So I am reading this book called Quirkology which basically details a bunch of weird and wonderful psychological tests that have been done by all sorts of institutions around the World.
It covers a real hotch-potch of things including how your name influences your life … why women should get men to write their personal ads … why incompetent politicians win elections … how our lives are shaped by when we are born … whether you can be born ‘lucky’ … etc etc.
However the thing I found the most interesting was that they proved the holy grail of advertising – subliminal communication – is a complete and utter myth.
Can you hear the execs at Omnicom, WPP and Publicis crying? Ha!
Anyway, I won’t go into the specifics except to say even the guy who discovered the supposed ‘phenomenon’ admits the concept is flawed … however this does highlight an interesting issue – mainly that society continues to believe there are ‘ultimate answers’ to the needs/wants/desires we have in life, despite in many cases, there being comprehensive proof this is not the case. [Though I do have to acknowledge in the case of ‘subliminal advertising’, there was supposed ‘facts’ to back the claims up, but that raises an issue best saved for another day]
Why do you reckon that is eh?
Laziness … Hope … Despair … Faith … Intellect …
And while you ponder that, are there any other advertising ‘facts’ that you feel are about as true as the Poodle story I detailed a while ago, ha! Come on … get angry …