I’m writing this after gobbling down two plates of biryani (cut me some slack, I ran a 5K this morning).
My stomach’s more than full, eyelids are drooping down every five seconds from biryani-induced sleep – probably not the best time to talk about sex.
But I don’t give up that easy and that’s why I’m presenting you today’s ‘useful’ blog just like I promised in my previous blog.
Advertising employee or not, you’ve probably heard it a million times. SEX sells.
And every (wise) marketer uses it directly or indirectly to evoke emotions that make you shell out your hard-earned money and FEEL GOOD ABOUT IT too!
And no one’s to blame here, except for biology.
Let’s take a deeper dive into the psychology of it.
What are the three most important things that an average person can’t do without?
Food, shelter, and clothing.
And once the above said three necessities are taken care of, what do you think the average person goes looking after?
I can hear the answers popping up in your head loud and clear.
Is it something that we should be ashamed of? Not.
But let’s admit the fact that nature has wired us that way and if you’re in advertising or any other field which requires ‘persuasion’, you better take notes.
In his book ‘Spent: Sex, Evolution and Consumer Behavior’, Geoffrey Miller talks a lot about evolutionary psychology.
And he makes a valid argument – most of our buying decisions are based on attracting the opposite sex.
Confetti drop – it’s all a mating strategy.
Shock of your lifetime?
Please ring up a cosmetic industry or a gym franchise, I’ll wait.
And almost every product is marketed to you in such a way that it elevates you in some way or the other in the mating game.
Products and services marketed to men usually are promised to have ‘women-pulling’ ability and the ones marketed to women usually are promised to have ‘men-pulling’ abilities.
Remembering that old Axe ad, aren’t you :P
Some are direct and some aren’t – and it depends on various other factors like the image associated with the brand and the brand’s personality.
But the underlying truth remains and will remain the same forever – sex sells.
It doesn’t always sell. But it does sell.
Some of you might argue – ‘Sibi, what about a toothpaste? It’s just for my own oral hygiene!’
Cool. I agree. But let’s question why oral hygiene in the first place?
Do you think some hundred years back early men used colourful gels to clean their pearly whites before rummaging on that mammoth they killed?
As years pass, the way society evolves keeps changing as well and so does mating strategies.
Think about one of the Closeup ads. Like the one where the boy and girl are dangerously close while passing through a revolving door. Air's blown on the glass in a cutesy way. Hearts are drawn and all that fluff.
Most of them are written surrounding this primitive psychology.
But what about Colgate? Like the one where the mother is interested in her child’s oral health?
Good point. That’s what a customer sees. But the intention with which a copywriter might have written is – the incentive of appreciation from her husband (opposite sex) and the society for taking good care of the child’s oral health.
I agree that's subtle. But it's there.
Sometimes, an ad takes a peripheral aspect of sex like intimacy, love, fear, desire, happiness, and power to evoke emotions in a customer.
Because customers rarely buy something using logic. 99% of the time, it's an emotional response to a cleverly crafted emotional stimulant using words (copy) and visuals (art direction).
Get it?
There are exceptions as always. But that’s a discussion for another day.
Learning this a few years back was like entering the matrix for me.
Once you know this, the way you see, observe, and understand consumerism and marketing communication around you changes on a grand scale.
For the better or worse, it all depends on you.
Ciao. I feel like more biryani.
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