Trip to Woodland Mall/Mall Post

Some observations I noticed when heading to Woodland Mall this weekend were when walking through the mall, I noticed the stores were so small and crammed together, which must result in a lot of competition. Almost all of the stores had advertisements outside of their store or in their windows, which in The Persuaders they explained how words matter to us. The advertisements want to focus around us, putting us first: 80% emotion and 20% intellect. I also noticed that there wasn’t a single person I saw that did not have a shopping bag or something to show that they went into a store. When I think of going to the mall, I imagine shopping, even if it’s something I don’t need. However, I get tricked into buying something because it’s eye catching or am easily persuaded by how good the sale is, etc. Like in The Persuaders, the secret of persuasion is to enduce the person to persuade himself/herself.  I think it is somewhat close to impossible to go into a mall without buying something, or coming out empty handed.

While walking through the mall, I was definitely distracted by all the flashing lights and big worded advertisements that were around me. It almost felt impossible to breathe, being distracted by something  that was a few feet in front of me. After having seeing The Persuaders and reading Pahl’s article, it made me view the mall in a different way. You no longer think of it as a place to buy things you may or may not need, but seeing the advertisements and how they are luring you in to buy their products.