“If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good. You play good, you win!”

I never would have guessed that I would get my inspiration for this week’s blog post while watching Thanksgiving Day football. I had actually completely forgot about the blog up until my dad said one of his favorite (and his only grammatically incorrect) phrases.

Through the years my dad has used this quote (by whom, I have no idea) to explain why many athletes fall into the marketing ploys used by athletic companies to sell the latest, coolest looking, trendiest gear. They claim, and many believe, that by buying the newest equipment and the coolest uniforms, teams and individuals will play at a higher level. I’ve always thought about whether this idea is merely of form of manipulation used by these companies, or a theory that could truly have some evidence backing it up.

Throughout my life, I have always taken the approach that the newest gear, equipment and fashion played no part on whether you succeed in sports. I have never been a very “flashy” person on the field and in a sport like lacrosse, which has created a very attention-grabbing atmosphere, I always seemed to clash with everyone else. I didn’t have the nicest, newest pads, never wore high socks or bought expensive helmets or cleats, but was always was able to do well. I actually think that the way I looked allowed me to benefit from being labeled as a “newbie”. As an employee at a local golf course, I also saw this idea (that the newest, best-looking gear made you a better athlete) be proved wrong. I can tell you that no matter how expensive your clubs are, you’re not a great golfer if you don’t play enough. The best members are usually the ones that have the same clubs their father used in the 50’s. So these are the reasons I believed the “look good, play good” ploy was merely a manipulation.

Then there is the other side. The other side believes that the more you feel that you look the part, the more comfortable you feel about how you look on the fields, the better you will play. This idea I completely agree with. In sports, one cannot compete well if they are not comfortable. If looking good in the newest gear is something that makes an athlete comfortable, because it allows them to feel as if the audience does not look at them mockingly (which for many athletes is the case), then this is definitely a quote that they live by. The question now becomes whether each individual athlete can feel comfortable in any gear, or only the “best looking” gear. This is what causes athletic company’s marketing strategies to shift between manipulation and the truth.

So really, manipulation used in marketing strategies for any company can be seen as manipulation, or can truly hold value based on the individual and how they react with that product. Ok, maybe certain foods won’t automatically lead you on a path to a healthy life, but for some people it actually does cause them to make different choices and to think about what they are doing. Maybe any old ibuprofen will do the same job as Advil, but maybe the extra comfort you feel from knowing that you’re taking a drug that is proven to work that many people use actually allows you to feel better then taking any other brand. These conjectures are what cause me to really think about the manipulation used in marketing. While it may be manipulation, it usually holds some amount of truth. Depending on who you are, this truth can range from a little to a lot. So the next time you don’t think your being manipulated, look deeper and maybe you will find that you are. More importantly, next time you think your being manipulated, look to see if there is truth to why you doing what your doing.

Black Friday Madness

Every day after Thanksgiving, thousands of shoppers wake up as early as 5 a.m. to participate in the madness we call Black Friday, the one day when stores have the “best deals” of the year. With so many shoppers in the same mall, the day can get pretty chaotic. My brother read an article on a guy that pepper sprayed four people in Wal-Mart for a video game. Seriously? That instance made me start thinking of how this single day turns people into crazies; it manipulates them into buying more items than they typically would buy.

The whole idea of a sale automatically puts you into a buying mood and faced with so many bargains, you will end up buying more things that you may not need. You may go in planning to buy a pair of jeans but when you notice there’s a “buy one get one half off” sale, you’ll end up buying a second pair of jeans simply because it seems like a good bargain. However, unless you were planning to buy two pairs of jeans, you just spent more money then you were originally planning to spend. My mom partook in this madness last year to “see what it would be like” and she ended up buying me a TV for my room, which was unnecessary because I already had a TV in my room. When I asked her why she bought it, she replied, “There was a really good deal on TVs, I had to get it.” I find it interesting how this entire day shows how easily people can be manipulated.

Not On My Own Just Yet

In response to Sade’s and Alison’s posts about the freedoms and limitations of college, I was surprised my first few weeks at college by the lack of responsibilities that I have experienced while studying at Hamilton.

Last year I lived as an exchange student in Finland so I have already spent a year living away from home. Although there were rules I was required to obey, I had a lot of freedom, and with it a lot of responsibilities. At the school I attended while abroad, students were allowed to come and go as they pleased. Students were not questioned for missing a class and were not even required to inform the teacher where they were going if they left in the middle (including if they didn’t come back). Cell phone use was also commonplace in classrooms and was rarely acknowledged by the teachers. Instead the students were simply required to learn the material and complete the work on time. Focus was placed on these activities over attendance and participation. In my home life it was expected that I clean up after myself, help cook the food, and help with the laundry.

When I came to college, I was expecting to have a ton of freedom and even more responsibility. While I have both of these, I do not have quite as much as I expected. Although it depends on the teacher, some teachers do not punish students for late work (as long as it is not turned in too late). In my biology class, some students forgot to do an assignment and the teacher simply let them turn it in the next day. The same thing occurred in my Spanish class. I was also surprised that when a student in my Spanish class missed his exam, the teacher asked a student to call him in the middle of the exam to remind him. A few of the students have missed many classes and the teacher reminds them of the importance of attending classes (although they are sophomores and should already know the punishment for missing more than a few). These students do not have as much responsibility as I expected they would, as they have our professor constantly reminding them the importance of coming to class (similarly to my mother reminding me when I was in high school). Before I started college I pictured colder professors who would say nothing to a student who slacked on their responsibilities, and instead would remain silent while lowering their grades. Although it’s a pleasant surprise that the professors are so nice and caring, I believe these students should take more initiative and realize their responsibilities.

In my dorm I was surprised by the lack of responsibility by some students who leave half-eaten food, dirty dishes and crumbs in the common room. The other day someone left a half-eaten piece of pizza and a half-empty bowl of soup in the common room for over a day before it was cleaned up (and I would bet that it was the cleaning lady, not the student, who cleaned it up). These students, however, do not have to clean up after themselves because someone else in the dorm, or the cleaning lady, will.

Also sports teams (I know freshmen on the baseball team have to do this) have to report their grades and how their lives are going to their coaches. Their coaches then guide them and let them know at what point they need to get a tutor. At first I thought students were completely on their own at college but its nice to know that everyone has someone looking out for them (I’m sure my advisor would help me in the same way a coach helps his players). I had assumed before coming here that I was completely responsible for my grades, and my life in general, while here but the truth is, there are so many people guiding us in appropriate directions I do not have as much freedom, and responsibility, as I thought.

The Science Behind Shopping

In light of the quickly approaching Black Friday I thought it would be interesting to analyze all of the subtle manipulating forces acting against consumers as they browse their favorite stores.

Wegmans, a grocery store that originated in Rochester, is the most popular grocery store in my town. At first not everyone was too thrilled about a new grocery store competing with our already existing Quality, but the company was smart and built its new location right next to our local elementary, middle and high schools. With its new prime location, Wegmans quickly became the go-to shopping spot for moms who were looking to quickly grab their groceries after dropping their kids off at school. Had the store been built away from the school, its popularity would have been slow coming and competition with Quality (which was located just on the outskirts of town) would’ve remained very competitive. Later, Wegmans gained popularity with the students themselves when it built a sub shop within its stores and attracted high school athletes who needed a meal in between school and games, but didn’t have time to drive to another restaurant or grocery store. Once inside the store the athletes would also feel the need to grab small snacks to bring with them on longer bus rides (since they were already within the store, they could quickly grab the snacks).

After establishing its prime location Wegmans became even subtler with its manipulation. Wegmans sells, and has always sold, the cheapest milk within twenty-five minutes of its location, and heavily advertises this fact. As a result, many shoppers will go into Wegmans for this great deal. The milk, however, is located in the very back corner of the store and there is no straight shot to get there. Instead, the store is designed as a maze (similar to Ikea) so shoppers have to wind down different aisles (with more expensive items) to reach the milk. By the time they reach the milk and get back to the check out lines, they have undoubtedly found more items that they need. Although these items may not be great deals, it is easier to get them with the milk than to go to Quality as well.

Shoppers in Wegmans may notice that not only are the aisles designed like mazes, but also aisles with more expensive items in them have tiny ridges in the flooring that make more noise as the cart passes over them and actually slow the cart down. This manipulation forces the shopper to spend more time in these aisles where the items are usually more expensive, and unnecessary. This is reported to slow the shopper down and cause a 6% increase in buys of items from these aisles.

Manipulation techniques such as these are not practiced only by Wegmans, although it was my prime example, but by other stores as well. Ikea is famous for its mazes, which shoppers become lost in and are then forced to spend more time wandering through the aisles looking for an exit. Malls employ this same technique. Stores that sell warm clothing reduce the air temperature inside, making the shopper cold and influencing them to buy warmer clothes. Manipulation of consumers is everywhere. Although it may begin with advertisements and brand names, it continues in store design.

Wisdom Teeth

Yesterday, I went to the dentist to get my wisdom teeth pulled. I knew that the operation would leave me in pain, but I was mentally prepared and unafraid...until I stepped into the operating room. As soon as I sat down on my chair, the doctor started hooking me up to a monitor while explaining the entire procedure to me. I was going to be put under via a needle and pass out for the next hour or so. When I wake up, my mouth will be numb and I will only begin to feel the pain a few hours later, once the numbing went away. I was going to be prescribed three different drugs to help with the pain and the swelling. Although I knew all of this and had spoken to various friends about their experiences so that I could better prepare myself, I totally lost it and began to cry. I’ve never been hooked up to a machine, which was intimidating, I have a huge fear of needle, they make me feel nauseous, and the idea of being put under scared me. I was about to miss an hour of my life without noticing that any time had past and no recollection of what happened within the hour.

The nurse tried to soothe me. She first explained that how I feel when the drugs are administered is how I will feel when I wake up. So, I should try to keep positive and calm. Then, she tried to assure me of her career experiences (she worked at the emergency room at some hospital, I wasn’t totally paying attention). But, her mini resume reminded me of the first day of class and how Professor Schwartz lied to us and asked, “How can you trust that I am the professor and that I have any credit?” Now, I didn’t think that someone had kidnapped the real doctor and the person talking to me was an actor, but I realized that she could have completely lied to me in order to ease me. At the time, I tried to forget about that possibility seeing as my surgery was in her hands.

The last thing my doctor said to calm me was, “This is a big experience for you, but we do this operation almost everyday,” which brought me back to perspective. It is funny how most professionals perform the same procedures everyday and routinize themselves with significant events for their clients. What was one of the most memorable days of my life thus far, or I guess non-memorable since I was passed out, for my doctor was just another day with another surgery with another patient.

May I have some Advil (ibuprofen)?

For my media(ted) art(i)FACT I brought in a Target brand bottle of ibuprofen. On the bottle it says “compare to active ingredient in Advil Ibuprofen tablets.” Advil is the name almost everyone immediately thinks of when they go to get a bottle of ibuprofen; I have many times by mistake referred to ibuprofen in general as Advil. But does that make it any different than the generic brands of the medicine? Probably not. But if you think that a brand of medicine works better than another then it might effectively do that for you as a result of the placebo effect. I previously wrote a blog post on the placebo effect and it’s pretty interesting; it has been proven time and time again that if we believe that a type of medicine works even if it is just a placebo, the placebo can affect us in ways that the real medicine would. Therefore if we think Advil works better than the Target brand Ibuprofen, it might for us even if the medicines themselves are exactly the same.

On the topic of name brands versus generic brands in general, Sabrina pointed out to me that the Target brand is really its own name brand. She told me that people actually want to buy the Target brand over other brands. Apparently the Target brand name is “up&up” which I didn’t even notice. Now that I look at the bottle again I do see the up&up logo; I had no idea previously that it was a Target brand though, I just knew that I bought it at Target. Because I didn't recognize the brand name and because it said compare to active ingredient in Advil, I just assumed that it was a generic brand, but it really isn't. When compared to a different brand of ibuprofen people may think that they should get the "up&up" brand instead, maybe even instead of Advil. The Target brand ibuprofen is cheaper than Advil and is probably a happy medium between an entirely unknown ibuprofen brand and the most well known. For many of us brand names do influence decisions to buy certain products over others. Though maybe some will prefer Target brand medicine over Advil itself, brand names often “mediate” buying decisions in some form or another.

Fair Enough to be Lovely?

For my media(ted) art(i)(FACT) I brought a picture off an online ad for ‘Fair and Lovely’, a fairness cream that’s sort of a cosmetic staple in South Asia. Fairness is traditionally considered a virtue in South Asia. Unilever basically endorsed a cultural cliché when it named its product as such. However, in doing so, it has mediated the idea of “loveliness,” which apparently means the same thing as “fairness.”

I feel like it’s been in the cosmetic industry since as far as I can remember. It has been so successful that now the market is swarming with fairness products that want to follow suit. However, it still maintains an upper hand over all the new products (in my opinion.) Naturally, Fair and Lovely has worked its way so comfortably into our natural vocabularies that now, ‘fair and lovely’ sounds like such a familiar idea. As such, what the artifact also mediated is the comfort level with which one can now associate fair with lovely.

The ads for the cream only reinforce the idea that’s already lucid from the name (this goes for all fairness products in general, to be honest.) One ad shows a young girl who dreams of becoming a cricket commentator but doesn’t even dare to go through with the selection process until of course she starts using the product. Once she does, she effortlessly makes it through the auditions. Another basically shows a marriage held together by Fair and Lovely. So, one more thing the artifact mediates is the idea of career and familial success.

Like I said, Fair and Lovely is only restating a culturally accepted notion. So, the roots to the problem trace back much deeper and it’s a problem that needs to be solved. But to sell the idea that this little tube of “loveliness” is the solution to the stigma that dark women face, how “fair” is it really?