In the 1970s the Pepsi Generation still knew that Coca Cola was "The Real Thing", and that "Canada Dry Ginger Ale Tastes Like Love". This was more than advertising or marketing. Companies of such size advertise less to generate sales than to maintain market position, and a great part of that is advertising strictly for perception management.Perception management becomes particularly important in crisis situations. Public perception has been important in industries recovering from product tampering related deaths in the 1980s, or the e. coli outbreaks at Jack in the Box restaurants of the 1990s. Resort industries deal with them all the time when someone drowns in a pool or dies on a ski slope.People rarely act on raw facts alone, but on how they interpret those facts and understand their personal implications. The same applies to information processed through any human senses.
Perception management in its finest application does not mean falsifying or concealing facts, but arranging their presentation so that subjects prioritize and interpret them as intended -- and ideally to shape their understanding of what others say as well. This can include choosing specific words over others, or creating an environment that makes target markets more amenable to your message.Governments and businesses have long practiced perception management intuitively. For example, Abraham Lincoln's issuing the Emancipation Proclamation on the heels of Union victory at Antietam had less to do with actually ending slavery than with keeping England -- which had already outlawed slavery -- from getting involved in America's civil war. However, perception management was not a defined practice then.That began in the 1950s with the military. The military intentionally lies -- or provides misinformation -- in its perception management strategies. As businesses picked up the military pattern for managing perceptions, that element remained intact at first. Spokespeople for the tobacco industry, as a major example, made it a point to smoke during filmed interviews. In these they specifically denied any evidence that smoking causes Cancer.
We know now that the industry intentionally suppressed study results to the contrary.Under even normal circumstances firms need to know what Philip Kotler calls the four dominant psychological factors that direct consumer behavior: motivation, perception, learning, and beliefs and attitudes. Joel Garfinkle describes applying these in a four step process. First, you need to define how you think you are perceived. Second, find out through surveys and feedback how the public actually perceives your organization. Then you determine how you want to be perceived, finally determining how to change your perception.If perception management is not already a part of your organization's risk management strategy, you start at a disadvantage. The difference between emergency perception management and routine application is preparedness.
When a plane crashes or a chemical plant explodes there is not time to conduct surveys, to assess the gap between your desired perception and the public's actual perception. All the data you gain in day-to-day marketing assessment needs incorporation in risk management plans.Contemprary risk management strategies regarding managing perception must now begin with avoiding disinformation. Consequences for getting caught lying now no longer outweigh the risk of trying it, and thanks to the Internet, the liklihood of getting caught has increased.Instead organizations now apply more subtle techniques that really put the art and science into managing perception. Consider the advertising practice of showing young children alone encouraging each other to use new products, like Life cereal's landmark, "He likes it! Hey, Mikey!"
As long ago as 1981 a University of Georgia study established that young children respond well to peer influence on trying new products, and that ads showing child peers influencing each other in TV commercials have a similar effect as if real peers were involved (Stoneman & Brody).There have also been some very misunderstood approaches, such as the fad of subliminal messages. This was long misunderstood as including a message below the threshold of perception in some form of programming, with the idea it would influence action. In fact in 1993 Timothy Moore established that "subliminal" messages in that sense do nothing, but messages registering at the threshold of perception can influence behavior of those predisposed to it.Since then the most effective applications of the idea have been in two realms. Those are semantic infiltration and product placement.
The latter was practiced effectively for a long time before such studies. According to The Diamond Empire, a 1994 documentary on PBS's Frontline, nearly a century ago DeBeers planned to make diamonds a "cultural imperative" in U.S. markets. They did it by making sure scenes of diamonds being given for engagement rings got placed in movies, and that celebrities wore huge diamond necklaces in public appearances.Semantic infiltration is most obvious in the use of the terms "Pro-Life" and "Pro-Choice" in the abortion debate. Its basic concept is that when one side in an argument can get the other side to use its own terms, then it has already begun altering the way opponents think. The "Pro-Choice" term emerged as abortion advocates, understanding that negative moods can create negative associations, chose to so define themselves to avoid a "Pro-Abortion" label. Abortion opponents, seeing the negative association with the word "abortion" now hurting their cause began using "Pro-Life" instead of "Anti-Abortion".
What they did not realize that doing so, they actually submitted themselves to their opponent's agenda, and the result has been a polarity of public opinion benefitting "Pro-Choice" interests above "Pro-Life" intersts.Other valid psychological concepts applied in perception management include creating pleasant moods to enhance critical thinking, and negative moods when it helps to hamper it (Baumann & Kuhl, 2002). Occasionally it benefits perception managers to place one image before a consumer while they hear something different (Tiippana, Andersen& Sams, 2004), which makes them more amenable to a message they might otherwise reject.
Even leading a consumer's gaze where desired can affect their openness to a way of thinking. (Urry, 2010)All of these things, and more, need inclusion when planning perception management strategies as part of risk management. Keeping your eyes open for how constantly it goes on around you can also help your own perception of how to apply it. In election years it is particularly prominent, so continual a part of the process that one of Gov. Mitt Romney's spokespeople let it slip referring to resetting the "Etch a Sketch" after the Republican primary. It is so important that the election's outcome could be indicated by whether "Romney Hood" or "Obamaloney" becomes a more commonly used term -- talk about semantic infiltration.
sources:
Baumann, N., & Kuhl, J. (2002). Intuition, affect, and personality: Unconscious coherence judgments and self-regulation of negative affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(5), 1213-1223. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.83.5.1213.Flynn , L. [producer] & MacFayden, G. [Director] (1994) The Diamond Empire. Frontline Original Air Date: February 1, 1994. Boston:WGBH Transcript accessed October 28, 2010 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/transcripts/1209.htmlGarfinkle, J.A. (2011) Getting Ahead: Three Steps to taking Your Career to the Next Level. John Wiley & SonsKotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (ed. 5), 1991, Principles of Marketing, New York: Prentice-Hall InternationalMoore, T. (1995). Subliminal self-help auditory tapes: An empirical test of perceptual consequences. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, 27(1), 9-20. Retrieved September 19, 2009, doi:10.1037/008-400X .27.1.9Stoneman, Z., & Brody, G. (1981). Peers as mediators of television food advertisements aimed at children. Developmental Psychology, 17(6), 853-858Tiippana, K., Andersen, T. S., & Sams, M. (2004). Visual attention modulates audiovisual speech perception. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 16(3), 457-472. doi:10.1080/09541440340000268Urry, H. (2010). Seeing, thinking, and feeling: Emotion-regulating effects of gaze-directed cognitive reappraisal. Emotion, 10(1), 125-135. doi:10.1037/a0017434.
Perception management in its finest application does not mean falsifying or concealing facts, but arranging their presentation so that subjects prioritize and interpret them as intended -- and ideally to shape their understanding of what others say as well. This can include choosing specific words over others, or creating an environment that makes target markets more amenable to your message.Governments and businesses have long practiced perception management intuitively. For example, Abraham Lincoln's issuing the Emancipation Proclamation on the heels of Union victory at Antietam had less to do with actually ending slavery than with keeping England -- which had already outlawed slavery -- from getting involved in America's civil war. However, perception management was not a defined practice then.That began in the 1950s with the military. The military intentionally lies -- or provides misinformation -- in its perception management strategies. As businesses picked up the military pattern for managing perceptions, that element remained intact at first. Spokespeople for the tobacco industry, as a major example, made it a point to smoke during filmed interviews. In these they specifically denied any evidence that smoking causes Cancer.
We know now that the industry intentionally suppressed study results to the contrary.Under even normal circumstances firms need to know what Philip Kotler calls the four dominant psychological factors that direct consumer behavior: motivation, perception, learning, and beliefs and attitudes. Joel Garfinkle describes applying these in a four step process. First, you need to define how you think you are perceived. Second, find out through surveys and feedback how the public actually perceives your organization. Then you determine how you want to be perceived, finally determining how to change your perception.If perception management is not already a part of your organization's risk management strategy, you start at a disadvantage. The difference between emergency perception management and routine application is preparedness.
When a plane crashes or a chemical plant explodes there is not time to conduct surveys, to assess the gap between your desired perception and the public's actual perception. All the data you gain in day-to-day marketing assessment needs incorporation in risk management plans.Contemprary risk management strategies regarding managing perception must now begin with avoiding disinformation. Consequences for getting caught lying now no longer outweigh the risk of trying it, and thanks to the Internet, the liklihood of getting caught has increased.Instead organizations now apply more subtle techniques that really put the art and science into managing perception. Consider the advertising practice of showing young children alone encouraging each other to use new products, like Life cereal's landmark, "He likes it! Hey, Mikey!"
As long ago as 1981 a University of Georgia study established that young children respond well to peer influence on trying new products, and that ads showing child peers influencing each other in TV commercials have a similar effect as if real peers were involved (Stoneman & Brody).There have also been some very misunderstood approaches, such as the fad of subliminal messages. This was long misunderstood as including a message below the threshold of perception in some form of programming, with the idea it would influence action. In fact in 1993 Timothy Moore established that "subliminal" messages in that sense do nothing, but messages registering at the threshold of perception can influence behavior of those predisposed to it.Since then the most effective applications of the idea have been in two realms. Those are semantic infiltration and product placement.
The latter was practiced effectively for a long time before such studies. According to The Diamond Empire, a 1994 documentary on PBS's Frontline, nearly a century ago DeBeers planned to make diamonds a "cultural imperative" in U.S. markets. They did it by making sure scenes of diamonds being given for engagement rings got placed in movies, and that celebrities wore huge diamond necklaces in public appearances.Semantic infiltration is most obvious in the use of the terms "Pro-Life" and "Pro-Choice" in the abortion debate. Its basic concept is that when one side in an argument can get the other side to use its own terms, then it has already begun altering the way opponents think. The "Pro-Choice" term emerged as abortion advocates, understanding that negative moods can create negative associations, chose to so define themselves to avoid a "Pro-Abortion" label. Abortion opponents, seeing the negative association with the word "abortion" now hurting their cause began using "Pro-Life" instead of "Anti-Abortion".
What they did not realize that doing so, they actually submitted themselves to their opponent's agenda, and the result has been a polarity of public opinion benefitting "Pro-Choice" interests above "Pro-Life" intersts.Other valid psychological concepts applied in perception management include creating pleasant moods to enhance critical thinking, and negative moods when it helps to hamper it (Baumann & Kuhl, 2002). Occasionally it benefits perception managers to place one image before a consumer while they hear something different (Tiippana, Andersen& Sams, 2004), which makes them more amenable to a message they might otherwise reject.
Even leading a consumer's gaze where desired can affect their openness to a way of thinking. (Urry, 2010)All of these things, and more, need inclusion when planning perception management strategies as part of risk management. Keeping your eyes open for how constantly it goes on around you can also help your own perception of how to apply it. In election years it is particularly prominent, so continual a part of the process that one of Gov. Mitt Romney's spokespeople let it slip referring to resetting the "Etch a Sketch" after the Republican primary. It is so important that the election's outcome could be indicated by whether "Romney Hood" or "Obamaloney" becomes a more commonly used term -- talk about semantic infiltration.
sources:
Baumann, N., & Kuhl, J. (2002). Intuition, affect, and personality: Unconscious coherence judgments and self-regulation of negative affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(5), 1213-1223. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.83.5.1213.Flynn , L. [producer] & MacFayden, G. [Director] (1994) The Diamond Empire. Frontline Original Air Date: February 1, 1994. Boston:WGBH Transcript accessed October 28, 2010 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/transcripts/1209.htmlGarfinkle, J.A. (2011) Getting Ahead: Three Steps to taking Your Career to the Next Level. John Wiley & SonsKotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (ed. 5), 1991, Principles of Marketing, New York: Prentice-Hall InternationalMoore, T. (1995). Subliminal self-help auditory tapes: An empirical test of perceptual consequences. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, 27(1), 9-20. Retrieved September 19, 2009, doi:10.1037/008-400X .27.1.9Stoneman, Z., & Brody, G. (1981). Peers as mediators of television food advertisements aimed at children. Developmental Psychology, 17(6), 853-858Tiippana, K., Andersen, T. S., & Sams, M. (2004). Visual attention modulates audiovisual speech perception. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 16(3), 457-472. doi:10.1080/09541440340000268Urry, H. (2010). Seeing, thinking, and feeling: Emotion-regulating effects of gaze-directed cognitive reappraisal. Emotion, 10(1), 125-135. doi:10.1037/a0017434.
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