I thought the podcast about ads was so interesting. I never really thought of why I was drawn to certain things or more compelled to buy some products and not others until now. I think that certain ads will obviously appeal to some more than others, but for the majority, ads do a great job at selling fantasies or the idea of something that makes you compelled to buy a product. You are not actually buying a fantasy, because those (sadly) cannot be purchased with money (for the most part), but you still think that buying the product will somehow come with it as well. I took the 30 seconds to watch the Old Spice commercial, and even after an explanation as to why my lizard brain thinks this way, I still found it compelling (maybe because of the idea of being on a yacht right now…). Either way, it is crazy to me to actually look back and think of what ads are selling, because for the most part, it is not the actual product. This made me think of when there used to be ads for Instagram and Snapchat (back before they dominated social media). I feel like they drew on the idea that we would be so much more connected when in reality, that is far from the truth. However, they sold the idea and marketed it in a way that would appeal to our lizard brains.
There are many ads that I remember from growing up and watching on TV. Some jingles still get stuck in my head like Old Spice’s, Kay Jewelers’, or Subways. Some visuals will never leave my mind, like the Skittles commercials. I will say, those are commercials that I will never unsee and the worst part is, and I don’t really know why because they disgusted me, I still will buy and eat Skittles. They are familiar and safe – the exact idea that ads want to sell. I also thought the fact that there is no difference between brand name items vs non-brand name products was crazy. I think I knew this, especially when it relates to medicine (Advil vs ibuprofen, Tylenol vs acetaminophen, etc), but I still will buy the brand-name product, even if it costs more. I know this is a habit I should break because it’s frankly stupid, especially with the knowledge I have, but it is so hard to stray from what you know. Overall, I think ads do a great job at what they are supposed to do. They target your unconscious mind and trick you into buying products based off of fallacies. However, they are frustrating, especially when your Old Spice body wash doesn’t come with a yacht or diamonds.
I agree that that Skittle’s commercial was just something else. It had a weird, chaotic energy that when it first came out I was just a little too young to fully understand what was happening, but I still didn’t like it. That commercial specifically, paired with the slogan “Respect the punch”, still doesn’t make sense to me in the context of advertising Skittle’s but I definitely still remember it. Which I guess makes it successful despite however weird it is.
I appreciate the pictures of ads that you attached because they are all ads that I vividly remember watching for one reason or another. The skittles ad because I found that quite strange as well as the reese’s puffs cereal ad because of the catchy song. I think these are good examples of ads that use effective techniques to get us to remember their products and want to buy them. I also liked your point of name brands vs non-name brands because I have the same inclination to buy the name brand products even if they are more expensive; this is a bad habit that I am working to break.
One thing that is interesting about name brand products, especially for medicine, is that while the products are literally the same thing, the placebo affect kicks in so that the name brand may actually feel like it works better. So even though it is the same product, and costs more, there may be cases where it is better to buy the name brand anyway.
The respect the pouch commercials are so iconic for CapriSuns, as a kid I would get so excited to see those commercials and I drank one every single day. Even kids are extremely susceptible to advertisements. I like that you pointed out that even after understanding how our lizard brains work, we are still intrigued by products based on the ads.