Advertising doesn't work the way you think it does

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This is a video lecture in which I argue that association ads are best explained by what I call the social connotation theory, rather than the emotional inception theory. The emotional inception theory holds that modern advertisements do not try to rationally or logically persuade us to buy products. Rather, they work by manipulating our emotions—creating a subconscious association between their product and some positive emotion or idea. Then when we see the product, we are drawn to buy it. But I argue that this Pavlovian conception of advertising is a myth. By contrast, the social connotation theory holds that advertisements, or at least a certain subclass of advertisements, establish a publicly known association between products and ideas. This is what philosophers call common knowledge, and, according to this theory, people rationally choose to buy products as a way of signaling things about themselves. The lecture uses examples from the 2010 movie “Inception,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and the AMC American period drama television series, starring Jon Hamm, Mad Men. It touches on the work of philosophers John Stewart Mill and David Lewis.