From: jsp@uts.amdahl.com (James Preston)
Newsgroups: soc.men
Subject: Re: Elle MacPherson causes rape?
Date: 17 Nov 92 23:33:52 GMT
Reply-To: jsp@pls.amdahl.com
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

dwelch@mpd.tandem.com (Dan Welch) writes:

}I think a lot of people are missing the point.  It is really difficult to
}live in our society and not be bombarded with advertising.  But the advertising
}is a necessary, integral part to a free market economy.

}Trish, how did you decide to buy your TV, or VCR?  Chances are you saw
}an ad for it.  Why did you decide to buy the particular brand you did?
}If you are intelligent, and I assume you are, it was because you thought
}it was the best one.  But how did you come to that conclusion?

}Where do you go to buy your clothes?  How did you find out about this
}place?  Was it, perchance, in an advertisement?  For that matter, how did
}you decide to buy the particular brand of clothes you wear, or food you
}eat, etc.?

I know this wasn't directed at me, but I thought I'd jump in here anyway.
In response to your suggestion above, I looked around at my various 
possessions, TV, VCR, stereo components, furniture, car, computer, 
washer-dryer, clothes, food, etc.  I am struck by how very few of my 
buying decisions were affected at all by advertising.  I have a Zenith
TV which I never saw advertised; I "discovered" it in the store.  I have
an NEC VCR which I never saw advertised.  Same for the JVC stereo
components.  These items were purchased after going to various stores
and comparing for myself what was there.  I suppose that advertising
may have played some part in making me aware of the existance of one or
more of the stores, but it certainly had no effect on my eventual
decision of which product to buy.
  
I bought a Macintosh computer because a friend had one, not because I 
believed it would give me "The power to be my best".  My clothing 
purchases are made by going to a mall and looking through the stores 
that happen to be there; not only does advertising not convince me 
that I "need" some article of clothing, but it doesn't even make me
aware of the existance of the clothing stores.  I'm actually a little
surprised that you ask how people how they decide which brand of clothing
to buy, as if the answer is so obviously that advertising has a large
hand in such decisions.  Do you really buy clothes simply because you've
seen them advertised, rather than because you find them in a store and
like the way they look on you?

I buy food by going to the grocery store and getting the items that I
need.  When I have a choice of brands, I decide by a combination of price
and my past experience with the particular brands.  For example, I now
regularly buy Ruffles Lite potato chips.  But to the best of my knowledge,
I've never seen them advertised.  I saw them in the store, tried them
and liked them, so I come back.  Ditto for the bread that I buy, and
the cheese, and the salad dressing, and the breakfast cereal, etc. etc.  
I will admit that occasionally, some advertising makes me aware of 
something that I wouldn't have otherwise known about.  And, of course, 
sometimes I will try something that I've heard advertised, but if the 
product itself doesn't satisfy me, all the advertising in the world 
won't get me to buy it again.  Oh, and I shop at Lucky's because it's
close to where I live.  When I lived near an Alpha Beta, I shopped there,
the "low-price leader" ads notwithstanding.

Honestly, I think that the largest effect that advertising has on me is
the opposite of what the advertisers intend.  For example, I will never
buy a pair of Bugle Boy jeans, because the ads are insulting to my
intelligence. 

Hey, I agree that advertising is necessary.  How else would I get to
watch Murphy Brown for "free"?  ("free" is in quotes because I'm well
aware that I pay for the advertising everytime I buy an advertised
product, regardless of why I bought it.  What I mean is that that cost
is there no matter what I watch or don't watch on TV, so in that sense,
Murphy Brown is free).

--James Preston

Newsgroups: soc.men