Absolutely!

If merchants or their barkers/spruikers treat me with some respect and offer me their goods in a pleasing manner then I will certainly consider buying. [For example: there's nothing wrong with depicting a nice lady operating the machine you are trying to sell].

But …. if they insult me, offend me and try to distract me from seeing just what it is they are selling – whether by using pictures of ugly bimbos instead of telling me about their product or by using “nothing to pay until January 2014″ tricks – then I will take my money elsewhere.

Nabakov [60]:

” …. opportunistic and not necessarily in the clients best long term interests.”

How true!

So if the advertising crowd still hold out against any sort of quality assurance. how about a revolt of merchants and customers?

Right, I think see your point now. Youre angry at lazy marketers, not the psychological findings per se. Do I have that right?

Sometimes they’re lazy. Sometimes they’re opportunistic and not necessarily in the client’s best long term interests.

“Call me visionary, call me crazy but I see the hero shot as your product caressed by a stunning blonde on a shimmering tropical beach.”

“Hey, works for me.”

How else can sleazy account execs, nerdy creatives and dull corporate marketing drones score an all expenses trip to the Whitsundays with a hot model? Usually though it’s the photographer that scores in the end.

What is so damned annoying is the stupid assumption that chucking any hag at all with half her clothes hanging off into adverising material will compel all customers to upend their wallets on the counter.

Right, I think see your point now. You’re angry at lazy marketers, not the psychological findings per se. Do I have that right?

Of course “sex sells” – as it has done ever since Adam was playing full-back for Eden.

What is so damned annoying is the stupid assumption that chucking any hag at all with half her clothes hanging off into adverising material will compel all customers to upend their wallets on the counter. That sort of garbage is a real turn-off for me and for a lot of other people I know – and NONE of us are prudes or wowsers …. or mug-customers either! Quality marketing? Yes. Always being treated like a bunch of pervs and gropers? No way!!!

Gandhi [47]:

“Of course there will be A.J.s who violently disagree with that assessment: they all love to pretend they are best mates with the blackfellas (the KKK hoods remain hidden under the bed in barracks)”.

I’m terribly sorry to hear of your awful experiences with the other shoot-’em-down arcade gamers; they can get nasty and peevish, can’t they? Never mind. Can I cheer you up with with good news about army units on active service ["in combat", I think you people call it]? You won’t find any racism at all towards the other blokes in your unit once you have come under enemy fire and realize that you really are mortal; racism is an unwanted, unnecessary and very very unsafe luxury best left to the ten-thousand-miles-away super-patriots back home. Now, finish your milk and hurry off to bed before the boogy-man catches you.

You could do worse, Sam, but this is, after all, a civil blog

Which is the lesser form of civil war, I believe.

That reminds me of the quote from Geoff Honor which the site sometimes displays:

[There's] no harder ask than attempting to maintain an ideologically detached blogging perspective. For a start, no-one believes that you are non-aligned and secondly, your blog ends up being like the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years War — laid waste by those continually seeking to expose you as a heretic.

Psychology and market research? Yeah. Right. Hang on, Ill just grab my wallet – Ive just seen the gorgoeus chick in the ad so now I have this uncontrollable overpowering urge to rush out and BUY the junk theyre trying to flog off!! L-O-L!!

You may feel so, but the numbers don’t lie. Sex sells. It’s the same reason we still have laugh tracks on TV: people say they hate them, but shows with laugh tracks are consistently rated as funnier than those without.

I think I’m going to go and cut myself.

Perhaps the next time Club Troppo chooses to link to my blog they might try to be a bit more constructive.

Thanks for confirming that there was no ironic intent in your post.

I apologise for my failure to properly identify the motives for your snark at the Army and my prior ignorance of “where you are coming from”. In extenuation, I plead that, like the majority of the human race, I am not a telepath.

judging by the your own pic, youre quite a looker yourself, Pav. In fact youd win the comp by a texas mile if you were up against those three. Brains and looks cant be beaten.

Well said, JC. It seems that there IS a subject upon which we can agree.

You are some piece of work. Weren’t you the bloke who once canned my comments at LP because you decided I was getting over-emotional?

There was nothing “ironic” in my post: I think the idea of the Army promising “welcome to country” smoking ceremonies as a way to lure Aboriginals into the Armed Forces is beyond pathetic. I’m not being racist here, if that’s what you assume. As a nation, we have done everything possible to destroy Aboriginal culture, but the idea that you can blend what remains of that culture with the culture of the Armed Forces is just a bloody fantasy.

Of course there will be A.J.’s who violently disagree with that assessment: they all love to pretend they are best mates with the blackfellas (the KKK hoods remain hidden under the bed in barracks). But to me this looks like another stupid waste of taxpayer funds, and an exercise doomed to failure. That’s my opinion, and I’m entitled to it.

Now you can agree with that opinion or not, but to label my post “snarky and strange” just shows that you have no idea where I am coming from, which is probably because you have your own preconceived ideas about me. It is in fact you who is being “snarky and strange” (and utterly charmless), which is pretty hypocritical, isn’t it?

I suggest an apology is in order.

Another name for that mindset is “group-think”. isn’t it?

The first thing that crossed my mind when I read your post was the marketing style by the big-three car makers – and then along came Toyota, Datsun, etc …. and the rest is history. There’s a fortune ready to be made by whoever in the advertising industry is the first to realize what a turn-off all the bimbos, blow-up-dolls and other assorted parodies of women are to some customers. For me, for instance, if I see an ad for machinery with a woman languidly draped across it [as to opposed to a picture of a woman operating it], I just flick the page with a suspicion that they are trying to sell me dodgy goods – and I’m not alone in that!

Psychology and market research? Yeah. Right. Hang on, I’ll just grab my wallet – I’ve just seen the gorgoeus chick in the ad so now I have this uncontrollable overpowering urge to rush out and BUY the junk they’re trying to flog off!! L-O-L!!

SJ [36]:

Just on facial symmetry. A lady I once knew had noticable but not marked facial asymmetry – yet she was one of the most attractive women I have ever known: she had charm, grace, vivacity, lovely smile, flashing eyes, well-groomed hair, well-proportioned figure, intelligence, diligence, cheerfulness ….
Facial asymmetry? Oh yes; I hadn’t noticed – it isn’t symmetrical, is it?

say, PC, are you by any chance related to that very excellent essayist in the Monthly who writes about classical music and shares your surname?

Thank you for this unmissable opportunity to get in a free plug for Cousin Anna’s album; all is revealed here. If you click on that last link you can even hear her play.

JC — heh. These gals are all young enough to be my daughters. But thank you for those kind words.

say, PC, are you by any chance related to that very excellent essayist in the Monthly who writes about classical music and shares your surname?

More specifically, I propose that Nick, Ken and James put their Speedos on and stand in front of the webcam

Just goes to show for all our achievements as a society to date, women are still second class citizens

So, will there be pictures of three blokes tomorrow, so that us girls can compare and contrast their finer (and less fine) points?

hahahha;

judging by the your own pic, you’re quite a looker yourself, Pav. In fact you’d win the comp by a texas mile if you were up against those three. Brains and looks can’t be beaten….

I’d vote for ya in a flash, so there.

More specifically, I propose that Nick, Ken and James put their Speedos on and stand in front of the webcam.

Sth tells me that would hardly be like for like