Consumer Psychology

I believe consumer psychology is driven by our basic needs as human beings. We are easily persuaded to buy things due to our desire to “fit in” and belong. We are social beings that seek meaning and purpose from our communities. If advertisers gain control of a culture, then they can easily persuade the members of that culture to buy particular products and services. Based on the materials reviewed for this week’s activities, it appears that advertisers see consumers as money machines that happen to have feelings and emotions that can be manipulated so they can be persuaded to buy a particular product, or service. In the field of marketing a brand manager's job is to create meaning for people (The Persuaders, 2004).

According to The Persuaders (2004), people flock to brands for some of the same reasons that they flock to cults. They want to identify with some sort of collective belonging and meaning. It is for this reason that I found the information contained in the Cool Hunters video so scary. According to Maslow's Hierarchy of needs it is not until we are rooted in a community that we begin to develop a sense of self esteem (Maslow, 1970). While there are many who may disagree with this, I do believe that the need to "fit in" and belong is a desire so strong in human beings that it has a great impact on our choices and behavior.

Advertisers know this, so they create advertising that speaks to our deepest needs and desires to persuade us to buy. For example, in The Cool Hunters (2001) there was an attempt to conduct an ethnographic study of "John" who was supposed to be representative of the typical teenage male. It was mentioned that the ultimate goal was not to understand John as a person, but a customer. They wanted to discover John's wants and needs in an attempt to capitalize on them for profit.

To me, there is nothing about our psychology as consumers that can be differentiated from our normal thought processes. We have distinct needs and insecurities that can be exploited by those who know how to persuade. Since advertisers know what makes us tick as humans on a basic level, it is easy for them to manipulate us in order to keep the money machine going.

Cool Hunters, 2001
The Persuaders, 2004
Maslow, A. H. (1970). Motivation and Personality, 2nd. Ed., New York, Harper & Row.