What if ads were hiding dark secrets?
Advertisements: it seems as though no one can escape its’ persistent clutch. Regardless of how we try to avoid it, there is no denying the influence it plays in our lives, from irritating routine to nail biting interruption. But, what if advertisements are in fact hiding something DARK and SINISTER behind its’ flashy exterior? The results are shockingly apparent in the diatribe to come; there is simply no way that one can hide the truth behind advertisements after this. While my friends have been off touring the world and undertaking internships, I’ve been listlessly scrolling through hundreds of pages and stumbled upon a shocking pattern in the type of advertisements that kept on popping up. It is a bit long but I hope that you will read it to the end; it might save you from the snares that every Ad tries to throw at you.
Advertising is necessary, but some techniques used by companies are just downright evil, crossing boundaries of your privacy and using your data against you. This can be seen from the method of presentation by a vast majority of advertisements; if you notice, a significant amount of them survive on mostly the ‘shock value’ they themselves generate. And for those who believe that AdBlock is invulnerable at protecting you from advertisements, you are gravely mistaken; there are far more intricate workings behind these things than you could possibly fathom. I have seen the truth and so I shall show it to you; thus we may save ourselves from its theft of free will and not succumb to frivolous temptations subconsciously induced into us.
Let me break it down so that you can easily follow through. If you’ve noticed in advertisements, the first goal is grab your attention by using some imagery or presentation as click bait, once you catch on to it, they have got your attention even if it is for just a mere second. Then they try to lead you on with over dramatizing the situation and grabbing every bit of attention they can, using your curiosity against you. Once it’s got you hooked they start reeling you in, inducing familiarity or making statements that belittle you, dumbing down their approach so that anyone can understand.
But this is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to advertising, there are still shadier techniques employed. Notice how they force you to look at what they present, like how they say that “the 3rd one is SHOCKING” or “YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT YOU SEE”. Still don’t believe me? Try this trick out: when you are routinely droning your problems to your spouse, girlfriend/boyfriend or co-worker and you know they are beginning to drift off, just SNAP your fingers and notice how they suddenly are brought back to reality – a sudden contrasting stimulus causes us to instinctively act, the primitive response that helped man survive the ages. Makes you wonder how many times you’ve been played by ads.
More over a study done by Sundstorm Pit in 2015, shows that almost 83% of companies quote random statistics and fake sources in their advertisements to feign credibility. But I haven’t even started on the dark secrets that actually govern the advertising industry. The way they just keep reeling you in again and again; giving you just a trail of breadcrumbs, till they can trap you in their vile hands.
Obviously I can’t even explain this aberration blandly in plain text… so I have summarized it in this video. Do check it out to truly understand how Ads can coax you to fall for their most basic tricks.
I also made another analysis on how you are to react in such situations (Warning: it is a bit profane).
On a side note: you may see these patterns arise in day to day life; to quote an example, the US presidential race; what if this is just a huge advertisement by Trump to just boost his name (I mean did you really know or care about this guy till now?), doesn’t matter to him about the outcome, it’s a win-win either way. Makes you think, doesn’t it?
– Logan Turner
