Why Do We Buy What We Buy?

Why do you buy what you buy?

We tell ourselves; I buy food so I can eat, I buy a shirt so I look smart, I buy curtains because... well, I forgot to buy pants to go with the shirt. You get the idea

But it doesn’t explain why we bought that specific snack or shirt or phone. We all have what’s known as behavioural blindness. We think we know why we do what we do or buy what we buy but we often don’t.

When I was studying psychology at university, I ended up focusing on gambling.

Gambling’s simple focus on risk and reward lets you see how easily we are influenced. For example, the main reason they give you chips in a casino is that they seem less real than money. You spend them faster and lose quicker. It’s the same reason why addictive games like Candy Crush, make you buy gold bars or tokens, rather than pay cash for lives.

So, the same goes for advertising; we think we are immune but we aren’t. It’s simply behavioural blindness; not realising that they have connected with an advertiser’s message