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websites, commercials, talk shows, interview programs,
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consumers, we have a wide array of options for getting information on
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ublic arguments, which formerly consisted largely of political speeches
and debates, can now be found in electronic media in articles, blogs
programs, programs focusing on satire like The Daily Show, The Colbert Report
and Saturday Night Live and, more subtly, on sitcoms and dramas. Arguments that
appear in print include advertisements, essays, and editorials. As citizens and
a candidate, or a product; on any given day, we may surf the Web, access Face
book and other social media sites, receive e-mails and tweets, read a newspaper
these multiple means of accessing information provide incredible resources for
or magazine, watch television, download a podcast, and listen to the radio. While
they also compete for our attention. Increasingly, as we seek to determine what
true or false and which policies, candidates, and products are in our best interest,
we have to walk through the minefields of misinformation, clever but empty sound
bites, exaggerated product promises, and glitzy personal and commercial promo-
tions. This chapter will consider how media influence, shape, and alter the many
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messages we receive.
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Electronic and print media use a variety of persuasive techniques that critical think-
ers should understand. Most of these techniques come under the heading of sugges-
tion; there are also a number of technologies that seek to exert influence on target
th
ca
audiences through subliminal persuasion.
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Suggestion in Daily Life
Suggestion means presenting ideas or images in such a way as to reveal certain as-
pects or qualities and to conceal others. Just as powerful connotations are attached
to certain words, powerful memories and feelings are attached to our human senses
.
Images, colors, sounds, tastes, and smells all evoke different emotions for individu-
als. When athletes stand on an Olympic victory platform and hear the sounds of
their national anthems and view their nations' flags, they and their watching coun-
trymen may experience deep emotions, while viewers with little or no connection
to those nations are not similarly moved by the sights and sounds presented. People
generally have strong reactions, both positive and negative, to sensory phenomena
based on their own experiences; consider your responses to flashing lights from a
police car, photos of a vacation spot you enjoyed, a song that reminds you of a sig-
nificant time or person in your life, the taste of your favorite childhood foods and
drinks, and the smell of familiar flowers, coffee, baked goods, or cologne. Logos for
high schools and colleges, songs and decorations related to holidays, and religious
music and symbols may also trigger emotional responses.
Consumers are also emotionally identified with their favorite products and may
react negatively if the symbols for these products are changed. When the Gap cloth-
ing company tried to change its old logo, consumers felt strongly enough to com
plain about it on Facebook, twitter, and blogs, and the company restored the famil-
iar symbol, as noted in the following excerpt.
7.
Suggestion in Me
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for a new
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NEW YORK (AP) Gap is back to blue.
The casualwear chain will keep its decades-old white on navy blue logo
after all. The move comes just one week after the company swapped it online
them to complain about it online.
logo without saying a word. The new logo irritated fans, spurring
Gap North America president Marka Hansen said in a statement late
Monday that the San Francisco-based company realized how much people
liked the old logo after they put up the new one, a white background with
black letters and a little blue box. She also says Gap didn't handle the change
correctly and missed a chance to have shoppers offer input until it was
too late.
comes, we'll handle it in a different way,” Hansen said.2
“There may be a time to evolve our logo, but if and when that time
ally
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We often use the power of suggestion to create impressions in our personal lives;
sometimes these impressions help us look or seem better or different than we actu-
are Women (and some men) use suggestion when they wear makeup to look
older
, younger, or prettier
. Hats may be worn to cover a bad hair day or the begin-
of hair loss or to show identification with an athletic team. Clothing choices
conceal flaws and sometimes suggest status or, conversely, a disregard for status.
People use the power of suggestion in the professional world also, such as when a
real estate agent tells a client to bake something sweet for an open house so the home
will seem warm and inviting; or when salesclerks are told to look busy, even when
there is no real work to do; or when a car salesperson asks a customer to sit inside a
car and feel comfortable, hoping that the suggestion of ownership and the smell and
feel of a new car will induce him or her to buy. Dr. Alan Hirsch, neurologic director
of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, did a study
on the effect of smell at a Las Vegas casino. When interviewed by National Public
Radio's Neal Conan, he said,
What we found was, in the presence of a pleasant odor, there was an in-
creased amount of money people placed in slot machines. The increase was
of 45.11 percent, which was highly significant because when we looked at
the control area where there was no odor, there was only a two percent
change compared to the weekends before and the weekends after.
Smart Money magazine columnist Russell Pearlman calls the use of scents in
casinos, subliminal relaxation:
Taking a cue from retailers, casinos often circulate oils and scents through
their ventilation systems to try to put gamblers in a good mood. At 500,000
square feet, the gaming/hotel section of the Mohegan Sun complex in
Uncasville, Conn., is the largest scented building in the world. It has more
than a dozen different smells circulating within its walls, says Mark Peltier,
cofounder of AromaSys, the firm that installed the system. And The Venetian
casino in Las Vegas, also an AromaSys client, circulates an array of herbal
scents, including lavender, throughout the casino floor.
Emily Fredrix, "Gap Gets Rid of New Logo," http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/12/gap-gets-
rid-of-new-logo_n_759131.html.
USA Today, 1993.
.
CHAPTER 8
I stay
Why the olfactory overload? It's generally believed that people will
longer-and therefore spend more--in a place with a pleasant smell, says
Peltier. The scents have no known harmful side effects, but be aware that is
might be more than just the free drinks making you feel so happy-go-lucky
British professor Mark Griffith discusses how marketers attempt to stimulate all
of a consumer's senses in order to create brand loyalty:
Like memories, sensory perceptions are unique to each of us and have the
capacity to emotionally stimulate, leaving the chance to build brands by
leveraging the five senses wide open. Some commercial operators have
already got the hang of sensory appeal. For instance, some supermarkets
bake fresh bread on the premises so passersby smell the aroma, are struck
with hunger and are drawn inside. One major British bank introduced freshly
brewed coffee to its branches with the intention of making customers feel
at home. The familiar smell was used to help relax the customers. Other
examples include a leading chain of toiletry stores which pumped the smell
of chocolate through its air conditioning system in the run up to Valentine's
Day, and a well-known clothes shop which filled its flagship stores with the
smell of freshly laundered shirts.
Like smell, sound also evokes memory and emotion. Meaningful
sound is a cheap but very effective way of appealing to another of a
customer's senses and of powerfully enhancing a brand's message or appeal.
A
pop song from your youth can help bring back the excitement felt in your
teens.
Sound effects and noise in the gambling environment are very important
in getting people to gamble. Sound effects—especially in activities like slot
machine playing—are thought to be gambling-inducers. Constant noise and
sound gives the impression of a noisy, fun and exciting environment. Walk
into any casino in Las Vegas and you will experience this. It's also common
for slot machines to play a musical tune or buzz loudly if you win, with low
denomination coins hitting a metal payout tray making lots of noise. This is
all deliberate. It gives the impression that winning is far more common than
losing (as you cannot hear the sound of losing!). So next time you're in a
room full of 1,000 slot machines, remember that the sound of 20 of them
paying out is more audibly noticeable than the 980 machines that are losing
money for the punter (gambler).
S
Suggestion is also a major factor in the design of stores. Joseph Weishar, author
of Design for Effective Selling Space, claims that retailers can use store design to
exert significant control over the responses of their customers. Weishar says that
shoppers move in predictable patterns; for example, 80 percent of customers turn
right when they walk into a store. Savvy retailers place the items they most want to
sell to the right of the store entrance. In addition, they find ways to move customers
to the back of the store, often by featuring sales in that area; since most people don't
leave the same way they came in, a trip to the back ensures a round trip through the
your-casino-wont-tell-you-17277/?page=4.
4 -10 Things Your Casino Won't Tell You," http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/rip-offs/10-things-
Mark Griffiths, "Scenting Success," http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/sports-betting/news/651/gambling-
psychology.html.