In general, people buy various products because they want to solve a problem, whether we are talking about cosmetics, foods or other essential things. However, this process is more complex than that, because some brands use psychological techniques and subtle messages to turn non problems into real problems and make people buy their products. There are many companies that rely on this strategy to support their business. 

Advertisers not only just transform their products into ads, but they study the problem and develop some strategies that can influence people to buy their things. Advertisers usually analyze their audience and then decide what types of ads will attract them, such as funny, touching and so on. However, the truth is that we buy a lot of things and services not because we have to fix a problem, but because they have convinced us to do so. 

Here are some things that you think are essential and buy them just because advertisers persuaded you to do so. Read on to find out more info!

Antiperspirant

Several years ago, sweating was a normal feature of people and was usually associated with hard work, but Edna Murphey created a product essential for preventing body odor, namely the Odorono. Odorono is the first antiperspirant that conquered the world a few years ago.

It’s important to remember that she wasn’t the inventor of antiperspirant, but she was the one who created a successful one. In addition to this, the first deodorant was called Mum and had been trademarked in 1888 and the first antiperspirant was called Everdry and launched in 1903. People were skeptical about the use of deodorant in those days. 

According to Juliann Silvulka, a 20th-century historian of American advertising at Waseda Univesity in Tokyo, Japan, “this was still very much a Victorian society. Nobody talked about perspiration, or any other bodily functions in public.”

That being said, Odorono was created by Edna’s father who was a doctor and wanted a product that could stop his hands from sweating during surgeries. That was the moment when she found another use for Odorono, namely for the armpits.  

At first, she failed to sell the product because no one wanted an antiperspirant, but in 1912 people became interested in antiperspirants because of the summer heat and she earned about $ 30,000 at a fair. After this, she hired an advertising company from New York, called J. Walter Thompson Company, and they helped Edna sell more antiperspirants using a different strategy. For instance, they said that sweating is an embarrassing medical problem and antiperspirant was created by a doctor to treat it.

Diamond rings

The truth is that almost all women in the world want to own a diamond ring and if you want to propose to your partner you have to buy such a ring, because it lasts forever and is considered precious, right? In reality, you don’t have to get a diamond ring to propose to your significant other, especially since they are not as valuable as you might think. In fact, experts say that diamond rings lose their value right after you leave the jewelry store. Nowadays, they are considered essential and precious because someone used a good advertising strategy to sell them.

So, let’s find out more info together! De Beers is one of the largest diamond mining and extraction companies in the world, which was founded in 1888 by Cecil Rhodes when they discovered huge diamond deposits in South Africa. However, because diamonds were easy to find in those days, Rhodes needed a good marketing strategy to sell them. 

So, in 1938, De Beers hired an N.W. Ayer advertising company to help them sell diamonds. Thus, they chose as audience people who wanted to get married and created the idea that buying diamonds is the manliest and most precious thing that someone could do for their partner. In other words, they created the concept that only gentlemen and those who truly love their partner will choose such a ring. Well, it seems that this strategy worked!

Women shaving razors

It’s no secret that a few years ago women used to have hair on their armpits and legs and weren’t embarrassed because they were fully covered in clothes. In other words, it was perfectly normal for women to have body hair. However, things changed in 1915 when Gillette, a worldwide famous company, introduced shaving razors for women, called Milady Decollete. 

Their strategy was different and effective because they used subtle messages that influenced women to use their products. For instance, they opted for clothing catalogs to display their ads and said that armpit hair isn’t something normal, but an embarrassing problem that makes women look ugly and that only stylish women have hairless armpits. They also used the term “smooth” instead of “shaving” and promoted Milady Decollete for smoother legs.

Bottles of water

A few decades ago, no one wanted to buy bottles of water because they were used to tap water and soda. However, nowadays, people are more health conscious and think about their future, so they have replaced soda and tap water with a healthier beverage, namely bottled water. 

Many brands have created the idea that bottled water is healthier than tap water because it has been tested and filtered by specialists, unlike tap water. In fact, bottled water is a healthier alternative to soda and can keep you refreshed while you are outdoors and don’t have access to tap water. Or at least this is the strategy of Gustave Leven, the president of French-based Source Perrier, who wanted to sell more bottles of water in the United States. 

Therefore, in 1977, he spent about $5 million on TV commercials to promote the consumption of bottled water. He used as a strategy the fact that people who drink this type of water are cool and more likely to be healthier. Leven also promoted bottled water at various athletic competitions.

Cereals and bacon 

As you already know, breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day, but this idea wasn’t popular a few decades ago, when no one had time to have their breakfast. So, different businesses have started to use the idea of a “quick and light” meal for people who want to be healthy and maintain their desired weight. 

However, companies that promoted bacon and eggs for breakfast began to change their strategy as cereals became popular. So, one of the bacon creators, Beech-Nut Packing Company, hired Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud and now known as “the father of public relations”, to help them improve their profit and sales. Bernays used an immoral strategy to help the bacon company increase their popularity levels, namely that he persuaded about 5,000 doctors to say that bacon contains an essential protein that your body needs to work properly – a quality that can’t be found in cereals. Then he used the doctors’ answers as a strategy to make them look like a scientific study. This marketing technique didn’t affect the profit of cereal industries, but they managed to sell a lot of bacon in those days. 

That being said, some real scientific studies have shown that bacon can be included in your breakfast from time to time because it’s healthy, but if you eat too much, you can gain weight.

Popcorn

Many of you probably didn’t know this before, but 1800 was the lucky year for the popcorn industry, as this period increased popcorn sales across the United States. A few decades ago, you could find popcorn everywhere, except theaters – because they thought that people would ruin their expensive carpets. 

Yet, it all started in 1927 when poor people started buying popcorn because they couldn’t afford anything else. So, cinemas started to make their own popcorn and sell it to people who wanted to watch a movie. To increase their profit, they used popcorn ads as a marketing strategy at the beginning and in the middle of movies to make them crave popcorn and buy it.

Toothpaste

First of all, it’s important to understand that your oral hygiene is one of the most important things that you have to take into consideration every day if you want to be healthier. So, it’s crucial to brush and floss your teeth every single day. Nevertheless, some health experts say that you don’t really need toothpaste to clean your teeth because a simple toothbrush can be effective and do its job easily. 

In the early 20th century, Americans were not used to brushing their teeth so often, but the American toothpaste brand, Pepsodent, managed to change their perception. They hired an expert in advertising, Claude Hopkins, who changed the history of this brand and helped them sell a lot of such products. 

Hopkins said that human teeth are covered in a natural film that can be destroyed if you don’t use Pepsodent. He also used the idea that people don’t have beautiful smiles because they don’t maintain that film intact on their teeth. This advertising strategy worked, especially because they created the first mint flavored toothpaste (and other kinds of toothpaste were flavorless).