We all know marketing works, it’s home companies sell their products and convince you, the consumer, to buy them. But what’s the reasoning behind this? Enter, the classic Paradox of Choice study which showed that the cost of making a decision grows with each new option, with more choice comes more anxiety and regret.
So in a world full of too many choices, how do retailers get you to choose their option? That’s where marketing comes into play. By framing one option that’s relatively equal in a positive light, we’re likely to just go with it, maybe just to make the anxiety stop.
It seems that there’s not much we can do about our susceptibility to it. All things being equal, people prefer a hopeful spin, that is what’s called framing. Humans above and beyond choose positive framing. They’ll choose the 75% lean steak over the 25% fat one even though they’re exactly the same.
How can you change your susceptibility to these clever ploys? Well, you can’t. Studies have shown this bias might be in our DNA. But now that you’re aware of it, think twice before always spending on the sunny side.
