yes, I always find defining by the negative to be a hysterical
thing. If someone says, "God does not exist", one must first
have a God, then have it not exist.
There is a trick used in Marketing very frequently. Look for it
and you'll spot it, I'll give an example:
When cigarette manufacturers had to make signs saying that it's
against the law for adults to buy cigarettes for people under
the age of 18, they were very clever about their campaign.
A known fact in advertising is that the "negative" is _very
very_ weak psychologically: If I tell you, "DON'T THINK OF A
PINK ELEPHANT DANCING ON TOP OF A WHITE GRAND PIANO FALLING INTO
A VOLCANO"... you first have to first *think* about it... then
push THAT out of your mind.
I knew this from Anthony Robbins tapes from the 1990s. [his
brand of neurolinguistic programming but it's basic advertsiing
psychology.. which is often ahead of scientific psychology
because it's directly financially motivated].
What the cigarette manufacturers said were things along these
lines:
DON'T BUY CIGARETTES FOR MINORS.
They had "don't" off to the left and "buy cigarettes" and "for
minors" were indented perfectly lined up under head other, so
that at first glance it reads:
BUY CIGARETTES
FOR MINORS
and it's only AFTERWARDS, about 400ms afterwards - almost a
whole 1/2 of a second, that we notice the "don't" and try to
incorporate it.
There were many variations of that, but the basic idea is well
known.
I love this kind of stuff and it's easy to find examples
everywhere. Maybe not all are engineered reverse psychology but
considering the amount of money they pour into ad campaigns -
whatever the business or campaign is ["they" means anybody
trying to promote something - not limiting to tobbacco companies
- or even to companies. Works equally well anywhere] - I imagine
it's used on a conscience level at least somewhat. Certainly by
tobacco companies, who had some brilliant people working for
them. I knew a couple of them when I worked for Schering-Plough
- ex-Phillip Morris employees would jump over to Pharma because
the corporate structures were similar and they're really in
similar businesses. [controlled products for public
consumption].
