Every day we are bombarded with dozens of advertisements trying to sell us something. The marketing teams are trying their best to draw our attention to their product and make it stand out.
They usually create the message using six principles of influence depicted by Robert Cialdini in his book ‘The Psychology of Persuasion’. His theory is about factors that influence peoples decisions and how these rules are applied in everyday life and marketing.
The first rule ‘reciprocity’ is about returning a favour. It can be observed when a client receives a free sample. If a person gets that kind a ‘gift’, they are more likely to buy something else from that company, because they want to pay back the favour.
The second principal is ‘commitment and consistency’. If we are forced to make many decisions during the day, it’s easier for us to choose something and stick to it, even if it stops being beneficial. We also want to be seen as consistent and not unsteady. For example, if we choose to buy one product and commit to that decision, we are more likely to add something to it, if it’s for example discounted.
‘Social proof’ means if we see other people doing something, we are more likely to do that as well. If we see a sign ‘1000 people trust our brand and love our products’ we probably will to, because if other people like it, why wouldn’t I? It’s especially effective if we notice our friend or a family member like some post, for example on Facebook promoting something, we will most likely automatically think it’s worth trying.
Next principal is very common in marketing practise and it’s called rule of ‘authority’. People are more prone to believing a person wearing a white lab coat talking about a medical product, even its common knowledge that doctors can’t take part in commercials and promote any medical devices.
Next we have ‘liking’, which is self-explanatory. We are more likely to buy something from someone who we like, because we trust them.
The last one, principal of ‘scarcity’, is used when there is only a limited number of certain goods, which makes people want it more. It’s seen as more unique and valuable. That’s why brands tend to add signs, which say it’s a limited edition or x time left to buy.
Questions:
1. Do you think you can be easily influenced? Why/why not?
2. How can a person protect themselves from this kind of manipulation?
3. Can you think of any ads or commercials where one of those rules was used? Explain how it works.
4. If you were paid to create an advertisement, what would you try to sell and which of those 6 rules would you use in it?
https://conceptually.org/concepts/6-principles-of-influence
https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/persuasion-marketing-examples/
They usually create the message using six principles of influence depicted by Robert Cialdini in his book ‘The Psychology of Persuasion’. His theory is about factors that influence peoples decisions and how these rules are applied in everyday life and marketing.
The first rule ‘reciprocity’ is about returning a favour. It can be observed when a client receives a free sample. If a person gets that kind a ‘gift’, they are more likely to buy something else from that company, because they want to pay back the favour.
The second principal is ‘commitment and consistency’. If we are forced to make many decisions during the day, it’s easier for us to choose something and stick to it, even if it stops being beneficial. We also want to be seen as consistent and not unsteady. For example, if we choose to buy one product and commit to that decision, we are more likely to add something to it, if it’s for example discounted.
‘Social proof’ means if we see other people doing something, we are more likely to do that as well. If we see a sign ‘1000 people trust our brand and love our products’ we probably will to, because if other people like it, why wouldn’t I? It’s especially effective if we notice our friend or a family member like some post, for example on Facebook promoting something, we will most likely automatically think it’s worth trying.
Next principal is very common in marketing practise and it’s called rule of ‘authority’. People are more prone to believing a person wearing a white lab coat talking about a medical product, even its common knowledge that doctors can’t take part in commercials and promote any medical devices.
Next we have ‘liking’, which is self-explanatory. We are more likely to buy something from someone who we like, because we trust them.
The last one, principal of ‘scarcity’, is used when there is only a limited number of certain goods, which makes people want it more. It’s seen as more unique and valuable. That’s why brands tend to add signs, which say it’s a limited edition or x time left to buy.
Questions:
1. Do you think you can be easily influenced? Why/why not?
2. How can a person protect themselves from this kind of manipulation?
3. Can you think of any ads or commercials where one of those rules was used? Explain how it works.
4. If you were paid to create an advertisement, what would you try to sell and which of those 6 rules would you use in it?
https://conceptually.org/concepts/6-principles-of-influence
https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/persuasion-marketing-examples/
Comments
A person should be aware of these tricks and think before spending any money.
Like every single commercial of a medicament, it's always a fake doctor or dentist. You already explained it in the article so i won't repeat it :)
I'm not a marketing specialist, but if i were paid to create a commercial to sell a product i would sell a product that i was paid to advertise. And for the rules, I think i would use as much as possible. So it would be 100 fake doctors giving away samples of a product while telling that there is 222 products left as it would be a limited edition only, in addition it would be discounted 80% and everyone would smile and love this product.
2. Some people cannot protect themselves. I had this friend who would buy “bread shredder 3000” if he sees an advertisement. Honestly it’s a hard question, I don’t think many people fall for advertisements. The main reason for buying unneeded things are much deeper.
3. Yesterday I saw a YouTube ad of “Etoro” advertised by a famous actor. That was definitely an “authority” technique.
4. I would probably use “liking” and “scarcity” because it kinda works a bit for me. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t buy things but I can at least watch and Ad. till the end.
I think that if we cared less about other's opinion and we would think about what is important to us, we would buy things that we need or things that we want rather than things that others want us to get.
I don't watch TV and i use adblock wherever i can what makes it hard for me to think about any particular commercial but i always loved products on neverending sales with screaming bright yellow-red signs "only now, seasonal promotion!" that lasts for as long as you can remember.
Thinking about the fourth question i got strucked with a thought that actually "gang świeżaków" is great example of influention that makes you buy more products in a shops because everyone wants these mascots, they are scarce and i will never understand why you can't simply buy regular plush mascot in plush mascot's shop.
2. Of course you can defend against this kind of manipulation. You just have to think reasonably, read brochures carefully, read comparisons, reviews - preferably a few. I know from my own experience that few people are able to defend themselves against the influence of advertising.
3. I believe that many medicines use the principles outlined. Showing life situations of people dressed up as doctors who confirm the effectiveness of the advertised agent. On average, one wants to believe in such miraculous healings.
4. I do not know. I believe that a good product does not need advertising. Have you ever seen an advertisement of good quality clothing, good cars, alcohol? Exactly. Instead of focusing on marketing, we should focus on the quality of the article being sold.
I don't think I'm susceptible to manipulation. When I want to buy something I don't rely on ads but I always try to find all possible offers, their pros and cons and decide only on this basis.
2. How can a person protect themselves from this kind of manipulation?
I always try to form my own opinion on a given topic and do not rely on only one source, but to examine the problem from different perspectives.
3. Can you think of any ads or commercials where one of those rules was used? Explain how it works.
These techniques surround us from all sides. In Poland the most common is for certain authority. It is enough to turn on the TV for a while to see that medicines are largely advertised. In large part of these advertisements there are "doctors" who tell how effective a given medicine is. Same goes for the Play ads, where new celebrities are appearing.
4. If you were paid to create an advertisement, what would you try to sell and which of those 6 rules would you use in it?
I'm definitely not fit for this. I wouldn't be able to force people to use a product they probably don't need. I would have to believe in the product I advertise and then I think I would not have to use marketing tricks.
Sure. Everyone is in fact easily influenced. All people's psychotypes were already determined, and there is a unique approach discovered for each of them.
2. How can a person protect themselves from this kind of manipulation?
There is nothing you can do :) Even if you are aware of all those tricks, does not mean they have zero effect on you. The brilliancy of all of this is that it is still being effective as ever.
3. Can you think of any ads or commercials where one of those rules was used? Explain how it works.
Literally any ads. Ad companies know their drill, and it makes little to no sense to launch an ad campaign that won't make full use of all that knowledge. Both vendor and marketing want an increase in sales.
4. If you were paid to create an advertisement, what would you try to sell and which of those 6 rules would you use in it?
All of them, because what stops me? And if I was ever trying to sell something -- those would be a solutions to mitigate damage to the planet. E.g selling Teslas, and promoting electric vehicles heavily.
It depends on the topic but I think I can be easily influenced. For sure in situations that I have no idea what is going on.
2. How can a person protect themselves from this kind of manipulation?
I always share my opinion whatever I know a lot about topic or not, but at the end I think everyone can be influenced easliy.
3. Can you think of any ads or commercials where one of those rules was used? Explain how it works.
I think every ad I see have those rules used, but for sure ads of medicines are quite a good exaple.
4. If you were paid to create an advertisement, what would you try to sell and which of those 6 rules would you use in it?
I am not a person who can easliy sell something to other people.
I think that large corporations that spend hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising specialists and psychologists are able to influence everyone regardless of their vulnerability. I try not to succumb to their tricks, but I don't always succeed.
2. How can a person protect themselves from this kind of manipulation?
I think one option is to cut yourself off from it all, although in many cases this is not possible. All we have to do is try to think for ourselves and be aware of the threats to avoid them.
3. Can you think of any ads or commercials where one of those rules was used? Explain how it works.
One day, being at a party, I got a razor from a company for free. I think it was one of the forms of manipulation presented in the presentation above.
4. If you were paid to create an advertisement, what would you try to sell and which of those 6 rules would you use in it?
I think I would choose to sell some limited edition player accessories. Using the last example in the above presentation.
It depends on what plane. If it concerns a topic that is completely foreign to me, I can be influenced, but not in the opposite situation.
2. How can a person protect themselves from this kind of manipulation?
There isn't explicit recipe how to avoid this. You just have to be aware and have an open mind.
3. Can you think of any ads or commercials where one of those rules was used? Explain how it works.
For example, advertisements promoting medicines or toothpastes, in which there are "doctors" and actually they are actors. And we think that a competent man speaks.
4. If you were paid to create an advertisement, what would you try to sell and which of those 6 rules would you use in it?
Then there would be no rules. We do everything to sell the product and end.
It’s enough not to be stupid to understand if someone is trying to impose anything.
I hate advertising and everything connected with it, I never buy goods from advertising, if I need something, I will find it on the Internet and compare reviews about this product and only then I'll buy or if someone I trust will advise me this product. But I'll never buy it and never in my life believe in the quality of the advertised product, only because in advertising a fake family with fake smiles eat something and say for the money how tasty it is and so on.
If someone asked me to create an advertisement, I would send him to hell. If I need to sell something, for example, an old laptop, I'll take a photo of the laptop, describe its status, price and characteristics and post it on a site like olix, done.
I’d like to think about myself that I can’t be easily influenced but the reality is I can be easily influenced. I’m almost always skeptical about everything, but sometimes even if I know that certain product is totally unnecessary and I buy it nevertheless. Advertising just works, if I see ads for some product, I tend to buy it when I need something similar, just because I feel like I know this product from advertisements.
2. How can a person protect themselves from this kind of manipulation?
I think that knowing this rules of advertising, might help to avoid being manipulated, but some tricks in advertisements are so subtle it’s hard to see it through.
3. Can you think of any ads or commercials where one of those rules was used? Explain how it works.
The “liking” is used in influencer marketing. People tend to buy things that they not need, when their favorite influencer “uses” and likes the product.
4. If you were paid to create an advertisement, what would you try to sell and which of those 6 rules would you use in it?
Depending on what I was paid to advertise I would probably make and marketing campaign in social media, with famous influencers, who give you promo codes to buy some product from limited edition. By doing it this way I would use : scarcity, liking, social proof and reciprocity.
2. When there are some new advertisement in tv, or there are people who want to sell their product and come to your house or walk to you in the shop, i tend to just ignore it. If they sell something that will not interest me in any sort of way, I will just ignore it,
3. First thing that comes to my mind are advertisements of new sweets, cookies etc. companies always try to persuade people with free samples thinking that: "if they like it's flavor after free sample, then they will propably buy it".
4. I'm not really a guy who is good at advertising things, but if i had to and I was paid for that, I would propably try to use as much of those rules as possible to persuade people to buy my product
2. I think knowing how these things work is enough.
3. Currently, every advertisement uses these techniques.
4. Rather none because it is very outdated.
2) I would say the most efficient way is to be well aware of your own interests. If you understand what you want and why you want something, it's much harder for you to be manipulated when your priorities are set straight.
3)I can't think of one when they are not used in one way or another.
4) Some kind of food-related product and I will certainly use all of them in a way that would make it obvious and funny.
The only people who can easily influence me are my mother and my siblings. I can buy almost anything for them because I believe in their reason. I avoid ads as much as I can and I don't really see them. This makes it difficult to influence me.
2. How can a person protect themselves from this kind of manipulation?
The best way to protect yourself against spending money is to leave yourself a skimpy budget for the next month. The rule is simple - you have no money you don't spend :)
3. Can you think of any ads or commercials where one of those rules was used? Explain how it works.
Like every single commercial of a medicament, it's always a fake doctor or dentist.
2.There are many ways to protect yourself from such manipulation. the most obvious, but also not that easy way is to simply avoid advertisements but we all know it's not always possible. making sure tocheck the opinions of of people who have already tested the products is another way of avoiding wasting your money things that dont really work. The best way, in my opinion, is simply checking with the professional and asking for their advice on what should we buy.
3. I think that the most commons ads with said rules are the ones we see on social media. Nowadays brands as nyx, mac or other beuty companies end to reach out to likeable celebrities or popular influencers and offer them money for posting their cosmetics or even mentioning the brand's name in their videos. Young people, who often look up to said celebrities trust them and wat to be like tem, will often rush to the store in order to buy whatever the star mentions.
4. As i said before I would try to sell some cosmetics and use influencer. It's pretty easy, maybe not so creative but this trick will always work. Maybe I'd try to mix some rules together and see what happens.
2. Think. Just thinking logically is the key. Some experience also come in handy, knowing all their tricks helps to avoid them.
3. I must say that I'm quite ad-proof as I don't watch TV or listen to the radio. When it comes to billboards or poster advertisements I rarely see them as in public transport I'm usually more focused on music, books or games. I'm less influenced by those practice as I don't see or hear many adds. However, one can't be entirely disconnected from those. I always laugh in chain shops where they give you a price for a single can of soda and advise you that it is cheaper to buy two instead. It is not cheaper, you just spend more money on the product you probably don't need.
4. I'm an honest person, I would try to find a slogan that is both true and in a good manner. For example, if I would to do a commercial about the delicious pizza I would emphasise on the taste and the loyal clientele rather then use cliches that people are already accustomed for.
We’re living in those times when you see SO MUCH ads every single day that you just stop noticing them. Some time ago I made a presentation about modern advertising and found some research claiming that an average person in a big city can see up to 3000 advertisements every day! Surely, about 95% of them we’re just automatically ignoring, that’s why this number sounds ridiculous, but it is true.
Sure, lots of them. For example, on some online shops with clothes you can notice banner “25% discount, hurry up, ends tonight” and countdown. And it’s there every. single. day. “Authority” rule also everywhere, like “9 out of 10 dentists recommend this toothpaste” or whatever.
I hope nobody will make me create an ad, cause I’m just not good at it. But if I forced to, I want to make a shampoo commercial. I’d come with some catchy song which everybody will hate after just a few days and say that 99 out of 100 hairstylists recommend this shampoo. And that this is a French product, because apparently all the cosmetics from France are good (definitely not, just referring to some common stereotypes).
The one way is delete yourself from all social media. Because this is the most dangerous place where you could be influenced by others.
Sport shoes. We all see big players playing in adidas or nike and we want these shoes too.
1. Do you think you can be easily influenced? Why/why not?
I used to be but when I realized that, I decided to fight with this fact. Since then I always try to double check everything and not take anything for granted. I look for a second meaning in everything and at least try not to get manipulated.
2. How can a person protect themselves from this kind of manipulation?
People should always have at least some amount of doubt when they hear something from sources which are not sure. There is so much disinformation in the world that doubt turns out to be a must have. Always remember that companies will do anything to get our money.
3. Can you think of any ads or commercials where one of those rules was used? Explain how it works.
Actually if a commercial doesn’t use any of those methods it probably represents some kind of really smart and creative vision – something that you just look at with joy. In every other situation – those rules are used 100% of the time from what I have observed.
4. If you were paid to create an advertisement, what would you try to sell and which of those 6 rules would you use in it?
I guess I would stick with trying to be as little shady as possible. Rule number five and six seem to be the most genuine and respect-worthy ones. I would try to give my product a prestige and limited edition feeling.
I`m watching on it threw the lens of creativity, for me advertising is like art. Of course, at first, it is about sales, but its super amazing, I mean there are really spectacular movies. I even don’t need to buy it, if you will just admire. You really should be a magician, to sell burger to vegan. And to become such a magician you should study, but not in ‘Hogwarts’, rather learning from his Majesty Marketing.