I don't know why it is that I seem to be the only one in my surroundings that find.....to be morally wrong?..

Question

What I am taliking about is what you see everywhere, whenever you go into a convinient store/supermarket/mall.
Its all of the psychological tricks they try to use so that you can spend more of your money. Consumer psychology, all of this which funny enough my girl-friend studies at the university, I find morally wrong. To play on peoples sub-conscious, feed on their weaknesses just so that company can increase their capitol, while at the same time over pricing goods and paying minimum wages for the emplyees.
Yet most people, even though they themselves are victims of this, seem not to care about it. Why?I dont understand it?
People who work in these places, students whos major are related to this and just people in general, they just dont care!
Is it not possible to have a society based on honesty and education,
rather then ignorance and expotation and still be in business?

Sorry for my bad english, not my mother tounge.

Answer 1

Yes sadly most of the world is morally corrupt.

Answer 2

I tend to agree with you. I personally find most of such schemes rather repulsive, from billboards to viral marketing and store layout schemes. But here is the problem: Where do you draw the line?

Some of the things that are done seem to me to be perfectly okay. There are some advertisements, for example, that seem to make a genuine effort to persuade the audience with reason instead of psychological tricks. Or to just inform them of their product's existance and uses. I don't see anything intrinsically bad with such approaches (as Plato argues in 'The Republic', it's the difference between truth and lies, reason and rhetoric).

Likewise, I think it is probably a good idea if a store manager lays out his store in such a way that it's convenient to his customers. Such a layout will probably result in better sales as a result of this convenience, but this seems like the appropriate reward for such an effort.

The difficulty is that these kinds of completely honest attempts at serving the public can blend right in with some of the more subtle attempts at persuasion and thought control. Somtimes so completely that a person might not even honestly realize that they have strayed from their ideal purpose into greed that serves them and harms the customer. After all, if you really do think your product is substantially better than the others, it is the truth if you say so, even if it has virtually no reasonable argumentative influence.

So while I think it would be nice if more people were prosecuted for overtly lying for their own gain, there will still be a huge middle ground. As far as I can tell, the only reasonable thing to do about that part is just to train in psychological self-defense. Learn to see influence schemes and to resist them.

Personally, I like to cross out every word in an advertisement that is not a fact. Most advertisements are left with literally nothing but the name of their product!

Peace.

Answer 3

Consumer psychology can be helpful to the consumer.
Sometimes consumers purchase items which are
more effective when paired with other items. Therefore,
consumers can be notified about complementary
items. The consumer psychologists who are involved
in the production and advertisement chain do not necessarily
have any say on setting the price of items. Management
and sales make decisions regarding the retail value.
In my opinion, the consumer psychologist helps the
consumer identify potentially useful products and is
a benefit to the consumer. That said, there is the potential
for deceptive consumer psychology such as bait and
switch schemes. It is the responsibility of management
to establish a system of auditing to ensure that fair
advertisement is set into place.

Answer 4

One has to be aware of ones needs. Older people tend to be aware of their budget limitations, and young people have more to spend than they appreciate, so they are separated from it.

A woman will buy a dress, and not wear it 10 or 20 times before giving it away. A man will buy a suit, and may wear it 100's of times over a decade because it looks good on him.
Wearing a suit once a week for 12 years is 600 wearings makes any suit a very practical purchase.

Many married men have, deservedly, the reputation of going out to buy things they need, and nothing else. Salespersons' approach to men is to help us find what we want, and ask if we are looking for anything else.

They can usually tell by appearance and manner, if the person overspends or not, and tailor there sales approach for efficiency, or maximum sales.

Answer 5

Theoretically it's possible, yes. I think that since under our system, money confers power, it'll never be really possible. But *in theory,* I think society / government could constrain and regulate capitalism such that it would not be morally inconsistent with honesty and respect. It'd require us to have some higher priority source of values, besides materialism.

Also, people are, as you say, so accustomed to being "marks" and they so rarely see situations where consumers are respected, that they never even question it anymore. Our very financial system is designed for deception and exploitation of the poor, and yet no one complains. What we have is a failed version of capitalism.

Answer 6

Caveat empetor! Let the buyer beware! We are socially bankrupt. Greed is good is the mantra. Morals are for Sunday or somebody else. Only suckers have them. Such is the wiles of runaway capitalism.

Answer 7

Dude you are right there is a lot morally wrong. Our current culture does not allow for morality, it is a speed bump for greed and "progress".

As for feeding on peoples weakness; we are all in charge of our own decisions and and need to take responsibility for our actions. Apathy is a defense mechanism....

Answer 8

I agree with you; it is morally wrong, but that, unfortunately, is the way business is done these days. It's possible for business to flourish without it, but it isn't a great way for businesses to make their money. If they fool the consumer, they make more money out of their bad products and/or services. A dishonest, but unfortunately lucrative, way to conduct business. I don't like it myself, but that's life.

Answer 9

Well it is wrong in a sense but people should be stronger and fight the temptations. People need to be held accountable for their actions unless they have a gun to their heads.

Answer 10

I'm with you totally. I Can't understand it at all.
Most people don't really look like zombies or anything , they just don't seem to care or take it seriously.
Actually, they seem to dress up, look fresh and motivated to perpetuate the status quo.
Mind-boggling....!!