Consumer Psychology

The debate about advertising is not new. The late Fred Allen cheered: "An advertising agency is 85% confusion and 15% commission." In 1931 F.D.R. surprisingly confessed: "If I were starting life over again, I would probably give first thought to making advertising my career . . . because it combines real imagination with a deep study of psychology” - Time Magazine

As advertising becomes more invasive, so does the discussion about it. Some advertisers count on facts, some believe that humor sells, and Clotaire Rapaille proudly yodels about the "clues". He has impressed the 100 companies that he has been working for, with the emotional and biological roots of our opinions and behaviors. Understanding the unconscious, according to Rapaille, gives us the tools to better inspire customers, design new products, and develop better communication strategies. Archetype Discovery is the unique method to reveal why a group of people behave the way they do towards a specific concept or product.

Rapaille's methods to persuade appear to be both creative and unique. He believes that each individual and group has a unique emotional code that identifies his memories from the past and in regard to the advertised product. For Rapaille, the cultural code is the unconscious meaning we attach to things due to our cultural experiences. Due to the different ways that we are raised, we process information different ways. The way Rapaille learned from the scientist Henri Laborit, there is no learning without emotion. The stronger the emotion, the better the learning. The combination of experience and an accompanied emotion was coined by Konrad Lorenz as an imprint. Invented by Lorenz and used by Rapaille, the imprint is something that makes us who we really are.

Triune brain theory describes three distinct brains: the cortex, limbic, and reptilian

Rapaille was asked to assist Nestlé to sell their instant coffee in Japan. However, tea was a part of Japanese culture in early 70s and it was hard to convince Japanese to switch from tea to coffee. Rapaille tried to identify the imprints, but imprints related with coffee were impossible to find. The imprints had to be created. Nestle created desserts for children soaked with the flavor of coffee, without the caffeine. Their first memory of coffee was a very positive one, and they carried it throughout their lives. Nestlé instant coffee was after all successfully introduced to the Japanese market.
The imprint of coffee on the Japanese market was significant for Rapaille to realize that memorable imprinting tremendously impacts what people do. It became apparent that imprints vary from culture to culture.

Rapaille at one point of his career tried to find the code for the Lego, the product of the Danish toy company. The instructions in the Lego boxes were carefully made, being colorful and very specific. American children were found not to care much about the instruction, but the German children were following directions, sorting the pieces by colors. The German code for their culture was "order". The code was being imprinted through the perfection of bureaucracy in German children early on to prevent the chaos thru generations. Fully colored instructions have ensured sales through generations.

"Suddenly, once you get the code, you understand everything. It's like getting new glasses." --Clotaire Rapaille

Advertisers are very often accused of manipulating people like puppets or animals, reducing the level of public taste and moral worth and making consumers behave to serve gluttonous commercial needs. Many of them amplify the importance of their own virtue to control customers, often making immodest claims that would be able to sell not only soap, but democracy or “American way of life”. (Thomas Babington Macaulay, Time Magazine).

Tasteless, harsh, loud, and disruptive advertisements may cause a huge public irritation. The court ruling is still pending, battling the force for the removal of the ads that are considered to be untruthful or misleading. Damaging or not for a collective psyche, but advertising will always live. Many of us do not mind being persuaded sometimes, given codes, or having the childhood candy brought back to our lives from our unconscious. The interesting news is that McDonald's might start brewing a real coffee (Bill Tancer, Time Magazine). Even if the persuaders could make the best use of words and pictures for Mc Donald's and find my relevant codes, I would still go to get my creamy latte at Borders. Bill Tancer believes that BigMac and latte just don't fit. I agree.

Realizations:
1. People (customers and advertisers) make choices based on emotion and reason
2. The Culture Code is a method developed by Clotaire Rapaille in an effort to bypass customers' emotional and logical levels of thinking to gain access to the reptilian level of our minds
3. Consumers are most of the time not aware that are being manipulated because they tend to be emotional about the advertised products or concepts

4. Some advertisers see customers as puppets, some of them as animals
5. All advertisers are customers
6. Advertisers and the companies they work for should have an ethical responsibility not to use knowledge of emotional reasoning to harm the customer even if it appears to make financial sense.

Links:

http://www.archetypediscoveriesworldwide.com/32.pdf

http://www.rapailleinstitute.com/

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/104/rapaille.html

http://www.slideshare.net/davidonoue/clotaire-rapaille

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triune_brain

http://www.slideshare.net/davidonoue/clotaire-rapaille

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1702277,00.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,829287,00.html

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=51671

http://www.coolhunting.com/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/etc/script.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/etc/script.html