The Birth of Mass Marketing: The Image in the Pursuit of Empathy

Scientific advertising was born under the claim of controlling wills, which were intended to be hypnotised as hypnosis had done up to that time. The texts by Gérin, Arren and Prat Gaballí situate the science of advertising in the search for a method that, while legitimising the discipline, ensures sales efficiency by maximising economic benefits. The effectiveness of the hypnotic advertising method relied on the physical dimension of the advertisement. Along with the appeal of the smile, which is considered fundamental to favour empathy, the creation of desire is exercised through the senses. This is achieved by means of some rules that allow the mechanisation of the relationship between sight and emotional effect. Advertising no longer gives orders as in the early days of print advertising—“buy!”—but tries to captivate by means of the image. The appeal to empathy means not only that it displaces reason as the main purchasing incentive, but also that the objective of capturing attention is no longer a priority when it comes to designing the image. It was believed that it is not enough to attract attention in a fleeting manner, the advertisement must arouse interest in the object over a long period of time.