Is advertising becoming more manipulative?

By Mrunmay Mehta & Rohit Hanjura, MBA II Mktg

“Most advertising tends to be”, Edward Kosner once said, "a trailing indicator of popular culture".
This might have been true 30 years ago, but the scene today is different. Advertising is actually CREATING culture(s) and is more and more targeted at changing the basic psyche of the target customers.

Let’s define advertising right away. According to Philip Kotler, “Advertising is any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.”

Ads thus serve some standard purposes like:
• Advertising differentiates products
• Advertising communicates information about the product, its price and location of scale
• Advertising induces customers to try new things and induces reuse
• Ads stimulate distribution of the product
• Ads increase product use
• Ads build brands preference, value and loyalty
• Ads decrease overall cost of sale etc.
For understanding how ads influence consumer choice, it is imperative to understand the phenomenon of needs, wants and demands.
To understand the importance and structure of needs, Maslow’s framework can be used, as shown. However, Maslows’ theory has a major drawback; as today most physiological needs are already satisfied. A better idea of consumer mindset can be obtained by McClelland’s Trio Need Theory, also shown above.

Once, this is established, let’s understand the reasons why ads have adopted the
“emotional manipulation path” for ensuring brand success.

Changes in nature of Needs
“Advertising is found in societies which have passed the point of satisfying basic animalneeds.” - Marion Harper Jr.
Today, most basic physiological needs are satisfied amongst the most common target audiences for advertising. Thus, the “need” behind consumption is most often NOT basic.

Also, the higher order needs are increasingly becoming more “basic” in nature amongst common TGs (Target Groups). Even the basic needs are used as a vehicle to address higher needs. E.g Food can range from a simple off-the-road burger, to an expensive Subway sandwich. What it does is, use “food” not only to satisfy hunger, but also certain other “higher” needs related to social class consciousness or ego. The functional utility remains the same.

These higher needs are more emotional or behavioral in nature, as the basic needs are mostly similar at the core. Thus, the manner in which these new needs can be addressed have changed for marketers.

Effect of too many choices available to consumers:
With the shift from basic needs, it is also observed that the choice available to consumers has grown exponentially. Where few choices suffice, the consumer is faced with a frightening array of options. This makes an essentially simple decision process unnecessarily complex, as the consumer now has to think subconsciously before makingevery decision. Emotional ads provide the right vehicle to deliver the brand-payload right where it strikes the most – in the consumers psyche, in their self image, in their confidence etc. This is exactly what has compelled marketers to resort to manipulative advertising.

Effect of changing nature of offerings from marketers and a hypercluttered
market-space:
Today, most offerings are not unique. Their USP is not sufficiently different from the next me-too product. Competing products are increasingly more similar in their functional attributes. Thus, the positioning has moved from the functional plane to the emotional/intangible plane. This increasing product commoditization has seen marketers running for cover under advertising and non-functional positioning. In fact, not only are products getting common, even product categories are becoming “commoditized”. Companies no longer have a sustainable competitive advantage in the functional difference of their offering. The next company follows suit in an astoundingly short time frame, thus destroying the first mover advantage.

However, if the first company succeeds to place its offerings by changing the attitude of the consumer towards its offering itself, it gains an upper hand. Advertising is increasingly being used as the sole differentiator in a plethora of me-too offerings, as functional differentiation is no longer a position of advantage.

Also, newer categories are being created to shift from a cluttered market (Blue Ocean Strategy et al). However, how does one create new categories? There must be a need from the customers to create such a position. THIS is done through subtle/blatant advertising, by changing consumers’ wants into needs (Teenagers-“But Dad! I NEED that mobile handset.) or by creating entirely new needs (Indian women had been doing quite well even before they were educated by HLL-quite blatantly- that dark skin was a detrimental factor in their careers for success, and that Fair & Lovely is a dusky woman’sbest friend.)

All this has led to an increasing number of ads taking the “manipulation” route to reaching into the consumers’ normative buying behavior.

Effect of changing communication environment:
The communication scenario in today’s world has also radically changed. This has resulted in a fundamental shift in consumer behavior. In the words of Schwartz (1973) “Most important, this characteristic of the new environment eliminates the time between receiving information and responding to it. People do not think out decisions.” This acts a cue for advertisers, and thus the one who manages to be a part of the consumers selfimage itself, wins hands down.

Ads also have thus departed from promoting solutions to the “basic” needs to the “emotional” needs in an attempt to keep pace with the changing consumer psychology. According to Dr. Sandage (1951), "We live in an economy which is dependent upon the psychological needs and wants of the consumer".

Changing role of advertising:
Our hypothesis is that indeed ads have been increasingly using methods to manipulate customer’s behavior. The evolution of the role of advertising (from the initial organized ads in the 1840s) in the consumer buying decision process is captured in the scale shown below.

To illustrate the changing role of advertisements, we have some examples in each broad category, which are present today in the Ad-space.

• Informative: Ads of computer brands like Lenovo focusing on the physical
attributes of the product.
• Impressive: Ads of Sonata focusing on impressing the consumer and peers
• Influencing: Ads featuring celebrities endorsing a product. E.g. the Parker ad
showing Mr. Bacchan and driving the fact that if Mr. Bachhan uses Parker so should you.
• Persuasive: Ads on the theme of Pester Power, i.e. targeting the kids in the
family who are a major source of influence in buying decisions. For example,
Maruti Esteem ad with the tag line “My Dad’s Big Car”
• Manipulative: Ads in this category can be divided into two sub categoriespositive or negative. An example of positive manipulation is ad of Pepsodent trying to inculcate the habit of brushing teeth in the night. An example of negative manipulation could be an ad of Rexona deodorant wherein a college boy is shown as a smelly goat since he does not use the Rexona deodorant.
• Brainwash: This is more on the lines of Pavlov’s conditioning experiment,
where unconditioned stimuli cause a conditioned response through psychological manipulation. They differ from manipulative ads in degree of intensity and frequency of administration on TG. Is this the dark future of manipulative ads?

So how would one describe “Manipulative ads”?
“Some elements of such ads are designed to influence consumers without consumers having any possibility of rejecting that information.”

“Advertising is a negative influence when it dictates what an individual should do, rather than just inform or persuade a consumer about a product.” – Dr. Sandage.

At present, manipulative advertising seems to simply represent poor ethical standards and lack of consideration for members of the public. In future, with the development of new technologies, it may become more effective, more manipulative and more difficult to detect.

This question of manipulation by ads can be viewed from different angles. The question is-WHO or WHAT is being manipulated. On a very mundane level, consumer behavior is being manipulated through some advertisements. This too can be classified into positive and negative manipulation.

Positive Manipulation: In layman terms, these are ads that carry the message “If you do this/buy this, then you will achieve XYZ benefits.” This may actually lead to betterment in the lifestyle/personality/psychology of the target. The absence or non-use of the offering does not hamper the target in any way, and this is not suggested in the communication. Thus, ads of products like Dettol actually benefit the target with the inculcation of cleanliness as a regular habit. This ensures that the target’s manipulation can only result in betterment, and not in feelings of inferiority.

Negative Manipulation: These would go to suggest that if some product is not purchased, then the target chances the risk of non acceptance, or unsuccessfulness, or some kind of negative repercussion. These brink on the edge of using fear psychosis to induce people to purchase the offering. Worse, these actually may alter the ego/personality or confidence levels of the target. E.g. The Fair and Lovely Ads clearly mention how a female will NOT succeed (in a field not even related to beauty) if she does not apply the product, while if she does, she achieves instant success (and can buy a coffee for her father). There is no proven correlation between the skin color (not comparing ethnic races, but within a homogenous market like India) and the chances of success of a female individual. These ads use more of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (Ref: Pavlov’s Experiment).

Studies have proven that such ads have an enormous influence on susceptible targets pecially youth and children. Thus, manipulative ads not only affect comparative buying behavior of the currently adult TG, but also form the normative behavior pattern of future consumers, by targeting kids today.

Role of advertising and sustenance of the global economy & society: A debate is emerging amongst the neo-economists about how advertising encourages high-level consumption and squandering of resources on the macro economic level. This assumes all the more importance when the sole differentiator amongst similar and superfluous offerings is only advertising. Thus, it is not about manipulating individuals, but also manipulating the entire economy. A special congregation of experts from the UNenvironmental program have mentioned in their report how sole reliance and success through advertising as the only differentiating element, can negatively affect e conomies, when the same resources can be spent for more constructive purposes. Thus, advertising is not only a marketing effort, but it also has a social responsibility to play, by encouraging “Sustainable Consumption” (First UNEP meeting, Paris 1999).

Also, the same manipulative ads that are used to advertise tobacco products and alcoholic beverages can be used for social causes using similar creativity and insights into consumer psychology and behavior. This puts a great responsibility on the shoulders of the modern advertising personnel.

Conclusion:
In today’s world, while purchasing a product, a consumer takes it for granted that the basic need-solution derived from that product will be satisfied (it’s a hygiene factor). So what is going to drive a consumer towards a product? What will it take to equate a brand with a common name? It’s whether his/her emotional and ego needs are going to be satisfied from the offering or not. So in order to influence his behavior for that offering, an ad has to necessarily appeal to (or manipulate) his/her emotional/irrational behavior.

Manipulative ads are here to stay for now. As markets get more and more cluttered in increasing number of categories, such ads are going to spill into many domains. With the burgeoning information overload, manipulative ads offer a good path for the marketer to ensure loyalty. However, this trend also shall die its death as NOT every product can participate in the consumer’s normative thinking process. Manipulative ads are NOT the ultimate panacea for all marketing needs, only a time-adapted solution in accordance with the current market-customer variable mix.

When every ad tries to manipulate customers’ behavior, a time will come when customers shall refuse to let every other marketer to mess around with his/her mind, and marketers will have to find a new method to ensure sustenance of the growth curve.

References:
1. Marketing Management, Phillip Kotler
2. Olson, Erik L. "How Magazine Articles Portrayed Advertising from 1900 to 1940" Journal of Advertising, 1995
3. www.ciadvertising.org
4. Changing face, by Ajita Shashidhar , The Hindu Business Line, 2004
5. “Can ads impact popular culture?”, Guest Column, O&M, www.rediff.com
6. “Advertising and Sustainable Consumption”, First Expert Meeting Report, UN environment programme, Paris 1999
7. “The Fall of Advertising and Rise of PR”, by Al Ries
8. www.wikipedia.org