The passage deals with the rampant spread of aggressive marketing world over.
“What is that women really want?” this universally popular
question was asked by Dr Sigmund Freud after almost three
decades of clinical psychoanalytic practice and analyzing the
ramifications of the female mind. The answer is, as most men
5 would guess, still elusive, but Harvard Business School
experts believe that, in some small little way, they have been
able to identify the brainwaves that tell women to “buy, buy
now”; as also the negative “fight/fight” rejection waves that
compel her to say, “No, I will come again sometime.” The
10 Business School team worked with the university’s
Psychology dean, applying a modern method known as
Positron Emission Tomography (PET). It is often said about
Harvard experts, “You can always tell them in any crowd,
but you can not tell them much.” When it comes to shopping,
15 say the researchers, it is because of an unconscious
process that whatever the consumer thinks and says is quite
different from what he does. Some giant names in the
corporate world today and multi-million dollar MNCs
are said to be sponsoring a hush-hush research and have reported
20 some success in the advanced trials they have made with
the new techniques. In the 21st century, these corporations
hope to rake millions and billions by the proposed paradigm
shift in the market strategy. The late David Ogilvy used
to caution his copywriters that “the customer is not a moron—
25 she is your wife.” The new marketing hypnosis will
greatly help the giant companies to create new products,
retail outlets and advertising so as to subconsciously
stimulate similar brainwaves, egging people to buy. Previous
market surveys went off the mark because they based their
30 probes on the conscious mind; the trick is to trick the
subconscious and the “sublimely subliminal” is music to the
ears of sales people, jaded with sameness and a sense of déjà
vu. Commentator Clive James once said, “The last stage of
fitting the product to the market is to fit the market to the
35 product.” Critics have called the subliminal research
“sinister” and charged big companies with unfair trade
practices, where the people’s preferences are manipulated
and emotions of customers are crudely played with. In their
eagerness to assess facts, a car company reports a 30 per cent
40 spurt in sales, while shoe-designers in Britain said the
Feng Shui way of rearranging their outlet had made a
difference. Perhaps even India’s Vastu Shastra hides another
feel good component!
_________________
| 1. | About what did David Ogilvy caution his copywriters and why? | |
| a. | The fight/fight syndrome in his lady shoppers | |
| b. | He was oblivious to the subconscious process at work among his customer’s mind | |
| c. | To encourage the sales force and to avoid repetition | |
| d. | To caution his sales force to be wary of Harvard professors | |
| e. | He did not want his sales force to indulge in unfair trade practices | |
| 2. | Why are critics against subliminal research? | |
| a. | It revolves around the subconscious and not the conscious | |
| b. | It is in favor of those companies who can afford to sponsor million dollar researches and not of “shop around the corner” stores | |
| c. | It plays with customers’ emotions only for achieving high profit margins of the corporate giants. | |
| d. | It adversely affects the customer as he is tricked into buying what is of no constructive use to him | |
| e. | It will have no end and push the companies into an even more ominous research about the customer’s subconscious | |
| 3. | Why did the earlier market surveys not fetch the desired results? | |
| a. | It emphasized on female customers only | |
| b. | The present day techniques of conducting a survey were not available then | |
| c. | Due importance was not given to the study of market trends | |
| d. | Research on marketing went off the tangent | |
| e. | It did not take the subconscious mind into account | |
_________________
- Ogilvy wanted his copywriters to pursuade women to buy products. The fight/fight syndrome would yield exactly the opposite results of what he was hoping for. The answer is (A).
- Critics believe this practice is unfair and manipulative to costumers. It plays with their minds. The answer is (C).
- Lines 30 and 31 clearly answer this question. The old marketers were not aware of the role of the unconscious mind in the buying habits of customers.The answer is (E).
source: quizmoz.com
