How Effective Is Advertising At Changing Behavior? (America)

[Sunstone]

How effective is advertising at changing people's behavior?

[Francine]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

How effective is advertising at changing people's behavior?

Very effective. In 2004 the American People were all set to throw Bush out on his behind for getting us into another land war in the Middle East, when they started a blitz of ads on Faux News linking Iraq to 9-11.

[doppelgänger]

Originally Posted by Francine

Very effective. In 2004 the American People were all set to throw Bush out on his behind for getting us into another land war in the Middle East, when they started a blitz of ads on Faux News linking Iraq to 9-11.

And wolves will eat your children if you don't vote for Bush.

There's a ton of study on brand imprinting (which sheds much light on the power of religious symbolism in culture as well IMO), showing that advertising done right can have a profound effect on peoples' behavior by altering their sense of identity. There are whole scientific journals dedicated to publishing this sort of research. Psychology & Marketing is one such journal.