Think for Yourself: When Your Holiday Buy Turns to Bye

​Have you seen the commercial where there’s this guy dressed in festive clothing, singing his well-rehearsed heart out while leading a pack of well-rehearsed dancing holiday shoppers into the well-rehearsed, welcoming, and equally festive open doors of a national retail store?
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Yes, it’s inviting. Yes, it’s compelling. And yeah, it kinda makes you feel like you’re missing out on a party if you don’t join in. They did it well.

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​Apart from some obvious questions [Since when did holiday advertising start before Halloween? Is the spiritual meaning of the season on its last gasp?], the reminder — if only to myself — in the words of some infamous Twitter posts is, it’s Fake News!

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When you think for yourself apart from outside influence, you empower yourself.
​CATHERINE LENARD

​Fake News in this sense. You may have heard it, and maybe even know it, but it merits repeating because media tech is getting more and more sophisticated about getting under your skin. Not only literally (voluntary chip implants–yep they’re here), but regarding how you think.



​So here’s a little pull-back of the curtain:

​•  Advertising is designed to affect your thoughts and emotions

•  Steering you into doing what the advertiser wants you to do

•  In the case of the well-rehearsed friendly singing and dancing man, he’s the mouthpiece for a giant corporate conglomerate
 
•  That hires an expert creative agency who engages lots of folks to further their desired message
 
•  We’re talking decades and decades of highly professional experience from account and research people who are skilled at mining emotional pain points (the underlying reasons that affect your decision to buy) to creative directors, writers, production crew, and talent (dancing man and his merry minions)

•  Who pull out all the stops to figure out how to get you to do what they want you to do
 
•  Which is to buy their stuff

•  Because they have plans, they have bills, and they want to get their paycheck, too

•  In media it’s about ratings, numbers, and the bottom line




​If this puts a damper on your ho-ho-ho, remember this:

•  You have the power to say no

•  You don’t have to allow your mind to be manipulated and stressed through frenzied media reminders to buy-buy-buy now during the holiday season

•  Or ever

•  Unless you want to

•  Remember, these ads are ultimately about translating into numbers for the corporate advertiser
 
•  You have the power to affect their bottom line by consciously choosing where you do or don’t spend your money
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•  Because without their collective “you,” they got nothin’
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Photo by Swapnil Sharma

When you think for yourself 
​apart from outside influence, you empower yourself. 

Because becoming more self-aware about why you’re doing what you’re doing helps you flex your muscles to live more on-point. By choice. Yours, not theirs or anyone else’s.

Because long after dancing man has been paid for his efforts and Buy turns into Bye (ad campaign over), come January when those credit card bills come rolling in, you may be wondering what you were thinking.
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When dancing man took you into his oh-so-inviting advertising arms and very effectively swept you off your feet.