Ads That Touch Psychopathology (eBook)

If we take ads as a metaphor of psychoanalysis, the consumer who buys the product or the brand as represented in the ads, has set out on a fantastic journey, in a sense. Ads try to make the journey of the consumer a journey to the unconscious mind as much as possible, with phase and stages of the product such as presentation, store layout, and all other launching activities, like the stages that a patient goes through in the treatment process in clinical psychology. Almost every time it succeeds. Moreover, this journey is as effective as the complexes or neuroses that Freud stated; The purchased product and brand definitely changes us. This is a change in dreams. Actually, this is usually the reason to go shopping: To create a new style, a new trend, and even to climb the social ladder. The product will change our lives. This is often the slogan written on the box. Even with a higher expectation, we want the product to change not only our lives but also us, ourselves. This is often clearly written on the package, and a completely new “you” is promised after several uses.

The book in your hand, Ads That Touch Psychopathology takes a look at a global phenomenon occurring between advertisement and human psyche with a specific focus on a local example, productions in the Republic of Turkey at the start of the millennium. Because the human mind works similarly regardless of geography and today's economy works the same in almost every place globally, I think that readers from different countries will not be unfamiliar with the examples given in the book and sometimes even see their daily lives just like in a mirror. Familiar to such an extent that in many of the examples the average reader around the world will be feeling as if they see the consumer psyche out of a mirror reflected in this book. This will give the reader an opportunity to see how much global society functions the same in any place. After all, although we may, more or less, be from different geographies, cultures, and even political systems, we belong to the same economic life.