Jungian Theory and Consumer Behaviour

On October 21^st, the consumer behavior lecture involved discussing how values, lifestyles and personality affect the daily consuming behavior of members of society.

This lecture content led to the Jungian theory of analytical psychology and archetypes. Basically, analytical psychology discusses how our past generational experiences and culture shape members of society. Additionally, archetypes are shared memories and themes. The members of our current society are frequently exposed to advertisements that shape consuming behavior. However, some of these advertisements use strategies such as archetypes in order influence some of these members of society to consume the product.

As an example: This 2009 Ford F-150 commercial demonstrates the use of Jungian Theory in society. 

During the video, they have actors who represent the ideal customer. These target consumers are mainly male, wear work boots and look like they use their truck to carry work supplies daily. The truck itself is demonstrating it’s handling for all types of tasks such as pulling a trailer or traveling in rough terrain.  The commercial demonstrates both the warrior and destroyer archetypes. The warrior archetype represents power, confidence and heroism. A subliminal message that the commercial is demonstrating would be that the consumer who drives an F-150 would be a warrior. The destroyer archetype represents destruction, anger and aggressiveness; this archetype is found in the use of the vehicle for the consumer. Therefore, the message of this advertisement would appeal to consumers through the use of archetypes found in our society. 

Thank you,

Tarah Whissell

Video Citations:

"F-150 Way Of Life." YouTube. YouTube, 4 Nov. 2008. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhEkVakVWFE>.