advertisers playing to happiness

advertisers today are smart people. before freud and bernays, companies would advertise the usefulness of their product only, and people would buy it if they needed it. however, bernays revolutionized the advertising market because he found that he and advertisers could make people THINK they needed things they had no use for. if they played to people's emotions, they could convince them they needed to have not just any purse, but a certain brand name purse. they could make people feel unsatisfied and unhappy if they didn't have a specific product.

global companies recognize this method of advertising today, and use it to their advantage. Coca cola, for example, has capitalized on the Christmas market. They have made themselves synonymous with Christmastime. If you drink a Coke around Christmas, you can be happy like those cute polar bears in their commercials. Jolly Santa drinks Coke, so you can be jolly when you drink Coke, too. The advertisers play to the consumers' happiness.

There has been much research on the new field of positive psychology. In short, it is a focus on the good things in life rather than the problems (explain this more, and talk about Seligman). Traditional psychology focuses on fixing problems in life and figuring out why people become mentally ill or disturbed. Until recently, nobody had really done much research into the happy individual. Now some psychologists are proponents of positive psychology, and claim that traditional psychological methods may be failing because they focus too much on negative aspects of life.

Advertisers, it seems, have taken this advice to heart. Mastercard ads, for example. They give a whole host of things that cost money. For example, there's one that aired in London that shows an arrivals gate at an airport and families, friends and lovers reuniting. While the loved ones are hugging, a caption at the bottom of the screen tells how much the flight tickets cost. At the end, though, it says, "Spending Christmas together: priceless." The screen Mastercard logo the appears, but only for a brief two seconds. This ad shows the viewer families and friends getting together and sharing a special moment. It can be hypothesized that this causes the viewer to think about his or her own family, especially around the holiday season. You'll notice that the ad wasn't about Mastercard until the very end. It was about reuniting and being happy in the arms of someone you love. It was playing to the viewers positive emotions. Mastercard has flipped the table; instead of being associated with money, they have now linked themselves with happy families. This is not to say that immediately following this ad, the viewer will apply for a Mastercard and start spending. Instead, the point I am making is that Mastercard has associated itself with happiness and joy. In the future, when faced with deciding between Mastercard and a competitor, a consumer may be influenced by the ad and go with Mastercard because of the positive, happy ad. Mastercard advertisers have used positive psychology to make the consumer happy while watching the ad, and therefore associate their product with satisfaction.