Win your Customer with a Sentence, not an Essay

I was at Walgreen about an hour ago and I was walking around the aisles and came across Hot Cheetos Fries. I knew not to do it, I spent months trying to get back into shape, countless games of basketball, and hours of staring at my stomach in the mirror. I looked at the back of the bag knowing how unhealthy the bag of chemicals was for my system. I tried so hard to convince myself to tell myself no. I began reciting all the reasons why it was bad for me, how for my health this was one the worst decisions I could make.

After what seemed like an hour long worth of reasons, but really, was probably only about 30 seconds, I made my decision.

I bought the bag of Hot Cheetos Fries.

Why? Quite simply because I wanted to taste the blend of spiciness and soft potato chip texture of these fake fries. After a whole set of debate and reasoning on the no side, one simple argument on the buy side of the debate won. It tasted good and would give me momentary pleasure.

We need to remember the best arguments are not overload with information, reasoning, and logical conclusions. The best arguments are the ones that tap into our emotion and feelings immediately. Buying the chips gave me a sense of momentary pleasure. I kept trying to convince myself with reason and logic to not buy the chips, but i succumbed to my senses.

If I had maybe tried convincing myself not to buy by picturing the sadness of looking at the mirror or that inferior feeling of being at the beach, it would have prevented me from the purchase.

So remember, lots of research and thought goes into the persuasion of the sale, but at the end of the day we need to realize that simplicity wins the day, not complexity. That is why every essay has one theme, every episode has one moral lesson.

What is the simple message of your advertising? Can it be summarized in one emotion or sentence? Or is it a complex aggregation of arguments and logic?

(P.S: I feel terrible right now after eating those Hot Cheetos Fries. ARGH!)