"Cool Hunting" and Consumer Psychology

Generally, my take-away from The Persuaders and The Merchants of Cool is that advertisers view consumers as cultural commodities, with each consumer seeking membership in artificial cultures, illusions created by advertisers to sell their product. This concept of consumers as commodities is suggested initially when Naomi Klein, author of No Logo, compares consumers to "roaches.. you spray them and spray them and pretty soon it doesn't work anymore". The better, faster, stronger competition between brands, in other words, is only as effective as our belief in what the advertisers are trying to tell us, which may have more to do with brand loyalty than anything else. So, what is creating this brand loyalty, if there really is no best brand? Is it really all just an illusion?

Framed within the context of Trout's belief that the consumer mind is inherently limitated and unfocused, advertisers search for creature comforts and hidden needs that might give their product a competitive edge (i.e. cup holders in a SUV might appeal more to women than men). But with these kinds of disparate interests, how do any products get sold as obviously you can't cater to the whims of every niche group? Clotaire Rapaille develops this idea further by suggesting consumers are impulse shoppers who apply no real rationale for the products they buy, but rather buy to fill some hidden, unconscious need. From this point, advertising becomes more about creating culture rather than selling, and I think that is a very compelling point to consider. Are we experiencing such a cultural void that we must form these pseudo relationships based on the brand cults?

Rapaille sums it up well by describing his experience decoding the behavior of autistic children. By learning to communicate without words, the behavior of the autistic children became its own language. And so, too, I guess is the behavior of the consumer. But this by no means suggests the power of words should be underestimated. Frank Luntz believes we are more emotional than intellectual, and that getting the message across to a particular audience is all about choosing the right words (i.e. global climate change v. global warming). But it is this very kind of word-smithing double speak that caused the general public to distrust politicians as dishonest, self-serving, and disingenuous. This is not to say contextual speech doesn't work.. it does, but let the word-smith beware. There may be a huge backlash at the expense of public trust.

The teen demographic is not so easily caste because what's hip and trendy is constantly changing, creating a real dilemma for advertisers trying to reach this large consumer market. "Cool hunting" described in The Merchants of Cool then becomes the strategy used to engage teen-aged buying power based on input from peer focus groups on what's in and what's not. But shouldn't we be concerned about the ethics of advertising cool to such a young and impressionable audience? Should we care that advertising may be creating the need to possess every new gadget and products that don't really enrich us or connect us to each other, save through the brand itself? (ipods, iphones, I just can't keep up). Is it any wonder our young people have one of the highest rates of depression in the developed world? Could all this consumerism targeting such a youthful audience be sublimating real needs for traditional social interaction between families and groups?

Wrapping up, my consensus is that we are placing more value on the artificial needs that are largely created for us by advertising culture at the expense of meaningful social relationships, ethics, and values. I believe this leads to shallow mindsets which lack a sense of social responsibility, constantly seeking self-gratification. This makes it ever more important to educate the consumer to read public spaces and become more aware of the impact of advertising media. At best, this will definitely create a more level playing field of informed consumers. Critical social media has an important role to play in offsetting the effects of consumer psychology, which I'm sure we'll explore further in our studies.