Advertising often relies on dirty tricks to push bad products. It doesn’t have to.
Using human quirks and blind spots to upsell insurance or make kids worry about their appearance is not what any of us in the industry want to do with our days, writes Warren Davies.
It’s no shock that much advertising is not only creative with the work but often with the truth as well. Booze doesn’t make you popular and attractive to the opposite sex (alas), The Big 4 banks don’t “live in our world” based on executive pay and record revenues. “Can” lives in Darling Point and Toorak. It’s true that it’s a fine line between persuasion and manipulation.
Hocking the wares fairly is well and good but we in the industry should be more circumspect around our methods and the products and services we leverage them for.
Two elements of the work our industry does that warrant deep reflection are the meta-communication taking place and application of behavioural economics in the service of dubious products and services.
