Negative Marketing: What's the Attraction?

thanks, everyone, for your thoughtful responses.

I can see that though you don't necessarily agree with negative marketing, for the most part, the reason it works, is because we do tend to remember the bad stuff. I have to admit that's true, because if it wasn't, I wouldn't have started this thread!

It's almost like we're programmed like that - to remember bad things.
Luckily, as I grow wiser, I'm learning to tune out what I don't want to upset me, and focus on the good stuff. But it doesn't always work out.

Terra, I saw those Best Buy ads at Christmas. I agree, they had a slight nastiness to them. Incidentally, I've only ever shopped at Best Buy once and I won't ever buy there again. But not just because of their ads.

Robbie, I once wrote to a government agency about an ad that I found very offensive. It was a quit smoking ad. At the time, I still smoked and I was very upset by their suggestion that smokers were dirty. The ad portrayed a young woman rolling around in feces. It was disgusting.

I remember another ad campaign with David Suzuki suggesting that there was a water shortage and we should preserve our water, and that was a year when we had so much rain and so many floods in many parts of Canada. I didn't have to do anything, because the ad was pulled. The ad wasn't the type of blatant negative ad we're discussing here, but it was negative in that it insinuated "scarcity", and I believe in abundance and that nature has a way of balancing things out.

Fluffy, what you wrote is quite thought-provoking and it may not be very far from the truth:

"I think vulgarity and outrageously antisocial behavior on TV encourages those who are tempted to be vulgar to practice it. I think those shows and campaigns are watched because those people want permission to descend to a lower level of social discourse and even commit lawlessness -- and they find it watching Jerry Springer or any number of reality shows."

Another reason, I think, some people watch that stuff is so that that they can justify to themselves that they are better than those people on TV.

Randall, I too, tend to watch HGTV, and the Food Network. I love to cook, so the Food Network gives me lots of great ideas.

Making the conscious choice to not let the negative stuff in can be hard, though, don't you agree? I mean, forcing yourself to get up and walk away when something negative comes on your TV isn't easy, when you've had a rough day, and all you want to do is put your feet up and relax.

So instead, most of us let that poison in on a daily basis. And before we know it, we become immune to it. Most of us become accepting, albeit unconsciously, I think. No wonder so many people are messed up.