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1-Page Summary of Brandwashed

Overview

Don’t make hasty purchases after seeing a scary commercial. If you’re scared, you’ll probably act irrationally and buy the product being advertised.

Marketing is becoming more and more complicated. There are many secrets that marketers use to persuade people into buying their products, but it’s hard for the consumer to detect them. The author of Brandwashed wants people to be aware of these marketing techniques so they can make better purchasing decisions.

This book will teach you how companies try to trick you into buying their products. The author shows how advertisers exploit your psychological weaknesses so that while you think you’re making a rational decision, the company is actually directing your unconscious mind towards certain products.

By reading this article, you will get an understanding of how to avoid being duped by advertising. Knowing the tricks of the trade will help make your next shopping experience better.

You’ll also learn: why people can’t resist peer pressure, how best-seller lists are used to influence buying decisions, the reasons behind fear being a persuasive factor in marketing and advertising, the addictive nature of fatty foods like chocolate and cheese as well as lip gloss, and how some of your product choices were formed before you were born.

Big Idea #1: The products and brands children are exposed to when they’re young impact their preferences in adulthood.

Adults still purchase the same juices they drank when they were children. Why is that? It’s because of what we learned as kids. When we’re young, we’re exposed to many products and brands. We begin forming preferences for those brands even before we’re born—and these preferences stick with us into adulthood. For example, fetuses can hear sounds from the outside world while in the womb; if a mother likes a tune or commercial jingle, she will associate positive feelings with it and share those feelings with her baby. As adults, hearing such tunes will trigger good memories of our childhoods.

We are born and then the media bombards us with hundreds of brands. We see advertisements on TV, in video games, and on the Internet. In fact, a Nickelodeon study found that by the time we’re 10 years old we will have memorized 300–400 brands. Of these hundreds of brands, some will stick with us throughout our lives.

Children often develop relationships with brands because they believe that the products will help them to make friends. For example, one child in a 2009 study believed that he would be liked by other children if he had LEGO toys. Another reason for children’s preference for certain brands is that they think everything about their family life is normal. As a result, when it comes to purchasing items like orange juice, children are likely to choose the brand of orange juice their parents buy repeatedly.

As we grow older, we associate brands with good feelings. For example, the brand reminds us of a comfortable childhood home and that warm feeling you get from your family. That’s why people continue to buy those brands in adulthood.

In the following points, we’ll discuss several other factors that affect our behavior as consumers.

Big Idea #2: Fear can lead us to make irrational decisions.

1. Reading Comprehension:

Many people think that they enjoy being scared, but the truth is, they actually don’t.

However, that isn’t the same as true fear. When people are truly afraid, they do whatever they can to escape the threat.

Our Decisions are Often Irrational

The reason for this is that fear is a biological response to danger. Our brain makes us do things quickly when we’re in danger, so it’s our most important motivator.