The Stockholm syndrome of advertising | Jacob Östberg | TEDxStockholm

As consumers we are all, more or less unconsciously, constantly influenced by marketing and advertising. Therefore we need to scrutinize market communications and brands way more seriously. They are replacing and gaining influence as symbols of culture and tradition, and are as bearers of ideals telling us how to reach our true potential as human beings.

Jacob Östberg is a professor of Advertising & PR at Stockholm University School of Business. Upon earning his PhD at Lund University, his thesis was awarded the Academia Gastronomica Scaniensis research prize. He has since taught at the Business Schools at Lund and Stockholm University, and was a visiting scholar at the Bìlkent University in Ankara, Turkey. He then broadened his scope by taking a position at The Centre for Fashion Studies at the Faculty of the Humanities, Stockholm University. He has since earned a docentship in Fashion Studies and subsequently returned to his initial calling in Marketing.

Jacob’s studies focus on symbolic dimensions of consumption. He is interested in how individuals in consumer society create meaning and value through consumption and how brands are filled with meaning in the intersection of popular culture, marketing and consumers’ lived lives.

[kinggeorgewashington]

My friend who is  a stud, refused to wear designer athletic wear. He said why pay for an overpriced shirt so I can advertise for the company?

[keithrichard]

Jacob Östberg is on point in describing the consumer market today but leaves out that almost all advertising is done using TV series, movies and games by selling a desirable personalty or superior representation of the watcher with an image, reaching a broad spectrum of target markets thru different genres. Or in the case of popular TV shows and games, each spectrum of the prominent desirable representation of a character will be represented in a sanitized setting with unrealistic expectations of individuals in society being portrayed leaving the watchers feeling insignificant in their present state of being.

I agree that people feel incomplete because it feels imposable for them to make an impact in there world, so to feel better they pretend and fashion themselves as someone who (they are led to believe) can make a better impact in the world. This way they feel elevated in the social hierarchy and don't feel unworthy of attention, love or to be desired.

They also look for these characters and settings in finding a mate leading to mass delusion of the world in which they live because the world they observe has being alternated in production and then portrayed by and through the media to the watchers. In my opinion, this method can be called soft brain washing using human nature as a weapon against individuals in mass manipulation by mass media to consume in order to portray the marketed and promoted way of life.

In this method of advertising the loved role models or superior representation of the individual watching also express views that the impersonator will adopt unknowingly in order to fulfill there representation of there desired character or most lightly, a superior representation of themselves.

This is the definition of brain washing. Changing the thoughts and beliefs of another person without the person being aware.

So the media is a strong force and Jacob Östberg is right in saying that people should have some tools to deal with the negative effect it can have.

[DavyDavy]

Marketing strategies are based on the premise That Man is a creature in need and will never find ultimate satisfaction. We need to be deceived . Without Realizing it, we are part of a show, of the society of spectacle.

[missfashionator]

the stockholm syndrome analogy is on point!
really enjoyed this talk, I have been thinking about this topic for a while now. it is nice to see it being addressed on TED

[BreakingDawn]

And my mom wonders why I'm not like other kids my age wanting name brand clothes... I don't want to be defined with labels...nor do I want to be categorized in any other way..I just want to see myself for who I am and that is a capable and intelligent INDIVIDUAL

[iconoclastist]

Excellent talk. Wish more people paid attention to the message.

[BreakingDawn]

This is one reasons why people like icons and celebrity's will never be satisfied with life and will always feel like they are missing a part of themselves or wind up crashing and "burning" so to speak... "Beyond the lights" is a perfect visual example... Its whats inside that matters nothing more nothing less and if you can't be content with who you are maybe your looking at the picture of success and happiness in and of life in an unappealing way...

[mtn]

I’ve been thinking about political marketing and how it’s breaking our nation apart. They’ve created the brands, the fears and the Stockholm syndrome. We can vote out one brand or another until either the audience or the marketers realize the danger of what’s being created it will continue on a race to collapse.

[MrBuzzzzz]

I predicted pretty much every last thing that would happen because of the internet way back around 2000. I was ridiculed for every word I said and my accuracy, now that I look back was stunning. To me this was obvious. The issue now is not whether or not people see the damage it has done and actually care, or whether or not they simply accept it and I assure you they will and have. I think most people would rather participate in something like that that they know is destructive to them, rather than suffer the withdrawal from no devices and toys. Steve Jobs turned the species into a bunch of 3 year olds with his invention and they whine and throw temper tantrums when they lose their toys. The concept of being truly human is in the past now.

[reneperez]

He said he would love theorist to address advertising in a more serious way, it has be done already and it's the work of Baudrillard he said we live in world of simulation where signs of reality has taken the place of reality once we passed from productive society to consumer society we are left with signs, signs generated out of advertising, advertising being a audiovisual machinery acting as the middleman between culture and economics it has achieved a real revolution in society that is the commodification of our lives and humanización of commodity so people don't seek and buy objects they look for their identities nothing more no less they are being broken down havimg become incomplete as a person here's how consumerism step in to save the day, advertising make the commodity so diverse, target driven, it no only broken down the products in a myriad of elements premised on in advance desires, styles, minimal differences in short models sport car, utilitarian car, luxury car, classic car etc the thing is in abstracting the thing that way it also break people down into a myriad of identities when people can customize and update themselves (commodified themselves) so advertising and the culture machine it uses for its purpose precede man. because this system of sign entails the possibility of anyone choosing to be whatever they want to be because as I said before it's about a code controlling in advance the whole of desires and dreams and for that matter psycho, libido energies so it's not sufficient to claim to be anti ad anti whatever because the act of saying it or commenting it in FB box it's not revolutionary nor anarchist anymore but it consist of the very fuel making this system to get going, the system Co opt every counter culture act so as to rendered useless as a revolutionary way out it thrives on people participating everytime you stand against some or held a protest at McDonald's the system reproduces itself

[pricklyphlox]

Advertising teachers clearly state you can buy people's attention, just not an individual's attention.

[redrosa]

Gotta love gaslighting and deflection from a person who looks like Jordan Peterson 🫶🏻

[mightychad]

oh so this isn't TED it's TEDx where you can just tell anything whitout any proof