Never really thought about it...

[I love roses]

NTs aren't very swayed by advertising, either, and may well tell you that they "never thought about it" in order to avoid a discussion that bores them or avoid an argument about something that they don't really care about. It is an avoidance tactic.

I think a lot of advertising - McDonalds, WalMart, Ford Motors and other big names - is primarily used to repeatedly reinforce the mere name of the company so when you're broke and hungry, you'll think of McDonalds first because you have heard that name so often and associate it with quick, cheap food, or when you need a new vehicle, the name "Ford" will pop in your mind.

Children, including autistic children, are more vulnerable to advertising that adults.

Just out of curiosity, does this website earn money from the advertising that appears here? Is this a clickbait opportunity?

Yep, it is clickbait to support the site or you can pay a fee for some wing dings and get rid of it. My paranoid self hopes they are not mining. But oh well.

 

[DCA]

I may cut my service off seriously.

I just did that today & am going with streaming content exclusively. I don't watch sports at all & get all my news from local news websites, so I really don't have a need for cable...

 

[I love roses]

I can’t get all the local stories on the local news off the internet though. I don’t have friends except one so I still need to know where events are just to get out of the house. I need to get out about twice a month. The news here does not post all the stories because they want you to watch for the ratings. The trees block antennae. So I’m screwed that way. I don’t do Fb. Hate Fb. Usually prerecord local news. Fast forward to get to the parts I want.

 

[Dadwith2Autisticsons]

Its realy funny how we think about the same stuff on this forum, I can relate to this so much xD.

Yes, agree. I do not think this is just ASD/Asperger thinking though. Many who are introverted, regardless of condition, often question things, analyze things, and focus on details. It makes sense as instead of talking often and focusing on our words spoken then, we more often can be in silence in deep thoughts, and watching others and other things, and learning all those brainstorming ways. This does not mean extroverts cannot be this way, or that all introverts are, but it just means introverts are often a lot smarter than many persons give them credit for. What we lack in social skills often can be offset by our knowledge, insights, creativity and/or strong left brain functioning.

 

[Peter Morrison]

Ads are relentless, but there is a science at work behind the hype and humor. Not everyone buys everything. Advertisers try to catch the bulk of potential customers at the times when the right demographic is watching TV. Studies into customer behavior give marketers clues into the susceptibility of buyers to try their product. It's related to emotions, status, usefulness, and group affiliation. We should be critical of ads to strip away the facade of the ways the product will improve you and your life. Ads and promotions are ways to get you to try and hopefully prefer the product. We've become somewhat numb to ads. Analyzing what they do and how they do it is the exciting game. Details matter in advertising. What kind of people use the product? If you listen carefully to the voice-over or a conversation about the product, how does the language suggest promises that are not legally binding? How is the product better? Than what? In what way? For whom? It would appear that only health-conscious women eat yoghurt. The person who buys it doesn't look like the woman in the ad. Cereal filler is bad for your dog, but nutritious for your kid. If you go back into TV advertising from the 60s, dandruff is the reason why dull Bob didn't get that big promotion. Perhaps we have come to understand advertising better these days.

I suppose that if a person's response to a question is "I never thought about it", then maybe that is the simple truth. People on the spectrum are more inquisitive than most. A good brain is open to understanding everything.

 

[Progster]

Pop-ups appearing and taking over half the TV screen while watching a show. So incredibly irritating - how do people tolerate such a thing? How come it is deemed even remotely acceptable??? Surely that would put people off watching the channel, not encourage people to watch more shows.

 

[Skids]

I also get told i take things to extremes and do eccentric things but i just see them as common sense. For example, sorry to go about football again but i went to a game once in the away fans section and there seemed to be more people than seats available. I found a seat early as i always do and thought i'd be ok until the seats began filling up around me. Then just before kick off a load of drunken yobs turn up and proceed to stand on the steps at the back of the stand in between the seating areas.

Ordinarily i'd have just moved to another seat if there i plenty of space but there wasn't and i got panicky. I was surrounded by people sat down but now also unpredictable drunken numpties stood around me as well which got me stressed. I was trapped in essence. The stewards were useless as they generally are in UK football grounds.

The men standing up were doing so illegally as it's illegal to stand in seating areas in the UK although it barely gets enforced. Not only that but they were partially blocking my view of the pitch so basically i sat there for the first half watching both the game and also somebody's arse when they moved to block the pitch from view.

At half time, the men disappeared and presumably managed to find seats for the second half as they weren't there blocking my view second half.

Anyway, here comes the eccentric bit.

I wrote to the football club in question and explained what had happened and that i wanted a refund on half the ticket price as i was only able to watch half a game. I said that it was their responsibility to ensure that everyone was seated. They refused to give me a refund. I thought it was a fair and reasonable request.

When i tell people i did this and wrote the letter they look at me like i've got too much time on my hands and i'm a bit odd but the fact was that i had paid to watch a football match and through no fault of my own was only able to comfortably watch half of it.

What i'm perhaps trying to convey is that most people wouldn't even think to complain about this and would just accept it and move on.

For me however, it's a big deal. I am always finding little things to complain about that most people just accept as 'how it is' but to me these little things need addressing otherwise nothing will ever get done and nobody will be accountable.

I guess it's my massively intense sense of injustice that always seems to be kicking in and that no matter how small or trivial, if something isn't right or isn't done right then it needs to be highlighted and addressed.

Anyway, some really great posts on this so thanks all. Progster / Fridgemagnetman made me laugh!

 

[albinoblanke]

"I've never really thought about it...." is the answer i get from most people when i talk to them about general things. For the most part my mind is constantly questioning and trying to work out why things happen or things are as they are, however most people i speak to about them always seem to say the same thing.

"I've never really thought about it...." they say.

It seems that a lot of things i notice or want to question are deemed unimportant. trivial and irrelevant to the NT people i speak with and i'm just wondering if it's an aspie trait (i'm 42 and diagnosed HFA).

For example. Adverts on TV or indeed any medium really. I am constantly confused as to how adverts work on NT people because i have never compelled to buy anything based on what i'd seen on an advert so IMO they shouldn't work and thus are a waste of time and money.

Just say a car advert comes on and yes it's got cool music and stereotypically smooth actors / actresses but it's just a car. I won't be swayed into buying it one bit even it doubled up as a time capsule just as an added extra. Perfume ads too are baffling. At the end of the day all perfume is is a concoction of vile chemicals you don't really want to be splashing over your skin. I see this and not the allure of the scantily clad women. I see the realism of the advert and not the dream that advertisers are hoping to portray. If this makes sense?

Pretty trivial eh? But how my mind sees things. Like advertisers spend millions on jazzing up their product and so it must work surely? Just not on me then.

Also i don't understand why multinational companies such as McDonalds etc have to waste money advertising. Anyone who has never heard of McDonalds and don't know what they do has either been living in a remote tribe somewhere in the Amazon or are a bit simple. So why do McDonalds need to advertise? Are they going to get extra custom from all these new people who previously had never heard of McDonalds? Surely they could use the money wasted on advertising to pay their staff more?

When i talk about things like adverts i get the response, "I've never really thought about it..".

As if everything i'm noticing (not just about adverts but things in general ) is deemed unimportant or has never even appeared on the radar of people.

It always seems that i notice tiny little details about anything and everything that really actually matter to me and don't seem to matter to anybody else. Like there's more important things to notice or be concerned about for most people which i guess is fair enough.

Another example briefly is about football clubs and the way they are run. I am a huge football fan although i appreciate most people on here won't be. However, clubs promote themselves as community and fan oriented yet don't seem to come up with any innovative ideas to make the whole experience of attending a game and supporting a club a whole new ball game. If you pardon the pun.

There are so many ways a club can make fans feel engaged and rewarded but most don't even bother. Perhaps my friend is part of the reason why.

He supports Barnsley FC and when i constantly go on about this he just doesn't see a problem. He buys his ticket, watches the game and comes home and doesn't seem the slightest bit interested in anything else. Whether the toilets were up to an acceptable standard (they never are), whether the catering is value for money and good to eat (it never is either), whether the club have attempted anything new to engage fans on the day (they never do) or whether the club has attempted anything innovative to reward fan loyalty (they never have).

I notice all the tiny issues a club has and have ideas in how they can be massively improved but most footy fans i speak to don't see any problems. So long as they can go and have a few beers, eat some decaying pie, watch the game and come home then what's to improve?

What is really, really important to me doesn't seem to be even noticed by others let alone important to them.

Another quick example is when you see a Fish and Chip shop and it says on the sign 'TRADITIONAL FISH AND CHIPS'. I always avoid any chip shop that says this as i can read between the lines and work out that the owners have simply added the word 'TRADITIONAL' to make it sound better. You'll find out when you ask them how they prepare and cook their food that it's not traditional at all and just the same as anywhere else. It's a lie. Another blatant marketing ploy to hoodwink NT's who have "never really thought about it...".

From my perspective it's a lie and they are treating me like a mug and it really matters to me but to my friends etc it's a miniscule matter of banal triviality and they go, buy their fish and chips and go about their daily business continually not noticing anything.

Apologies for the long winded post. Does anybody else have this trait or is it just me? It's difficult to deal with as i'm spotting descrepancies in things continually and spotting how improvements can be made or how things should be yet to everyone else they aren't bothered. It's tiring and i run the risk of alienating what friends and family i do have because i'm constantly picking up and analysing things that matter to me but not to others.

Thanks for you patience all!

The reason restaurants like Mcdonalds have to advertise is because they create new things for people to try out all the time and making an ad for new things might attract even more people. Just because you are known and have customers does not mean you will always have the same amount of customers. Making ads helps to remind people to come back to your restaurant.

 

[Mary Anne]

"I've never really thought about it...." is the answer i get from most people when i talk to them about general things. For the most part my mind is constantly questioning and trying to work out why things happen or things are as they are, however most people i speak to about them always seem to say the same thing.

"I've never really thought about it...." they say.

It seems that a lot of things i notice or want to question are deemed unimportant. trivial and irrelevant to the NT people i speak with and i'm just wondering if it's an aspie trait (i'm 42 and diagnosed HFA).

For example. Adverts on TV or indeed any medium really. I am constantly confused as to how adverts work on NT people because i have never compelled to buy anything based on what i'd seen on an advert so IMO they shouldn't work and thus are a waste of time and money.

Just say a car advert comes on and yes it's got cool music and stereotypically smooth actors / actresses but it's just a car. I won't be swayed into buying it one bit even it doubled up as a time capsule just as an added extra. Perfume ads too are baffling. At the end of the day all perfume is is a concoction of vile chemicals you don't really want to be splashing over your skin. I see this and not the allure of the scantily clad women. I see the realism of the advert and not the dream that advertisers are hoping to portray. If this makes sense?

Pretty trivial eh? But how my mind sees things. Like advertisers spend millions on jazzing up their product and so it must work surely? Just not on me then.

Also i don't understand why multinational companies such as McDonalds etc have to waste money advertising. Anyone who has never heard of McDonalds and don't know what they do has either been living in a remote tribe somewhere in the Amazon or are a bit simple. So why do McDonalds need to advertise? Are they going to get extra custom from all these new people who previously had never heard of McDonalds? Surely they could use the money wasted on advertising to pay their staff more?

When i talk about things like adverts i get the response, "I've never really thought about it..".

As if everything i'm noticing (not just about adverts but things in general ) is deemed unimportant or has never even appeared on the radar of people.

It always seems that i notice tiny little details about anything and everything that really actually matter to me and don't seem to matter to anybody else. Like there's more important things to notice or be concerned about for most people which i guess is fair enough.

Another example briefly is about football clubs and the way they are run. I am a huge football fan although i appreciate most people on here won't be. However, clubs promote themselves as community and fan oriented yet don't seem to come up with any innovative ideas to make the whole experience of attending a game and supporting a club a whole new ball game. If you pardon the pun.

There are so many ways a club can make fans feel engaged and rewarded but most don't even bother. Perhaps my friend is part of the reason why.

He supports Barnsley FC and when i constantly go on about this he just doesn't see a problem. He buys his ticket, watches the game and comes home and doesn't seem the slightest bit interested in anything else. Whether the toilets were up to an acceptable standard (they never are), whether the catering is value for money and good to eat (it never is either), whether the club have attempted anything new to engage fans on the day (they never do) or whether the club has attempted anything innovative to reward fan loyalty (they never have).

I notice all the tiny issues a club has and have ideas in how they can be massively improved but most footy fans i speak to don't see any problems. So long as they can go and have a few beers, eat some decaying pie, watch the game and come home then what's to improve?

What is really, really important to me doesn't seem to be even noticed by others let alone important to them.

Another quick example is when you see a Fish and Chip shop and it says on the sign 'TRADITIONAL FISH AND CHIPS'. I always avoid any chip shop that says this as i can read between the lines and work out that the owners have simply added the word 'TRADITIONAL' to make it sound better. You'll find out when you ask them how they prepare and cook their food that it's not traditional at all and just the same as anywhere else. It's a lie. Another blatant marketing ploy to hoodwink NT's who have "never really thought about it...".

From my perspective it's a lie and they are treating me like a mug and it really matters to me but to my friends etc it's a miniscule matter of banal triviality and they go, buy their fish and chips and go about their daily business continually not noticing anything.

Apologies for the long winded post. Does anybody else have this trait or is it just me? It's difficult to deal with as i'm spotting descrepancies in things continually and spotting how improvements can be made or how things should be yet to everyone else they aren't bothered. It's tiring and i run the risk of alienating what friends and family i do have because i'm constantly picking up and analysing things that matter to me but not to others.

Thanks for you patience all!

It must be an aspie thing. I spent many years in the advertising world and got my degree in it too. Advertising/ marketing is statistically easily proven to work. When companies do not advertise- even the big corporations like McDonalds, Starbucks, Apple, Samsung, or the pharmaceutical companies- their sales fail. You might not be influenced whatsoever (neither am I), but advertising is indeed what makes the entire world economy go around.

 

[OlLiE]

people are predominantly animals, ie the layer of humanity/civilization is on average very thin,

advertisements appeal to people's most primal instincts:
- men: if you use this product, you will be the alpha male, be able to build the nicest nest and get plenty of alpha females for sex and babies
- women: replace male by females
- if you get this for your baby/child then you are a good mother/father

as every product is pushing this, and new info is better than old info, the advertisements need to be repeated a lot

 

[ezcare]

It seems that a lot of things i notice or want to question are deemed unimportant. trivial and irrelevant to the NT people i speak with and i'm just wondering if it's an aspie trait

If you ever worked in a profession where attention to the smallest detail is essential [eg SW development or brain surgery] you would quickly realize that most, if not all, of these people are on the spectrum. NTs tend to go nuts when forced to focus on minute details for long periods of time.

 

[ezcare]

why do you need to make a mini drama or movie instead of giving me facts.

Same reason people will vote for a politician who slings mud at his/her opponent or spends million$ just to win a seat on city council. Drama, especially sexual or violent drama, sells. Facts bore NT people.

 

[albinoblanke]

Here in the Netherlands, specifically Rotterdam, people with autism are hired to watch surveillance footage because they miss less details than Nt's. Because it has been so succesful and even helped to solve some crimes, they are considering doing the same for Amsterdam and perhaps other places in the country.

 

[Iamnotarabot]

It must be an aspie thing. I spent many years in the advertising world and got my degree in it too. Advertising/ marketing is statistically easily proven to work. When companies do not advertise- even the big corporations like McDonalds, Starbucks, Apple, Samsung, or the pharmaceutical companies- their sales fail. You might not be influenced whatsoever (neither am I), but advertising is indeed what makes the entire world economy go around.

I thought a lot about how it works also, and yeah I came to the conclusion ( when i was a teenager) that if they did advertisement well it was because its working , and working so well that you think it doesnt work.

I mean its even logical, its not even about the "manipulation of our basic instincts" thing, its a trend nowaday to see manipulation everywhere ( and it sure happens) but basically for a type of product you have like a dozen a choice at the mall so its more likely that you will buy something you'v heard off on the tv or elsewhere.
Even in the video game industry, there is so many games, having some adds on youtube about them its effective because you cant look for all the game available, even if you are still able to choose after youv seen the add, it pushes you toward a choice you would not even know was possible a minute before.

At least it makes you aware that a product exist, i mean even if you bought it like 3 times it worked, and the more you buy it the more you are likely to buy it again later.

But the toy add when I was a kid didnt realy make me want the toy , I mean it felt bad to see the add , id rather want a toy from a cartoon/ anime I watch ( they are advertisement aswell hehe.)

 

[Skids]

Iamnotarobot has just reminded me of something i was thinking about the other day. About choice.

I came to the conclusion that having so much choice of anything and everything these days has led to me wanting less and less. So there is more and more out there but it's making me want less and less.

I have trillions of TV channels yet there is less and less i want to watch. There are aisles and aisles in the supermarket selling 50 different types of anything and the choices are limitless yet i'm overwhelmed by the saturation of choices available to me.

It's like i don't appreciate anything anymore because everything in the western world at least is instantly accessible and there is too much of it. If this makes any sense?

 

[DesertRose]

Same reason people will vote for a politician who slings mud at his/her opponent or spends million$ just to win a seat on city council. Drama, especially sexual or violent drama, sells. Facts bore NT people.

Yep, you're right. It's ridiculous they do it too. Ugh.

 

[HermanHesse]

For the most part, NTs don't think. They feel or they go with the crowd. It annoys me constantly.

 

[Mary Anne]

Advertising DOES absolutely work! Statistically, it works best with the 3 to 35 year old crowd. The older one gets, the less it works. As we age, we became brand specific and nothing can sway us....except for price.

YOU might think it doesn’t have an effect, but marketeers and ad agencies have been responsible
for billions in revenues. Companies routine fire one ad agency for another, and see dramatic revenue increases due to new creative ad campaigns.
Just listen to the weekly “Under the Influence” radio podcast by advertising genius Terry O’Reilly http://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence
to understand the long term success of advertising. It’s one of the most interesting things about how to make humans buy products...either subliminally or in-your-face media advertising.

If advertising did not work, why then do companies spend trillions of dollars on it each year? Because they can prove it via dramatic sales increases.