How does consumerism
manipulate our instinctual desires to create false needs?
‘If you’re like most
people, you think that advertising has no influence on you. This is what
advertisers want you to believe.’
(Kilbourne, 2000, p33)
As stated by
Kilbourne, the intention of advertising is to influence the customers desire to
buy something believing that it will improve their quality of life. This essay
will respond to how psychology and advertising have merged to produce a
consumerist society and how this has influenced advertising and design today.
Advertising plays
on the idea that we need something to make us happy based on the theories of
Sigmund Freud. Freud believed that humans had hidden primitive instincts and by
repressing these desires, it can lead to chaos in our society. In chapter 2 of
the book, ‘Civilizations and Its Discontent’, Freud discussed the theory of The
Pleasure Principle. This is the idea that ‘Life, as we find it, is to hard for
us; it brings us too many pains, disappointments and impossible measures’
(Freud, 2004, p14) creating a tension between civilization and the individual
as humans will always be dissatisfied. To achieve ‘what we call happiness, in
the strictest sense of the word, arises from the fairly sudden satisfaction of
pent-up’ (Freud, 2004, p16). Due to the way that raw human desire is
incompatible with social convention, humans cannot realize these needs
therefore ‘men are accustomed to moderate their claims of happiness- just as
the pleasure principle itself, indeed, under the influence of the external
world, changed into a modest reality principle’ (Freud, 2004, p17). This means that society dictates the way that
these needs can be somewhat fulfilled. He concluded that our actions are based
on our instinctual desires and, if they are fulfilled in a socially acceptable
way then we will be contented.
Freud’s theory was
applied to advertising by Edward Bernays, who ‘used his uncle’s ideas in a
commercial realm to predict, then adjust, the way people believed and behaved’ (Tye,
2002, pviii) as he was ‘convinced that understanding the instinct and symbols
that motivate an individual could help him shape the behavior of the masses’
(Tye, 2002, p9). The key to Bernays success was that, through Freud’s theories,
he understood his audience because as a society ‘we accept a standardized code
of social conduct to which we conform most of the time’ (Bernays, 2005, p39)
and the way that society is structured is the way that we approach purchasing.
Bernays established techniques used in advertising such as how people usually
follow a trusted leader, which introduced celebrity promotion to advertising as
well as targeting people, directly by using emphasis and immediacy within the
persuasion of adverts. He achieved this in the cigarette industry where he
changed public perspective on women smokers by dreaming up the ‘Torches of
Freedom’ campaign as it was believed that ‘ the emancipation of women has
suppressed many of the feminine desires. More women do the same work that men
do. Feminine traits are masked. Cigarettes, which are equated with men, become
torches of freedom’ (Dr. A. A.Brill in Tye, 2002, p28). The campaign itself
involved women of all walks of life smoking outside in public under the rouse
that it was to combat prejudice, which made it a success- it wasn’t realized at
the time that he was selling the product, using the event to ‘rob consumers of
their own free will, helping the clients predict, then manipulate, the very way
their customers thought and acted’ (Tye, 2002, p97).
From Freud’s
theories and Bernays’ application, advertising has developed by using this
concept to target aspects of modern life. In chapter 7 of ‘The Hidden
Persuaders’, Vance Packard identifies eight desires that are hidden within
modern marketing. These features are; selling emotional security, when the
consumer feels a sense of safety and reassurance from having possession of the
product; selling reassurance of worth, giving the user a ‘feeling of being
important and gives him more bearing when he goes out into the world’ (Dr.
Smith in Packard, 2007, p88); selling ego-gratification, the belief that you
are better than other people by having the product as ‘being envied is a
solitary form of reassurance’ (Berger, 1972, p133); selling creative outlets,
encouraging the customer to add their own personal touch to the product;
selling love objects, convincing the consumer that buying the product will
attract an object of desire; selling sense of power, believing the product will
increase your status in life; selling a sense of roots, appealing to family
memories and home comforts as ‘publicity is, in essence, nostalgic. It has to
sell the past to the future’ (Berger, 1972, p139); selling immortality, the
need to be remembered and have influence during life and after death. By
fulfilling these needs, this creates the illusion of happiness through
consumption, which is a concept which Freud, Bernays and Packard all have in
common.
These ideals are
embodied in the Honda Civic -4-Door advert (Fig.1), depicting the inside of a
man’s wallet with two images on either side of the wallet; one showing a
wholesome image of children and the other showing the car in question. The
placement of the car and children indicates the idea of emotional security by
being able to drive the children places yourself in your own car. The
connection between the car and the children indicates a reassurance of worth as
his love for his children makes them worthy of being driven around in a new
car. The tagline at the bottom of the advert reads ‘If anybody should ask, go
ahead and show them your new pride and joy’. This boosts the ego-gratification
of the purchase that by showing it off, you will be the envy of others and how
proud you will be by having this car in your life. This advert doesn’t appeal
to the selling of creative outlets as it doesn’t encourage the owner to put
their own personal touch to the product but it does give the message that the
car will become personal and integrate itself within the owner’s life. The idea
of selling a love object is indirect within this advert but still remains as
the image of the children indicates that this person has managed to find the
love of their life and have a family while having this car, also tying in to
the selling of power and the improvement of the owners status. The selling of
roots is embodied within the advert with the presentation of the car as an
amateur home photograph within someone’s wallet makes it seem as though it is
part of the family. Through this aspect can the idea of immortality be sold as
the car is depicted as an extension of the father figure as the car will be
part of the children’s memory of their father during their child-hood.
This emotional
approach to marketing by advertisers has change the way that people approach
purchasing as it plays on the need to want something instead of buying
something as a replacement. This change of the way society views itself has
altered the way adverts target consumers as they manufacture desire, creating a
false need.
A key aspect of
modern consumerism is desire for admiration as public advertisements feed upon
the dreams of the consumer, giving them a lifestyle to strive for. The advert
makes the audience dissatisfied with their way of life. Advertising proposes
how the product can create small changes to your life, enriching it and bringing
you closer to the dream and offering an alternative to reality. By offering
this image to the buyer, they imagine how others will perceive them, with
Berger stating that ‘it’s promise is not of pleasure, but of happiness:
happiness as judged from the outside by others. The happiness of others is
being envied is glamour’ (Berger, 1972, p132). Publicity is based upon the
selfishness of wanting people to envy you and by being valued in this way makes
us happy so by buying the product, it justifies the ability to love yourself.
Having other people envy you holds the impression of being powerful and having
control over others. This creates an adverse effect on our society as this
creates an anxiety as to the need of purchases, as by ‘having nothing, you will
be nothing’ (Berger, 1972, p143) so to fit in with the rest of the world, we
need to keep buying. This anxiety of acceptance goes towards the portrayal of
women and the desire to look like a socially prescribed ideal due to
advertisements has become part of this culture of admiration. Women are
described as ‘more narciassistic’ (Freud, in Coward, 2000, p36) in regards to
the physical presentation and this is reflected in how the key to getting further
in life is pinpointed on how ‘visual impressions have been elevated to the
position of holding the key to our psychic well-being, our social success, and
indeed to whether or not we will be loved’ (Coward, 2000, p34). A lot of
important things in life are based on how you look so this desire is then
targeted in marketing, which links with the main points made by Packard and
Bernays.
The desire for
admiration is shown in the advertisement for SHARP’s Aquos TV series (Fig 2).
The advert shows a well-known public figure stood open-mouthed in shock at a
wide-screen television. The television itself is stood on a plinth, making the
television taller than the celebrity, and appearing as though it is trying to
intimidate with its size, making a display of its power status. The rest of the
advert is displayed in white whilst the television screen is swathed in colour
drawing the eye of the consumer to the screen as it is trying to show how it is
better than any other on the market. This display of dominance is reflected in
the use of celebrity as it gives the impression to the audience that this is a
television that is good enough for the rich and famous so it can make them just
as good. The reaction displayed by the celebrity makes the buyer want to purchase
it, as they want other people to react in this way. Berger points out that
‘publicity does not manufacture the dream. All that it does is to propose to
each one of us that we are not enviable- yet could be’ (Berger, 1972, p149) and
from the advert, being the cause of others jealously from purchasing the
product making the owner feel powerful because they can afford a television
like this so it becomes a symbol for their status in society.
The socially
prescribed ideal of women is used to manipulate the sexual desire of humans but
it can be used as a symbol for being more than just the physical. It has become
the norm for women in adverts being depicted as objects of desire for men to
sell products to the audience. It is believed by consumers that by buying this
product, we can attract the person of our dreams. Not only are we consuming
products to attract an object of desire but we are purchasing to show that we
are desirable because we can afford to buy them. On the other hand, this
presentation of women in advertising can create ‘an emphasis for girls and
women is always on being desirable, not on experiencing desire’ (Kilbourne,
2000, p148) thereby causing a belief that women should realistically look like
this and be the object of sexual gratification within the media, giving the
wrong impression to male consumers. This is seconded by Freud who states that
‘’Beauty’ and ‘attractiveness are originally properties of the sexual object’
(Freud, 2004, p25).
This approach to
sexual desire can be found in a lot of modern advertising. The Silk Cut cigarettes
advertisements by Saatchi & Saatchi for Gallaher offer a range of adverts
revolved around depicting visual interpretations of the brand name ‘silk cut’.
This particular advert (Fig.3) shows a length of purple silk material with a
small diagonal cut made into the material clearly connoting to female
genitalia. Even though there isn’t a female within the advert, there is clear
influence of Freudian theory as it taps into the subconscious of desire through
the sexual imagery and sadistic impulses to harm but also the desire of
self-destructiveness to buying objects that cause self-harm. The silk is very
soft and feminine like the skin of a female and the use of the colour purple is
royal and glamorous. The display and layout of the information would create the
subconscious implication of sexual desire in a voyeuristic manner, creating a
positive link between the buyer and the brand. Another example of overt
sexualisation within advertising is the Dolce and Gabbana advertisement for
Esquire magazine (Fig 4), which depicts a group of males watching and
surrounding a lone female who is pinned to the floor in a sexual position by
another male. The male’s physically overpowering stance over the female
emphasizes the explicit desire for power and control and this is mirrored by
the women’s gaze looking away from the man adding to the fantasy as ‘In this
society, looking has become a crucial aspect of sexual relations not because of
any natural impulse, but because it is one of the ways in which domination and
subordination are expressed’ (Coward, 2000, p34). This gives the impression to
the consumer that by buying the product, you are one step closer to achieving
and living out your fantasy.
With both of these adverts looking at sexual desire, Coward, Packard and
Kilbourne all comment on the perception of women and sexual desire within
advertising. Erving Goffman points out in Kilbourne
that ‘we learn a great deal about the disparate power of males and females
simply through the body language and poses of advertising. Women, especially
young women, are generally subservient to men in ads, through both size and
position’ (Goffman in Kilbourne, 2000, p141) highlighting the use of proposed
imagery to make the need for sex heightened whilst making women seem weak and
feeble against men. In Packard’s The Hidden Persuaders, a psychologist argues
that women themselves would like to fulfill the desire of being semi-naked with
a large audience watching as it ‘represents a beautiful example of wishful
fulfillment’. He argues that women are empowered by being portrayed as a sexual
desire for consumerism as the want ‘is present in most of us’ (Uncredited in
Packard, 2007, p96). Despite this, Coward points out that ‘beauty, like truth, is one of those empty terms,
filled by the values of a particular society at a given historical moment’ (Coward, 2000, p35) highlighting how the sexual desires of society are dictated by what is
classed as beauty within advertising circles. The women they choose whose image
accompanies the product becomes a desire object and an object of sexual desire,
and ultimately selling the product. This brings in the argument of the ethics
of using sexual gratification within consumerism to promote and sell more products.
What all of these comments do show is how advertising comments on the culture
and society at the time, highlighting the society of vanity we have become
where we have lost the ability to be happy from what we have naturally and need
to enhance what we have to please.
What advertising
has ‘achieved by imposing a false standard of what is and what is not
desirable’ (Berger, 1972, p154) through the use of psychoanalysis is not just
selling a product but it has managed to ‘sell whole new ways of behaving’ (Tye,
2002, p52) by ‘by studying our subconscious needs, yearnings, and cravings’
(Packard, (2007) p86) through the use of systematically targeting the ultimate
need of everyday people as it sells ‘a great deal more than products. It sells
values, images and concepts of love’ (Kilbourne, 2000, p74). Through a
magnitude of other desires, it target the basic human emotion of wanting to be
loved because if we do not buy these products, ‘unless we measure up, we will
not be loved’ (Coward, 2000, p38) and that is that fear which scares us into buying the most, therefore
creating a ‘redefinition of needs’ (Marcuse , 1991, p245). Freud, Bernays
and Berger all have this in common as they comment on the need to be loved and
its connection to our instinctual wants.
Bernays gives an example of how people desire objects ‘because he has
unconsciously come to see it as a symbol of something else’ (Bernays, 2005,
p75) and one of the reasons for the purchase as ‘ a means of pleasing his wife’
(Bernays, 2005, p75) highlighting the desire for a product through the
acceptance and love for another. Berger takes the ideal and turns it on its
head by commenting on how the consumer ‘is transformed by the product into an
object of envy for others, an envy which will then justify her loving herself’
(Berger, 1972, p134) highlighting how the need to be loved doesn’t just stem
from the need to be loved by others but the need to love ourselves. However,
philosopher Jean Baudrillard contradicts this, arguing that ‘there are no given,
essential or real needs for humans and that the distinction between ‘true’ and
‘false’ need is impossible to sustain’ (Baudrillard, in Lury, 2003, p68)
thereby stating how humans have neither true or false desires so there cannot
be any direct correlation between advertising and purchasing. However, Freud
argues against this stating that ‘the way that life places love at the center
of everything and expects all satisfaction to come from loving and being
loved’ (Freud,
2004, p24) highlighting how desire to be loved exists, is what we work for and
work towards fulfilling. Overall, the social message of our culture is
‘if you are able to buy this product you will be loveable. If you cannot buy
it, you will be less loveable’ (Berger, 1972, p144) therefore we use products
as to ‘constitute a guarantee of emotional support’ (Lane Benson, 2004, p159).
Due to the cycle of consuming for happiness, we are becoming
disillusioned, as fantasies do not become a reality. I believe that ‘no other
kind of hope or satisfaction or pleasure can any longer be envisaged within the
culture of capitalism’ (Berger, 1972, p153). This
emotional connection has spurred a generation of consumers who feel the need to
feed their self-worth through purchases. This has produced a culture, which now
sees the want to buy as normality rather than purchasing for necessity. Bernays
stated in his book, Propaganda that ‘We are governed, our minds are molded, our
tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of…It is
they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social
forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world’ (Bernays, 2005, p17)
This manipulation has changed our way of life as we have become a world of
compulsive buyers who have materialistic values, generating ‘negative
consequences to building a sense of self that is externally manifest, because
the inner core self is likely to feel more and more empty and vulnerable as
this process continues over a lifetime.’ (Lane Benson, 2004, p95). By becoming
this, the future looks bleak so consumerism is a concept that ‘we must try at
last to understand, if we want to change the world that Edward Bernays, among
others, made for us’ (Crispin Miller in Bernays, 2005 , p30) and that ‘genuine
freedom and well-being depend on liberation from the entire system of
one-dimensional needs and satisfactions’ (Marcuse, 1991, pxxxi).
Word Count: 3267
Bibliography:
- Berger, J. (1972) ‘Ways Of
Seeing’ 1st ed., London: British Broadcasting Corporation- p 132,
133, 134, 139, 143, 144, 149, 153, 154
- Bernays, E. (2005) “Propaganda”
2nd ed., New York: Ig Publishing- p17, 30, 39, 75
- Coward, R. ‘The Look’, in
Thomas, J. (ed) (2000), ‘Reading Images’, Basingstoke: Palgrave- p 34, 35, 36,
38
- Freud, S. (2004) ‘Civilization
And Its Discontents’, 2nd ed., London: Penguin Books - p14, 16, 17,
24
- Kilbourne, J (2000) ‘Can’t Buy
My Love’ 1st ed., New York: Touchstone- p33, 74, 141, 148
- Lane Benson, A. (2004) “I Shop
Therefore I Am”, 2nd ed., USA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
Inc.- p95, 159
- Lury, C. (2003) “Consumer
Culture” 2nd, ed., Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd- p68
- Marcuse, H. (1991) “ One-
Dimensional Man”, 2nd ed., London: Routledge- pxxxi, 245
- Packard, V. (2007) ‘The Hidden
Persuaders’ 2nd ed., New York: Ig Publishing- p86- 94, 96
- Tye, L. (2002) ‘The Father Of Spin’, 2nd ed., New York:
Holt Paperbacks- p viii, 9, 52, 97
Images:
Fig. 1: Honda Civic-4-Door Advert
Kilbourne, J (2000) ‘Can’t Buy My Love’ 1st ed., New York: Touchstone- p33
Fig. 2: SHARP’s ‘Aquos TV series’ Advertisement
James Webby (2010) ‘Evaluation of 2 adverts” [Weblog] 28th September Available from http://jameswebbymediastudies.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/evaluation-of-two-adverts.html (Accessed 4th January 2014)
Fig 3: Silk Cut Cigarettes Advertisements (1983) by Saatchi & Saatchi
Fig 4: Dolce & Gabbana Advert for Esquire Magazine
Green, D. (2013) ‘15 Recent Ads that Glorify Sexual Violence Against Women” [Internet] Available from http://www.businessinsider.com/sex-violence-against-women-ads-2013-5#wrong-dolce-and-gabbana-consistently-tries-to-market-itself-as-an-edgy-brand-this-ad-ran-in-esquire-the-company-retracted-it-after-people-complained-that-it-glamorized-gang-rape-2 (Accessed 4th January 2014)
