Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is one of my favorite branches of psychology. I agree with most of its critics, but the impact it had on psychology as a whole is unquestionable. Psychoanalysis has slowly crept into our lives over the last century and has had both positive and negative effects. The main way that I see psychoanalytic concepts at work today is in advertising. I watched a british documentary series called The Century of the Self that showed how many of Freud’s ideas came to shape modern advertising. An obvious way we can see this is through the sexualization of almost all advertising. You couldn’t possibly count how many commercials today rely on our primal urges, or the Id we’ll call it, to get awaken our desires. Another favorite tactic used is to play on ideas we have about ourselves and that we identify with. In America especially, this means marketing to our sense of individuality. I believe its Dr. Pepper who is running “Be You” and “Always One of a Kind” slogans right now. Just a perfect examples of marketing to an individualistic culture. This being my favorite area, I just think it’s a bit of a shame to see what the theories are being used for these days.