Why You Just Can't Quit

When you hear the word addiction, what do you think of?

Smoking? Alcohol? Maybe pornography?

While these are some of the most universal and most talked about addictions, lots of us have a different kind of addiction, one we may not even recognize as such: brand addiction. Have you ever wondered why you refuse to use any other toothpaste than Colgate, drink any other soda than Fanta, or use any other shampoo than Axe (fill in your own personal brand addiction here)?

In his book Brandwashed (which you can get here), Martin Lindstrom allows his readers to take a peek behind the curtain and see how companies are manipulating us to buy their products - and keep buying them for the rest of our lives, if possible. In talking to an executive of a major international company, Lindstrom found out that these people have identified a model of how we (the consumers) get hooked on their products. It usually happens in two stages: the routine stage and the dream stage. The former is when we are using certain brands or products as part of our daily habits and rituals. These are the things we need in order to function every day. The latter describes a period (or periods) in our life when we buy things, not because we need them but because we've allowed emotional signals about them to penetrate our brains. This usually happens during the summer, over the weekend or on vacation.

Lindstrom then goes on to explain how we get hooked on certain brands:

"Here's how it happens. During a brief respite from the routine stage, or 'work mode,' we feel more relaxed, less inhibited, and more open to trying new drinks, new clothes, new cosmetics, new foods. Pretty soon, we've subconsciously linked the good memories or pleasant emotions of the dream stage with the taste of that new cocktail or the feel of that new face cream against our skin or the fragrance of that new lemon-scented candle. So once Monday rolls around again, or autumn gets under way, we try to 'reactivate' this feeling by integrating those brands and products into our daily routines. And once something is part of our routine, it becomes almost impossible to shake." (p. 62)

Companies and their marketing experts know this (of course) and make sure we are confronted with plenty of opportunities to buy their products while we are in the dream stage. Sometimes they don't even need us to actually buy the product. Giving out free samples might already be sufficient: we use the free product (who wouldn't use a free product, right?) during our summer vacation on the beach, then go back home and keep using it (not free anymore) because it reminds us of the great time we had at that beach in Southern France.

But some companies don't even need us to be in the dream stage in order to hook us - they've already designed their products so we won't be able to live without them anymore:

"Believe it or not, part of the reason the whole Facebook experience is so addictive is that it's deliberately designed to be that way. According to Time magazine, Facebook has intentionally created what it calls 'aha moments,' which reporter Dan Fletcher describes as an 'observable emotional connection, like stumbling on the profile of a long-lost friend from grade school, seeing a picture of a newborn niece for the first time, or catching up with an ex-boyfriend.' And the company knows exactly how many of these moments users must have before they are good and truly hooked (though the site will not divulge the magic number, at least publicly)." (p. 75f)

Yes, even Facebook is addictive. Who knew? ;-) It seems as if there's no escaping it: brands are everywhere and sooner or later their makers will succeed in getting us hooked on their products. I guess the only thing that we can do about it is try to get addicted to good products - like, um, sunflower seeds and salad. Hey, I'm just saying...