14 Underhanded Marketing Tactics That Are Too Common

Maybe Always Be Closing isn't a particularly ethical business model.
14 Underhanded Marketing Tactics That Are Too Common

As intelligent as you may be, our brains our actually pretty dumb and can fall for some simple tricks. Advertising and marketing requires a certain amount of shiftiness, because it's all geared to hack your brain into buying something you don't need. The prey on your insecurities, your deepest desires, your anxiety about your future, your loneliness, your need to feel powerful, your aging body, and so many other triggers in your mind. But disturbingly often, companies go past persuasion and into overt sketchiness, in their quest to relieve you of your money. And we all fall for it, no matter how smart we are.

With that in mind, we asked Cracked readers to hold their noses, take a huge breath, and take a deep dive into the more troubling techniques marketing professionals use when they're planning commercials and other promotions. Brace yourself for a truly disheartening glimpse into corporate greed.

CRACE Increasing the price of a product can increase its sales. $ $$$ When is a customer choosing between products they are unfamiliar with, they will
Coolhunting is a marketing technique that picks out the popular kids and interviews them, to predict trends. In addition to hidden-camera focus grou
RAGKEID RON DeCoy pricing A tactic that increases the sales of high-profit items by creating another mid-range version solely to make the pricier vers
Have you ever been outraged at an advert that makes you go; How did this sh*t get past the editor?! This is a marketing technique known as Shock Adv
Marketing experts disguise data-gathering into a fun quiz or game. WHICH BREED Dog OF ARE YOU That way, they don't have to search for participants, th
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Have YOU Ever Talked About Something With A Friend And The Next Day You See An Ad About It? MIlllons UP TO $600 PLUS DE of GET lfustratlons 60 DAYS CO
CRACKEDc COM The Gruen Transfer A manipulative technique that makes a shopper more susceptable to unplanned purchases through intentionally confusing
In their TV ads, Hollywood studios like showing fans falling all over themselves to praise a movie. waking neD Devine Sometimes, the fans are studio
Troll marketing is when brands shame their own customers on social CRAGN media or in ads. For instance, they may make a sarcastic statement based on
More and more, music artists are writing new songs just for brands. Wiz Khalifa and his son dunking Oreos in the Playful 4 Life music video For exam
Brands are exploiting internet outrage, creating mini-backlashesf for marketing. For instance, using inflammatory words like kill is more likely to
Love bidding in online auctions? Careful not to fall prey to shill bidders. BID BID BID BID T Shady online sellers will use another account to bid on
Neuromarketing, a growing trend, involves observing how people's brain activity responds to products. It's as creepy as you think: companies hook cons
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