How The Use of Cognitive Dissonance In Advertisements Can Lead You To Think and Act How You Otherwise May Not

Humans have an innate drive for consistency. When consistency is broken, discomfort arises. The theory of cognitive dissonance states that when someone experiences inconsistency between their own cognitions (attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors), they relieve their discomfort (or dissonance) and regain balance by changing one of their cognitions. This can lead to irrational thoughts and behavior. Advertising companies are aware of this natural phenomena and use it to their advantage as a persuasive method. They have learned how to create cognitive dissonance in their consumer audience to influence them to purchase their product. But how exactly does this method work? And as consumers, can we avoid getting manipulated by this persuasive method?

Advertising companies must know how to create cognitive dissonance in their target audience.
In order to know how to do this, they first need to know who their target audience is. They then need to know what their motives are, their attitudes, and what influences them such as their family, friends, culture, and society. From this information, advertising companies can use what advertising angles they think will be most effective. For example, if Skippy peanut butter brand is trying to persuade mothers to purchase their brand over a cheaper generic brand, they will have to work harder to persuade a low-income group of mothers over a high-income group. In order to persuade both groups with the greater intent of persuading the low-income group of mothers, they could have a slogan such as "Give your kids the best". If this slogan sticks, both groups of mothers will feel cognitive dissonance if they go to purchase the cheaper generic brand because they will feel that they are not giving their kids the best even though it is saving them money. Since high-income mothers will more easily spend the extra couple dollars on their kids, the ad must convince low-income mothers that spending the extra couple of dollars is worth it. However, resolving the cognitive dissonance that is created by advertisements can be done in more than one way.

Advertisers must predict and influence how their target audience will resolve their dissonance.
Companies want their ads to produce a certain outcome in their target consumer audience. However, this intended outcome is not guaranteed. Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Psychology Department of the University of Maryland, Dr. Scott Roberts says there are many ways that cognitive dissonance can be resolved.

Continuing with the Skippy peanut butter advertisement example, the advertising company wants to change the attitudes of the mothers into believing that Skippy is the best brand of peanut butter for their family and worth spending the extra money. However, the mothers could resolve their dissonance about buying the cheaper brand by changing their cognition from, "This is not the best for my kids," to, "Peanut butter is peanut butter and this is just fine. Plus I am saving money with this brand that I can later use towards my kids in some other way." Advertisers know that there are many paths to resolve cognitive dissonance, so they cannot totally control how their target consumer audience may choose to do so.

However, they can better their chances of having their consumers behave in the way that they want by appealing to stronger influences. If an advertising company wants to get people to stop smoking, they can say how bad it is for their health. People already know this though and continue to smoke because they resolve their cognitive dissonance by saying, "I need this to calm down," or, "I'm trying to lose weight." Advertisements can go beyond the scope of how harmful it is to the individual by showing how it affects their families, much like the one that is on T.V today. The advertisement can depict an image of a family standing around a cigarette-shaped coffin crying and saying, "Why did they do this to themselves?" The advertisement could also show a child going up to an adult asking for "a light." This appeals to the target consumer audience's emotions by showing them how sad they can make their families or how their children will learn this harmful habit from them. Of course people can find ways to resolve their cognitive dissonance about buying a pack of cigarettes after seeing these advertisements, but this message is indeed stronger because it creates more cognitive dissonance. For example, on top of knowing how harmful it is for themselves they could think, "But I don't want to leave my family and make them sad. I'm a good, unselfish person, so I should stop smoking for them." If they were to purchase a pack anyway, they would have even more cognitive dissonance to resolve.

Unfortunately, consumers cannot escape the trap of cognitive dissonance in advertisements.
When asked if knowledge of this phenomena being used in advertisements would reduce it's affect on consumers, Roberts says it is unlikely.

Because cognitive dissonance is a fundamental experience, it is largely unavoidable. It is a physiological condition of human brains to want consistency and to do what is necessary to regain it if it is lost. As mentioned by Dr. Roberts, one way to regain consistency is to discredit the source as being false or unreliable and therefore concluding that what they are trying to persuade you of is bogus. So while we can never completely avoid the manipulation of advertisements that create cognitive dissonance, we can deny the persuasive source of the outcome it wants to see.

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