The art of manipulation

A long time ago, back in my California days, a colleague who was older by a decade made a comment that made an impression on me.  He said something like this: "Sriram, everybody wants to grab whatever you have in your wallet. It is up to you to protect it."

Who are they?  Not your kids. Well, sure, your kids want your wallet.  But, you can easily fend them off.

"They" are the vendors of various goods and services.  They tempt you in ways that you won't even imagine that you are being manipulated by them, all because they want to get every dollar and cent that you have.

In the movie halls, for instance, they sell popcorn.  Now, you have already been brainwashed into thinking that you should always watch movies while feeding your mouth with salty and buttery popcorn.  So, you stand in line.  You notice that the price difference between the smallest size and the huge tub of popcorn is not that much.  You begin to wonder if you are a loser when you spend money for the small size when the person in front of you got a giant tub of popcorn for just a little bit more money.

Your mind races at dizzying speeds.  It is now your turn at the counter.  The young woman asks, "what size?" You blurt out uncontrollably: "The tub, please."

They grab your wallet.

Your first mistake was to allow yourself to be brainwashed into thinking that your movie experience will be sub-par if you didn't have popcorn.  Your wallet is already out of your control.

Then, you could not manage to stay focused on ordering the small serving.  You have been robbed.  After the movie ends, you go home and it slowly dawns on you that you overspent.

 “If you frame options in a certain way, you can nudge people in the direction of higher-priced products,” says Linda Chang, a psychologist at Harvard University.

Unless we are clear about what we want, they can easily manipulate us to do whatever they want us to do.  "Marketing ethics" might as well be an oxymoron!

So, what can you do to fight them?

Just don’t be a victim of it yourself. Whether you are buying headphones or deciding on a retirement plan, deliberately ask whether you are really choosing the option you need or want, with the attributes you were originally seeking, or whether you were distracted by a deliberately unappealing alternative. Like an expert sniper trained to avoid false targets, you may find that your judgement suddenly becomes a lot more incisive.

Be very clear about what you want.  The moment you show confusion and reveal your weakness, well, they mug you and your wallet is gone!