After all, the main job of these industries is to influence the views and behaviors of consumers like you. (2) Like it or not, you’ve likely experienced cognitive dissonance as a result of media or marketing influences, you just may not have recognized it. “It’s a tool that marketers and advertisers use all the time,” says Matt Johnson, PhD, professor and research fellow at Hult International Business School who is based in Boston. “A lot of advertisements are set up where they’ll make this explicit claim that you’re only cool or beautiful or worthy (or some other positive attribute) if you own this product or service.” Think about a shampoo commercial. A beautiful woman’s hair blows in the wind. She looks happy, healthy, and gorgeous. The underlying message is that you too could look happy, healthy, and gorgeous if you use the same shampoo she uses. You experience dissonance because you want to look and feel happy, healthy, and gorgeous, but you don’t necessarily use that shampoo. You, the consumer, are left with a few options, Dr. Johnson explains. You can reject the claim completely (which is what very strong-minded people do, Johnson says). Or you can resolve the dissonance by accepting the message and changing your behavior, meaning you buy the shampoo. Or you can resolve the dissonance by accepting the message and changing your belief. You may start to see yourself as less beautiful and healthy because you don’t use that product, Johnson says. “You can modify your original belief system or you can resolve the cognitive dissonance by actually buying what they’re selling,” Johnson says. The advertiser, of course, wants you to do the latter. And if you choose the former, your self-esteem will likely take a hit since you must acknowledge you don’t possess these positive qualities. RELATED: Cognitive Dissonance Happens All the Time in Real Life The more persuasive and more compelling the advertisement, the stronger the dissonance and the more urgently you’ll need to resolve it, Johnson adds. You may have seen this tactic used by luxury companies who set out to sell a lifestyle more than a specific product. “You may not even see what the product is within the advertisement,” Johnson says. “What they’re doing is marketing a lifestyle and marketing a status or a mentality that’s associated with the brand.” Their goal is to get you to believe in and support that brand because you want to attain that lifestyle. As Terence Flynn, PhD, an associate professor in communications at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, wrote in an Institute for Public Relations article: “Persuasive communication is at the heart of public relations.” PR pros attempt to influence the beliefs or actions of the public by presenting information that creates cognitive dissonance. In order to resolve it, you have to change your attitudes or actions (and thus the PR campaign has influenced your attitudes or behavior). Consider this example: A new personal care brand challenges its PR company with getting consumers to buy its natural line of tampons. It becomes clear to the PR team that many women don’t even realize their tampons might contain unhealthy materials, so they design a campaign that spreads this news and raises awareness. Learning about this information will create tension (dissonance) among women who wear tampons. They’re left with a choice to continue to buy their go-to brand while potentially letting these harmful materials into their bodies or to buy the new, natural brand. Let’s say someone is an active National Rifle Association member. When they hear news of a school shooting, they might experience dissonance since this new information (the news that guns were used to carry out a tragedy) challenges their attitudes about guns. They may look to media outlets that promote conservative, anti-gun-control views to find information that reinforces their thoughts about gun rights (and therefore lessens the dissonance they feel). Researchers call this phenomenon “selective exposure” to media. (2)
When Cognitive Dissonance Leads to Good Behavior
But ads and public relations can sway people to practice good behavior, too. Maybe an advertisement is trying to persuade you to buy a product or service that’s in your best interest and could benefit your long-term health, Johnson says. A piece of exercise equipment that’ll keep your heart healthy, for example, or even switching to a toxin-free deodorant could end up being a good influence. Public relations campaigns have rebranded recycling as “cool.” Using cognitive dissonance in communications can nudge people into positive behavior, too, Johnson says. If, however, you’re constantly viewing advertisements that make you reconsider your actions or your beliefs, you’ll inevitably feel stressed because you’ll need to continually resolve these internal conflicts, Johnson says. “If you’re constantly being bombarded by advertisements and having to resolve this, then it can lead to chronic stress, which is really bad.” Being chronically stressed for a prolonged time can lead to lowered immunity, heart disease, or changes in your brain.
Can You Avoid It? No, and That’s Okay
The short answer is no, you can’t really avoid feeling cognitive dissonance as a result of communication and the media (without avoiding communication and the media altogether). In 2007 The New York Times reported that people then were exposed to an average of 5,000 ads each day. (3) By 2022, Forbes estimates that number had soared to as many as 10,000 per day. (4) From social media to billboards to the sides of buses and taxis, marketing surrounds us. But the plus side is that acknowledging these ads and resolving any conflicts they present can lead to increased self-awareness, which Johnson says is always a good thing. “Self-awareness is a really great tool at people’s disposal as they try to navigate the commercial world,” he says. RELATED: How to Deal With the Cognitive Dissonance You Do Notice Rather than feeling frustrated by the tension the cognitive dissonance creates, know that it’s a natural process that all human beings go through. Simply recognizing that feeling of tension or dissonance when it happens — and realizing it may be a result of an ad or public relations campaign — can help that conflict feel less significant, Johnson says.
