Buyology: Truth and Lies about Why We Buy

Does sex sell? Are health warnings on cigarette packs effective? What do religion and ritual have in common with successful advertising? Do product placements work? Can subliminal advertising really influence our behavior? The fact is, nearly everything companies think they know about why we buy is completely wrong. In BUYOLOGY, marketing guru Martin Lindstrom draws on a three-year cutting-edge brain-scan study of more than two-thousand people from around the world to overturn many of the assumptions, myths, and beliefs about what genuinely stimulates our interest in a product and compels us to buy. In the bestselling tradition of The Tipping Point, BUYOLOGY is packed with entertaining stories about how we react to such well-known products and companies as Marlboro, Calvin Klein, Ford, American Idol, and Tiffany. A fascinating tour into the mind of today's consumer, Lindstrom's revelations about what drives the choices we make will captivate anyone who's been seduced--or turned off--by marketers relentless efforts to win our loyalty, our money, and our minds.