Hi Todd,

Yes, I had to do psychology as part of my advertising qualification.

Without applied psychology addressing hidden wants and needs, products and
services are just stuff.

This leads to less satisfaction and less pleasure.

From the earliest days, there has been a need for magic, the merging of
psychology and marketing attaches extra magical dimensions to purchases.

It is sad though that with so many images, one can't be sure what is real
and much which seems real isn't. Also reality often does not live
up to the images.

This could be behind many family breakdowns.

The other issue was people buying what they don't need. One response is
that most people learn you don't have to have what you want.

Another answer is, perhaps useless purchases make people feel better at
little cost, the less well off need some magic.

Products like like wet wipes, raisons in titchy boxes and bags of
funsized chocolate bars seem to be bought by those who can ill afford them
which is another issue.

Perhaps morality is related to percentage of income taken up.

John


>While in undergrad school I had started on a minor I never did finish,
>psychology. Now looking back I've come to realize that someone with
>marketing and psychology related experience could become the person who
>sells refigerators to eskimos, to not avoid cliche's like the plague.
>However ethical questions come into play at this level also. We are already
>being accused of "manipulating" people to buy things they don't need and
>just about every other conceivable plague that could be brought about by
>marketeers, for further evidence of this just read Dilbert.. :-) I ask, are
>we responsible for people's weak will and financial unstability? I sit and
>ponder this question often because of such ads as Keds and those that really
>pull at your heart string. Heck I'm not even a woman and after seeing the
>Keds commercial
>*I* wanted a pair! Marketing + Psychology = ? (possible answers are a potent
> salesperson, an advertiser who knows what people want, etc.) Do you think
>this is wrong?
<