Marketing strategies are sometimes tricky, and techniques of seduction are part of the contemporary branding of products. Putting products out on displays, is then of course part of the entire strategy. We are sensuous beings. Consuming today means taking seriously the product differentiations. We should be paying attention to, how the different products feel, taste, smell, etc… In other words, a questions is, how we as humans experience and imagine objects and things.
What is the tricky point is that we are after all quite childlike beings when we make our choices to buy something. Hopefully our product differentiation is more in line with the future aspect; what would be good for us in the long run and what would be a more sustainable aspect in our buying of new things. This relates to, what is good for the environment and does not poison our bodies.
It is important to emphasize couple of questions: how much of the seduction in the advertisements, and in the product differentiation is based on the use of different color-combinations? How do the various techniques of branding speak to our sense of nostalgia aiming at reminding us of our childhood experiences, the shapes, designs, colors and patterns? I noticed something based on this idea.
There was a handbag, which was on display on a ‘poisonous mushroom’. Think of the red-white spotted Amanita. The color combination would be just so inviting, so deliciously right. The color and shape is full of associations, which can be traced to children’s books and other childhood designs…Just imagine Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (by Lewis Carroll). What actually happened to Alice? She was growing tall, shrinking…The image appears as both fascinating and scary. We do not necessarily need to know what happened to Alice in the story. Yet we should think about the poisonous as a metaphor for things that work in the level of seduction… An important question would be, as I see a beautiful handbag on display, would I buy it as it is on a top of a poisonous mushroom? What else does ‘the poisonous’ stand for in the contemporary consumption imaginings, what are the materials used in the products; do they harm the environment and so on?
Firstindigo&Lifestyle 