Advertising on the Down Low

Sometimes, when I stop and think about what I actually buy, I'm amazed at how effective advertising is for products. If I really stop and think about why I buy a certain brand of some product, especially when buying something for the first time or trying something new, it seems that I don't have any other reason except "I want to try this." It would seem altogether normal at a cursory glance, but when giving it some more thought it seems that there are other reasons for my product selection that I'm not even aware of.

Case in point: I needed to buy some deodorant the other day, and I decided to try something new. I looked through the different types and kinds of deodorant, there must be thousands, and finally settled upon a new type of Old Spice. After leaving the store, I began to question why I really chose that brand out of all the others. I certainly liked the way it smelled, but there were tons of other brands that smelled just as good. It had an attractive packaging, but then again, every one had some type of attractive package. The only reason I could come up with, finally, was that the Old Spice seemed more attractive because of the increased amount of Old Spice commercials on television.

I know it sounds a little far-fetched, but hear me out.

In my part of the world, southwest Florida, Old Spice commercials are played all the time. You probably know the ones I'm talking about; your man could smell like a man, me, on a horse, with tickets and pearls, etc. etc. - it's a fairly common commercial. Because of this, however, it's really the only commercial that I think of when I see deodorant, and when looking through the many brands it seemed that the Old Spice was instantly familiar, even though I only had exposure through television advertising. Something that I had never even seen in real life, only on television, was influencing my choices without my knowledge. Weird, huh?

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from buying anything, not Old Spice or anything else. I just find it interesting that I could be partial to one thing over another, in this case many others, simply because I had seen it many times before and had taken notice. It's just a little scary how much we are influenced by things that we often take for granted.

Think about it the next time you buy one thing over another without any other reason than "it looks familiar."