Now before you get your panties in a twist…’evocative’ means ‘bringing strong images, memories, or feelings to mind.’
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So this study I was talking about yesterday…was there a ‘link’ between brands and religions?
“This study showed that when self-identified ‘religious’ people viewed images associated with strong brands…their brains registered the exact same patterns of activity as they did when they viewed the religious images. Bottom line, there was no discernible difference between the way the subjects brains reacted to powerful brands and the way they reacted to religious icons and figures….In fact, the reactions in our volunteers to the brands and religious icons were not just similar, they were almost identical…Clearly, our emotional engagement with powerful brands…shares strong parallels with our feelings about religion. Which is why marketers and advertisers have begun to borrow even more heavily from the world of religion to entice us to buy their products”
And I mean, is it any wonder? These brands have realized that marketing was more about human psychology than any product at hand. They began hiring psychologists as marketers more than 100 years ago…people identify themselves according to brands, and they call it ‘self-expression’.
I know for me…the cross represents something…a world that I was once a part of. And despite me wishing things were different, the Nike symbol has SO much more meaning for me at this point in my life. And, yeah, maybe that’s sad or whatever, but it’s the truth. And I suspect, from a MRI point-of-view - I doubt I’m alone…