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Sy Syms, of his self-named clothing chain, says "An educated consumer is my best customer." Anyone who stares at an ad, and believes its promises to transform your life and self-image with the swipe of a credit card, needs to get educated!

In an ideal world, a TV viewer can watch the cavorting actors and actresses, cruising the Pacific Coast Highway in their shiny convertibles or enjoying that never-ending, beer-soaked volleyball game, and laugh about it. They can separate the images from the actual product. They can marvel at the cleverly written commercials...and walk away still able to make rational, intelligent decisions about their lives and money.

Education and clear thinking are the keys here.

This holds true for both men and women, because each is receiving his or her own scientifically formulated message from the advertising industry.

Let's look again at that commercial that uses co-ed beach volleyball to sell beer. Advertisers already know that, for a variety of reasons, it is unwise to open their commercial with a close-up view of their product, especially one that is closely regulated and often linked to death. The breweries want very much to sell as much beer as they can to as many people as they can, but they also want to distract the consumer from thinking about the negative associations: alcoholism, addiction, drunk driving, domestic violence, weight gain, antisocial behavior...

The list is a long one. So, the advertisers will concoct a picture that is light-years from the depressing realities and designed to punch mental buttons that say "You want this. Here's how you get it."

What does the viewer want? He or she wants happiness. Sunny weather is symbolic of happiness and often brings opportunities for happy encounters. We go outside. We see more people. We feel stronger, freer, unencumbered by raincoats and umbrellas. Women get to wear less clothing and show off their bodies. Men get to see women wearing less clothing and showing off their bodies. A commercial shot out on a sunny beach includes all of these elements. It reinforces the message that happiness is attainable, and invites the viewer to keep watching and find out how to get it.

Our viewer wants good health. Sick people (and alcoholics in a detox unit) don't leap deftly for a ball and smack it back over a net, wearing a broad smile. Sick people sit at home in dark rooms, with no friends. The viewer himself may be a couch potato who never gets out, but watching a group of happy smiling volleyball players somehow does the trick of making the viewer forget this. Perhaps television conveys the message, "Here we are in your living room, so how can we be that different from you?"

Our viewer wants a social life. Rarely do commercials show solitary individuals. When we see a person alone in a commercial, the implication is that soon he or she will make a connection that includes at least one other person, and the product being advertised, and that the solitude will be "cured." In advertising, usually the more people in the spot, the greater the potential for happiness it is suggested the product will deliver.

Advertising is designed to increase profits for advertisers and marketing has become extremely sophisticated. Therefore, claims that a product will increase happiness, health, and the viewer's social life are aimed equally at men and women. They are equally "degrading" to both sexes as long as gullible consumers buy into the hidden messages whose sole purpose is to part you with your money.

Learn more about this author, Elaine Arthur.
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