The Trial Of Farquharson (Coursework Sample)

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The psychology of advertising
The book The Science of Fear by Gardner boldly sends a message of, being fearless until the facts are known. Whether or not we accept the assertions of Gardner as put forth in his book The science of Fear, the analysis in the book helps us understand how politicians, marketers and the media have exploited the human psychology by inflating fears. In this paper the writer will show how the marketers have used the ‘science of fear’ as put by Gardner in amazing profits.
The human brain has two systems that employ reason and feelings; Gardner calls them, Head and gut respectively. Marketers have maximised on the weaknesses of the Gut in making sure their products are bought. The gut makes decisions rapidly and without conscious awareness hence able to make snap decisions.
There are rules that are used by the gut system in arriving at decisions, they are: the law of similarity, the anchoring rule, the rule of typical things, the example rule and the good/bad rule. Rules have their weaknesses and so does the mentioned rules. The good/bad rule also called ‘affect heuristic’ makes a person vulnerable to scary scenarios as does the rule of typical things. The example rule is biased toward recent, emotional, vivid or novel events that are more easily remembered. Another problem with the example rule is, Gut does not differentiate the imagined from the real thus can be influenced powerfully by either. The appearance rule makes a person think that appearance equals reality and like causes like. Finally, the anchoring rule is one in which the head adjusts insufficiently according to the information provided by the Gut.
Using of examples where the rules discussed above have been used to manipulate people will give a clear picture of ‘The science of Fear’. The September 11 terror attack was an opportunity opening to the French anthropologist Clotaire Rapaille. Rapaille knew that by exploiting the ‘reptilian brain’ that which controls the Gut, a military vehicle designed for war could be sold in large numbers due to the 9/11 attack. Repaille had the Hummer in mind when talking of a military vehicle. The hummer was to be a sanctuary to people fearful of the outside world. Sales of the Hummer as SUV(sports utility vehicle) soared amounting for more than twenty per cent of American car sales. In reality sports utility vehicles were the opposite of the message they sent out and that sent by Repaille. SUVs are more likely to roll over than smaller and lower cars. The sales of the hummer show how the human feelings dictate what humans...