9 ad tricks we fall for

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Learn to distinguish the truth from marketing manipulation so as not to throw money down the drain.

1. Using the right characters

Rare advertising can do without people at all, and it is no coincidence that they are all there. Here are the most common types.

Celebrities

A popular person says that he eats this curd, washes his hair with this shampoo, takes these vitamins and feels great, and looks even better. And the buyer thinks that if he buys the advertised product, he will be able to get closer to the star: yes, they do not perform on the same stage, but they drink the same yogurt. And vitamins may lead to smoother skin and more money.

But it is worth remembering that the media persona appeared in advertising, because she is already a star - without any curds and shampoos.

Ordinary people

Housewives advertise washing powders, pensioners advertise medicines, ordinary consumers evaluate goods and enjoy shopping. Nice picture, which is aimed at reducing the critical attitude towards the product. Will this sweet mother, whose three children have once again stained the knees of her trousers in the grass, will lie? Of course she will, she is paid for it.

Doctors and experts

A recommendation from a person with a specialized education always sounds weighty. This may be a specific specialist, and all his regalia will be indicated in the advertisement. Or the advice will hide behind a general phrase like "The best otorhinolaryngologists in the world advise."

However, when it comes to medications, cosmetic manipulations or medicinal toothpaste, the specialist will not make recommendations without seeing you. In addition, advertising advice turns out to be one-sided, and the tool may have many analogues, no worse, but cheaper.

2. Manipulation of numbers

We are used to trusting numbers because they are associated with facts that are easy to verify and experiments that have shown such a result. But, skillfully, it is easy to manipulate numbers so that they mean nothing.

You've probably heard something like "Your hair gets up to 50% stronger" a hundred times. Sounds good, only up to 50% is both 49% and 1%.

But even if the information about the numbers is given in the most correct form, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the text under the asterisk, which must certainly be on the banner or in the video. It often turns out that the staggering numbers are not at all the result of clinical trials. It was just that the product was distributed to a hundred users who thought that it strengthened, bleached, nourished, washed twice as well.

3. Incorrect comparisons

“A lot of protein”, “twice as tasty”, “three times better” - all these comparisons are unambiguously interpreted by buyers: the advertised product is the best in its segment. But everything again rests on a footnote, under which the consumer is waiting for disappointing information. As a rule, the product is compared with other products of the manufacturer.

Another trick is comparing it to a conditional average product. Allegedly, the powder of this brand washes better than the usual one, and the footnote will indicate that "popular cheap powder" is poured into the box without a name.

However, such advertising does not say anything at all: who knows what they are comparing their product to?

And of course, having heard the comparison "better" or "tastier", it is worth remembering that subjective perception depends on the person, and not on the quality of the product.

4. Selling a lifestyle

In advertising, most often families are happy, people are slender and beautiful, children are obedient, dogs are fluffy, the grass is green, a crocodile is caught, a coconut grows. This creates the illusion that buying a product will take you to a wonderful world, where heels and the engine do not break, and couples in white clothes gather for a bike ride even in the rain, because they have strong immunity and styling is preserved in a hurricane. But a glass of yogurt is unlikely to radically change your life. If it is not expired, of course.

5. Use and imposition of complexes

You may never have thought about the shape of, for example, heels. However, if they broadcast from each iron that round heels are a reason to be ashamed, but the supernova fixator will make them triangular, many consumers will spend hours looking at their feet. And then someone will go shopping.

With already existing standards, it is even easier to make effective advertising. One or two videos in which the runner is reproached for wet armpits, and now you are looking for deodorant so as not to sweat in the gym, although it is there that it is quite logical to do it.

6. Inappropriate appearance of goods

Photographers have thousands of secrets on how to shoot products that instantly whet your appetite. Only the food in front of the lens is completely inedible. For shine, fruits are sprayed with hairspray, machine oil is used instead of syrup, the cake is sandwiched with cardboard so as not to settle, glue is taken instead of milk, and the beer foam is made with a detergent.

7. A game of nostalgia

Advertising willingly offers products "with the taste of childhood" and quality "as before".

Such descriptions should be carried over to the past, where sugar was sweeter and life was more carefree.

In fact, these characteristics do not say anything about the product and play on the emotions of the consumer.

8. Trying to identify leaders and stimulate the laggards

Most people try to pretend to be original, but the sense of community is still strong. Therefore, slogans like "Thousands of Russians have already bought this" or "Women are choosing hair dye No. 1" are aimed at making you think: "Everyone has already tried, why am I worse?"

On the other hand, marketers play on the feelings of those who want to be the first in everything. Here, there are constantly released new models of equipment, practically no different from the old ones, and pre-orders, and other tricks aimed at turning the consumer into a leader.

9. Taking advantage of the lack of awareness

In the early 2000s, almost every advertisement for sunflower oil was accompanied by a mention that it was free of cholesterol. Not everyone understood what kind of cholesterol was, but it was clear: if they say that it is not, then it is something bad. Later it turned out that it could not be in sunflower oil. But the principle used in advertising remains.

Often, manufacturers, taking advantage of the ignorance of buyers, are cunning. For example, in a store, the hand itself reaches for the juice, which says "no preservatives". Indeed, in the composition of not a single ingredient starting with the letter E, only harmless citric acid. But it only acts as a preservative and is included in the list of food additives as E330.