,The tendency for women to gossip or talk about the small issues affecting their lives and families has been manipulated by the media in many ways – one only has to glance briefly at a shelf full of women’s magazine, watch 5 minutes of tv advertising or, if one can bear it, a half hour soap opera to see just how perniciously the media pursues the female psyche, manipulating her thoughts, appealing to her emotions and generally pulling her into a glooey mass of contrived product placement. Little wonder one hears erroneous phrases like ‘shop til I drop’ or ‘retail therapy’ being uttered to justify the outcome of all this marketing: the advertisers are manipulating the female into a state of emotional confusion, specifically designed to sell more handbags, more shoes, more make-up and so on…
The Hidden Persuaders, by Vance Packard (published in 1957 - over 60 years ago!) had an enormous impact on me. And even with that information available, how marketing targets our emotions, they are still at it. Because, sadly, it works.
But it brings up a funny memory. Shopping with my mother in the soup aisle and seeing Campbell's Tomato soup with a special offer - buy so many cans and get a free pair of nylons! Even as a child my reaction was "Soup and feet? Yuck!" Packard uses that example of a campaign that went terribly wrong. :-}