The Persuaders

I’ll confess: I like advertising. I like commercials and I like magazine ads. I think ads are interesting and a wild reflection of our culture. I like that advertising is so manipulative because it says so much about who we are as people and as a society and about how and in which ways we let ourselves be manipulated.

That’s right. We let ourselves be manipulated. People have an innate desire to find home, to belong, and to fit. If we feel like we don’t belong or are lost we try to “find ourselves,” something Ramage talked about. Advertising gives us that home. Me? I’m a Volvo driver. I’m a Cheerios eater. My mom has used Tide since I can remember. Something connected between them. Is it because Tide is more than a detergent—it’s an “enabler, a liberator?” I’ll have to ask her.

I’m really enjoying The Persuaders so far because of the insight it’s giving us into how the world of advertising works. From brainstorming how best to reach customers to formulating a “plan of attack,” we can see how this type of persuasion plays out—sometimes subtly and sometimes completely obviously. It’s a little ridiculous, but really interesting.

And you know what? When I eat white bread, I feel happy.