HOW ADVERTISING WORKS
This is an essay on how advertising works, with special application to the underground locating and detecting industry. Many people do not want to know how advertising works, because knowing how it works means admitting to the fact we're all gullible.
CAVEAT LECTOR
If you would rather not know, please do not proceed any further-- this post is not for you.
PICKIN' ON MINELAB?
I'm going to be accused of "picking on Minelab".
It was an apparent supporter of Minelab who raised the ante on the advertising issue and invited a reply. This is that reply. Neither that person nor I created a controversy regarding Minelab's advertising-- it was Minelab's advertising that created that controversy.
This is an essay on how advertising works, inclusive of how controversial advertising works, using this industry as an example.
TECHNICAL QUESTION: HOW MANY FREQUENCIES?
Does the Sovereign "transmit 17 frequencies"? Sure, so do the CZ's and DFX's. If you want the CZ's and DFX's and even the Sovereign to transmit 28, they probably do that, too. If Minelab didn't like the number 17 (back in the Sovereign days) they'd have picked some other number. With the Explorer they picked 28. Why 17 and 28? Maybe it was time for coffee break. Maybe that was the noise floor of their spectrum analyzer test setup. Maybe somebody's into numerology and thinks that 17 and 28 are magic numbers. I don't know.
Somebody does know. Maybe they'll let us in on an amusing story.
ADVERTISING HYPE
Those of us who are engineers and willing to admit to the excellence of Minelab's basic technology, know why the Sovereign and the Explorer have the performance they do. And it isn't because they transmit upteen gazillion "frequencies".
The 17 and 28 are advertising hype until someone from Minelab explains why they're not. To my knowledge that's never happened, and I'm not expecting it to happen either. Until then, my explanation is better than theirs.
The law in most countries gives advertisers a lot of latitude to stretch the truth and make misleading statements. We've seen advertising all our lives, and by now we ought to know how it works. Some folks hold to the opinion that Minelab's ads are a bit more "Extreme" than those of other companies (to cite a specific example), but they probably haven't broken the law. And if they have, I'd say "let 'em!" for reasons shortly to be explained.
WHY I LIKE MINELAB'S ADVERTISING
It is a fundamental principle of advertising, that the amount of creativity required of the ad copy is inversely proportional to the merit of the product. That's why (in the U.S.A. at least) we have "Merit" brand cigarettes, but not "Merit" toilet paper. We already know the merits of toilet paper (but didn't know the stuff was charming until the Charmin' brand told us so).
Minelab's approach to advertising suggests that their advertising department, at least, believes that Minelab's products have little merit.
I happen to think that Minelab's ad dept. was misled, and that Minelab's products do have merit. But since I happen to be competing with Minelab, I am pleased that their advertising creates doubt concerning the integrity of their product.
WHY "FREQUENCIES"?
Advertising is always about psychology. In the case of products which have no merit, there are no suitable facts to drawn on to produce the desired psychological result, so those desired psychological results must be produced through creative fictions. Most advertising, even for products which do have merit and about which relevant facts can be cited, does rely on creative fictions to some degree.
It is human nature to want to be lied to. The most successful creative fictions are the ones which pander to our desire to be lied to, because a fiction believed which is a lie, is defended more vigorously against reason than something which was believed on the basis of evidence rather than because it was a desirable lie. There are few things about which we like to be lied to more than about sex, hence the widespread and successful use of sex in advertising.
In the field of underground detection, most people have dreams of finding valuable things. This is not a bad thing. "Treasure hunting" in its broadest sense can be a lot of fun and can even be remunerative. However, some people's dreams are completely disconnected from reality, and subconsciously they know this. Therefore they want to be lied to about those dreams, and there is a whole industry dedicated to giving those people what they want. I refer to the high end of the so-called "long-distance locater" industry.
Before I go any further, let me make it clear that I am not an opponent of dowsing, and have no quarrel with dowsing rods which are honestly advertised as such. And, although I may not know how LDL's work (supposing that they do), I do know how advertising works.
You may have noticed, based on advertising, that dowsing rods honestly advertised as such, seem to be a pretty small fraction of the total LDL market. It ain't a coincidence that the LDL industry is one in which highly successful (from a marketing point of view) low end products are conspicuously absent. The people who buy honestly advertised dowsing rods are people who don't want to be lied to-- and they are evidently in a distinct minority.
What do we see in the advertising for high-end LDL's? Claims which, in order to have their desired effect on the customer, have to maintain an appearance of falsehood, because the typical customer for high-end LDL's wants to be lied to. It'll find a gold coin at 50 miles, but won't find the gold ring on your finger, or the bullion coins your neighbor has stashed in his underwear drawer. It'll find gold 10 miles deep (how are your digging skills?) but not two inches deep. We're a ways beyond "advertising puffery" here, aren't we?
And there's the words, for instance "frequency". For most people, the word "frequency" is a word which appears to mean something really important, but nobody seems to know just what that something is! Walk past the New Age section of your bookstore-- how many of the book covers have the word "frequency" on them? How many other words (quantum, aura, chakra, field, harmonic, etc.) which seem to mean something really important but nobody knows just what? This ought to tell you something about how and why the word "frequency" is used in advertising.
Look at the high-end LDL advertisements. What do you see? Why?
Now, look at the ads for multiple frequency metal detectors. What do you see? Why is it there?
"FREQUENCIES" AND PIGEON DROPS
Some scams have been so successful over time, that they've earned their own names, like "Shell Game", "Ponzi Scheme", and "Pigeon Drop". I would like to add one to the list which has been eminently successful in recent times, "Frequency".
Many scams owe their success to the fact they sound very plausible and convincing. But there is a special class of scams that work precisely because their basic premise is nonsense.
Probably the best known nonsense scam is "Pigeon Drop." It makes so little sense, I can never even remember how the plot goes, but you can find it on the web or ask any banker. The underlying psychology of why the scam succeeds is that the victim knows it's nonsense, and refuses to admit that it's nonsense, thereby keeping him/her self in the game until he/she has been fleeced.
That is the same psychology as the word "frequency". Most people don't know what it means, and aren't willing to admit that to themselves, so once they've bitten the bait, they refuse to let go of it.
Of course, "frequency" is a relevant fact for some products, and the word ought to used in the advertising for such products. But even then, the word can be used for purposes beyond the need to convey accurate information.
DOES THE EXPLORER GO DEEPER, etc?
If Minelab's products go deeper, it's not because that capability was built into them by the advertising department. It was put there by the engineering department.
--Dave J.
