Do I really need that?

Advertising... what has it become and how stupid can it get?

Advertising has always been a curiosity to me. I mean, I understand why companies advertise, but the methods have made me wonder what what going through the heads of the folks in the advertising department.

As far as I can tell, advertising has one specific, overlying goal: brand recognition/awareness which makes the consumer comfortable with the product. The reason for brand recognition/awareness is obvious: you won't go out and buy something you don't know exists. So, companies get their product out there with clever placement, specifically going after that target consumer. Commercials and ads are refined to make a convincing argument to that target customer to purchase that specific product. The whole process is very complex, so I'm not going to go into it. Plus, I'm just a layman, so I'd probably screw it up.

The other benefit of brand recognition is making the customer comfortable with their product. In our primal brains, we tend not to venture into unknown territory. When exploring an unknown area, we experience anxiety and certain parts of our brain don't function as well as when we are uncomfortable with our environment. (I've just stated a lot of oversimplified psychology, so do a bit of research on something called schema if you want more information.) If you don't believe me, think about the last time you bought soda.

Most people buy the same soda over and over again. Why? Because it tastes good, right? Well, maybe. But, I'm willing to bet it's because that's the soft drink they have bought for a long time. Next time you are at the store, instead of grabbing that Pepsi/Coke, go for the store brand or the alternate brand, like R/C cola or something. When you are reaching for that alternate cola, notice how you feel about it. You second guess yourself. You wonder if you are making the right decision. You hope you will like it. And you'll think about that bottle of cola in your cart the whole time you are shopping- and it only costs a buck! If you don't like it, what have you lost? A dollar? The time it took you to buy the soda and take it home? Negligible consequences, but for a lot of people, the brain doesn't see it that way.

So, companies spend lots of money making sure your brain knows the name of the product they are trying to sell, so that when you go to buy a product in that category, you will pick their product over another product because you are familiar with that company's product. Plus, if they can present a great argument for you to overcome your dissonance (another psych word) about choosing a new brand, you will buy from them and cease buying from their competitors. Coupons work this way. A company overcomes some of a customer's anxiety about buying a new product by compromising a bit. Once you have the product and are using it, unless it just absolutely sucks, you'll continue to buy it because you are familiar with the product- until you get a coupon from a competitor.

So, I said all that to come to the actual point: what the heck is going on with advertising these days? I see so many ads and commercials that are just absolutely pointless and do not convince me to buy a product. (Maybe I'm not the target consumer, so it doesn't work on me....) In fact, many advertisements just make me say, "What? Is that supposed to make me want that?" I'll use an example from when I worked in a grocery store so very long ago.

A bread company, Merita, I think, delivered their bread every other day to my store. On the side of their truck was their slogan: Baked while YOU sleep. I've never quite understood why that was supposed to make me desire their bread. Was I supposed to be impressed that their bread-baking employees were working while I was sleeping? Or was I supposed to get the idea that their bread was somehow fresher than everyone else's bread because the magical bread fairies that only came out at night made their bread fresher? I never figured out how that worked. (One could argue that by having such a dumb slogan that I remembered the brand of bread over other brands and hence, the advertising worked.... except I've never bought that brand of bread.)

Okay, another thing that gets me: children and babies in advertising. Again, maybe I'm not the target audience, so maybe I'm just not getting it. But, I hear lots of commercials on the radio ("Come shop at my daddy's store for the best prices!") and I see quite a few commercials on TV that, quite frankly, just annoy me. And in some cases, they just plain freak me out.

Quizno's had an ad campaign a while back where they had this talking baby promote their food. I like Quizno's, but I refused to eat there while that talking baby was their spokesperson. Maybe it's just hard for me to suspend disbelief, but I know that a baby can't talk, and I know a baby can't eat Quizno's. Despite all of that, I simply don't see how a talking baby can convince me to eat at Quizno's. I don't know... maybe I just take stuff too seriously.

I'll likely write a part two to this at some point in the future, but for now, I hope you can get what I'm saying. I know that pretty much every concept for a commercial has been done already, so many companies are getting desperate for the consumers to recognize their name. I just don't understand how some of the ideas made out of the board room.