Article Review on Human Buyology

Human BUYology 101 Articles info: “Human BUYology 101” by Rachel Sullivan. Published in Reader Digest Asia, 2011; 42-49. The article, Human BUYology 101, argues that consumers tend to make unplanned purchased that cause by the psychological forces. The author tried to highlight what makes people buy. The article has many quotes from the book of BUYology by Martin Lindstrom. It first presents the arguments of those supporting the idea of the effectiveness of logos, product placement and subliminal advertising, the correlation between religion and branding, then the influence of culture and gender divide and lastly, the influence of sense.

The first part of the article mainly focuses on the idea that the effectiveness of logos, product placement and subliminal advertising: how those factors can influence people to buy. We are constantly bombarded with subliminal advertising throughout our waking hours. For the most of us, the main source of this is television advertising. It starts with eye-catching logos which could last in our memory maybe like, forever. Then, product placement plays a large part in how easily and effectively subliminal advertising can happen.

Besides that, the author of the article highlighted in the article with the opinion expressed by the correlation between religion and branding where shopping is the same way as we practice our religion. Consumers’ perception of well-known brands just like their views on the figures associated with religious icons. In short, it can be concluded that this well-known brands can create obsessed within themselves. People want the feel to belong; sense of belonging. The author calls this as religious experience which is related to religious value in impulsive buying behavior among the consumer.

The author also discuss about how the culture and gender divide could influence the unplanned purchase of some consumer. Culture may refer to the set of values, ideas, and attitudes that are accepted by a homogenous group of people and transmitted to the next generation. Culture also determines what is acceptable with product advertising. Culture determines what people wear, eat, reside and travel. So, culture could affect the decision making style for purchase of a product.

While genders divide is kind of the difference between women and men, especially as reflected in social, political, intellectual, cultural, or economic attainments or attitudes. The author argued that women value their possessions for emotional and relationship-oriented reasons, whereas men value their possessions for functional and instrumental reasons. As for the influence of the sense on unplanned purchase where the author highlighted the term of sensory shopping, in which the sensory shopping has to do with consumer’s perception.

Though necessarily based on incomplete and unverified (or unreliable) information, perception is equated with reality for most practical purposes and guides human behaviour in general. The primary human senses consist of smell, taste, hearing, touch, and sight. So, sensory shopping related to sensation or the physical senses like the smell of freshly baked waffles; transmitted or perceived by the senses and triggering the hungry feeling.

I believe the topic being discussed is very arguable, and just I believe how people could amaze himself to found out how they could influenced by many different things that make them purchase. People should learn to resist the urge to buy unnecessary items. I strongly believe that planning is the key to keeping impulse buying under control. You may find after more rational reflection that you don’t need the item as much as you thought you did. We should make and believe those impulse purchases as challenging as possible.