Advertising and You
Learn how adverts influence choices and how to think before buying.
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Why advertising and you matters
Advertising is everywhere — TV, YouTube, games, social media, shop windows, bus stops. Adverts have one job: make you want to spend money. They're made by teams of experts who study what makes people buy things. That doesn't mean adverts are evil, but it does mean you should know what tricks they use.
How adverts work
Adverts use several techniques to push you toward buying:
- Bright colours and exciting music: designed to make you feel good and associate that feeling with the product
- Famous people or popular characters: you like the celebrity, so you're meant to connect that positive feeling with the product
- "Only 3 left!" or countdown timers: artificial urgency — making you feel like you'll miss out if you don't act now
- "Everyone has it!": social pressure — making you feel left out if you don't have the thing
- Before-and-after comparisons: showing a problem and claiming the product is the solution
None of these techniques are giving you honest information about whether the product is good value for your money.
The urgency trap
"Only 2 left in stock!" and countdown timers are designed to make you panic and decide before you have time to think. But in most cases, the product will still be available tomorrow. The urgency is artificial. When you feel rushed by an advert, that's usually the moment to slow down, not speed up.
The social pressure trap
"Everyone has it" and "you'll be the only one without it" are designed to make you feel left out. But the best way to respond to this is to ask: "Did I want this before my friend mentioned it? Before I saw the advert?" If the answer is no, the want was created by the pressure, not by you genuinely wanting the thing.
What to remember
You can enjoy an advert and still choose not to buy the thing. Recognising that an advert is using urgency or social pressure doesn't mean you have to feel clever about it — it just means pausing for 24 hours before deciding. If you still want the item the next day, it's probably a genuine want. If you've forgotten about it, the advert created a temporary feeling that faded.
Needs vs wants sorter
Tap Need or Want for each item. Needs keep you healthy, housed, learning, and earning. Wants are optional upgrades.
Rent or housing share
Netflix when you already have two services
Groceries for the week
Brand-new phone yearly
Health insurance premium
Gym membership you never use
Car fuel for a job commute
Car with payments you cannot afford yet
Basic internet for school/work
Daily takeout coffee
Phone data for maps and safety
Concert tickets when savings are empty
How to think it through
A simple rule for any advert-driven purchase:
- Don't buy in the same session you first see the advert
- Wait 24 hours (or at least a few hours)
- Ask: "Am I still interested, or has the feeling faded?"
This one step stops most impulse purchases from happening. The desire an advert creates usually fades quickly. Real wants — for things you genuinely need or have been planning to buy — don't disappear overnight.
Fun fact
Companies spend billions of dollars on advertising every year. Apple alone spends over $1 billion. They study psychology, eye movement, and brain responses to figure out exactly what makes people want things. Knowing you're being studied makes it a lot easier to pause before buying!
You're watching YouTube and see an ad for a new art set. It says '50% off today only — 5 hours left!'
You have $15 saved. You weren't thinking about buying an art set before this ad. What do you do?
Practice the idea
Which choice best shows understanding of advertising and you?
A student faces seeing a flashy ad for a new toy. What is the smartest first step?
An advert uses bright colours, a countdown timer, and the words 'Only 3 left!' What is it designed to do?
What is the smartest response when a friend says 'Everyone is buying it, you'll miss out if you don't get it now'?
Bring it into your life
For the next week, notice every advert you see. For each one, write down: what technique is it using? Urgency? Social pressure? A celebrity? A problem it claims to solve? Just noticing the technique makes it much harder for the advert to work on you automatically.
Adverts are designed by experts to make you want to spend before you have time to think. Common tricks: artificial urgency ("only 3 left!"), social pressure ("everyone has it"), and fake deadlines ("today only!"). The most powerful defence: pause 24 hours before any advert-inspired purchase. If you still want it the next day, it's probably a genuine choice. If you've forgotten about it, the advert created a feeling that wasn't really yours.