Do These Pants Make Me Look Manipulated?

By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, May 8, 2008.
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Experts say the average person encounters up to five thousand advertisements per day. We’re constantly bombarded with messages telling us what we need to be happier and healthier. Marketers get paid to know their audience, and they craft advertising strategies that target every imaginable demographic. Marketplace reporter Andrea Gardner looks at the ways companies try to appeal to women, often through "flattery, flirtation and manipulation." Thursday on Word of Mouth, she talks with host Virginia Prescott about her book 30 Second Seduction.

TV Commercials Discussed:

Playtex
This is an example of the "Best Friend" technique -- having real women (or realistic looking actresses) talk in a very candid down-to-earth way, so as to befriend female consumers to the brand.
Click here to watch

Dawn
This is an example of the "Fence Mender" technique. The company wants to highlight its good global citizenship and show consumers that Dawn is a good guy - not an evil corporate titan.
Click here to watch

Hellmans
This is an example of "The Fan" technique -- staying on top of the trends and reflecting that reality in ads. Because it's all about authenticity with women, and the more you are in tune with the here and now, the better. The company knows that healthy eating and whole foods (no preservatives) are very much in the zeitgeist right now.
Click here to watch

As a childless woman, unfortunately through surgery, it absolutely drives me crazy to see commercials for cleaning products especially, that almost ALWAYS are directed toward "mom". Excuse me, I don't clean my house??? There are so many childless women these days, and it shocks me that most of the advertising for cleaning products, or laudry detergent are so often directed toward women who have children. The rest of us who don't have kids, either by choice or illness, still clean our homes, clean our clothes, and worry about germs. I think there are a lot of childless women, like myself who have "furbabies" or cats or dogs, who keep our houses clean.
THey just need to remember us!!

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Word of Mouth is all about what's new. Online and on-air, the show takes the latest ideas and trends from every aspect of our culture and puts them under a microscope. Word of Mouth covers everything from healthcare and the environment, to technology and the internet, to books, movies, music and TV. The show airs Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon and is hosted by Virginia Prescott.

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