This is Annie Grace and you're listening to this naked mind podcast where without

judgment, pain or rules, we explore the role of alcohol in our lives and culture.

Hi friends, this is Annie Grace. I am the author of this naked mind and I am answering

readers questions and today we have a question from Robert. He says, Hi Annie, this is Robert.

You said in one of your videos that advertising is a strong influence. I certainly don't

feel influenced by advertising and I find it hard to believe that I drink because of ads.

Can you explain why you believe this is? So, hi Robert. This is interesting because nobody

wants to admit that they're influenced. We want to feel in control of our destinies,

we want to feel free to choose our own paths, we want to feel uninfluenced by marketers'

employees because that's just how we are. And so we feel like advertising isn't affecting

us because we're not consciously aware of its power. But the reality is and I come from

over a decade of experience within the marketing field is that your staunch belief that alcohol

advertising doesn't influence you is actually one of the reasons that it is so effective.

So there's a doctor, his name is Dr. Mark Scheller and he's a psychologist at the University

of British Columbia and he says, Quote, sometimes non-conscious effects can be bigger in sheer

magnitude than conscious ones because we can't moderate stuff that we don't have conscious

access to. So, I mean that makes sense, right? Like how can we consciously counteract a

belief that has completely bypassed our conscious understanding? An article in the

Scientific American actually says Quote, the error we often make is to assume that we can

control the effects and add has on our behavior because we're consciously aware of its content.

And even consciously rejecting an ad's message doesn't ensure that your subconscious mind

doesn't buy into the scam. I mean we may consciously think, oh that's ridiculous, I know

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