Review of Brandwashed By Martin Lindstrom

After stumbling upon a reference to the book on one of those horrible social networking home pages, I read a small excerpt.

After reading the introduction by Morgon Spurlock I was left a bit wanting. I do like the idea of Spurlock more than I like Spurlock so an endorsement by him is 50/50 good and bad. After a slight letdown I prodded myself to continue reading, after all this was on a social networking site. Then I read the introduction about the anticonsumerist movement called ENOUGH. Basically the movement helps people become "less dependent on buying things to feel good," p10.

Getting better

The introduction piqued my interest because I believe that we are on the level of “wackadoo out of control” here in the US with regards to all the STUFF we buy.Then Martin Lindstrom amazed me when he wrote, “I’ve seen - and at times been profoundly disturbed by - the full range of psychological tricks…” p13

That made a difference

This was not going to be another run-of-the mill, soft peddle, feel good liberal nonsense tale based on the complaints of outsiders. This was going to be a Tell-All book from a real marketing insider.

In order to demystify why we like what we like Martin has taken the unusual step of peaking into the consumer’s brain. This is the ultimate invasion and the newest frontier into the mysterious world of human thought. Some findings he talks about ring true despite all denials to the contrary. The best example, a rather revealing discussion in regards to “mirror neurons,” p95, and sexy underwear advertising.

Mirror neurons tell consumers that they can be just like the people in the advertisement (no real surprise there), which is why when a star athlete endorses a product we want the product. It is comforting knowing that Tiger Woods and I share the same choice in watches as well as other things. I'm talking about golf of course!

That's all on the surface. It's what’s underneath that is interesting to Lindstrom, which is why he decided to commission a functional magnetic resonance imaging, (fMRI) study. Resonance imaging uses scans to tell researchers which part of the brain someone is using while performing a particular task.

Eye-Opening Study

He took sixteen men, half of which are gay, and scanned their brains while they looked at male models in skimpy underwear. When the results were interpreted by a group at MindSign Neuromarketing they proved “That the responses to the male underwear ads... were extremely similar to those of homosexual men” p106. Further that the heterosexual men did indeed have the sexual interest areas of their brains activated.

Not me, no way

They also had their inferior lateral prefrontal gyrus working as well. The inferiorlaterall-whatever, is the part of the brain where denial is born and nurtured. So despite being attracted sexually to other men there is an overwhelming natural predilection to deny it. If that’s not fodder for late-night TV, I don’t know what is.

But wait, there's more

Another undeniable insight is based on the observation that newborns would “show a preference for a TV theme song (the more basic and repetitive the better) that was heard frequently by their mothers during pregnancy” p24. This is demonstrated in children as young as four days old who would become “more alert and less agitated” when the theme song of a popular soap opera was played. These results were also seen when mothers would enter a familiar store.

The babies who entered the mall would stop their fussy behavior and become instantly calm

It seems that the infants are indeed influenced in the womb by not only what they hear, but also by the emotional state of the mother and even what they eat. This becomes particularly powerful when mothers are catered to by a business.

The book discusses a mall in Asia that would scent certain areas with Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder and cherry fragrance. Not only that, but they played music from years when the women were born in an effort to recall their happy childhood memories. The tactics not only worked to bring in more pregnant shoppers, it also had an unforeseen effect on the newborn children. Mothers wrote several letters stating the “spellbinding effect the shopping center had on their now newborns” p26.

Have to read

There are several studies and worthwhile experiences presented in this book which is why I recommend it to everyone. There is just enough technical detail interspersed throughout the vastly entertaining and informative text to please even the most challenging reader.

The book is filled with awesome information by a real industry insider. Readers literally could not ask for more.