Successful advertisement is based on killing the self-esteem of the
targeted audience. The goal of every commercial out there is to
become a symbol of something that the potential viewers will want
obtain at a high cost. That's why you only see beautiful people and
idyllic images in the ads on TV or in the newspapers. When a single
person that is unhappy sees a fairytale family advertising juice or
whatever, the self-esteem of that person will be hurt because he/she
does not have what's presented on the screen. Therefor, he/she may
try to over-compensate by purchasing the advertised product.
In general, the bigger the damage to the self-esteem, the more
effective the advertisement. One of the most famous and successful
advertisement campaigns of all time is the one of the cigarette brand
Marlboro by Philip Morris – one of the largest producers of
cigarettes and other tobacco related products in the world.
Initially, the goal of the Marlboro ad campaign was to sell a product
to a new audience. The product of choice were cigarettes with
filters. Before the advertisement campaign cigarettes with filters
were considered a good orientated more towards women. In order to
overcome that problem and sell to men the advertising agency came out
with a “brilliant” idea to use a symbol of a manly figure for the
advertisement. This is how the Marlboro Man was born. When you looked
at him remember that you are observing one of the greatest
self-esteem killers on the universe.
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| Image credit: http://www.gla.msstate.edu/ |
The Marlboro Man is meant to represent a real man that even money
can't buy. The advertisement was so successful that the profit of
Philip Morris reported stunning growths – 300% increase of the
sales from USD 5 B to USD 20 B in just two years. Why? Obviously, the
image of the Marlboro Man has become one of the ultimate symbols of
manhood – men need it badly and women want to get a piece of it as
well. Which woman does not want a real man protecting her from the
bad guys? Only the non-existent ones.
Every time you feel inferior and question whether you possess the
qualities associated with being a man the image of the Marlboro Man
just pops in your head and on a second note you are reminded that the
cowboy in the ad is smoking on regular basis. The clients are tricked
to believe that by smoking cigarettes they will become, at least
partially, true men because if you do what a real man does you will
look like one. And if you look like one there is a chance others will
see you as one. And if others see you as one someway along the way
you may see yourself as one too, provided that you don't die from
lung cancer before that. S-E-X-Y.
When you kill the self-esteem of someone you immediately make
him/her/them curious. If you approach a person and say: “You are
ugly as fuck!” that person will have some sort of a negative
reaction towards you. However, the more important phenomenon, for the
sake of this article, is the fact that the one who is insulted will
without a doubt analyze the aggressor – is he/she beautiful enough
to call me ugly? If he/she is better than me how can I become more
like him/her? Does he/she have something that I don't have? Can I buy
it? It works every single time and will continue to do so.
It's quite interesting that the same principle is observed in human
relationships. There is a reason why “the bitch” always gets the
boys while “the nerdy girl” receives no attention. The bitch
represents something that the boys can't have. The bitch is in every
movie. The bitch is cat woman while the nerdy girl is Alice who lives
next door and occasionally goes out to throw the garbage in between
her piano lessons and English classes. The boys don't care about
Alice because she is too easy to get and having her does not elevate
the self-esteem. On the other hand, having the mythical girl that
everybody wants attacks the ego directly and makes one feel somewhat
on the next level. The bitch is the commercial while Alice next door
is real life. Who wants real life when you can have something larger
than that by buying a product?