I have recently been working on why people do not change their minds, despite evidence to the contrary and why deception seems to work. This question is truly relevant in marketing and political discourse. For example
‘Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.’ This famous quote from a successful US merchant and marketer, John Wanamaker, it
is true today as it was over 100 years ago. Yet with modern data analysis you would think we would be better at it.
Political Parties
It’s harder to change political minds with parties spend millions on trying to persuade people to vote for this or that, with insignificant impact. For example, in the US Spending on political advertising is estimated to reach a record $10.2 billion in the 2024 cycle. The same spending patterns, although to a lessor extent, are replicated in other parties world-wide.
Marketing
Global add spend is expected to reach $963.5bn (£739.5bn) this year, representing 4.4% growth for the market globally (mark.
Image what could be done to health alleviate poverty, climate change impacts or welfare improvements with this type of spending?
I would say all marketing is con as very few understand psychology of users and desires, especially MBA types and marketing consultants as people they are trying to impact and persuade counter every ploy with a defence mechanism of their own.
The secret is the word ‘alignment.’ Good marketers align the message with the a parsons aspirations and needs. Bad marketers try to persuade us to change our minds when we are not aligned with the core values, they purport to believe in.
I hope this gives a favour of how we can reduce cost wasted, increase spend impact. Also, I look forward to when celebrities like Jimmy Saville, R Kelly, the Tate brothers and religious misogynistic conman can be exposed by AI and ML. I really believe that AI can help us in many ways to target, persuade and align with our core values and expose those that wish to harm us.