We are unwittingly brainwashed by marketing activities, especially advertising. We may have learned about the influences of advertising somewhere along the way, but it’s still difficult not to succumb to them if you are not vigilant.
Advertising companies spend their days developing ways to manipulate your behavior to buy products and services and keep you loyal. They appeal to all of your senses to do this. They painstakingly select images and scenes that associate their products and services with desired, pleasurable, and optimum outcomes. Then they carefully select words that will provoke your emotions and behavior in the direction they want: to buy their product or service. They meticulously select moving or well-known songs to play alongside the pictures and words so that your emotions are stirred even further.
Each of these tactics profoundly affects the advertiser’s ability to anchor their messages in our brains, mostly in our subconscious minds. The repetitiveness of these messages leads to brainwashing.
Here are some examples.
Brainwashed to keep watching a particular television program
Have you ever watched a morning news program and found yourself anxiously waiting for a segment announced at the beginning, only to discover that it was nothing close to what they had implied?
You were waiting to see that particular segment through several LONG commercial breaks. Just before each break, you were reminded that the story you were waiting for was coming up in a few minutes. These “hooks” are painstakingly crafted to ignite your emotions and keep you watching the program. The same tactics are used to keep you watching a television series.
Have you ever noticed how often the preview clips of television programs, especially reality shows, do not accurately depict what actually happens? The show producers and editors cut, paste, and match up different dialogue and scenes to create a preview clip that is highly provocative and enticing to manipulate you into watching more. They do this even though it is not a truthful portrayal of what happened. If you haven’t noticed this, you have succumbed to their manipulation. By being desensitized to these tactics, you have, in effect, been brainwashed.
Reality shows are nothing close to reality. How often do you hear dramatic music playing while hiking through a forest? Seasoned producers cleverly manipulate the participants in these shows to say and do certain things to create controversial so-called entertainment.
To avoid being brainwashed by television producers, watch programs objectively and notice how they are attempting to manipulate you. Then decide whether it’s a good use of your time to watch a particular program and all those like it.
I’ve come to the point where I only watch programs that have a reliable basis, such as those about history, biographies, home improvement, personal development, gardening, animals, science, technology, and a select list of sports.
Brainwashed to believe that you need a particular car
How much difference is there between a Toyota and a Lexus, a Chevrolet and a Cadillac, a Honda and an Acura, a Ford and a Lincoln, a Nissan and an Infinity, and a Volkswagen and a BMW? The biggest difference is the cost to buy and maintain them. Other than that, all you have is a bunch of bells, whistles, and leather and wood trim. None of them gets you to where you want to go much differently.
Automobile advertisements have brainwashed us into believing these vehicles will give us more prestige, confidence, and fulfillment. A car can never do these things for more than a week or two after it is driven off the dealer’s lot for the first time.
Right after I got my driver’s license, I went to an auto auction to buy my first car. An auction representative showed me several vehicles before the bidding took place. My representative was an impeccably dressed man in his 60s. I didn’t have much money, so I picked a car with very high mileage but a sporty appearance. It was a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. This man treated and drove that car as if it were a Lamborghini! And because he did, I felt like I was riding in one with a millionaire!
I didn’t buy a car that day, but I learned an important lesson. It’s not a car that makes the man. The man (or woman) makes the car regardless of how much it costs or what condition it is in.
Don’t allow yourself to be brainwashed by automobile manufacturer advertising or by those around you who have succumbed to their tactics. Rise above it. Spend your money on things that provide lasting or increasing value.
Brainwashed to believe you must have a particular product
Have you ever found yourself with an almost insatiable desire to buy a particular product, and you really couldn’t logically explain why? You didn’t need the item but had an almost uncontrollable craving to get it. In these situations, your subconscious mind is delivering the messages created by the advertisers to your conscious mind. The triggers they installed were the associations of pleasure or fulfillment and/or the avoidance of pain or loss.
Advertisers create ads that put their products in the most ideal environments and situations possible — a fantasy land. You may say to yourself, “I recognize commercials for what they are.” Perhaps you do consciously most of the time, but it’s what is stored in your subconscious that creates an image and yearning for a particular product or brand that matters.
One of the best examples is kitchen appliances. Does it really take 15 different kitchen appliances to make the process of preparing meals easier? How many of them are redundant? If you go to a few garage sales, you’ll see how many people are trying to sell their unused kitchen gadgets at a 90% loss.
Don’t allow yourself to be brainwashed by advertisers’ messages, especially those presented in long-format commercials. Beat them at their own game by disconnecting from their emotional message and remaining true to your values and financial decisions.
Brainwashed to believe you must join a gym or buy some contraption to get fit
The commercial shows perfectly sculptured men and women feverishly working out at a beautiful, luxurious, immaculate health club. It implies that if you join the gym, you will look like the people shown in the commercial, and the only path to this outcome is by joining their club.
Although health clubs are inspiring environments where you can learn a lot about fitness, they are not the only way to get fit. You can build your own home gym and save time and money. I built a simple and inexpensive home gym.
It’s incredible how many contraptions there are for abdominal exercises. Considering the number of advertisements featuring these products, many people must be buying them. I picked the word conTRAPtion for a good reason.
These products may help, but the trap is that people are brainwashed to believe that it will be easy and they will magically become motivated to do the work necessary to have great-looking abs if they buy it. The commercials rarely mention the necessity of adopting a healthy diet and doing aerobic exercise to achieve the results represented by their models or actors. Many people who buy these products are really looking for someone or something to do the work for them.
You don’t need a contraption to get a good abdominal workout. You can do several different abdominal exercises on a carpet, mat, or a multi-purpose workout bench. The bench can also be used for many other exercises, including those that involve free weights. An adjustable, multi-purpose bench is the foundation for any home gym.
Look beyond that hype and don’t allow yourself to be brainwashed by health club advertisements and exercise equipment advertisements. Do your research to find an exercise and diet protocol that works best for you and your lifestyle.
Brainwashed to believe that you need a particular medication
Who do you think makes a medication popular? Do you think doctors do this by promoting them to their patients? Or do pharmaceutical companies do it by advertising them to consumers? The pharmaceutical companies make them popular by spending vast amounts of money advertising them to the public.
I am always amazed at the long list of “possible” side effects advertisers must include in their commercials. They quickly go through the list as images of healthy, active, and delighted people are shown in the background. They also often add soft, pleasing music. I’ve noticed this strategy is used a lot to promote antidepressants.
Our society has been brainwashed into believing that the best way to relieve depression is to take a drug. In some cases, this may be true, but in most situations, other steps can be taken to successfully end the depression. I don’t buy the notion that tens of millions of people worldwide have a physical deficiency (disorder) that requires them to take antidepressants to function normally.
Don’t let pharmaceutical company advertisements brainwash you. Find the best solutions for your particular health issue on your own. The Internet allows you to do this. Seek out natural and holistic solutions over those promoted by pharmaceutical companies. Watch out for bogus natural cures, though.
A documentary entitled “Food Matters
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The key is to stay vigilant and look at advertisements objectively. View them intelligently and not passively. As you do this, you’ll be able to recognize their tactics and avoid being manipulated and brainwashed. Eventually, you will instantly recognize manipulative tactics and mentally block them.
Finally, you’ll need to decide how much, if any, time and attention you will devote to specific television programs and advertisements.