CONTROLLING YOUR MARKET WITH REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY

By: Kyle SergeantADV 1679

Marketing & Advertising Are Hard

• Lots of products and services out there

• Lots of messages to take in

• Creating a lot of noise for our personalities to deal with

How Do We Breakthrough?

How Do We Breakthrough? (cont..)• People filter out most things

• People have developed their our own bubbles

• Different tactics are needed

• If “the goal of advertising is to influence people’s behaviour,”* how do we breakthrough the barriers?Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion: Application to Advertising by Richard E

Petty & John T Cacippo, p. 3

ENTER………………ygolohcysP

esreveR

OR

Reverse

Psychology

(NOTE: Don’t judge a cliché)

So, What is Reverse Psychology?

• Reverse psychology is a marketing/advertising tool that challenges an individual’s belief(s) passed a certain point, gaining the individual’s interest which sends them along a consumer journey.

(Note: This is not the best thesis statement you’ve ever read.)

Who Thought Of It?• Developed out of the Frankfurt School of

Social Research• Introduced by critical theorists Max

Horkheimer & Theodor Adorno in Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944)

• Horkheimer & Adorno coined “Culture Industry.”

• Not the most flattering outlook on society but did well in touching on our mass consumption*

• Milton Erickson, agent of social influence• Used reverse psychology on his children

Personal summary of the back cover of Dialectic of Enlightenment, 1966 Edition

But Does It Really Work?

• Yes• Why?• Reverse psychology motivates people – i.e.

It leads people to behave a certain way.• Reverse psychology has motivational

strength – i.e. It creates a high degree of willingness within someone to expend energy to reach a goal.

Allows You To Establish Control

EXAMPLE

Lady Gaga & Reverse Psychology, August

2013• Released video that began with: “If you don’t like

pop music, you should turn this off.”• Video was commented on in The Huffington Post,

New York Daily News, Rollingstone Magazine, MuchMusic,….

• Media description of video: “Like a parent desperate for a child to behave, Lady Gaga urges people not to buy the song.”*

• 1,270,708 Youtube views• Album comes out November 11th (Note: Don’t buy it)

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/lady-gaga-urges-a-p-p-l-a-u-s-e-new-album-article-1.1425923

“Lady Gaga is a celebrity. That’s why it

worked.”• Incorrect• Reverse psychology engages people’s

personalities – i.e. their unique psychological makeup that consistently influences the way the person responds to their environment.

• Reverse psychology creates an unconscious motive that causes a personality to act.

• This motive is called, Reactance

Reactance• The turbo charger in the reverse psychology

engine.• Coined by Jack Brehm (1966)• “The negative emotional reaction to the

usurpation of freedom”* – i.e. Taking choice away from someone.

• “Is an aversive feeling that produces motivation to resist the influence attempt and to restore the threatened freedom.”*

• Basically: Turn your goal into the “threatened freedom.”

The Science of Social Influence: Advances and Future Progress edited by Anthony R Pratkanis, p. 85

Creating Reactance• Two things to remember:

1) Strength of the message: Must be blatant or unwanted, not subtle or justified.2) Importance of the threatened freedom: Know your market and act accordingly.*

You don’t want an example of reactance, right?

The Science of Social Influence: Advances and Future Progress edited by Anthony R Pratkanis, p. 85

Reactance In ActionThe Troy Public Library

• Library in Troy, MI, was going to be closed• Needed tax money to survive• The Tea Party wasn’t going to let that

happen• Agency created a Book Burning Party.

Troy Public Library• Campaign included Facebook, Twitter,

Foursquare, & Youtube• People were calling the organizers names:

“idiots,” “stupid,” “a**hole.”• Gained local, national and international media

exposure• Before the vote, campaign message changed: “A vote against the library is like a vote to burn books.”• Created a “A-HA” moment• 342% increase in voters• Saved the library

Conclusion• Marketing and advertising are hard• Have to get passed the noise• Need to use the proper tools to do so• Reverse psychology is one of those tools• Reverse psychology works because it

creates reactance within a personality that motivate an individual to act a certain way - i.e. Do what the marketer/advertiser wants them to do.

• Examples: Lady Gaga and the Troy Public Library

• And ……

Don’t Check Out This Tumblr For More Info

www.adv1679.tumblr.com

Sources• The Science of Social Influence: Advances and Future

Progress edited by Anthony R Pratkanis http://books.google.ca/books?id=1pGkEmri1JEC&pg=PA85&dq=reverse+psychology+and+reactance&hl=en&sa=X&ei=L-NuUsb6CYnCywHY6YGYAQ&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=reverse%20psychology%20and%20reactance&f=false

• Critical Theories, Radical Pedagogies, and Global Conflicts edited by Gustavo Fischman http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=mQUVf9eQYmsC&oi=fnd&pg=PA154&dq=max+horkheimer+reverse+psychology&ots=-YtJERnGla&sig=o79egYyc3ulLUBGI1eGcFEhw3eU#v=onepage&q&f=false

• Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments by Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=l-75zLjGlZQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=dialectic+of+enlightenment&ots=CrPBGnW9vw&sig=RA1S6LFLAch9LNHB0tzZzsYk_Oc#v=onepage&q=dialectic%20of%20enlightenment&f=false

• Reverse Psychology Marketing: The death of traditional marketing and the rise of the new “pull” game by Dr. Indrajit Sinha and Dr. Thomas Foscht http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=b6SBOSnDzc0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=history+of+reverse+psychology&ots=XniWL4KpjB&sig=QnDrz-bZ7TA9-RjjrIZSnQuubn4#v=onepage&q=history%20of%20reverse%20psychology&f=false

Sources (cont…)• Milton H Erickson by Jeffrey K Zeig and W. Michael Munion

http://books.google.ca/books?id=H8I8k8ohTnQC&pg=PA73&lpg=PA73&dq=milton+erickson+reverse+psychology&source=bl&ots=lPD1YcbvX3&sig=yN8saPCgysSh20Af5NFyKaGmuqg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=A7ZvUqvDNoikyQGO44GoDQ&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=milton%20erickson%20reverse%20psychology&f=false

• Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion: Applications to Advertising by Richard E Petty and John T Cacippo http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~tecas/syllabi2/adv382jfall2002/readings/petcac.pdf

• Using Reverse Psychology Effectively by Stanley C Loewen http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/15949/1/Using-Reverse-Psychology-Effectively.html

• Lady Gaga Promo Video Uses Reverse Psychology Urging Fans to Not Buy Her New Album, “ARTPOP” by Zayda Rivera http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/lady-gaga-urges-a-p-p-l-a-u-s-e-new-album-article-1.1425923

Sources (cont…)• Dr. Pepper Ad’s Reverse Psychology Working by

W.F. Price http://www.the-spearhead.com/2011/10/12/dr-pepper-ads-reverse-psychology-working/

• Don’t Read This by Mae Anderson http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising/dont-read-49577

• Reverse Psychology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_psychology

• Reactance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactance_(psychology)

• Culture Industry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_industry