bankrupted, how does Barnes & Nobles stand strong? It obviously isn’t just the sales of books that keep this giant bookstore chain open.

Free Blog

Just read this and it is completely ridiculous.

http://gma.yahoo.com/atm-surcharges-could-waived-commercials-225905805.html

We The People

As you read about the way that our minds work and how we are drawn to certain iteams through subconscious thoughts, you will start to realize that you're a victim to it as well. We have all purchased something some time or another where it seemed like a great idea to buy it at the time but once you come back to reality you realize that you dont have a need for it or the purchase was based on what you felt at the moment of buying it. The way that we work with buying certain products or from certain companies ultimately is left up to our inner thoughts that works subconsciously. Its a scary thought but it is true. Often, we buy goods that have always been around or make us feel comfortable. Everyone has those certain company brands in their family that have been around forever and choosing some other competive brand seems as if you are not loyal to what you grew up with and what you think is the best. Thats how it is in my family. I am not saying that we are in love with certain companies or brands but its common to be called out if you don't get the right type of cold cut meat or wrong type of soap to clean the dishes.
One thing that I never understood was the consistant use of tobacco and cigarette use after millions of studies have come out about how bad they are for you and the damages that they leave you with. I think its safe to say that in the past we all have seen ads for cigarettes in magazines or in store fronts where they show pictures that have nothing to do with smoking. It could be a couple laughing at a picnic and be an ad for Morlboro. The health risks are prevalant and the way they trigger the brain to want to have one is shown in the reading in buy-ology. It was discussed in the reading that the health labels that millions of dollars were spent on trying to warn people who use, and send a signal about what can actually happen to you if you keep smoking. Through the study that was presented, the label only wanted people to smoke more when they saw it subconsciously. The warning set off a buzzard in their heads. Dr. Calvert stated that "cigarette warnings - whether they informed smokers they were at risk of contracting emphysema, heart disease, or a host of other chronic conditions- had in fact stimulated an area of the smokers brain called the nucleus accubens aka the craving spot"( Lindstrom). This quote shows how the labels do not have an affect on the smokers brain in any good way. This leads me to say that this is just not happening in smoking prevention. We are controlled by companies through ways that we do not even understand as consumers. It is as technical as bringing in a 4 million dollar machiene to analize brain activity which was discussed in the reading. Every little part of selling you something or triggering a thought in your brain is thought out before by companies in order to have you buy their product. In my option, this will not change until more people are aware of how much a grip consumer america actually has on us.

Kirill Kushensky's Blog: Buying to Waste

We are a nation of consumption. Every Modern American is so used to the notion of buying something, its engraved in our minds, and becomes an unhealthy ritual. Like Taylor and Tilford state in "Why Consumption Matters" 2000, we have been used to the Post WW2 notion of cheap conspicuous "consuming" for the benefit of oneself, the consumer, and our economy. But as they also state, that notion is worn out and the harm of this mindset is undeniable. Taylor and Tilford say "Soaring consumption of goods and services has been accompanied largely through increased resource extraction and waste production" (p.464), which impacts the environment to the point of regional ecologic disasters. We are making our planet more and more uninhabitable every day as we recklessly literally "consume" whatever the current worldwide producers throw at us, whether it be cigarettes or bottled water. Martin Lindstrom talks about this in detail in Chapters 4-7 of "Buyology". It was interesting how he stated all the causes, and reasons of our ever growing consumption. The supply is always growing because of the demand, and the product marketers always try new ways to promote ever growing goods. These goods all came from the Ground, the earth, in some way and will return to the earth eventually, but we are steadily running out of resources to create all these new goods. We are living, and have been living an unsustainable lifestyle, which eventually destroys our habitable environment and leaves a dull future scenario. In the "Story of Stuff(2010)" video, it explains where things come from and where they end up, and the waste generated is always larger and more negatively impactful. We have been living on a post WW2 method that simply cant work anymore. If society does not change for a better, less wasteful lifestyle, we are all in grave danger, and the bad part is, nothing is changing and markets, and corporations continue to want us to live this destructive lifestyle, because they're pockets get increasingly fatter, as seen in "The Story of Stuff".The general public is treated like guniea pigs, because as Lindstrom states, the marketers try everything from subliminal marketing and messaging, to product ritual and superstition, to sensory and faith and religious marketing, even crossing all racial boundaries and promoting stereotypes. As long as corporations are happy with thier ever increasing profits, we will continue to head on a destructive path as a global society, because U.S.A is the global role model, and everyone wants to be like us, in a lot of ways, and we continue to live an outdated lifestyle, which does not even make us happy or satisfied anymore, as we buy more goods, the more miserable and yet more dependant we become, and that creates global consequences that are catastrophic to our environment. The waste building up in the world is unimaginable, and resources are depleting at a maximum as a result of massive conspicuous consumption, it seems the only thing that can save us is a new mindset on life, and a new national policy, and "reformed" society. It seems we all need an intervention from the current lifestyle of materialistic values and norms.It is a miracle that the Occupy Movement is rising and becoming more of a global force. To see something started in New York, and capture all the cities attention of America, and eventually the world. Our society's young and educated are trying to reform our current greedy corporatism ways, where we continue to feed corporations and companies their wealth, while they destroy everything U.S.A stands for. Its impressive to see the global response to OWS, which started in US and is now everywhere globally. We need a new global reformation, and it may take a long time, but the first step is to continue to shed light on this topic. Is all the waste really worth the waste of our planet as a hospitable environment, which should be viewed as a miracle in itself, and we need to start understanding it more and living sustainable, happy lifestyles. Maybe OWS is the first step to try to take on this vastly important job of reconfiguring a whole nations, and globe's mindset toward a pleasant future.

Kirill Kushensky section 01

Be careful this year christmas shopping.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/police-woman-pepper-sprayed-wal-mart-customers-feared-life-article-1.984068?localLinksEnabled=false...
I thought this was an interesting read, people getting pepper sprayed over video games. Consumerism gone violent.

Sex and Beauty in Advertising

      In chapters 8-12 of Buy-ology, Martin Lindstrom discusses topics such as Sensory Branding, using neuromarketing to predict future sales, sex in advertising, and the future of consumerism.  As a female, I was really interested in the chapter about sex in advertising. We are lead to believe that sex sells, but Lindstrom argues against that idea. He discusses a study done by MediaAnalyzer Software & Research which found that, “…only 9.8 percent of the men who had viewed the ads with the sexual content were able to remember the correct brand or product in question…” (181). If this is true, then why is it that companies keep relying on sex to sell their products? Lindstrom writes, “…sex in advertising is everywhere—not just in TV commercials, magazines, retail spaces, and on the Internet, but on the side of the bus you take to work, in the aisles of your local deli, even in the airspace above your head” (180). We are bombarded with advertisements everyday and a lot of them are sexualized.  While reading Chapter 10 I recalled Burger King’s ad for “The Super Seven Incher."  Advertisers will use sex to attempt to sell anything, from vacuums to alcohol to food. Do you think the sexualized BK ad helped them sell more sandwiches? I doubt it.

            In Chapter 10 he also talks about the use of "real" people in advertising. He found that the use of “real” people in ads as more likely to sell a product than the use of a celebrity. He writes, “By sheer ordinariness, real people suggest an authentic back story” (189). He cites a study done by the University of Florida that shows, “women, in fact, are often turned off by extremely attractive models” (186).  This reminded me of two fairly recent campaigns, the Dove Real Women Campaign and the Fruit of the Loom ads which also feature real women. “Average-looking people seem more inviting, as though welcoming us to the brand” (188). If this is true, why don’t more companies use real people in their ad campaigns? I, along with millions of others, tuned in to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on November 29^th.  Over the course of the hour I checked my Facebook a few times. By the end of the show I found that the statuses "telling the models to eat" outnumbered the statuses contemplating anorexia.  After last year’s show, almost every girl I knew wanted to go anorexic and grow 6 inches. Do you think that the “real people” campaigns are having an effect on consumers? Are we ready to accept ourselves for who we are instead of striving for an impossible standard of beauty? 

Sarah DeMarco

Section 01

CA Blog: Scatch & Sniff

CA Blog: Scratch & Sniff

Pay close attention to your next visit at a hotel, or the next time you are shopping. You are surrounded with flashy advertisements and all different sounds. For just a second, close your eyes, put some cotton in your ears, and take a strong sniff of the air around you. Out of our five senses, the nose is the only one that is directly connected to reach our memory and grasp our emotions. “…Clearly, smell is very closely tied to how we experience brands or products” (Lindstrom, 2008, p.151). Ever grab the aroma that forces you in the door, or makes you crave something? Well, that is your right priform cortex and the amygdala (which in codes emotional relevance) trigging as well as activating your desire. This happens when we are exposed to combinations that seem to go together. On the occasion a pleasurable fragrance complements an equally alluring visual image, “…we not only perceive it as more pleasant, we’re also more likely to remember it, but if the two are incongruous, forget about it. Literally” (Lindstrom, 2008, 145). “…To fully engage us emotionally, companies are discovering, they’d be better off not just inundating us with logos, but pumping fragrances into our nostrils” (Lindstrom, 2008, p.143). The purpose behind sensory branding is to intensify a relationship with a company’s brand, or product. One method company’s are using is the placement of dry vapor sprays into ventilation units. The author of buy-ology, Martin Lindstrom, uses a great example of sensory branding. When at a fast food restaurant, you may have intentions of ordering a healthy salad, but your mind is changed when you smell “…the triple-bacon cheeseburger with a side of large fries” (Lindstrom, 2008, p.148). Do not be fooled by this scent, it is not actually the food you smell, instead the restaurant is pumping a spray into the vents, called “…RTX9338PJS-code name for the “just-cooked-bacon-cheeseburger-like-fragrance” (Lindstrom, 2008, p.148). A study conducted by Doctor Calvert, explained when smelling and seeing something we like simultaneously, “…various regions of our brains light up in concert” (Lindstrom, 2008, p.144). When we grasp the aroma of something, our odor receptors take a journey to our limbic system. Our limbic systems power our emotions, memories and a sense of well-being. Surprisingly this “aroma” has been around for a while, starting with real estate brokers trying to sell homes. Real estate brokers would bake cookies in the oven for open houses or viewings of the properties. This was used to give the sense of comfort and the coziness of being at home. Companies will continue to use sensory branding for their consumers to tie a particular scent with a product. Question is next time will you be so easily lured by scents of candles, jasmine in hotels, rosewood in new cars, or fresh baked goods? So, be aware as you are wandering around because it may not be the magazine advertisement that drives you to buy a product, but the scent under the tab of the fragrance.

-Donna Lee Fricano

Section 80