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Perhaps. But he applied what he thought to these things. Such as making smoking more popular than it should have been. Then on the other end making it less p

Perhaps. But he applied what he thought to these things. Such as making smoking more popular than it should have been. Then on the other end making it less popular. Using the same tools. He basically in a few years was able to convince half the population to start smoking. But I do have to admit bacon at breakfast is pretty sweet. Mass marketing as of the style he did had a profound impact on our lives. Even until this very day. But think about this. Why are companies like facebook, google and others hoovering up whatever data they can about you? Because while the 'mass' part works up to a point. If they can also add in targeted information they can add a few % to whatever they want to convert you to. The mass marketing primes you to take in the targeted bits. It is quite a clever manipulation.

derivagral 5y ago
I'd thought that FB and the rest wanted to know everything about you so that when a certain leading % of your cohort (however you create and group them, I'm no expert here) changed behavior, they can sell higher-converting, related ads to the rest of that cohort. I suppose you might classically use an example of how the Peloton caught on or something commercial like that, but you could definitely also track memetic influences. I suppose my point is: you're implying FB is converting you to a behavior (FB retains agency in the action), but I'm more curious on whether they're "just" helping that behavior cascade through a cohort (the 3rd party advertiser retains agency in the action since they're designing the ads and expecting a return.) I suppose that if it did exist, this distinction probably gets blurred a bunch in reality (sometimes FB themselves might really want you to convert! e.g. antitrust or whatever)
- sumtechguy 5y ago
  The way the Bernays method works is to use several different advertising systems from different sources to help guide you to a conclusion. Lets say I want you to buy my product XYZ. Run an advert campaign talking about some issue, that XYZ just happens to solve. But do not mention XYZ at all. Now that may seem counter intuitive. But it is priming you. Now I make sure I have that splattered everywhere. Get different groups arguing about it? Even better. I now get my product into the hands of someone who is considered an authority (4 out of 5 doctors agree) or popular in some way. Get them to talk it up. By itself that is meaningless. However now my 3rd set of ADs can combine the two. Our brains will not connect the two but the 3rd ad puts it together for us. XYZ fixes 'problem'. We are primed to see the connection and conclusion for us. FB and google have their cohort groups. They can help build all 3 parts of that campaign for you. Making sure you target the correct set of people at each stage and not waste advertising dollars. This is especially important in the first two parts. The third part if you do it right will bleed over into others as the final targeted group will talk it up for you.

derivagral 5y ago

I'd thought that FB and the rest wanted to know everything about you so that when a certain leading % of your cohort (however you create and group them, I'm no expert here) changed behavior, they can sell higher-converting, related ads to the rest of that cohort. I suppose you might classically use an example of how the Peloton caught on or something commercial like that, but you could definitely also track memetic influences. I suppose my point is: you're implying FB is converting you to a behavior (FB retains agency in the action), but I'm more curious on whether they're "just" helping that behavior cascade through a cohort (the 3rd party advertiser retains agency in the action since they're designing the ads and expecting a return.) I suppose that if it did exist, this distinction probably gets blurred a bunch in reality (sometimes FB themselves might really want you to convert! e.g. antitrust or whatever)

sumtechguy 5y ago
The way the Bernays method works is to use several different advertising systems from different sources to help guide you to a conclusion. Lets say I want you to buy my product XYZ. Run an advert campaign talking about some issue, that XYZ just happens to solve. But do not mention XYZ at all. Now that may seem counter intuitive. But it is priming you. Now I make sure I have that splattered everywhere. Get different groups arguing about it? Even better. I now get my product into the hands of someone who is considered an authority (4 out of 5 doctors agree) or popular in some way. Get them to talk it up. By itself that is meaningless. However now my 3rd set of ADs can combine the two. Our brains will not connect the two but the 3rd ad puts it together for us. XYZ fixes 'problem'. We are primed to see the connection and conclusion for us. FB and google have their cohort groups. They can help build all 3 parts of that campaign for you. Making sure you target the correct set of people at each stage and not waste advertising dollars. This is especially important in the first two parts. The third part if you do it right will bleed over into others as the final targeted group will talk it up for you.