Blog #4: Behaviorism in the Media

Marketing companies have figured out how to greatly influence their target audience using the appeal of emotions. It is wired in our genetics to attract a partner or mate, that is how the population grows and the human race continues to survive. During the caveman years, it’s speculated that man who could find the best cave, provide the best protection and kill enough meat was the man who was desired by women. In today’s world, the “ideal man” and “what women want” is constantly thrown around in media as a marketing tool. Men are sold body was and body spray not with tag lines that it masks body odor or smells great, but by women flocking to the man wearing the product. AXE Fallen Angel Commercial. Marketers use the use of negative emotions to sell a product. Instead of showing the positive qualities that could make a good mate/husband, companies decide to tell men how undesirable they are without their product.

Women are at no greater advantage. Media has historically told women the best ways to attract a man; whether it be hair and make up styles, cooking skills, fashion tips, or, as more recent magazines have resorted to, how to seduce a man, women have always been fed ways in which they can be a better, more attractive version of themselves. Cosmo Cover- January 2013. Women are also targeted by marketing companies through the usage of photoshop. Studies have found that women feel worse about themselves, and there for purchase more beauty products, when images of young, thin and beautiful models are used. However there is little awareness of this marketing tool, so women continue to compare themselves to unrealistic images of what the “ideal women” is.

In class we watched a clip on a society describing an almost utopian-like society. The peace in the community was achieved by changing the way the society operated and viewed different work and social situations; violence was essentially removed from the community. Could this same technique be applied to the marketing companies to diminish the negative emotions used to sell a product?