Are We Being Manipulated or Not?
Manipulation by definition means, devious: using clever, devious ways to control or influence somebody or something. After reading two articles in Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon’s book, Signs of Life in the USA; Readings on Popular Culture for Writers, Malcom Gladwell’s article, “The Science of Shopping” and Anne Norton’s article, “The Signs of Shopping” both authors have very different views on shopping. Gladwell takes a stand that it is indeed a science experiment. Norton states it has nothing to do with science and has everything to do with being told who we are by what we buy. So are we being manipulated by being studied by retailers or are we really being told who we are by what we buy? Manipulation is the process retailers use to get us to purchase products we need or do not need by invading the consumers privacy by studying the consumers every move while in a store.
The retailers of the world are constantly trying to figure out ways to get consumers to buy something they do not need by placing items throughout the store that are convenient to catch the shoppers eye. Let’s look at holiday shopping. With the holidays around the corner, stores are gearing up for the holiday rush of shoppers. Have you ever wondered why they put out holiday decorations almost 3 months before the holidays? Well, it could be because it gets the consumers, also known as the shoppers, in the mindset that it is almost the holidays and they better start shopping. The retailers of the world are constantly trying to figure out ways to get everyone to buy something from their stores whether or not they need it or not. They know exactly where to place things to grab your attention and get you to make that impulse purchase. Another example is, the snack and gum at the registers, are you really hungry or are you just buying that bag of chips because it is placed right in front of you? Most people will say it is because they are hungry but they are...