How To Be A Liberal: The Story of Freedom and the Fight for its Survival

by Ian Dunt

Advertisers understood that human beings – rushing to work, caring for a baby, visiting their parents – often didn’t have the time to sit and rationally decide what they wanted. Instead, they were susceptible to subconscious automatic behaviour. Their brains tended to follow certain pathways, which could be exploited for commercial gain. This is why products are often priced at £4.99 rather than just £5, say, or £799 instead of £800. Someone who took the time to think about the difference rationally would recognise that it was negligible. But the hurried, automatic part of the brain places undue priority on the first number it sees. Nearly everyone knows this is true, and yet nearly everyone is vulnerable to it. For a long time, this effect was relatively contained. Advertising took place within limited spaces in people’s lives. There was an advert in the newspaper, but they could skim over it. It came on during a television show, so they waited for it to end. It was plastered over a billboard, but they passed it by. Even when people chose to pay attention to the adverts, they were at least aware that someone was trying to influence them in a certain way. They knew they were experiencing advertising.