Blog Re-Write Paper

Subconscious propaganda. It's probably the most evil of all types of persuasion because its basis is formed around the fact that the average consumer doesn't necessarily know that he/she is being persuaded. He/she has either grown accustomed to it or he/she does not notice the different variations of it in their everyday lives. The response that is unleashed is what needs to be considered in order to enable consumers to wake up and think about what makes them need the products that they buy.

In the movie, The Persuaders, we can see that all consumers are susceptible to some kind of unwritten, unstated, subconscious "code." Your "code" is basically what you feel is related to you in some aspect of your life. The things that you are physically and emotionally connected to could be used to crack your "code." It is based on experiences throughout your life, both good and bad. Now this seems harmless enough, and it is, if it is used justly. Advertisers attempt to crack these "codes" in order to evoke or trigger some kind of repressed emotion. A good example of this is the new billboards and magazine advertisements that Dove Soaps represent. They took the idea that most women feel badly about their weight and idealized their perceptions of themselves by putting "curvy" women on their advertisements. This would enable women to feel better about themselves, creating more revenue for their product in general.
But the "code" does not always have to evoke some kind of positive emotion. Some of the best selling products sell so well because they instill fear in consumers without them actually being aware of this. One company or organization could have the power to make you feel positive about yourself, therefore cracking your "code" and enabling you to buy their product. That very same company can turn around and use this very same power to make you feel disgusted and ashamed at the same time. An example of this would be the ever-so-popular weight loss bars. The advertisers pick young, beautiful, thin women to represent their weight loss bars. You can basically take what they're saying to mean, "She looks this good, so why can't you? You need our product to be beautiful and thin." They want us to believe that their products are what we will need to make us feel good about ourselves. They create a situation where we create our own fear, and therefore we need their products to feel safe again.

In the end, there should be a specific "code" that we can crack on all these advertisers to see whether or not they're "playing with our minds," but there's not. It's basically up to us to tune out all of the billboards, commercials, and magazine ads that we are inundated with every single day and tune into what exact products would actually be beneficial to our lives. Regardless of the many tactics that advertisers use to manipulate us, it is up to us to take responsibility for our purchases. The watchful consumer needs to be aware of these "codes" and allow their common sense to dictate their purchases. If we all took heed of this information, then we wouldn't have to worry about whether or not we are letting repressed memories or fear force us into buying certain products. We would buy what we actually need, and eventually, this type of advertising would be forced to change.