An
Review by Mike
Gange
We Know What You
Want: How They Change Your Mind
by Martin Howard
Disinformation
Company, $13.95, 191 pages.
In the past five
years, the number of books released that illuminate the workings of the mass
media have gone from a trickle to a flood. Some, such as The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers
from Tiddley Winks to Trivial Pursuit by Philip E. Orbanes, are a
behind-the-scenes glimpse at how businesses evolve; others such as Vulgarians at the Gate by Steve Allen
decry the changes in our media entertainment values. Still others, such as Jean
Kilbourne’s Deadly Persuasion: Why Women
and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising provide an
insightful analysis of how advertising shapes our thinking.
Most of these
releases are aimed at adult readers, and while they contain ideas that may be
useful in the classroom, they are more likely to end up as a library selection
than a day-to-day classroom resource. We
Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind by Martin Howard would be one
of the few surprising exceptions. Not only does it stand out from the others in
the flood by proving to be enlightening for adults and students, it contains
items that could be used alone or as part of a unit on media education.
Howard is a
former marketing executive, with over 15 years experience in the marketing
field. He became interested in emerging forms of communications and stumbled
upon the works of Marshall McLuhan simultaneously. As a result, he targets his
book to average consumers; it is especially pertinent to middle school and high
school students. Howard states that he wants to encourage individuals to assess
their own media environment.
We
Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind is divided into five chapters: The Retail
Zone, The Events Zone, The Media Zone, The Personal Zone, and The Virtual Zone.
Each contains brief tantalizing morsels that show us the impact of the media
environment we are swimming in, and then something extra that supports it – a
web site, a quotation, some current research into marketing or persuasion, an applicable case study. For example, Howard writes,
“Department Store customers exposed to MUZAK shop 18% longer and make 17% more
purchases. Grocery shoppers respond best to MUZAK that has a slower tempo,
making a whopping 38% more purchases when it is
employed.” Just below, he puts this telling quote from the MUZAK web site, www.muzak.com, “We create experiences with
audio architecture. Our art is to capture the emotional power of music and put
it to work for your business….our music programs are designed to create
experiences that are both powerful and persuasive.”
Part of the
beauty of We Know What You Want: How They
Change Your Mind is that it will
teach both leaders and learners in the classroom and serve parents and kids in
the home. Students looking for an idea for a final project in communications
courses, language or civics classes, or media studies lessons will revel in the
breadth of the topics covered. Another appealing aspect of this book is the use
of graphics that will help get the point across. Maybe the best part of the
book, however, is its tone: it teaches us what to think about, without
preaching to us about what to think. In that regard then, We Know What You Want: How They Change Your
Mind is a stand out.
Mike Gange teaches media studies and journalism at Fredericton High.