<< Back |Privacy Policy | Contact Me | ©2004 Cindy Rubbens

1. An outline and discussion of its main principles with reference to relevant theory
2. Discussion of the techniques of persuasion which stem from an application of these principles, with reference to relevant research findings
3. Write an analysis and discussion of the ways in which techniques are currently used or have been used in product advertising campaigns.

An outline and discussion of its main principles with reference to relevant theory

Freud’s theory of the mind concerning the Ego and the Id developed over the years. He continued to work from earlier writings such as the “Project” of 1895, “The interpretation of dreams” and from meta-psychological papers. The study of hysteria led to the hypothesis of repression which states that in the mind there is a repressed “unconscious” part and a repressing “conscious” part.

This hypothesis of repression is the main principle for the analysis of the mind. A repressed force tries to make its way into activity, but it is first checked by a repressing force what Freud named the Ego. But it was not that simple as Freud found that a part of the Ego was unconscious as well. He called that the “Preconscious”.

Before analyzing the main principles it is worth examining the terminology Freud has used. While doing this, the anatomy of the mind becomes clear to us.

• The use of the word “Das Es” or the Id goes back to Nietzche. The Id is defined as the oldest part of the mind from which the other structures are derived. It is primitive, unorganized and emotional. The only thing it is after is: complete satisfaction . The Id will replace the word “unconscious”.
• "Das Ich” or the Ego has two main uses. The first use is the person’s self as a whole. The second meaning of the Ego denotes the “ego-instincts” which combine the functions of repression with those of self-preservation and the hypothesis of Narcissism. Freud develops the Ego further in his work: “The Unconscious” as he describes the Ego becoming a system. This system includes activities as censorship and reality-testing. But he had difficulties in placing the “self-critical faculty” and the “sense of guild”.
• His concept of Narcissism helped him overcome this difficulty. Instead of projecting to the parent, one sets up an ideal ego within himself. There comes the idea of the “über-ich” or “Super Ego” as it is the super ego’s task to watch the actual ego and measure it by the ideal ego. The super-ego also takes the place of the Oedipus complex.

As the previous is the anatomy of the mind, Freud was in a position to examine its implications.

Let us first turn to Freud’s work concerning consciousness and unconsciousness as the division of what is conscious and unconscious is fundamental in psycho-analysis. Freud states that a state of consciousness is very transitory because “an idea that is conscious now is no longer so a moment later, but can sometimes become conscious again”. If it can become conscious again, than that idea was latent. The Psycho-analytic theory steps in when some ideas can not become conscious again. This means that these ideas have been repressed.
To make something external conscious, is done through verbal and visual memory traces. When it comes to selling cars advertisers for example use music to try giving us our teenage feeling back.
For making something internal conscious, it is needed to turn to the pleasure sensations. When it is a feeling of pleasure, the ego does not intervene. But when there is an experience of unpleasure, the ego uses all her defence mechanisms (explained later on). Unpleasure implies change. We do not want “change” and that is why there is a high resistance coming from the Ego.

So we have two kinds of unconscious, the latent preconscious and the repressed unconscious.

Conscious
Preconscious = Latent
Unconscious = Repressed

It is now known that our mind has three levels. As The Id is defined as the oldest part of the mind and as it is the part from which the other structures are derived, it is best to start explaining that first.

The Id is present at birth, and is the impulsive, subjective and pleasure-seeking part of the personality . The Id operates on the “Pleasure principle”. This Pleasure Principle implies “the immediate gratification of instinctual needs without regard for how this is achieved”. According to Freud, the purpose of all instincts is to reduce tension or excitation to a minimum and, ultimately, to totally eliminate them. Freud defined what he called “Eros”: the human drive for pleasure and self-preservation. After the great loss of lives in the First World War, Freud defined the existence of “Thanatos”, a drive directed towards self-destruction and death. Freud did not come up with the Eros and the Thanatos from the start. This structure in the Id evolved over the years.

Freud saw life as an ongoing conflict between sexual and aggressive instincts and society’s constraints on behaviour. When these instincts arise there are three possibilities:

1. To satisfy them: but then there is the risk of conflict in the well-ordered society.
2. To repress them: if there is a conflict with our values we push the instinct to our preconscious. As this preconscious is latent, they always try to reach the conscious in the form of a slip of the tongue, a dream, …
3. To sublime them: this is an alternative for satisfaction as it is a more moral, acceptable way of satisfaction.

It was found in the anatomy of the mind that each individual has an organization of mental processes and that was called the Ego. This Ego supervises all processes. Even when we sleep, it exercises the censorship on dreams to exclude certain trends in the mind. The Ego develops from the id to help us cope with the external world, which is necessary for survival. It operates on the reality principle (the gratification of the id’s needs in socially acceptable ways). Freud proposed the existence of defence mechanisms as a way of “preventing anxiety-arousing impulses and thoughts from reaching consciousness”. All of these unconsciously operating mechanisms serve to protect us by distorting reality.

Some defence mechanisms are :
• Repression: unacceptable thoughts or impulses are “forgotten” by being pushed from consciousness into unconsciousness (see ch 29)
• Reaction formation: the opposite of an unacceptable wish or impulse is expressed. For example, a person strongly drawn to gambling may express the view that gambling is repulsive.
• Rationalisation: socially acceptable reasons are given for thoughts or actions based on unacceptable motives. An example would be eating an entire chocolate cake because we “didn’t want it to spoil in the summer heat”.
• Displacement: an emotional response is redirected from a dangerous object to a safe one. For example, anger towards one’s boss might be redirected towards the family dog.
• Projection: unacceptable motives or impulses are transferred to a neighbour perceives the neighbour as being sexual attracted to him.
• Regression: responding to a threatening situation in a way appropriate to an earlier age or level of development. For example, an adult has a “temper tantrum” when he or she does not get his or her own way.

So psycho-analysis has the job to remove the resistances that the Ego has towards the Id. This is exactly the task of advertising. Advertisers need to go round the Ego to set lose the people’s desires for commodities so that they will buy the product.

As stated before, there is a differentiation within the ego, the Super-Ego, because Freud did not find a space where he could put the “unconscious sense of guild”. For example if the id its passions towards a person or object try to reach the conscious, than the ego can comply or resist. It is possible for the ego to resist only because of the existence of the super-ego. The super-ego tries to convince the ego to be passionate about the super-ego instead of the object. This is what Freud calls “the transformation of object-libido into narcissistic libido”. While describing Freud’s work, it is vital to mention that Freud believes that all the effects of the first identifications made in earliest childhood are general and lasting. This is important to know because this leads back to the Ego-Ideal. According to Freud is, in childhood, our father is our most important identification. This is where the Oedipus-complex makes his entrance.

The Oedipus-complex is a term used to describe a little boy who develops an object-cathexis (a kind of love) for his mother. First that little boy identifies himself with his father, next he perceives his father as an obstacle. He sees his father as a rival to obtain the love of the mother. In one way or the other, the object-cathexis towards the little boy’s mother must be given up. Freud regards that an intensification of the identification with his father is the solution. It is mentioned earlier that the super-ego takes the place of the Oedipus complex. We now know where it comes from as it is the super-ego’s task to repress the Oedipus complex. And the sooner the super-ego represses the Oedipus complex, the stricter the domination of the super-ego over the ego later on.

Every time when we experience morality-conflicts, it is our super-ego which intervenes. That is according to Freud because when we were little children, we admired and feared our parents. We later on took their values into ourselves. Therefore the super-ego tells us what we “ought to do” and what we “may not do”. From another point of view, it could be said that we are conditioned (Pavlov) by our parents. They could have repeated something so many times that we now do it automatically.

When giving the principles of psychoanalysis, it is indispensable to talk about Jung. Jung’s organization of the mind consists out of a consciousness, a personal unconscious and a collective unconscious.

According to Jung we have a Collective unconscious which is identical in all individuals. The contents of the collective unconscious have never been in consciousness, and therefore have never been individually acquired. We have them through inheritance. Whereas the personal unconscious consists for the most part of complexes, the content of the collective unconscious is made up essentially of archetypes. The concept of the archetype indicates the existence of definite forms in the psyche which seem to be present always and everywhere. The archetype can only become conscious secondarily and it gives definite form to certain psychic contents.

Examples of archetypes are:
Ultimate Strength is used to advertise cleaning products.
The Siren is used to advertise beauty products
The Hero is used to advertise sports shoes by using a heroic football player. Ex Nike.

Discussion of the techniques of persuasion which stem from an application of these principles, with reference to relevant research findings

Our current consumer culture is not one of genuine demands; it is the result of demands which are evoked and manipulated. Advertisers can influence consumers in a way that our needs have become wants, we are fetishising commodities. We are persuaded to buy. But before our actual buying, there is an enormous process that has proceeded.

If it is true what Freud said about our unconscious and the pleasure principle, than advertisers just needed to apply his theories to sell products. Before Freud, advertisers used the hard sell method. This is to simply name what the product does. In the early 1900s the advertisers took the principles of Freud upon them and the advertising technique changed from hard sell into soft sell . This soft-sell style was called “atmospheric advertising”. It suggested the impression of integrity, quality and prestige. Products were showcased in a unique selling environment. Advertisers even got more inspiration to influence the audience because Freud, Jung and Scott published the book “The Psychology of advertising”. From the 1920s on, suggestion psychology was frequently used to aim at the unconscious mind of the buying public.

To aim at the unconscious is done through the uses of archetypes, signs, magic, celebrity endorsement and many more. Basically, advertisements create structures of meaning in our mind. These structures of meaning were originally fulfilled by religion. Miles says consumer desire is the religion of the late twentieth century.

Advertising sets up connections between certain types of consumers and certain products. Once the connection has been made, we skip the translating. Therefore we take the sign for what it signifies, the thing for the feeling. We know we are being exploited by advertisements, but the fact remains that we are attracted and that we are influenced by them because of that connection. Advertising works because it feeds off a genuine “use-value”. Besides needing social meaning we obviously do need material goods. Advertising gives those goods a social meaning so that two needs are crossed, and neither is adequately fulfilled and that is why we just keep on wanting more. We never get satisfied and this as made a new type of society: “A society built upon the thirst for novelty.” (Miles, 1998).

In his book building brands and believers, Kent Wertime agrees with Jung on the existence of archetypes . Wertime says that for archetypes to be truly useful, they must create a personal relevancy and connection as well. Another important thing is that the basic code must be instantly recognizable. Very true, because the advertiser has only a short period of time to get through to us. The best way to make instant connections is branding: to attach meanings to products, to create identities for the goods they promote. As we identify ourselves with those products, we are indeed more likely to buy them. Advertisers are thus selling us something else besides consumer goods (Williamson, 2002): in providing us with a structure in which we and those goods are interchangeable, they are selling us ourselves. Wertime links mythology with archetypes. Archetypes are already in our unconscious and the mythology is the way to link it with our conscious. The most effective way to go from needs to wants and in order to persuade consumers to buy a product, Wertime says that advertisers need to tell stories that tap the unconscious codes that are already in people’s heads. According to him, this is the essence of creating consumer connections. One of the most used archetypes in advertising is the mythic profile of the siren. This figure is the representation of the sexual being in all of us: the need to attract and the need of being attracted by others. Attraction and seduction involves some degree of risk and this sometimes leads to destruction. But, sexual power and the sense of risk create consumer fascination and commercial persuasion. This means that Sex Sells, because it triggers something and therefore it works straight away. The only time it does not work is when the commercial is not linked with the consumer’s self-image. Advertisers need to make the link towards users so that users think they will become more attractive because of the product. Examples are: beauty products such as eye make-up, nail polish, fond de teint, … designer clothes such as Armani, Dolce & Gabana, … and perfume.

We know that in our mind, the Id always seeks to satisfy its needs. But the Id is unconscious. A part of our mind is preconscious so some thoughts and beliefs can become conscious again. But there is something needed to pull that trigger and to get it in our conscious. In a way, semiotics or the study of signs can also be seen as a technique of influence because branding is nothing more than turning a sign into something meaningful. If we can obtain a link with the sign and the need, it is easy to sell. Saussures semiotic theories tell us that the basic act of signification operates at the level of denotation. Denotation is about identifying a sign. The second level is the level of connotation. Because, once we perceive a sign we have particular associations with that sign. Barthes’ contribution to semiotics was his definition and exploration of myths. Barthes was not interested in archetypes, but how signs take on the values of the dominant value system or ideology of a particular society and how they make these values seem natural. Ex: coca cola. According to Barthes, myths are connotations (particular associations with a sign) that appear to be denotations (identifying a sign). This allows myths, in texts, to structure the meaning of the communication without appearing to do so. Basically, advertisers can use a system of signs unknown to the masses, known only to the skilled readers to get to our unknown unconscious. That might be the explanation to the fact that we are sometimes driven to buy something, without knowing exactly why.

Politicians used to be elected because of there policy, now it is on their appeal. They use celebrities as a link with the public. This is called celebrity endorsement.. As the audience identifies themselves with the celebrity as an ego-ideal, it is more likely that they identify themselves with the politician as well. A consultant from the Democratic Party in America made the link: Celebrities = Sell-ebrities . Celebrity endorsement does not always work. When it goes wrong, it goes wrong really bad because it can damage the image of the celebrity. Advertisers must always be aware of a link that connects the celebrity with the product.
Robbie Williams for example is the embodiment of how celebrity endorsement works. Williams is AND a celebrity AND a singer. EMI, his record company, uses him as a celebrity to sell his singles as a singer. They offer him a contract of £80 million because they know they will get the money back anyway. EMI is very genius because they now have to pay for only one person one time for one occasion. Just to mention that amount of money speaks to us all, instantly. This money has transformed Robbie Williams into a myth. It was even free publicity because people were so chocked by the £80 million that it was all over the news around the globe. If EMI had to pay for this kind of news coverage, it would have cost them more than £80 million. So in the end we can even say that Robbie Williams was not a good businessman as he could have asked double and EMI still could have made profits on his behalf!

The uses of mythologies, signs, celebrities, … in short it is better known as adding magic to the product. The myth of magic turns a brand name into something we aspire to. Magic produces effects in time and space (Williamson, 2002). Magic explains itself. If there is no explanation it is always right to say that it is “Magic”! In our consumer society everything is ready-made. The best example is microwave food. Manufacturers make us do so small efforts that it seems that the outcome is huge. For microwave food it is only needed to heat it and a complete dinner is served within minutes. In “decoding advertisements” it is said that the less sense an advertisement makes, the more sense it must “really” make. If we turn to beauty products, the end of an ad is turned into a new beginning: A new beginning of instant beauty and this just by applying make-up. Magic allows a big problem turn into something small. Do you have cash problems? Go to that bank, it will solve anything for you! It can also turn something small into something big. Use a little bit of this olive oil and your dinner will taste so much better!

Write an analysis and discussion of the ways in which techniques are currently used or have been used in product advertising campaigns.

If we apply the uses of magic, Clinique with its beauty products is a very good example. As we are in an era where skin care is important due to several cancers, clinique differentiates itself by creating an image that their products are like a medicine. When you go to Boots for example, you immediately recognise the Clinique saleswomen: they are all wearing that doctor’s uniform and you immediately recognise their “shop”: it looks like a quarantine lab. At the beginning of January 2005, I found a leaflet about: “Can a tan signal DNA damage?” It looks very professional. Its main message is to keep away from the sun; the only safe way to tan is a non-sun tan. And of course, fast and easy self-tanning formulas are readily available at all clinique’s sales points. A whole myth has been created and people tap into it.

On the episode of Sex Sells of 13/07/2000 there is an advertisement where first a woman is shown making love to a male. When she comes home, her husband asks her how the movie was. She answers: “that it was a triumph of cinematic flair with visual humour and some vibrating scenes.” Then the advertisement says: “Friday review, all you need to know about music and film.” The ad immediately gets our attention because we get aroused. As Wertime says in his book “building brands” this first scene taps the unconscious codes that are already in our heads It keeps the attention because of the sentence the woman says. It is very linguistic so it is exactly in line with the Guardian being a quality newspaper. Above all it suggests that whatever the Guardian says is right. So even if you are unfaithful, you will never get caught on telling a lie.

If there is one brand with an enormous myth, it is Coca cola. We recognise it instantly; it is like it has a blue-print in our mind. We know what it is, we have several associations with it. It even feels safe to know that when you have no idea what to drink, there will always be coca cola. It is distributed worldwide. One thing about myths is that you have the job to maintain the myth. In Belgium in 1999, there was a psychosis among children. It started in one school: One child was sick after drinking coca cola and then the rest of the class became ill as well. That evening it was on the news. The next day, in several other schools children became ill as well. Apparently something went wrong in the production process, but coca cola kept denying it. Coca cola is not that popular anymore in Belgium, because everyone still knows. It is funny to see that in other countries that myth still exists. They do not understand that in my case that myth does not exist anymore.

Endnotes

First of all Freud's work concerning the ego and the id.

1. Storr. A., (2001). Freud A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press
   
2. Gross R. & McIlveen R., (1998). Psychology, A new introduction. P 569. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
   
3. Gross R. & McIlveen R., (1998). Psychology, A new introduction. P 542. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
   
4. Syx M., (2002). Psychologie. P 111-117. Antwerpen : Plantijn.
   
5. Gross R. & McIlveen R., (1998). Psychology, A new introduction. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
   
6. Jung. The concept of the collective unconscious. [WWW]. Available from:
   http://www.timestar.org/collective.htm [accessed 16/01/2005]
   
7. Sivulka J., (1998). Soap, sex and cigarettes. USA:Wadsworth Publishing Company.
   
8. Miles S., (1998) Consumerism as a way of life. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
   
9. Williamson J., (2002) Decoding advertisements. London : Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd.
   
10. Wertime K., (2002) Building brands and believers. Singapore: John Wiley & sons.ltd.
    
11. Lacey N., (1998) Image and representation. Hampshire: Palgrave.
    
12. Cialdini R., (2001) Influence science and practice. 4th edition. Needham Heights: Allyn & Bacon.