In this blog post, we calmly examine from the perspectives of psychology and neuroscience how we come to mistake the feeling of ‘wanting to buy’ for ‘need,’ and the process by which the unconscious and emotional marketing dominate consumption.
Shopping is unconscious
We are exposed to the onslaught of consumer marketing through countless diverse channels. So why can’t we accurately recognize these marketers’ tricks each time? Perhaps we already vaguely knew about their temptations under the name of ‘sales tactics’. Yet, we fall for those temptations every time and repeat consumption. What exactly is the cause?
To find the answer, the reporting team met with experts in psychiatry who study psychology and addiction. Together with them, we conducted an in-depth analysis of the emotions and psychological mechanisms within us that trigger consumption. The first astonishing fact revealed concerned the ‘unconscious’. What is the unconscious? Even when glasses are perched on our heads, there are times we search for them without realizing it. Even while walking and talking on the phone, we naturally avoid most obstacles without consciously looking for them. Countless actions we perform are governed by this unconscious mind. Shopping is no exception. We wander stores selecting various items to buy clothes, yet we always end up purchasing similar styles. Let’s hear the experts explain.
“When we shop, it often occurs in the brain’s beta state rather than a rational, conscious state—the so-called alpha state. This is true for almost all cases.”
“The realm occupied by consciousness is actually much smaller than the tip of an iceberg. Our actions are mostly determined by the unconscious. The part judged by consciousness is far more limited than we think.”
Research indicates that over 95% of our consumption behavior is determined by the unconscious. The most crucial factor in this unconscious consumption process is ‘sensory stimulation marketing’. People gradually become enticed by seeing, touching, and smelling a product. As their mood slowly heightens, a strong, unconscious desire to ‘buy it’ forms. This is sensory marketing, which simultaneously stimulates sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste. It touches every single human peripheral nerve, accelerating reaction speed. Advertising works the same way. The moment we think, ‘That model is really cool’ or ‘They’re so slim,’ we unknowingly fall into the desire to buy. Before we know it, we’re picking up a snack we used to eat, thinking buying that item might help us lose weight, unconsciously turning left at the supermarket, and once we taste it, we’re already on our way to purchasing.
This is explained by Professor Kwak Geum-ju from the Department of Psychology at Seoul National University.
“Once the desire to buy arises, a conscious rationalization process follows. Logical justifications emerge: ‘I need that,’ ‘My current one is worn out, so I need a new one,‘ ‘Having that will make my work much easier.’ Ultimately, consciousness serves to justify consumption already decided by the unconscious. Today, much marketing precisely targets this unconscious mechanism.”
A prime example of unconscious consumption is ‘impulse buying’. This occurs when desire arises the moment you see a product, leading to an impulsive purchase despite having no prior plan or intention to buy. This easily contradicts the commonly held belief that ‘humans make rational judgments’. When an impulse purchase occurs, reason temporarily steps aside. In its absence, the unconscious takes over and drives the consumption.
Marketing Inside Our Brains
We are now exposed to marketing for far longer periods than in the past. The development of various digital channels like home shopping, the internet, and SNS has effectively made us targets of marketing 24 hours a day. It’s natural to develop a desire to buy something after repeated exposure.
Consumers find themselves in a situation where seeing something sparks desire.
This is explained by Professor Hong Eun-sil of the Department of Human Ecology and Welfare at Chonnam National University and a director of the Korean Consumer Association.
“Modern society has a structure that constantly encourages consumption. Consumers are placed in an environment where desire arises the moment something is seen.”
But the problem doesn’t end there. Now, marketers are entering our minds to analyze consumer thoughts and emotions. Marketing aims to penetrate our brains, going beyond simple ad exposure. This is the ultimate goal of marketers.
Brand consultant Martin Lindstrom explains.
“Surprisingly, most decisions we make daily occur in the brain’s unconscious regions. We simply act on the feeling of ‘wanting,’ without even knowing why we made that choice. Consumers themselves cannot explain why they suddenly crave Coca-Cola, why Tiffany accessories feel appealing, why they choose Rolex, or why they pick a specific brand at the supermarket. That’s why we decided to leverage neuroscience. This is how neuromarketing was born.”
The dream of marketing is to become a brand
The ultimate goal of marketing is to occupy the consumer’s subconscious. At the pinnacle of this lies the ‘brand’. Let’s compare how a brand works to a meeting between a man and a woman.
Imagine a man and a woman meeting for the first time at a party. Marketing is the act of approaching directly and saying, “I have a lot of money.” PR is having someone else say, “I hear he’s got money.” Advertising is endlessly repeating, “I have a lot of money.” A brand, however, makes the other person feel, “You seem to have a lot of money,” without saying a word. When we buy a brand, a special change occurs in our brain. Martin Lindstrom explains this as the activation of the ‘cool spot’.
“Functional MRI scans show that when purchasing a brand, the anterior cingulate cortex, Brodmann area 10, becomes activated. This area is commonly called the ‘cool spot’.”
Visually perceived brand information travels through neurons, crosses synapses, and ultimately stimulates the cool spot. This is precisely why seeing a brand alone can trigger an impulsive urge to buy. We feel that brands allow us to reveal to the world ‘who I am’ and ‘what kind of person I am’.
Martin Lindstrom’s explanation continues.
“People gain confidence and feel a sense of superiority when they buy an iPad. It’s about expressing their identity through the brand. Apple founder Steve Jobs kept the earbuds white when launching the iPod. At the time, most earbuds were black, so white offered a striking point of differentiation. It’s said that while walking down Madison Avenue in New York, Jobs saw people wearing white earbuds and sensed success in the moment when people looked at each other’s earbuds. Becoming an object of desire – that is the core of what made Apple a global brand.”
Shopping is an emotion
But becoming a brand people love is never easy. Brands are stored deep within the brain, in the ‘amygdala’ responsible for emotions. The amygdala is the core of the limbic system, governing emotional regulation. Powerful brands establish a presence in this emotional territory. When the amygdala is stimulated, the so-called ‘spending god’ descends, and the brain shifts into automatic mode. At this point, purchasing decisions become almost reflexive.
This is explained by Kim Byung-hoo, a neuropsychiatrist.
“Shopping is fundamentally an emotional issue. We believe we are making rational judgments, but in reality, it is emotion that governs our consumption habits. Marketing that taps into emotions is therefore very dangerous.”
Faced with emotional marketing, humans inevitably become vulnerable. Marketers devise new strategies daily to stimulate the five senses. It’s difficult for individuals to withstand this storm of marketing attacks alone. Ultimately, what marketers seek in this process is to turn consumers into ‘shopping machines’. Their goal is to make us forget our financial situation the moment we see a brand and compel us to buy. To achieve this, cutting-edge science is mobilized, intense experiences designed to seduce our senses are created, and massive capital is poured into brand building. And all that investment is ultimately aimed at driving more consumption. Thus, today too, we cross the threshold of consumption, led by our emotions.
