Woodland Mall

Being a girl who really enjoys shopping, I’d like to say that I have visited malls rather frequently. After watching the film The Persuaders and reading the article by John Pahl, I was interested to see if my trip today would come across any differently than it had the previous times I visited.

Watching the film The Persuders really opened my eyes to just how much advertising we are hit with every day from the streets, to the malls, to even the bottom of the cups that we drink out of. It became so much clearer to me while visiting the mall today just how much this advertising affects the way we buy particular items and the stores that we shop in. Because I’m Dutch and very savvy with my money, the first section of the store I’m always attracted to first is the clearance section.  It wasn’t until today while paying careful attention to the way advertising was set up that I realized just how big, bold, and bright the signs leading me to the clearance section really were. These signs lured me in quite promptly, getting me to buy something without me every intending to in the first place. I also noticed that the music being played and just the overall environment in each store was fashioned for the crowd it meant to attract. In the stores more for my generation, pop music was playing while in one of the furniture stores, the music was much more mellow. I realized that it’s not just merely the advertising, but the whole vicinity of the shopping mall that persuades shoppers into buying particular items.