Ways in which we are manipulated in our daily lives

[Punp]

Let us list the ways.

For example, in the UK the government have paid for adverts to "nudge" the public into behaviours which they deem correct. i.e. if you buy fireworks or candles, your Alexa might be supplied with fire safety information.

Of course this always goes well and never backfires. Like for example when the government bought loads of ad space next to EDM music to warn listeners not to carry a knife — instead the amount of knife carriers increased because the adverts increased the perception of how many people carried knives.

[this didn't come to me in a dream]

There are loads of little nudges like these. Arrows painted on paths, the painted flies in urinals for men to piss at, anti-drink-driving campaigns.

What nudges have you seen?

 

[manpaint]

the painted flies in urinals for men to piss at

This got to be the most random goverment act I have read in my life (assuming it's true)?

Not sure if it counts as a "nudge", but I recall seeing somewhere in my archives that in marketing, there is two type of products: "the desirables" and "the essentials". The essentials (i.e food) can be at a high price because people will justify paying the price, for the desirables however, the price must be decently low as to tempt the consumer into buying a non-essential thing.

 

[Punp]

This got to be the most random goverment act I have read in my life (assuming it's true)?

smh big if true energy. It's not a government nudge, but it is a nudge and it earned a nobel peace prize.

And it didn't come to me in a dream either.

Your example isn't really a nudge. I'm thinking things that make it easier for the general public to do the desired behaviour.

 

[Ross_Я]

False cameras.
Do not know about other places, but around here we also have lights that emulate a police car lighting. I hate those things; after several drives you know perfectly on which post those lights are and you know that there's no police there, but they just... create this sense of "big brother is watching you" stuff. It's not uneasiness... though perhaps a bit of that as well, though mostly it's just hate.

 

[wonderfullife]

This got to be the most random goverment act I have read in my life (assuming it's true)?

Reminds me of this memorable government nudging campaign.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l01AMCBG0Wk

 

[big_ping07]

idk if this counts, but seeing flags? it reminds me that the world is a bunch of symbols. proud to be an amurican

 

[Tao]

Constant advertising in every nook and cranny. Everything is screeching "BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY" at you 24/7, and it's gradually seeped into anything it can find.

Politics and news as a religion for many people, where instead of worshipping God, you worship a politician, a grifter, or a political cause, or an idea, etc.

 

[LiraTirsoCaduceo]

Good propaganda is subtle, perfect propaganada is unnoticeable, I would recommend everyone who wants to know how we are manipulated to read Edward Bernays' book "Propaganda". There he illustrates a clear picture of how mass campaigns might be used to influence people's wants and habits, the reasoning behind it and the justifications.
Among the things Bernays is responsible for we have the quintessential Yank breakfast being eggs and bacon, women smoking tobacco, and helping United Fruit overthrow Guatemala's government.
His resume speaks for himself, but I recommend you approach his book with an open mind. I think people too often just read this book to get angry at it, usually people who hate propaganda( edit: or people who don't like to entertain the possibility of their ideas not actually being their own), or disregard it, usually marketing people who don't like to be associated with the word propaganda. But to truly enjoy the book and understand the reach of propaganda and what it can do as a tool you need to approach Bernays on his own terms.

 

[幽邃森林]

I'll try to give examples that don't revolve around advertising or propaganda (which actually is the same thing). So maybe some people don't know much about this concept called planogram.

Planogram is a specialization of how a store displays its goods. Here are some tactics that are easy to spot. Keep in mind these tactics are usually in North America.

Loss leaders in back: In grocery stores, the milk and eggs are sold at a loss to attract customers. They are always put in the far back of the store to force customers to browse through the rest of the aisles.

Expensive items are usually at the middle shelf, the same level as your face. Squat down or look up at the top or bottom rows and you'll often see better deals.

Male/Female height: Speaking of the middle shelves, it's common for the lower middle shelf to be even higher priced. Why? Because that's the height of women. Men are more tight fisted with their money in stores (this does not imply women are retarted with money. Yes women are more likely to spend on frivolous crap but men are more likely to nuke their bank accounts for "status" objects).

Fear of empty shelves: When stores get low on stock, they'll make attempts to rearrange products to make it look like no shelves are empty. This is because customers are less likely to buy from shelves that are thinly stocked as they think the last few products are left behind because something is "wrong" with them. A good example is fruit. If you see a basket of apples being sold, would you buy from a full basket or from the basket with 3 apples left?

There are entire occupations revolving around planogram and it's common for vendors to fight tooth and nail for that sweet middle shelf. I've only listed the most obvious tactics but there's way more subtle nudges.


Also off topic to planogram, but bars that play obnoxiously loud music do so because customers drink more in these environments. Customers drink slower when they have conversations.

 

[GENOSAD]

The professor of one of the classes I'm currently taking once talked to us about how he manipulated the former president of the university into stepping down.
The process was one where he would insinuate something about particular people or opinions and backed the former prez into a corner where he'd end up "admitting" to some form of prejudice. In short, he manipulated the guy into saying bigoted things that he would never say otherwise just by pushing his buttons and riling him up.
This really did not sit well with me when I heard it. I know how easy it is to frame things in an uncharitable light, and as someone who's been backed into corners where I had to "admit" to something heinous that I didn't really believe, I couldn't help but wonder how much of it was the guy's "true colors" (as the professor said) or how much of it was engineered. When someone pisses you off enough in an argumentative context, it's easy to get trapped in the mindset of disagreeing with every single thing they say because you don't want to think of yourself as anything like them. I've put my foot in my mouth more than enough times in these sorts of situations, so seeing that this was something intentionally used against others was genuinely appalling to me.

I bring this up because arguments and conversations are elements of our daily lives, and you never know if the person who wants an "honest conversation" with you is just trying to paint you unfavorably.

 

[happyhappy]

What nudges have you seen?

Mostly anti-homeless architecture. Park benches will have bars going through them to discourage people from lying down and other certain structures will be purposefully made uncomfortable. In terms of specifics to my hometown, we have this event center named "Jump" and all the surrounding buildings have suicide prevention hotline signs facing the building.

 

[Punp]

Mostly anti-homeless architecture. Park benches will have bars going through them to discourage people from lying down and other certain structures will be purposefully made uncomfortable. In terms of specifics to my hometown, we have this event center named "Jump" and all the surrounding buildings have suicide prevention hotline signs facing the building.

View attachment 97311

This is so deeply ironic, what a great find. Is it your photo?

 

[happyhappy]

This is so deeply ironic, what a great find. Is it your photo?

I didn't take the photo but I have been there. It's kinda like a local inside joke.

 

[GENOSAD]

View attachment 97311

Yep, definitely putting this into my Vaporwave-themed cyberpunk neon-noir detective movie.
No, that's not a joke, I legit have an idea for one.

 

[dorgon]

When I live at the dorm at my university I always see posters and signs reminding us to take "short, cold showers" because it apparently helps conserve water and reduce the cost for it. Then I walk outside and see a sprinkler watering the sidewalk.

Similar to a post mentioned above, there are unattended cop cars (no cops in them) at random intersections intended to keep people from speeding, but this I can understand since it's a sort of public safety issue.

But what I don't understand are traffic lights which still turn red despite there being no cars nor pedestrians coming across the road. Maybe this isn't intentional and I need to take my meds, but I always found that annoying nonetheless, and I even had to cross the red light at some points.

Loss leaders in back: In grocery stores, the milk and eggs are sold at a loss to attract customers. They are always put in the far back of the store to force customers to browse through the rest of the aisles.

Expensive items are usually at the middle shelf, the same level as your face. Squat down or look up at the top or bottom rows and you'll often see better deals.

When I go shopping I always notice this. I usually purchase eggs, vegetables and meat when I go to the grocery store but when I fancy a snack they're usually overpriced, I'm talking like a dollar (or more) per ounce of chocolate crackers.

This is also relating to the whole planogram thing but when I worked at an ACE Hardware store, the owner came in and had us rearrange the entire store for the "impulse aisle" (the aisle coming up to the checkout area) to become more like a sort of maze so that people will be exposed more to the various gimmicks and gazoos on the aisles, which you could typically get at a convenience store for cheaper. Now of course there's a snacks and drinks section, for contractors who want a quick bite while purchasing supplies, but among the things the hardware store sells in the impulse aisle are: coffee, pickled quail eggs, kids' toys, and (cheap) jewelry. But, I've seen too many old people buy overpriced things from the impulse aisle and their expenses for the store almost probably doubled due to it. Another thing I've noticed is that the grills (the most expensive things in the store) are located right in the middle, and your usual hardware bits, like nuts, bolts, and screws are located in some back aisle for which customers typically need to ask around to get there. It's the same strategy, really.

 

[LiraTirsoCaduceo]

Mostly anti-homeless architecture. Park benches will have bars going through them to discourage people from lying down and other certain structures will be purposefully made uncomfortable.

I've experience this in my city. Bustops seats are made to be really uncomfortable, they are at a steep angle and both the material and the shape are designed to make you lose heat.(idk if you know this but your arse can lose a lot of heat if you sit on cold surfaces)
There was a period of my life when I would almost every day go out with my then gf at night and come back home during the early hours of the morning. I hated those seats, especially during winter.
I was usually really tired and I had to wait an hour or so for the bus while I had the choice between standing around the bustop for an hour, or using those seats and feel as if I were sitting on the slope of the Himalayas.
Speaking of which...

The city government also subtly nudges unsuspecting pedestrians to break their coccyx with these creatively designed concrete seats (also very cold and uncomfortable).
Every time I go past one of these the call of the void urges me to fracture my hips.

 

[sinaptica]

The usage of the words like "democratisation", "public".

As in "the democratisation of music" linking democracy with the concept of accessibility.

Or "free public education" to describe something that's neither free nor public and barely education, but for which you need to be grateful somehow.

Many, many semantic traps. Never relax.

 

[dorgon]

The usage of the words like "democratisation", "public".

As in "the democratisation of music" linking democracy with the concept of accessibility.

Or "free public education" to describe something that's neither free nor public and barely education, but for which you need to be grateful somehow.

Many, many semantic traps. Never relax.

The book "Doublespeak" by William Lutz really does expand into much of the more semantic aspects of manipulation. the book was written in 1989 so it's a bit outdated but many of the principles from the book still apply today. Considering that language is the most used and the most powerful form of communication it should be unsurprising that certain groups and individuals will purposefully twist words, phrases, and sentences but I guess many people don't realize or care enough about it.

 

[Punp]

Every time I go past one of these the call of the void urges me to fracture my hips.

These are like the seating equivalent of tastyfakes. I can almost guarantee this was an artist's hot new idea for fancy seating that never reached the "people will want to sit on that" phase.

On the other end of the spectrum to the anti-homeless seats are the people who act like it's the ultimate in kindness to allow places where people can sleep rough - as if helping the homeless begins and ends with giving them a drafty bus stop to sleep at. This usually manifests in vandalism or removing anti-homeless spikes like they're doing the world a favour.

 

[Some_porcupine]

All my homies hate Bernays
I put the same video thirce in here, just look for Bernays and video link (how Bernay cooked up propaganda)

Nudges? Maybe lies and factoids journobros and wannabes say every time, also BuzzFeed/UKMail/ILFScience/5MinuteCraft type shit, one worse than another

Blue lights on toilets at places to not be able to drug internvenously there, newest fad to Greenify architecture to "feel-good" about nature/planet (gonna destroy meadow and build socialistic add concrete east skyscraper with muh le solarpunk vines and moss there)

Also some corpo bs similar to there up mentioned, forgot those at the moment

Also, pizza smell "juice" to attract people/make them hungry, glutaman, as you said platzplane (shops), people don't minding changes that would make them crazy in past (80s-00s/early 10s) (adult animation type ass humor past 2013 where there is grey morality and three layers of selfirony minimum smug intellectualism, American bussiness model XaaS (renting, loss of phys.media) hegemony, changing job every two years (but that is what common man come with so whatever), under-vs-overqualified bs, uni titles for menial jobs, generational wars...)

Also glucose-fructose (syrup) market mafia (we need lay-out of this lay-out)(cheap GFS products, ready-for-microwave(/) oven meals, junk food) Vs healthy food being pricy (veggies, fruits, quality edible stuff)