- [Host] Advertising in many
different forms has been around since ancient
times, but in June of 1836, a newspaper in France called La Presse included a paid advertisement in its pages for the first time. By doing so, they were
able to lower the price of the newspaper, extend
their readership further, increase their profits,
and it created a formula that advertisers would try
to replicate for years after. As more products flooded the market and still continue to do so this day, advertisers have had to
think way outside the box in order to sell their product, and have found unexpected and
secretive ways of doing so. Let's find out as we look
at the top 10 secrets advertisers do not want you to know. - Amazing! - [Host] Number 10,
dropping the dollar sign. When looking at the price
of a product you wanna buy, do you ever think about the presence or absence of a dollar sign? Advertisers certainly
hope you're realizing it on a subconscious level, because according to a Cornell University
study, removing a dollar sign can actually make it easier for a consumer to buy something at a higher price. The study showed that when
removing the dollar sign or currency symbol in
front of a menu item, a restaurant was far more
likely to sell that item. Similarly, advertisers
will manipulate the price of the product to make it seem cheaper. While you may not wanna
buy something for $5, the same product sold at 4.99
somehow seems more appealing. Through simple gestures
like taking a penny off of a product or dropping a dollar sign, advertisers have made much more profit than they would have otherwise gained. Number nine, trustworthy faces. Do you ever wonder why certain
people are in commercials and others are not? Well, it's certainly
not left up to chance, since advertisers use
a complicated algorithm to determine how trustworthy a face looks. It's believed that our first impressions concerning a person's
trustworthiness happens between 10 and 33
milliseconds of seeing a face. A study from NYU shows
that when people are considering trustworthiness,
the most important facial aspects they
subconsciously consider are proportions, higher
cheekbones, eyebrows, and a genuine smile that
uses all the facial muscles. Combine these facial cues
with a celebrity to endorse it and a product will fly off the shelves. Number eight, misleading commercials. While it may not be
considered bold-faced lying, a lot of advertisements contain
very misleading visuals. The largest example of this
comes from car commercials. You know, the beautiful, sleek cars that are driving across a desert or down a street at a high speed, and the cars just look
so unbelievably good. But you shouldn't believe it, since the car you're
looking at is most likely created by a computer. That's right, most car
commercials digitally add in their cars later, while
they film commercials with bare bone vehicles that are easy to digitally replace later. It allows the advertisers
to make the car look its absolute best with no
bugs splattered on the window or dirty spots on the car. This method also allows
advertisers to create an entire ad campaign before
the car is technically even ready to sell. This type of manipulation can stretch into nearly every inch of a commercial, even to that shot of a beautiful butterfly on a flower in the detergent commercial. They must have been so lucky
to get that shot, right? Wrong, the poor butterfly
was placed in the fridge to calm him down so he
could slowly wake up while they filmed him. Number seven, anchoring an item. Besides dropping a penny off of a product, there are many other ways advertisers manipulate the price of a product. One method involves anchoring a product to a higher price, just so they
further mark it down later. While you may be looking
to spend $40 on a shirt, you notice the shirt next
to it is normally $100, but has been marked down to 50. Suddenly, you're blinded by
the amazing deal you're getting and end up spending an extra $10, just like the advertisers wanted. Another way prices are manipulated is by adding a higher-priced
item that is not a good deal in order to make another item
seem like an amazing deal. This is often used in electronics when there are two products close in price with similar features. Consumers may not be sure
which product to buy, so the advertiser adds an inferior product at a higher price, which makes the first two products sell more. Number six, social proof. Many of our life experiences are filtered through the reactions
of the people around us. This often extends to the products we own and the products that
others around us own. Psychologists and marketing agencies refer to this aspect of humans as social proof. In the simplest way, it
is used in the slogans, like nine out of 10 people
like our sandwich better, and four out of five dentists approve. We're being told that many
others like these products or services, do we want to
be the one that does not? As advertising has evolved,
so have the methods with which social proof is used. Thanks to social media platforms
like Facebook and Twitter, many brands use influencers
to push their products via social media. Advertisers want you to
think, if that reality start that you follow uses a special detox tea, maybe I should as well. Believe it or not, this
method works so well that many people now make a living just by constantly growing
their amount of followers and consistently posting
paid advertisements to their millions of followers. Number five, limited
edition and collectors. The majority of products
don't need to worry about supply and demand,
since most products are produced at such high
levels that companies just wanna sell as much as possible. However, the concept of a
limited production of an item is sometimes a trick advertisers use to make a consumer want
the item even more. When consumers hear that a
product is a collector's item or a limited edition, the subtext that advertisers want you
to have in your brain is that this item will
increase in price later. It plays on the notion
that with less supply, demand will increase, therefore
the price will increase when people wanna buy it
later, but they can't. The actuality of this
occurring is so rare, but like playing the lottery, many people are drawn
to it without realizing. On a smaller scale, many
websites use this method by showing a number of how many are left of a product at a specific price. And can you believe it? Most of the time they're
are only one or two left. And then there's a timer counting down to when this price will expire, and a popup lets you
know that there are three other people looking at this exact deal. And before you know it,
you succumb to the pressure and you buy it. Airplane tickets, hotel
rooms, and vacation packages are just some of the many items sold in this high pressure and
limited amount advertising style. Number four, nostalgia and smells. When it comes to advertisers,
some tricks are just slight manipulations,
but the way they feed on our nostalgia is almost
psychological warfare. Advertisers look to take every aspect of the shopping experience to
encourage you to spend more. When strolling through the mall, the music you hear is often a
song from a few decades ago, or highlighting a holiday,
such as Christmas. While this may seem like nice ambience, it's designed to evoke your
memories and nostalgia, which is linked to actually spending more. Nostalgia brings on a
sense of interconnectedness among people as their brain is tied to happy memories in the past. This often makes us value our connections to others more and devalues our connection to something less meaningful, like money. Our brains want us to
take care of the people in our life, and since you're in the mall, that usually means buying
gifts for loved ones. In addition, our sense
of smell is often tied to happy memories in the past, which is something advertisers look to take advantage of as well. When you look at the layout
of a mall or supermarket, there are flower kiosks, perfume counters, or bakeries that are
placed close to the door, so that way consumers can get a whiff and are involuntarily
put in a better mood, and they are more likely to spend. Some stores have gone so far
as to pump artificial scents in the air, with startlingly
positive results. Number three, manipulation of terms. Sometimes in order to sell a product advertisers need to fudge
the facts about that product, or at least present them in a smart way. Advertisers have to focus
on the design of a package and its ability to lead your eyes away from the revealing information that they don't want you to see. A prime example is Pringles. Everybody knows them, and their marketing and packaging is very
consistent and memorable due to their potato chips
not being served in a bag. However, if you can get past the fun logo and bright colors, you would you see that Pringles are
actually only 42% potato. Also, when you look at
packaging for single slices of cheese, you're often
distracted by the benefits, such as high calcium
content written in a fashion to disguise the fact
that what you're eating is actually a cheese product,
not technically cheese, as it's less than 51% real cheese. Products like these often
have their terms manipulated and placed far away from a brand's logo, or what they want you
to think the product is. Look for the tiny writing
tucked away in a corner to see what you're really eating. Number two, sell twice as much. Even after advertisers have done their job of getting you to buy their product, they are not done with you yet. Now they want you to buy even more of it. So how do they do it? Advertisers use cues in their commercials to constantly trick you into
using even more of a product. Gum commercials show a person
taking two pieces of gum instead of one, and often
show a person offering gum to someone else as a
meaning social interaction, therefore influencing you to consume and share more than you would otherwise. Another example, laundry
detergents have started selling concentrated
versions of their products, and put very subtle markers on the cap to show you that you
don't need to use as much as you normally would. However, commercials tend to show a happy, smiling person dumping tons of detergent into the washer without measuring it, which leads many people to
do exactly the same thing. Even shampoo bottles would recommend you use their product twice
to get the best result. But as most people know,
that's not necessary. Advertisers will also
work to create a legend around their products that
can help increase sales, even if it is not true. However, if it is true,
that's even better. Case in point, the
craze of dropping Mentos in Diet Coke that became
an absolute legend online. Millions of people heard this legend and had to see if it was
true, thus spending millions of dollars on unneeded soda and candy. Number one, food photos. Commercials for food
products and restaurants dominate most TV commercial
breaks and print advertising. The food always looks
so amazingly delicious that you can feel your mouth watering. Too bad food commercials are the ways that advertisers trick us the most. With the conditions of
shooting a commercial, it's often impossible to
make food look as it should, so tricks have been used for years to make a product look better. You know those delicious
pancakes with maple syrup thickly coating it as it's poured? Well, the reason it coats so well is because it is motor oil. And that beautiful coat of pancakes? Well, that is possible
when you put a layer of varnish on the pancakes
so they don't absorb what is being poured on them. What about ice cream? Try scoops of mashed potatoes instead. What about a nicely-grilled piece of meat? Those amazing char marks
are actually shoe polish. Ever wonder what makes
fruit and vegetables shine so gorgeously? Unfortunately, it is spray deodorant. And what about a nice bowl of cereal? Surely there's nothing strange about that. Wrong, photographers
usually squeeze a load of PVA glue into a bowl and
use that instead of milk. It stops the cereal from
sinking and allows it to look nicely perched
on top of the fake milk. So, that delicious cereal artwork is not as milky as you thought. There's literally not
a single image of food in a commercial that you should believe. However, it doesn't stop
our mouths from salivating when we something that looks delicious. This old trick is something advertisers will continue to use for years to come. Are there any ways
advertisers have duped you that didn't make the list? Are there any products
that you're sworn off now that you know how they tricked you? Let me know in the comments
section down below. See you next time. (bright music)
