A couple of weeks back I wrote an article on the evolution of 5-Hour Energy commercials over the past two years, showing how the product has gone from being marketed as an occasional pick-me-up to take care of that “2:30 feeling” to now…
Every day is a 5-Hour Energy day!
Having been cynical regarding advertising since I was a child – thank you, MAD Magazine for opening my eyes at a young age – I’m always looking for patterns in advertising campaigns because they’re usually there. And 5-Hour Energy didn’t disappoint.
I shared my article with my brother, Dr. William R. Boyd, Jr., who is a clinical psychologist in Tennessee and he emailed me back some really intriguing clinical evaluation of what he noticed in the progression of commercials:
- It is normal to not feel like working out at times. It is also normal to feel good (better) after making yourself work out without any supplements such as 5-hour energy drinks.
- Eliminating sugar spikes in your system will also remove the mid-afternoon drowsiness off of which the one commercial feeds. It seems like their product just adds to these spikes and would likely cause a person to feel dependent on the product after awhile. Same ploy used in cigarettes.
- There is a reason that it is called an “Alarm” clock! If you are not getting enough sleep and rest, the device is causing your body to awaken basically before it is ready and the manner in which it does this activates the body’s Sympathetic Division of the Autonomic Nervous System (The Flight or Flight Mechanism), thus alarming you into consciousness every morning. What a great way to start your day. In this scenario the word “Alarm” clock is actually appropriate. This is why people feel better when they can wake up on their own, such as on weekends.
- The product is heavily touted as being very convenient which is a popular twist to marketing because people want to be inconvenienced as little as possible. In other words our product is so easy to obtain and use it will not interrupt what you are already doing in your routine. In fact, since you won’t need to take the time to make coffee, your current routine will run even smoother. What they don’t point out is that in many cases, people will use this convenience to sleep in longer since they don’t need to make coffee and will still find themselves being late for work!
I hope you found my brother’s insight as fascinating as I did.
The old axiom is true: Haste makes waste.
To read my original article from a couple of weeks ago, click here.
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Cheers!
