Читать книгу Chocolate Busters: The Easy Way to Kick It! - Jason Vale, Jason Vale - Страница 8

Up till now, your buying and consumption of chocolate literally has been in the hands of the GODS. They are the ‘mind controllers’ of the chocolate world and it’s their job to make sure that you continue to buy, buy, buy. Like our two advertising people, what you believe to be your idea – to buy chocolate in this case – is often anything but. The hard reality is the GODS have been planting images and catchy slogans throughout your journey through life with the sole purpose of getting you conditioned to buy the stuff – most of the time without even knowing what made you do it. This is why a massive 90% of all chocolate sales are what is known as ‘point-of-sale’ or ‘impulse’ buys. Yes, surprising as it may sound, according to the chocolate companies themselves only 10% of chocolate sales are actually pre-planned (ie, gifts for Mother’s Day, saying, ‘I love you’ and so on); the rest are made on ‘the spur of the moment’ – or are they?

The 90% of sales apparently made on impulse are at times such as when you are standing in a queue at a supermarket and just happen to see a glossy packet containing chocolate; or when you are waiting for a train and you hear the cry of glass-imprisoned chocolate bars screaming at you to set them free; or when you stop for petrol and grab a bar when paying – you know that sort of thing. However, the cocoa seeds of purchase must have already been sown some time prior to the moment of buying. Think about it, would a non-smoker ever buy cigarettes ‘on the spur of the moment’? Would they ever ask for some simply because they happen to have bought some petrol? Would they hear the loud cries from nicotine packets as they begged for freedom from their glass prisons on station platforms? No, of course not! If you don’t smoke you don’t buy them, no matter what impulsive mood you are in; smokers buy cigarettes because they are already conditioned to smoke – in exactly the same way that you are already mentally and physically conditioned to eat chocolate.

In truth the conditioning has been going on ever since you were old enough to say, ‘The Milky Bars Are On Me’ and has been going strong throughout your life. Product placement after product placement, billboard after billboard, TV campaign after TV campaign, sponsorship after sponsorship, even government literature cleverly designed to plant the idea that life is just simply more fun with a ‘boost’ or ‘treat’ of chocolate and all those who don’t indulge are clearly boring no-hope health freaks who are obviously a few cocoa beans short of a full pod!

There is no question that placing chocolate at the checkouts of supermarkets, newsagents and petrol stations plays a massive role in their sales. It is also true that many people wouldn’t buy half as much if they didn’t have it shoved in their face at every opportunity. However, the point is that you have already been conditioned to eat it for this kind of product placement to have the desired effect. Recently there have been calls for this kind of product placement to be banned, especially where it is aimed at children, but I think there is more chance getting run over by a giant Easter egg than this ever happening.