Psychologist Tom Guarriello says most people deny that ads and brands influence them, even though evidence shows advertising shapes choices. He explores why this denial runs so deep, linking it to fear that advertising threatens personal autonomy.
Well, hey guys, it's Tom Guarriello. You know, in the almost 20 years now that I've been working as a psychology in business and industries, a lot of things have fascinated me about what I found compared to what I found working as a clinician. But one of the most interesting things that I found is this resistance that we all have to accepting the impact of advertising and of brands on our own decision-making and on our lives, really. Let me tell you what I mean. You know, most of us believe and believe fervently that we ourselves are not affected by advertising and that brands don't play a particularly important role in our own lives. We think, many of us, that we are— it's as if we are immune to the impact of advertising and branding. And yet, the irrefutable evidence is that advertising has a tremendous effect on our decision-making and that brands play a tremendous role in our lives. Now, so it's always been intriguing to me Why? What is it that makes us react so strongly to the effect of advertising and branding? Now, I think part of it is that notion that we all experience somehow when we think about advertising, that advertising is manipulation, and that we are being subtly, sometimes even in, you know, those kind of unknowable kinds of ways, tricked into buying, into being affected by the ads. And that we don't like that. It feels as if part of our own lives are being removed from our own control, and that the control of our minds is being taken over by these evil advertisers who are somehow figuring out all of these tricks to use to influence us, to get us to buy things we don't want to buy. I experienced that. I think we all experience that, that sense that, you know, there's some kind of subliminal, some sort of something going on here that's designed to manipulate our minds. So, um, so therefore, when we think about advertising and we think about brands, we often react with this highly negative kind of reaction. And we don't want anything to do with it. And we react very, you know, indignantly. If we say to somebody, you know, whether you believe it or not, you know, you really are affected by these ads, people get very adamant and they're, "Not me! I don't care about any of that stuff. It has no effect on me whatsoever." Well, obviously, I'm interested in your thoughts about advertising and about brands and what kind of influence influence you believe advertising and branding has on your life, on your decisions, on the things that you surround yourself with every day. And if you don't believe that you are affected by advertising and branding, what is it about advertising and about branding that makes you feel as if you aren't affected? Other people might be, but you aren't. So, Now, in a follow-up video to this one, I'm going to take a look at a— one single brand, and I'm gonna just sort of think out loud about this brand and about some material that this brand has created and talk about what I think the messages are that this brand is conveying through a piece of marketing material, a catalog that they've produced. So, looking forward to your thoughts, as always. Um, so take care and see you again soon. Bye-bye.
