BuyologyTruth and Lies About Why We Buy

The science of why we buy
Why, oh why, do we buy what we buy? Does a pretty face in an ad make us more prone to purchase? Or do we plunk down the plastic because a product is cool? Marketing expert Lindstrom taps into the research of neuroscientists to address these questions, oft pondered by business types and academics alike. He discusses the results of brain-scan studies and delivers crackling anecdotes about everything from mirror neurons to dopamine, the pleasure-producing chemical that's released in our brains when we see something we like. It turns out dopamine can indeed make us "dopey," leading us to spend money on that shiny digital camera or sparkling diamond watch before we think it through.

Lindstrom's commentary on consumer behavior ranges from the predictable to the unexpected (did you know, for instance, that sex doesn't always sell?). He's not bothered by the fact that marketers might manipulate the public in irresponsible ways. Pop culture (big surprise!) is a critical conduit for swaying customers to spend. After Tom Cruise sported Ray-Bans in the 1983 hit movie, Risky Business, sales of the shades rose 50 percent. Narrator Don Leslie has such a rich, reassuring tone, he could sell ice cubes to Eskimos. His voice may be familiar to some; he's a veteran on-air narrator who's done lots of movie trailers, too. In this smooth, sonorous reading, facts and figures glide gently off Leslie's tongue.