Which triggers are used in ads to sell everything?

In marketing, a trigger implies a reason prompting a customer to make purchases and perform other conversion actions. Triggers are supposed to cause emotions.

In advertising, people are bombarded with messages that encourage them to buy more. In the media, people are told that they need to buy more in order to be happy. In their social circles, people are pressured into owning something in order to fit in. The result is a society that is addicted to consumption.

Dr. Paurl Ekman describes emotions as an understandable universal communication language across the world. He also describes six universal emotions: happiness, surprise, anger, fear, sadness, and disgust. Anger, fear, sadness, and disgust are negative emotions.

How do triggers envelop consumption addiction?

People get addicted to consumption because they are not satisfied with what they have. They want more and more and more. Triggers remind people about what they do not have.

The more you consume, the more you want. This is a psychological process that is not exclusive to consumption. It’s related to the idea of “hedonic adaptation” which is the idea that people quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness after major positive or negative events in life.

The most common way people get addicted to consumption is through advertising. It is on TV, radio, the internet, and in magazines. Advertising is designed to make people want to buy a product. It‘s impossible to avoid seeing and hearing advertisements and not be influenced by them.

What are the triggers of addiction in marketing?

The strongest triggers used in marketing are sex, fear, and social recognition. SFS. These triggers are working for an unlimited audience and for any product/idea.

Other situational powerful triggers are discounts, colors, sounds, family values, culture (traditions, religion, patriotism). These triggers either target limited groups or work best for product categories.

SSex is often used as a trigger in marketing. It is used to sell everything from cars to candy. It’s a major marketing tool to promote products, specifically for the purpose of selling products that are not necessarily related to sex. A company may use sex in their marketing because it is a quick, easy way to catch people’s attention. The association of sex with selling is so strong that it has become a cliché.

FFear is a technique that has been used in advertisements for decades especially in politics & state news media. By associating the information with negative emotion, the advertiser hopes to remind the consumer that promoted product can fix that negative emotion.

In 2019 Covid had become the main source of fear triggering and many political organizations and corporations had benefited from covid-fear-based marketing.

Fear is a commonly used trigger in advertisements. This is because it can make people take action, while also increasing the amount of attention an advertisement receives. In a study “Fear appeal theory”, participants who were shown a video that induced fear were more likely to buy a product that was advertised at the end.

The basic message is “if you don’t do this (buy, vote, believe, support, learn, etc.), some particular dire consequences will occur”

An example of fear-based marketing is this video from Japan:

Authors represent a more-than-usual snowfall almost like an apocalypse :D
Every content on their channel is speculation on fear. The beneficiary of this is NDNews brand.

The formula of Fear is a collaborative representation of threat and undeterminacy regarding its consequences.

The formula of fear used in movies: escalating music (es) the unknown (u), chase scenes (cs), and the sense of being trapped (t)

SSocial Status is a metric representing the relative value and privileges of one person to another, forming a social hierarchy.

Authority of the source. Politics, CEOs, influencers have an authority that merges with promoted products or ideas’ causing the audience to trust, obey and reach conversions.

Desirable status fit. Advertising presents the image of a successful person and defines the items and properties by which this person's image is formed. The possession of the items shown in the advertisement is essential to fitness success. In this way, individual achievements as a determinant of success are replaced by a set of consumable items, the possession of which symbolizes success and consequently high social status and recognition.

For different cultural groups and history timeframes, elements of success differ but are most commonly associated with money, power, physical attraction.

Discounts & rounded prices increase sales conversion.

Colors: the most attractive color is red, yellow increases the speed of consumer decision, blue represents confidence, green is associated with happiness, black is a symbol of exclusivity.

Learn about color tactics in marketing: coolors.co/palettes/trending

Sounds: music is what mainly made you feel a specific emotion. This is true in advertising as well. Emotions are the driver of consumption.

“Sound waves travel from your outer ear to your inner ear and move to the eardrum, which causes it to vibrate. These waves travel until they reach the cochlea, which is filled with fluid containing 10,000 to 15,000 minuscule hair cells (also known as cilia). When the waves come into contact with the cochlea, the cells release chemical neurotransmitters to activate the brain’s auditory nerves.” — Learn more about music tactics in marketing at this research.

Commercial music is going to the next level with Mubert AI

Family values: The family is a popular symbol in commercial advertising, is used to increase profit and develop a positive reputation with consumers; advertisers tend to portray family members in an era’s traditional, socially-acceptable roles.

Culture (traditions, religion, patriotism): advertisement can reflect values belonging to a certain social group's lifestyle, and integrate promoted items/ideas as a part of showing tradition.