You Won't Probably Buy This!

One of the most famous quotes in the advertising industry is “people buy emotions” or in other words, people decide with their feelings. Thus, we are told to activate these neural impulses. So we make ads promoting this idea and in the process, we condition the consumers to make purchases or decisions driven by emotions.

Fast forward to 2020, the world becomes increasingly frustrating:

We see public officials elected by riding on people’s feelings.

Masses hoard grocery items (in the midst of a crisis) out of emotions.

Social media becomes a dump site of emotions.

And people trash historical facts and settle with perception.

In short, we are witnessing the gradual downfall of nations due to the fact that people value feelings more than truth and reason.

But isn’t that ironic? We make ads promoting the “follow your heart” ideology.

Yet we get annoyed when people become unruly and simply follow their emotions.

Dear industry friends, I would like to remind you of an alternative; people can also buy using logic and reason. It’s not a very popular advertising quote, not a hot topic on international festivals, and not a featured article on industry publications. But dear colleagues, it is the truth. Yes, it’s a slow-burn. But now more than ever, we understand that it’s worth it. After all, we are communicators and not enchanters. We are trained to refuse the easy way out.

So perhaps that means we should encourage rather than manipulate the consumers.

Because in encouragement, we activate the mind. While in manipulation, we direct emotions.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying feelings are bad. Not at all! But maybe we can use emotions as chariots that lead the people to logical decisions. Instead of using logic to lead people to an emotional purchase. Ika nga sa tagalog, hindi tayo budul-budol gang.

Let our current situation be an eye-opener to all of us. It’s time we recognize our unconscious participation in creating these emotionally-driven monsters we call consumers.

All the signs suggest that after the pandemic, we will see resets in society.

Maybe the advertising industry’s ideology, style, and motivation should also be calibrated, don’t you think so?