At this point, we were given the chance to have a practical crit so that we could discuss what we wanted to do for the practical element and be given feedback from our peers.
I was in group 3 who thus split up into 2 separate groups due to the sheer size of the groups. This way, the smaller groups would allow for us to hear each other clearer and be able to give more time to people for a more in-depth crit, or at least that was the idea in theory.
Ideas and Concepts for Practical Crit
For the crit, I provided a clear description of what I was doing, telling the group that I knew what I was intending to do by producing a brand which would apply the psychological aspects discussed within my essay but that I needed help picking what product I would base it around. I knew that I needed a product that wasn't totally sexualised or had a sense that it was unnecessary.
All I got from discussing my brief and the problem I had was the words 'Chocolate or Rolling Tobacco' and that is literally all I got. I was very disappointed by this feedback because chocolate had nothing to do with my essay so it would have had no relevance and its illegal to brand rolling tobacco in the Uk by law. Even when trying to steer the conversation towards my brief again, the group had already moved on. I felt like this still didn't answer my question at all and I left the crit in the same situation I was in before.
This was the tutorial before the Christmas break and I wanted to get as much information in regards to the direction of my essay.
Tutorial Own Notes
Showing what I had done and added to since the last crit, in particular with my inclusion of some Bernays background information due to watching and being influenced by the 'Century of the Self' documentary series. I was told that it would be worth investigating the women's penis envy in regards to cigarettes and how it effects them. Also, how I should look at how Noam Chomsky criticises Bernays even though they were in similar fashions.
Also, at this point, we discussed what I was going to be talking about and discussing in the practical crit, with my tutor advising me that it would be a good opportunity to ask in regards to a product as this is the aspect that I have been struggling with quite a bit. I mentioned the concept board I had come up with and it was suggested to take my concepts with me to the crit and see what the group says. I'm looking forward to the Crit because I would like some more direction as to the practical work and where I should go with it.
Tuesday 25th November 2014 'Resolving Your Research Project' Richard Miles
DEADLINE: 15th January 2015 3-4pm- 7 weeks away
Dissertation needs an introduction- an outline into what the essay will be discussing
Academic conventions are like an institutional framework for your work.
They structure and standardise. They aspire to academic honesty.
At this level, your expected to be able to:
- Demonstrate a critical knowledge of practice
- Apply theory to practice
- Analyse relevant material
- Evaluate theory and evidence within the context of study
- Critiquing and critically reflecting on your learning and using this to improve practice
Am I evidencing any of these things?
New Bloom's Taxonomy by Anderson and Pohl
- Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analysing, Evaluating, Creating
Need to avoid a surface approach to the module
- Passive acceptance of ideas and lack of reflection with little attempt to understand or synthesis
- Concentration on learning outcomes shows a superficial approach to it
Need to have a deep approach to the module
- Critical and thoughtful with an examination of arguments
- Independent engagement with related evidence to make a conclusion
How do I evidence deep approach learning?
- Academic writing is formal and follows standard conventions
- Subject will have its own kind of specialist vocabulary which you can use
- Must be based on evidence and logical analysis and presented as a concise argument
- Need to present your argument accurately and concise- back up your strong argument/opinion
Do not:
- Don't use a conversational tone of voice- need to be forceful and direct in your register
- Get to the point. Aim for precision and don't use unnecessary words or waffle.
- Short sentences or a mixture in sentence length and avoid repeating the same words
- Avoid all abbreviations and contractions, slang words and phrases
- Do not write in the first person as it is deemed too subjective and personal
Dissertation Format:
- Preliminaries (Cover Page)- Title/ Acknowledgements/ Contents/ List of Illustrations
- Introductions- The abstract/ Statement of the Problem/ Methodological approach/ Structure/ Key Sources you have used
- Main Body- Review of the literature/ Logically Development Argument/ Chapters/ Results of Investigations/ Case Study
- Conclusion- Discussion and Conclusion/ Summery of Conclusions (Echo's the Introduction)
- Extras- Bibliography/ Appendices (Only bit that doesn't include the Word Count)
Dissertation should be 1.5mm double spaced
Long quotes longer than 2 lines are single lined space and indented
Quotes should be used in and amongst each other
Getting Stuck
- Ask why you are stuck
- Avoid negativity
- Picture what being 'unstuck' would look like
- What action would it take to get there?
- In what timescale?
- Do the action- doing stuff will make you feel better about it
Project Self Assessment
- Write down the aims of the project
- A brief summery of the work so far
- Comment on your time management
- Do you know what the final project will look like?
- How are you going to get there?
- What areas are you worried about?
- How are you going to use the remaining tutorials?
Harvard Referencing
- All work needs to be referenced correctly
- Author, Date, Title, Place, Publisher
- 'Quote' (Surname, Year, Page) within the actual content of the essay
- Make sure that you are consistent throughout the essay
- Bibliography should be alphabetised by name and separated out into types of research (Books/ Websites/ Journals. TV)
- Images should be referenced as an author, date, title in Book Bibliography
- Images should be referenced within the text as Fig 1, ect as well as with the book bibliography
- Documentary or Film, just write that within the text if getting a quote from it
E-Studio COP3 Dissertation Submission Walkthrough
- 2 Copies of the dissertation printed and thermal bound
- 1 copy needs to be electronic drop box on e-studio, all in one file
- Specific cover page, type of binding and front cover
- Leeds University Print and Copy Bureau before Monday 12th January
Dissertation needs a Conclusion- summing up of the argument
Following on from the last tutorial, I had begun to start writing some of my essay in bits so that I could start making sense of the topic change.
Tutorial Feedback Sheet
Own Tutorial Feedback Notes
I voiced my concerns with the practical that we had discussed in the last tutorial about how I didn't feel comfortable using someone's stuff so we compromised on producing a brand strategy/guideline using desire based on Freud which would be subtle. I felt much more confident about the practical because I knew that it would be all my own work then.
For the essay, my tutor read through what I had done so far and noted areas that I could do with expanding, such as why Bernays felt that propaganda could be used in peace time and the inclusion of Freud's ego and id. Also, it was suggested that I select one or two specific examples of brands using aspects of desires within their brand identity.
After this tutorial, I felt much better and positive about my essay and my practical because, after how terrible the last tutorial went, I felt like I was going in the right direction.
After having a bad first tutorial, I took it upon myself to start working on writing my essay so that this way I would have something to work with.
As you can see, throughout the development of my essays, I continue to write notes to myself as to what to include, both in regards to content and quotes.
I began by writing about what I had already researched on, starting with the Freud and Bernays application of psychology so that it gives my essay context as to where the psychoanalysis. I had begun to discuss branding within my essay but I had kept it to just factual information. The essay itself is full of planning and you can see the way that the essay is shaping up in its bare bones.
From the second tutorial, I found that I needed to find a way of giving my essay more depth. Also, it was stated that I needed to extend my essay information that I already have.
I went onto developing the essay by planning out some possible examples of brands to give some case study examples within the branding application of psychology. To show how branding and psychology have been developed, I have included Packard's theory on the sub-concious targets by brands. Also, I include a paragraph on Wally Olins book, On Brands as it gives a unique perspective of branding and the relationship with consumer identity.
From the third tutorial, I felt that my essay wasn't very defined in regards to the separate chapter sections of the essay.
I decided to develop the essay by making the chapters very obvious, including a introduction to each of the chapters as well as expanding the introduction I had already written. Also at this point I had started writing a conclusion as well as including some triangulated arguments as I hadn't included any arguing within my essay up to this point.
Finally, from the last tutorial, I needed to include some extra pieces of detail so as to be much more precise within my essay.
I went onto paraphrasing large amounts of quotes I had in clusters and added details about Freud's theories on penis envy as well as developing the information for the bibliography and changing thr format.
What is clear is that the way that the essay was constructed shows a clear development from the beginning and how the essay has built up over time. In a way, this is quite nice to see because you can see the way that the essay changed and took shape.
Following on from the presentation we had to give on the topic that we wanted to do our dissertation on, we had a tutorial to discuss how we would start to pull these aspects together.
Tutorial Feedback Sheet
My Own Notes from Feedback
I showed the essay plan that I had produced for the topic I had in mind and where I wanted to go with it alongside my idea for a practical.
Despite this, I was told that there was no graphic design element to my essay and there needed to be one. With my interest and specialism in branding, it was decided that I needed to research into branding, with the title being changed to 'HOW CAN PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS INFORM EFFECTIVE BRANDING'.
With this, it was suggested that I have a look at the documentary 'Manufacturing Consent' by Chomsky which talks about manipulation via the mass media.
From this change it meant that the practical needed to change too. I had to either focus on an existing brand or look for a Kickstarter brand and find a product that exists, either something that is clothing, alcohol, energy drinks and produce work for it.
Altogether, I came out of the tutorial feeling very demoralised because I had sorted out a clear theoretical and practical element that had been planned out and I had to scrap the lot. It was like starting over all over again and I didn't know where to begin, especially as I had found a focus of my own which I was going to look at specifically with coffee shops in regards to primary research and case studies. The presentation feedback had been very positive towards all of this so it shook my confidence. Also, I didn't like the fact that I would be taking someone else's work and applying it rather than coming up with my own product so I decided that the only thing I could do in retaliation was to start writing something down, anything down, just to get me started so this way I had something to work with.
In order to get feedback on the research we have been conducting and the direction that we intend to go in in regards to COP 3, we have been asked to produce a presentation.
At this point, due to the fact that I have been looking at shop techniques and have been taking an interest in atmospherics, I wanted to include this within my essay as well as talk about the psychological connections as to why these atmospherics are used.
My presentation has a lot of text on it but, due to the fact that it is trying to show what aspects of theory we want our presentation to go into, it seems only right that this is the case, however, I have laid out the information so that it is much clearer to digest.
Presentation Notes and Feedback
I made some notes before the presentation so that I had a clear focus as to what I was saying when I was presenting.
At the end of the presentation, I was given feedback which I also made notes on (See Pink Writing). I was told about how certain shops use atmospherics which makes it part of the experience and was given a list of books to check out. It was suggested I focus on Starbucks just because of the wealth of information out there on it with it being such a big brand in the field. I was also told to watch the documentaries 'Century of the Self' and 'The Greatest Movie Ever Sold'. Overall, I got some positive feedback on what I was doing and I feel comfortable about where my project is going and excited to start working on it now I know that the direction I am going in is the right one.
Following on from this, I wanted to make sure that I was ready for the first tutorial, so I went ahead and started planning the structure of my essay.
Essay Structure
This way, I had a strong, steady plan for the essay which I could take into the first tutorial and discuss how I would move forward.
Thursday 7th October 2014 "Methodologies & Critical Analysis" Richard Miles
Methodologies
Methods
- How the information you have found is sourced, collected, collated and presented
- How are you going to get about getting the information and collecting and organising the information
- This is about you taking control of your research- clearly evidence why you selected these methods and why they are most appropriate
Methodologies
- A set or system of methods, principles and rules for regulating a given discipline
- Philosophy- the analysis or study of such methods and their strengths and weaknesses
- Picking a side and knowing why you've picked that side
Theories
- These can help you decide upon the methods you use. Alternatively the material you find may suggest the appropriate theories
- A coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction
Examples of theories used by students:
- Psychological: Freud, Jung
- Social History / Marxist
- Communication Theory: Shannon-Weaver Model
- Post Colonialism
- Feminist
There are different branches of theories that will lead onto different stand-points within the theories.
Each particular theory or standpoint will have its own answers or bias.
Which theories are going to maximise the research that you are going to undertake?
Make your studio practice your methodology?
The list is endless but choose the theories and methods most appropriate to your subject
1. Make decisions about how to collect and order information
2. Choose a relevant theoretical stand point
3. Apply these to your study
4. Explicitly outline this in the introduction. Address suggested failings in the conclusion
5. Have a number of chapters for different sections of your essay- this should be outlined within the introduction so that it shows that you have an outlined methodological strategy.
Critical Analysis
Weighing up different sides of an argument, evaluating it and summing it up by providing your own opinion from your research
Skeptical approach- distrusting and trying to disprove an idea by weighing up a number of different options
Reasoned Thinking- 'Stepping away' and using evidence and logic to come to your conclusions
Awareness of Perspectives- different takes on things which are both equally correct and neither wrong
Try to consider different points of view- Has this theory been challenged or accepted by others?
Where am I coming from? How is my topic influenced by my emotions, aspirations and context?
CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING
Consider the influence of one or more of the following:
- Time
- Place
- Society
- Economical
- Technological
- Philosophical
- Scientific Thought
Evidence
Where is the evidence for what you are saying?
How can you support what you are saying in your essay?
- Quotes/ Experiments/ Observations that back up what you have said
- You need to passionately argue your position and have research to back it up
- Could you find more evidence to support your conclusions?
Argument
- What do I want to say?
- Have I got the evidence to back it up?
- Where else do I need to look in order to find more evidence?
Triangulation
- Pitting alternative theories against the same body of data
- Comparing different theories for and against something
AM I EXPRESSING MYSELF CLEARLY AND LOGICALLY?
A Clear Logical Plan
- Keep it simple and focus on a few key issues
- Look at the key issues in depth
- Discuss your issues and the evidence you have found
- Move from the general to the specific
Tuesday 30th September 2014 "Organising Your Lecture Notes" Richard Miles
Potential Helpful Book: "Doing Your Research Project" by Judith Bell
- Helping to gather data, interviews and questionnaires
- Visual research
400 hrs study for a 40 credit module
6-9000 word written element and related practical work
A research project that is synthesised from the research
2.5hrs minimum support on the written element of the module in addition to support with the practical project
DEADLINE: THURSDAY 15TH JANUARY 2015 AT 4PM
Turn up with questions and preparation for each half an hour tutorial
- Try to have a substantial draft submitted by Christmas
- Make your supervisor you first port of call
Indicative Content:
- A cohesive research project- it all joins together and sythesised
- It needs to evidence in-depth critical research
- A coherent written argument and related practical investigation
- Your work needs to show an underlying and methodological process of research
Planning the Project:
- How the ideas and the initial research is going to get turned into a dissertation and a practical project- HOW IS IT GOING TO GET TURNED INTO A SYNTHESISED THING
- The more thought that goes into it before it is made, the more successful that it will be
You need to:
- Write down all of the questions that you would like to investigate about your topic
- Consider each on their merits and focus on two (primary question and a supplementary secondary)
- Write an A4 'First Thoughts' sheet for each question (preconceptions and ideas)
- What is the purpose of the study? Is your question researchable?
- Working Title
Project Outline:
- Consider Timings with Work, Holidays, Life as the DEADLINE IS IN 15 WEEKS
- Think about the working title and the components for each that needs researching
- Allocate time for each
- Draws up a project outline based on the above
- Allow generous time for initial reading and writing up
- Factor in Tutorial times
- CONSULT WITH YOUR SUPERVISOR ABOUT ALL OF THIS
Literature Search
- Reading takes more time then you think
- How much can you actually read in this 100 hrs?
- Start by trying to find out all of the key texts on your chosen topic
- Do a search into Google Scholar
- Focus your reading based on an initial assessment of this survey
- Find key texts and plan time to read these Find secondary sources/ criticisms of key texts (triangulation)
- Use journals (www.jstor.org)
Referencing:
- Start compiling the Bibliography at the beginning of the project
- Reference as you go along
- Include all of the details (Harvard Referencing)
Ethics:
- Ethical approval must be granted by the supervisor if any research is to involve a human subject for data not in the public domain, eg. if you are interviewing or observing someone
-'Data not in the public domain' is information which is private and you need specific permission to use
Research:
- How are you going to research your information for your dissertation
- There are different approach methods which will get you different results
- Action Research- Theory, Doing something about it, Reflecting, Changing Initial Theory and Starting Again
Questionnaires:
- Is this the best way to investigate your topic?
- Begin to word questions and discuss with your supervisor
- Avoid ambiguity, imprecision and assumption
- Avoid double. leading, presuming or offensive questions
Interviews:
- Is it the best way of investigating your topic?
- Begin to word questions and discuss with your supervisor
- Structured or Unstructured interview?
Experiments of making and new techniques is forms of practical and primary research
CHECKLIST:
- Don't procrastinate
- Plan research methods carefully
- Select the most appropriate methods
- Document all stages carefully
- Produce a detailed project plan/outline with timings and stick to it.
- Get the most from your supervisor
For the dissertation project, I knew that I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do but I knew that I would need some more of a depth and breadth of broad knowledge.
Originally, I had the idea of looking at how the shopping experience is paramount to the creation of desire as well as how private labels are used to look like leading brand products even though stores have their own brand identities to get people to trust them and spend (See COP 3 Blog Post). I was inspired for this due to the fact that I work at a supermarket so I experience some of this stuff first hand but I don't know about why people make the decisions that they do. However, I felt like this wasn't focused enough and I wasn't sure how I would be able to make a practical project out of it so there was some strong doubt as to the strength of the project.
I wanted to focus on psychology of consumerism as this is something that we had looked at in second year and is something that has always fascinated me (See COP 2 Blog Posts on Consumerism). I find the decisions and choices as to why people do things interesting and is something that I try to implement within my own work. From this, I decided to change the direction I was going in so that it was more psychological thinking as well as the shopping aspect of it.
To start with, I found a documentary series that discusses the effect on consumerism within our society called 'The Men Who Made Us Spend'. For each episode I will produce notes on the content of the documentary.
The first documentary was focusing on the backstory as to how our society has been constructed by companies to continually strive for the next best thing due to the manipulation of product lifespans and constant upgrades.
- People queueing outside venues to get the latest upgrade at orchestrated product launches
- On Apple iPhone: 'The rate that they change, they change so quickly you don't want to get left behind'
Desired Items become obsolete automatically
- Yesterday's desired item becomes unwanted and immediately obsolete
- Some items are bought n the purpose of being thrown away
- Psychically shows the cycle of spending money and throwing away
Phoebus Cartel and Planned Obsolescence
- Planned Obsolescence is the making of a product with the intention and purpose of the item is to break due to the manufacturer shortening its lifespan
- Started with the lightbulb and became the template of how we live today
- The ability to control and standardise manufacturing making maximum profits
- The Phoebus Cartel was a group of production companies who would adhere to this settlement to make the most money
Demonstrating Planned Obsolescence
- 'Planned Obsolescence is an open secret. When I'm talking to professional management on planned Obsolescence, they say 'well, we all know this'- Stefan Schilder at Berlin Technical Uni
- Example: Printer Cartridge- timer will count down to stop working despite having ink
- Products deemed to have a limited lifespan and we accept it- continual spending is 'our duty to consume'
The Man in The White Suit Film Stills
- At the time of the Cold War, American democracy was viewed as spending and linked to mass consumption as people would have goods and live prosperously
- 1951 comedy film 'The Man in The White Suite' satirised the public being duped by Obsolescence as it is based on what it would be like if a product was invented that never broke.
- 'Some fool has invented an indestructible cloth, right?' 'Yes' ' But it will knock the bottom out of everything. Right down to the primary producers!'
- The film was built on an era (50's) where the economy was built on an awareness of consumer obsolesce and not naive towards spending culture as first believed.
General Motors and the Organised Creation of Dissatisfaction
- 'Pessimism has no place in the American scheme of things. I am the greatest possible optimist on the future of America and our whole system' -Alfred P Saoane, General Motors
- By offering a car for each income bracket, he could reach a larger audience
- The Organised Creation of Dissatisfaction was the wanting of customers to buy a new model every year which would be based on what add ons were on the car rather than the reliability
Ikea Brand in Fight Club
Ikea Advertisements
-The one company who would optimise cheap, throw away goods in a designer lifestyle consumption was IKEA
- The film Fight Club singled out the brand as being the one that the anti-hero wanted to fill his home with showing how consumerism had took over his life
- Adverts got the British public to buy into the home style revolution using the connection we get emotionally to objects and making us challenge it to change their home
- Took something that you would see as a big ticket purchase and made it essentially the same as purchasing a packet of crisps
Hysteria surrounding Consumerism
- News captured the mass hysteria showing the frenzy when rioting
- The targeted goods highlights the goods which are the most important
iPhone Hysteria
- Never ending, perpetual upgrading
- Since the introduction of the first iPhone, there has been 7 generations
- The pressure to upgrade intensifies with each new launch, making our current Apple product out of date and obsolete
- Is it great design or relentless desire for profit that drives an upgrade?
- 'If you look at each one, there isn't anything different about each one' - Dan Crowe, Apple Product Designer- Guilty of making us want to change the product even though we dont need to
- Apple adverts for iPod using the silhouettes made it universally appeal
War against Apple
- Apple's Dirty Secret campaign- statement of Apple batteries not lasting more than 18 months
- i- Fix it Collective- tear apart technology in order to learn how to fix it themselves
- ' As a consumer, you shouldn't have to know why the product is better' - Bret Adams, Apple tech analyst
- We have reached the pinnacle of mobile phone obsolesce
- As technology develops, upgrading will become the norm
- Technology must keep changing to fulfil demand
Notes on Documentary
The second documentary focused on the ways that companies will use subtle ways to exploit our fears and insecurities to get us to spend.
- 'I relieve the fear. I relieve the anxiety. I open the door to a new life. A better life.' -Dr. David Sister
- Tactic to see cosmetic surgery- tap into the fear and provide a solution
- psychologists experiment with measuring brain activity when watching advertisements
- People are motivated by the loss of something rather than the gain of something- The anxiety of feeling high consequence of not taking action
Creating a story in Adverts
- Dr. Catherine Rapai, psychologist to brands for 30 years, has turned fear into a lucrative business
- Believes that a primal drive always dictates our choices. Clients get him to dictate which would be the best way of targeting
- 'Advertising is based on happiness and happiness is freedom of fear'
- You create anxiety in the audience, tell them something they don't know that isn't good and provide a magic solution
- Google Chrome ads- moral of the story, you wont be safe from the fear unless you have this product in your life
Pharmaceutical application of psychology
- Stanley Ressle taught professionals how to add psychology to adverts
- First applied theories to mouthwash snd the social connection of having bad breath as a social killer
- Henry Gladstone didn't like the fact that he could only sell to the sick
- Needed to get us all into thinking we are chronically ill and in need of the relief they provided
Fear of being sub-standard
- People are afraid of being less than normal or sub-standard
- Hearing a name for a condition open up a channel of communication with the doctor and medication takes away the terror
- Statins for Heart Disease with lower cholesterol- fear mentality is making it being over prescribed
- Bob Airlik was behind powerful Lipitor campaign- cholesterol was seen as something that customers needed to try and lower. The more educated they are, the more likely they will take action
- Customers only remember one thing about an advert so it needs to be hard hitting and emotive
Anxiety of Hygiene
- Henry Gladstone wanted to sell the anxiety of hygiene as no one is immune from risk
- Use of the word anti-bacterial to get rid of the word germ
- Carex targeted to create a climate of hygiene fear which evolves the need to stay clean and healthy
- Appeals to the natural human emotion of disgust and need for purification
Vitamin Water
- Food industry wanted to provide us with a additional commodities rather than just a balanced diet
- Vitamin Water brand- carefully coloured packaging and carefully name product flavours to appeal to good health
- A product people will reach out to everyday and feel that they are protecting themselves from illness
Praying of life anxieties
- Praying on the ultimate anxiety- Life itself
- Brain Training Game- Plays on the need to keep your wits and brain usage when older by adopting the need to stimulate and keep you young
- Ant Aging Industry trades in the fear of death- a seductive and lucrative business by playing on our anxiety
- Spending is not rooted in aspiration but rooted in fear
- Always will be new anxieties for us to buy solutions
Notes on Documentary
The third documentary looks at how children and how they go onto targeting adults, either through the children themselves or through appealing to our inner child.
- Open to selling and impulsive to buying, children have unique access to the family purse so businesses have learnt to sell through fun and play
- Key to creating a character to appeal to the very young which you can sell thousands of products of
- Dr. Alison Bryne says how vital for the industry to target brands for children
- Characters increase the price on something by 50% known as licensing which can 'make or break a product'
- This was first done by Barbie where parents were persuaded to buy for the children
Star Wars
- Star Wars helped turn children into consumers- there had never been a successfully franchised movie until then
- Created a toy franchise before the film was produced
- Small scale toys were sold cheaply so that children wanted the large scale model for ships and machines to play with. Marketing for dolls was to 'collect them all'
- Through Star Wars, they learnt they could sell merchandise to adults as well as children
Licensing of Characters
- Invention of the colour TV- Professor Benjamin Barber saw the TV as a gateway of getting directly to children
- Toy makers wanted to make a toy and then add a story to sell them, like Star Wars did
- 'We trained a generation of children to think 'There's got to be product, there's got to be toys'- Paul Kernit
- Backstory would be produced to give the toys real purpose due to the toy lines fixed nature
- Licensing became a necessity to feed demand
Mattel created He Man, a 65 seires animation to accompany toys which was 'hugely commercial'
Nickelodeon
- Through children- specific TV channels- there was a way to get through to children with volume and frequency
- Research by Nickelodeon found that children tended to watch TV alone and that they influenced everything that thier parents bought
- Children seen as a Trojen horse to get to the parent and manufacturers started designing for children's wants
- Childs market had untold influence and was an untapped source of martketing
Channeling the Inner Child
- Early 90's, businesses started to consumers to channel thier inner child by having fun and spending money
- Child and adult were swapping places as seen in the movie 'Big'
- We are encouraged o indulge the inner child in us
Comic Con
- Comic Con- manufacturers see an opportunity to make profits from play
- ' In every man, there is still a boy left as a man never truely grows up'
- Bounderies seperating children and adults are invisible and both get pleasure from the same purchases- now children and adults want the same thing
The Gaming Industry
- Gaming was once seen as something just children did but now adults do it too
- The gaming industry has had to find material for games that will appeal to all ages and audiences
- Consoles have been developed to become more darker and violent, such as first person shooters instead of the traditional cartoon style games but more tailored towards males
- Nintendo Wii was made with lots of activities, easy to use and put the console back in the living room as it can be used by all ages whatever gender
- Neopets- simple yet compulsive game which created 'Stickiness' where people need to spend all of their time or stay on the site
- Brands will advertise on their website through Immersive Advertising- making mini games or including product placement
- Developers soon realised that they would get people playing for longer by including challenges to get rewards
Gamification
- Use of Intrinsic Reinforcement- when your brain is challenged and you achieve what you want released dopamine so people want to do it more
- 'If they could apply this to shopping, using rewards and achievements then we could spend more' -Gabe Zickermann
- Example: McDonalds Monopoly promotion which makes 3% more sales in the US alone
-The trouble with adult consumers is that they think too much'- Gabe Zickermann
Purchasing
- The greatest enabler of instant gratification is 'the magic bullet' the credit card
- We feel discomfort when we hand over cash so we are more likely to think of what we spend whereas we are likely to spend 100% more money by paying with card
- Film 'Confessions of a Shopaholic' reflects how our spending habits are out of control
- Plays to the tendency that our future will be fine
- Our attitude has infantised our approach to money
- Birth of Paypal- speedy and secure way of spending money at any time of day which 'takes away any phases where there may be any doubt about the purchase'
Notes on Documentary
I found the 'Men Who Made Us Spend' documentary series incredibly interesting as it gave me a lot of background information as well as a lot of different avenues and case studies as to how psychology is applied to adverts and branding. It opened my eyes to how there is lots of varying sectors, some you wouldn't even consider, such as pharmaceutical, that use psychology and marketing techniques to target us.
At the end of the documentaries, there was a website suggestion which would show the different ways in which businesses would influence and target our spending. It took 5 different shopping scenarios and showed the ways in which each one would target different aspects of our psyche to benefit them and make us want to spend money.
The use of the senses is strong in the supermarket, by venting smells so that it follows us and tempts us throughout the store, especially stuff that is seen as fresh, like produce and bread. By naming some of their products after place names, it give the impression that the food is natural and organic so we don't feel guilty buying it despite the fact that this is not probably the case. The way that the store is laid out makes an impression onto spending power, with smaller low-cost impulse buys at the till points at eye level to encourage children influence whilst having staple food stuff, like milk and bread, near the back of the store so you have to walk all the way through the shop seeing the rest of the items. By putting offers and deals at the front of the store, they are used to entice you inside and will use signs to catch the eye of the consumer. Signs make us more likely to impulse buy rather than allow us to think about the purchase before doing it. Moving around the shop using a large trolley makes it look like we haven't purchased many items so we are more likely to add more and more items as you go. By using music within the store, it gives an atmosphere of being relaxed and calming so the consumer lets their guard down.
Clothing Boutique
The connection between the shopper and the shop comes into contact through shop assistants, talking to the consumer and discussing the product knowledge and spending time with the consumer, making them feel like they are investing themselves with the consumers product choice with them. Not just this, but the way that shop assistants present themselves by wearing the clothing available in the store gives a clear message as to the shops brand. The atmosphere of the shop gives the boutique a personality of which to sell the product, such as being dressed in comfy furniture that gives the impression of having a relaxing atmosphere. Natural lighting will be used in the changing rooms to give a flattering, natural tone and low volume music to target the consumer demographic.
Coffee Shop
Coffee shops want to give the feel like they are a home from home, somewhere where the customer can relax with soft coach style seating and an intimate setting whilst including harder seating to get a faster turn over of people into the shop. Consumers are encouraged to stay loyal to the brand through loyalty cards and schemes and, by giving your information for this feature, you can be bombarded to get special offers, keeping the brand in the forefront of the consumers mind. Coffee Shops are seen as a place of work when away from home or out of the office with table space and internet access. The smells of the shop wafting out into the street and the constant noise of people coming and going gives the impression of the coffee shop being 'the place to be' with classical music giving a sophisticated appeal. Through the selling of the shop itself, you can brand the shop through details and selling the shops own products so that you can continue to connect to the brand from home.
Looking at these different shops, I liked the sound of how atmospherics is used to encourage and influence our spending. In particular, I found the coffee shop interesting because I frequent these often as well as the supermarket from personal experience of me working in a supermarket.
Looking into atmospherics, I looked into a book about shopping which discussed many varying aspects about the merchandising and retail space design.
Creating Atmospherics Danziger,
P. M. (2006) ‘Shopping: Why we love it and how retailers can create the
ultimate customer experience’ USA: Kaplan Publishing
In Danziger's book, she gives detailed comments on how shops lay out their stores and the way it reaches out to customers in the retails tore setting to encourage spending. Also, it gave examples of different stores and how they present their service to the public, such as Apple and the genius bar.
I found the application and the way that atmospherics are cleverly used against us to be very fascinating and should be something that I include when talking about consumer desire.
To look more into coffee shops, I remembered watching a documentary a few months previously on coffee shops in the UK.
This documentary talks about the industry of coffee shops, looking at Starbucks, Costa and Cafe Nero as the main 3 in the UK. It discusses the brand identities, the store layouts and atmospheres as well as how they advertise themselves in the UK and how our spending habits and attitude to coffee shops have changed from their introduction into our society.
I really liked the insight that the documentary gives on the branding side of the business and how they know what they are trying to appeal to psychologically to the consumer. I felt this would be really interesting to try and implement as a practical project.
At this point, we had to give another presentation as to the direction we had taken for the dissertation (See COP Blog Post). After the presentation, I was suggested to watch the documentaries 'The Great Movie Ever Sold' and 'The Century of the Self' as part of my research.
I couldn't find a full version of 'The Great Movie Ever Sold' but I did manage to find a TED talk by Morgan Spurlock on the film concept itself. During his talk, I made notes on what he was talking about.
Spurlock talked about how the talk was an experiment as he gave the opportunity for a company to buy the rights for the name of his talk. This was to put into practice in real time the concept of the documentary which was made to see if he could do a film which was purely sponsor and brand-funded. He spoke about how it was important how you expressed your brand and the message that you are trying to get across, as most companies will avoid fear and turn it into a positive. Ending with the idea that we should all embrace risk, embrace fear and embrace transparency.
I felt that the talk was interesting as it showed the importance and emphasis brands and businesses put onto their connection with the consumer and the price of their reputation. This, I felt would be an interesting direction to look at in the future.
The second documentary I was told to look at was Century of the Self series yet I felt like the whole series wouldn't be completely relevant due to the content of the documentaries. The one that stood out for me was the first episode as it looked to the origins of the transformation of our spending habits.
‘Century of the Self’ (2002) Richard Curtis
[Film Series] BBC Available from
Bernays Torches of Freedom Freud Theory Application
- Bernays was part of the team for president Woodrow Wilson for his winning brand during World War One and felt that propaganda could be used in peace times as well as war
- Applied the theories of uncle Freud to a cigarette brand Lucky Strike, organising a mass promotional march of women smoking
- Targeted a new audience of smokers and made the amount of money rise
Endorsements and Promotion of products
- The shifting from a needs to a desires culture manufactured by the propagandists and companies really changed how we are as a society
- Instead of buying stuff because you need them, companies encouraged people to buy to explore there own identity
- The inclusion of celebrity endorsements and promotional events for products in store as well as in publications
Political Application
- Stock Market Boom- Bernays encouraging people to buy shares in banks he represented
- Went into politics- badly represented president needed better publicity
- Bernays treated it like a product- got 34 different celebrities to visit the White House and ended up on the front page of every newspaper
Unconscious Primitive Desires in Groups
- Freud was having a bad experience in Berlin due to the economic downturn
- Bernays published Freud books in America as being controversial which were soon accepted theories
- Offering to publish an article in Cosmopolitan magazine about women's place at home and this disgusted him
- Began to become jaded by humans and started focusing on group behaviours
- Discussed the hidden primitive desires of groups and how this could overthrow democracy- there needed to be a new elite who could control 'the bewildered herd'
Need to control the Masses
- Bernays stated that he could control these desires by applying them to products and sating them with desires for the mass market
- He wrote a series of books in order to promote himself whilst doing this and called it the engineering of consent
- President Hoover agreed that consumerism had become the central motor of American life- calling the change in people constantly moving 'Happiness Machines'
- Needed to create a society which was happy and docile so that they could control the masses
Stock Exchange Crash
- Bernays became rich from his
- Stock Exchange of 1929 crash means that everyone tried to sell furiously, creating a disastrous effect on the economy and stopped the Consumer Desire spending boom.
- Freud writes Civilisation and its Discontents- the ideal of individual freedom was impossible. - Humans could never truly express themselves because it was too dangerous so they will always be discontent.
- Nazism disagreed with the selfish need for democracy and said in their policies that they would get rid of it due to the greed it led to.
Controlled Desires by Nazism
- When elected, Nazis went onto controlling the public in a new way
- Nazis did not see this at autocratic but a new alternative to democracy where desires would be controlled in a new way which would bring the nation together
- Organising the massive rallies which had been influenced by Bernays writings in America
- Nazism became the epitome of the irrational forces taking hold
How to control the masses
- Roosevelt believed that people were rational and could take an active part in government
- George Gallagher, social analysts, looked at getting people to take part in his experiments
- Asking people's opinions by asking strictly factual questions and believed people could be trusted to know what they wanted without manipulating their emotions
- Businesses wanted to fight back and get the power back into public relations
- General Motors and Bernays The Worlds Fair exhibition housing the 'Democracity Dome' showing how it was the businesses and not the politicians that had brought the country prosperity in the first place and how it would again
- A capitalist society which could achieve anything. Consumerism and Capitalism went together, appealing to peoples desires how politicians couldn't.
Notes on the Documentary
The episode 'Happiness Machines' seemed the most relevant to my topic of consumerism and desire so I decided to watch that episode. It gave a lot of historical and social context as to the effect that Edward Bernays had on the way that consumers were targeted. His application of Freud's theories of the psychological subconscious in the Lucky Strike Torches of Freedom campaign was unusual at the time but opened up a whole new world of approaches. The shifting from a needs to a desires culture manufactured by the propagandists and companies really changed how we are as a society and found this documentary very good for giving me some context as to why this happened in the first place.
Freud's book 'Civilisation and its Discontents' was mentioned in the documentary and I felt this would be a great place to look for some more context.
Freud Discontent of the Masses Freud,
S. (1930) ‘Civilization and Its Discontents’ 2nd ed., London:
Penguin Books
I went through the book and underlined the key text of interest, with chapter 2 being the main place if interest as this is where Freud spoke about the comparison between the the rational and the irrational desires and how we feel we must respond to them due to how we have been conditioned by society. The tension between the individual and society, as documented in the Century of the Self episode, has led to a society which has put mass safety before the wants for the individual.
Having read the original theories, I decided to read Bernays Propaganda book to see how he talks about, in his own words, the way he targets and applies his work.
Bernays Talking about AudienceBernays,
E. (2005) ‘Propaganda’, 3rd ed., New York: Ig Publishing
Again, I went along and underlined the areas that explained the way Bernays talks about targeting the audience. What came across was the tone of voice that Bernays used to describe him and other public relations officials as it came across as very self-righteous, particularly when describing the effect they have on the public's decisions. What was paramount was the way that he discussed the connection to the emotion that is purposefully targeted. Not only this but emphasises the use of leaders to influence into buying into the product.
From the second tutorial, I was told to look more at branding and I found the book by Wally Olins on branding.
Olins on Brands Relationship with Consumers Olins,
W. (2004) ‘On Brands’, 2nd ed., London: Thames & Hudson
In Chapter 2, Olins looks at how brands try to connect to the audience, talking about how consumers connect to the brand by applying it to their identity, connecting them to other like-mided people though the brand. This is a connection that I hadn't considered before and is a very valid point, which would make for a very good angle which would be different, looking at the positive aspects of branding.
Naomi Klein's comments of Identity and BrandKlein,
N. (2005) ‘No Logo’ London: Harper Perennial
After the connection brought up by Olins, I felt it was important to find a different angle to how brands target the consumers identity. Naomi Klein gives a much more negative opinion to the manipulation of the consumer and the place that individual identity has been over-run and taken over by brand identities.
From the third tutorial, I felt it was a good idea to work on expanding on the comments of talking about the ego and the id and Freud's theories on the two separate entities of the mind.
Freud Ego and Id Freud,
S. (1920) ‘Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Other Writings’ London: Penguin
Books
Freud discusses the two areas of the rational and primitive thoughts that he calls the id and the ego, with one being the considerate thoughtful aspect of the mind and the other is irrational and impulsive, which makes it dangerous and destructive. This gives much more detail as to why people act how they do and how effective it was of Bernays to consider playing these two elements of the consciousness together.
From the last crit, It was recommended that, if I am talking about desire, I should include some Lacan.
Lacan on Desire Lemaire,
A (1977) ‘Jacques Lacan’ London: Routledge
Lacan believed that we had been deprived unconsciously of what we want the most which is the desire of another human being. Especially with this being one of the basic human desires of all, it is the most ultimate in the way that we respond to anything with helps or effects our attempts at fulfilling it.
