Question

What is the difference between persuasion used in marketing versus the persuasion used in getting people to buy into extreme viewpoints, such as those of a cult?

Answer 1

• A cult is a group of people who organize around a strong authority figure. Cults, like many other groups, attempt to expand their influence for the purposes of power or money. However, to achieve these ends, destructive cults employ a potent mixture of influence techniques and deception to attain psychological control over members and new recruits. This fundamental level of control is known alternatively as 'brainwashing,' 'thought reform,' or 'mind control.'
• A successful induction by a destructive cult displaces a person's former identity and replaces it with a new one. That new identity may not be one that the person would have freely chosen under her own volition.
• A cult leader must promise great things to stay in power, even if he does not overtly promise this, there must be a feeling that something great is going on. Also, getting the individual to practice physical affirmations to prove loyalty to the cult is important.
• If a person is forced to take food from you, or forced to do an assignment, eventually, that becomes part of their reality, and they may forget that they did not choose that reality. Of course, in cults, the followers are indirectly and sometimes directly pressured into wanting to stay within the cult, so they give up more and more of their time and energy towards it.
• This is due to the brain washing techniques of the cult, which wear down the mental faculties of the mind, and make people act like robots.
• Breaking down a person's identity. Cults try to change your personality. To do this they have to make you feel unsure about who you are. They want to break you down and then build you back up. They're molding you into what they want.
• Guilt-Take religion for example. If you don't join and follow the cult's beliefs and directives then you are doing wrong. If you're a decent person who values doing good, this will make you feel guilty, but only if they can make you question yourself.
• The cult may require you to push away family and friends, or anyone that doesn't share their values. By isolating you to a certain environment in which they can overload your senses with the message they want to give you, you become conditioned to their message and less likely to pull away.
• Now,this extreme form of persuasion or brainwashing is completely different from marketing techniques.Persuasion used in marketing is less harmful and only aims at making people buy the product,though the product may have side effects which is not highlighted in faulty advertising.
• Persuasion marketing applies what we know about human psychology to develop techniques to market products or services. In this case, it specifically applies to the promotions aspect of the marketing mix, and builds on a customer's impulsive behavior to lead them to purchase. Techniques include messages with emotional appeal to using storytelling in order to develop a connect with the customers and earn customer loyalty.Trigger words are used to grab someone's attention quickly.
• Its obviously is less violent and extreme than cult persuasion techniques,its about building trust with the brand by not changing the customer's personality or identity but motivating them to buy the product which could prove beneficial.Its more humane than cult techniques.