There’s something wrong with this picture.
I suggest you click on it to make it bigger. I want you to study it closely for a few minutes and take note of anything you might find wrong with it. No we aren’t looking for missing moles or Waldo, I mean something about the advertisement that is designed to manipulate you into buying this product. When you’re done scroll down for what I found.
Walking through a mall on Saturday, this ad really jumped out at me. I usually don’t pay attention to these kinds of things, but when I’m in a mall I’m not in the right state of mind anyway. I try not to let The Weakonomist come out too much in public, but I couldn’t help myself with this one. It was hard to take this picture without looking like some kind of creepy dude as this was in a high traffic area (as most ads are). But this was worth it.
Almost immediately, two things jumped out at me that were wrong with this ad. Upon further review I saw something else and when I showed it to my family they found something else too. How many did you find?
Here’s what I found:
Lighting - This picture was not taking at a specific angle for the lighting, the lights are directly pointed towards this part of the ad. They make the “after” pictures much brighter, and by nature, more attractive.
Smiles - This may be the most obvious, and it’s a trick you see everywhere in before/after shots. The model is not smiling when her hair is messed up, but now that it’s been made beautiful, she’s smiling, which makes her look prettier by comparison. This could actually qualify as two manipulations, the smiling makes her prettier to you and me; and the smiling shows she’s happier with her pretty hair.
“Proof” – Credit goes to my family for finding this one. The word “proof” appears twice over the after pictures (the faded on is a shadow), almost as a seal of legitimacy on the product. You certainly would want a word like “mess” or “disaster” over your after pics.
Product Comparison – The pictures are showing a before and after of the same model. But they are showing before and after use of the product. There are dozens of products that probably do the same thing, the customer should be shown how much better this product is in relation to the competition. Worse though, as that the before pictures are clearly of people with hair styled to look bad. No one’s hair gets that frizzy without some help. This is a classic move you see most often in diet pills or exercise equipment. Show me how it’s better than the competition and it will be an informative ad, anything else is simply a manipulation in my book.
I don’t mean to single out Sephora (whoops, did I just give away who did this?) because they sure didn’t start doing this and they aren’t the only ones. This are classic marketing moves the actually do work. I observed people look directly at the ad and then go into the store and hunt down the product. Like I said, this was hard to do without looking creepy. I’m sure I was flagged by mall security.
I’m interested to see if there’s anything else wrong with it. Perhaps the angle of the models? I’m sure there are some photography nerds out there that know stuff like this. Drop your ideas in the comments, and don’t let the marketers get you!
 By The Weakonomist |
The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics. Also keep in mind that nothing I say can be construed as financial advice. |
