A Different Outlook on the Mall

Yesterday, a few classmates and I entered Woodland Mall with a new set of eyes. Prior to this visit, we had read about John Pahl's journey to the Mall of America and watched The Persuaders which showed the many ways stores advetise to get our attention. With what we learned from these two sources, we were sent out to look for the many ways the mall and its stores vie for our attention. It did not take long to spot out these interesting tactics as we entered the mall through the store Kohl's. Immediately, we were bombarded with a huge "For Sale" sign at the entrance of Kohl's and many beautiful, bright lights sprinkled all around the store. Also, they tried to make the store more appealing by playing the music of the ever-popular singer Rihanna which could potentially lure even more people in the store. Strangely enough, these tactics were even working on the eyes and ears of our group, as members of the group were taken aback by the "For Sale" sign and the clothes around it. Fortunately, we were able to fight through Kohl's tempations and continue our trek through the mall.

As we continued to walk through the mall, we noticed trees, a kid's play area, and many comfortable couches. It was crazy to see how much the mall was trying to make us feel at ease and at home. However, we had no time to sit as we discovered more and more techniques that stores and restaraunts were using to grab our attention. Starbucks had laid down its foundation in the middle of the store where it was impossible not to see or smell its many varieties of coffee. Foot Locker had a poster of NBA stars Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Blake Griffin to bring sports enthusiasists into their shoe store. Finally, Hollister had a dark, mysterious storefront that had music blaring from inside. With this technique, all the curious teenagers in the mall were sure to walk in to discover what this store was all about. After looking around for a while, we were reasonably overwhelmed. We were so used to this advertising around us, that we had never bothered to realize the effects it had had on us. I am very grateful that we were able to do this exercise, because it taught us that we can be so accustomed to things in this world that we never bother to take a look at what is around us.