2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44
Advertising surrounds us everywhere. Advertisers are willing to use any means to influence our behavior. Resisting this influence means protecting your independence, choice and wallet. But this is not always easy to do.
Every day, every hour, every minute we are bombarded with tons of advertising information. Modern advertising successfully manipulates our preferences, desires, opinions, and ultimately, our behavior. What can the average "little man" counter the power of the entire advertising industry? Something can.
Limit ads
The easiest and most difficult, most effective and most unattainable way to resist the influence of advertising is to get rid of it. Do not see, hear or read. Unfortunately, if you are not Robinson, then you will not be able to completely exclude advertising from your life. But it can be significantly limited. Browser extensions like Adblock Plus or special programs like Adguard will help to hide the lion's share of advertising on the Web. TV ads will disappear from your life along with TV. Seriously, sell this unnecessary thing. Unsubscribe from advertising mailings, block SMS, and immediately send bright brochures from your mailbox to the trash box.
Pay attention
Advertising technologies have long gone from the primitive "buy, buy, buy". The creators of advertising messages are increasingly trying to influence the unconscious sphere. It is difficult to resist such an impact, if only because we do not always notice it. But the creator of the concept of the unconscious, Sigmund Freud, developed an effective way of fighting: awareness. The strength of unconscious drives drops sharply when a person is aware of them. With regard to advertising, this means that you need to pay attention, note the moments of exposure, means, dishonest methods. It is enough to read a few articles on the mechanisms of advertising influence, and you will already be less susceptible to manipulation. In this case, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” works.
Down with impulse purchases
There are entire advertising industries forcing the consumer to buy something immediately, right here and now. For example, in-store advertising and a significant portion of online advertising. This is where tips on how to avoid impulse purchases come in handy, especially online. Basic methods of struggle: take a break and plan purchases. Make it a rule to postpone as many purchases as possible, and you will quickly find that many of them are not what you really need. And the benefits of shopping lists are discussed in every article dedicated to saving money. If you can't make lists, this little life hack will help you:
Put a three-word note in your wallet or pocket with money: "Do you need it?"
Compare
Logical development of the previous point. If you have postponed the purchase, then take the time to make a conscious choice: explore alternatives, read reviews, compare characteristics. Instead of catchy slogans on the packaging, read the composition printed in small print. Compare with products from another manufacturer. Advertising in 99% of cases appeals to emotions. Logic, critical thinking, rational argumentation are the main enemies of any advertising influence.
Shape your preferences
Comparing and choosing is great, but time consuming. It is helpful to have a ready-made set of manufacturers, brands, stores, specific products that you trust. Then no advertising will lead you astray. In fact, this is called a lifestyle. But a correct and reasonable approach requires regular updating of prepared solutions. Otherwise, they will lose their effectiveness, because time passes and the new is often better than the old.
The success of counteracting the influence of advertising (as well as any manipulation) strongly depends on the individual. Each person develops a strategy or prefers not to think about it at all.
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