truth in advertising

Reminders of Death Motivate You to Buy Stuff in This Life

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Research led by Enny Das and other scholars in the Netherlands, published in the Psychology and Marketing journal, found that reminders of death inspired people to buy stuff.

The researchers conducted three different experiments; in each they found that advertisements that evoked mortality were more successful. (Note: These weren’t products that were linked to a longer life, so no vitamins or fountain-of-youth droplets or something.) Das concluded that, in Western countries at least, “fear of death produces a tendency to act that is not linked to conscious thought.”

Life is brief; existence is fleeting; commodities are forever.

Reminders of Death Motivate Shoppers