How to Coach Yourself and Others Beware of Manipulation | Page 190

Beautiful people
Few adverts use pictures of ordinary people in
ordinary clothing. We are constantly faced with
'shiny, happy people' who beautifully smile at us
and always look great, whatever they are selling.
A reason for this is that when we see images of
people, we may be pulled into the image or
project ourselves into it or see it as a kind of
mirror as we identify with the people there. We
can only sustain this if we find that
identification pleasant and harmonious,
otherwise we push it away, distancing ourselves
from the unpleasantness.
In this way, the most successful images are
those of people who we think we would like or
who we would like to be.
This only backfires if we feel that we are being
manipulated or have such a poor self-image we
cannot identify with the models used. This is
one reason why adverts that use 'ordinary'
people can effect a reversal that harmonizes
with cynics, snagging them as they push away from more conventional images.
Knowing your audience is the secret of success and not-beautiful people can work if this knowledge is
used correctly.
There has been much criticism of the use of
beauty in advertising in the way that it creates
dissatisfaction and unhappiness where people
believe they must be as attractive as the people
shown (Richins 1991).
In response to this, more 'ordinary' people are seen
now. This can be successful when viewers find it
easier to associate with those who seem more like
them than like their aspirations.
Facial attraction
No matter whether the person in the photo is
beautiful or not, we are programmed to look at
faces, scanning them for familiarity, threat or
opportunity.
Faces hence have an attentive power all of their
own. It is amazing what we can determine from a
face, recognizing complex emotions and noticing
how it responds to what we say and do.

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