Sunday, September 18, 2005

Hypnotic marketing techniques

My trip to Jersey was fascinating - for a variety of reasons.

As a place to visit, it was certainly pleasant. Very pretty - a sort of cross between the north of France, Cornwall and the Isle of Wight. There had been an air display the day before and the airport was still packed with planes from the war and the latest fighter jets.

It would be nice if someone had told me that the runway there is shorter than at most airports. Apparantly the pilots have to 'bang it down' quick. That, combined with particularly bad weather when I arrived, made for general screaming and shouting from most of the passengers as we landed!

The weather had been bad enough for a couple of the other speakers at the event I was attending not to be able to get there, so myself and one other turned out to be the 'entertainment' for the day.

The speaker before me was fascinating. He was a part-time hypnotist and freely told people that he uses some of his techniques to influence potential clients in his 'day job'. This was met with much hilarity as he explained some of the secrets behind stage hypnosis. It was fascinating stuff and my note pad was bulging with ideas!

But he got me thinking as his talk went on. Surely there are ethical issues here about using such skills in this way? Or is this just an extension of Marketing?

After all, isn't that what Marketing is all about - encouraging us to behave in a certain way - so that we will part with our cash?

Phil

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