NLP noodles on advertising ears
You will lie to him with three boxes,
And do with him what you like.
Slogan "advertising" NLP-ists.
“Modern advertising is simply unthinkable without NLP” - this idea has long been successfully hammered into the heads of gullible advertisers and advertisers by NLP gurus of all stripes. Many of them willingly pay for expensive NLP seminars and even more expensive NLP services. The NLP bubble in advertising is growing by leaps and bounds. And where can the poor advertiser and advertiser go?
A couple of years ago I came across an article in which the head of an advertising agency argued that he could easily improve the effectiveness of any advertisement. To do this, you need (for some measly $ 3000) to submit your advertisement to him for some kind of NLP analysis. An advertisement for this agency flaunted next to the article - an example of professional illiteracy.
Then I learned that this mysterious acronym NLP means "neuro-linguistic programming." It was suggested by mathematician Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder in the stunning book The Structure of Magic.
All my life I was an incorrigible bore, striving in everything that I happened to do, "to get to the bottom", especially in advertising, which I devoted most of my life. And here, it turns out, there is some kind of "structural-magic" method that allows you to significantly increase the effectiveness of advertising, and I have not even heard of it! There was something to be taken aback by.
… I rushed to call the agency - a “meaningful” conversation between a deaf and a blind man took place. I began to rummage through the Internet and turn to Western and our NLP people with a very simple question - can you, gentlemen, provide evidence that using NLP you can increase the effectiveness of advertising - the effect is zero. I recently asked this question to 20,000 AMA (American Marketing Association) members around the world. Of the responses I have received, one is particularly interesting:
I've seen a couple of students explore these data
over the past 15 years , but I've never seen any convincing evidence that it has any merit. I've always thought of it more as being in the same category as Subliminal Advertising: mostly myth.
Jef I. Richards, JD, Ph.D.
Professor of Advertising
The University of Texas at Austin
I've watched a couple of students research this data
over the past 15 years , but I've never come across convincing evidence that it has any value. I've always assumed this falls into the same category as subliminal advertising: mostly a myth.
Jeff Richards
Professor of Advertising
University of Texas at Austin
On my website and in my mailing lists, I also asked people to send their thoughts on this issue. An interesting response from Dnepropetrovsk:
A couple of years ago, I was also in search. I thought these three letters could do a miracle. I attended seminars, training courses, collected information, but the more I learned, the more I came to the conclusion that NLP is the lot of psychotherapists, and let it remain so!
Sincerely,
Head of advertising department of VASIL company.
Oleg Buts
This article summarizes the results of my searches. Here I would like to make a reservation right away - I did not set myself the task of assessing the potential of NLP in all areas. I am interested in a narrowly professional topic - the effect of NLP in advertising. And on this issue I have formed a quite definite opinion - it is reflected in the title of this article. I also had an opinion about the personal qualities of the NLP characters who advertise.
The claims of NLP ists in advertising
In the chorus loudly "singing" about the benefits of NLP in advertising, you will not find a single voice of the advertising practitioner - only the statements of the NLPists themselves. But if Western NLP ists talk about it somehow casually, then ours are simply filled with a nightingale.
Thus, the "doctor-psychotherapist and psychoanalyst" NN Naritsyn makes a stunning statement: “A real, professionally made advertisement should be perceived by viewers at the
unconscious level (
and what should consciousness do in this case? ) And act according to the principle of neurolinguistic programming (NLP).
Almost all of our advertising is built on the principles of NLP. "- After reading this, I almost fell off my chair.
The friendly NLP quartet Andrey Shipilov, Tatiana Muzhitskaya, Anatoly Levenchuk, Sergey Ogurtsov is not far behind: “In business, NLP is applicable in many areas.
Starting from advertising , and ending with recruiting and negotiating. "- That is, the use in advertising for these authors is something self-evident and does not require proof.
In the article "Science and Pseudoscience in Advertising" I talked about the attitude of pseudoscientists to proof - "the mere mention of the word" proof "makes them convulse." This is for sure with the NLP-ists. One NLP talent from Ufa named Vladimir Kushnov told me so in a letter: “I am personally not interested in the evidentiary side of the case. Moreover, I find it ridiculous and time-consuming. Everyone applies what he likes. "This talent is acquired with the Ufa NLP-, DHE-, viria (and the devil knows what else!) The Concillieri center - a cool name, isn't it. (For those who don't know, consillieri is an adviser to the mafia godfather.) By the way, if you have strong nerves and are not afraid to pick up some psychoviruses, then you can look (just not looking at night!
And if you have a few hundred extra dollars that you can't wait to get rid of, then here you will be offered flying seminars on psycho-viruses and awesome books that will make you complete in a couple of days…. sorry copywriter. Or a magician ... or ... in a word, whoever you want.
So what? - NLP guys they are! Take, for example, computer programmer Anatoly Levenchuk. He once looked into the NLP-istam and - bah ... all familiar faces! - "I really liked the absolutely programming approach of the newly minted colleagues." Our programmer quickly worked on his binary-primitive version of NLP theory - to drive all psychologists with your will, we, the software developers, must bank in NLP! And we will create any programming miracles for you in a few minutes. What do you have? Phobias? - A couple of trifles. These pathetic psychologists have been messing around with phobias for weeks. And we, cool programmers, take them off instantly. What are there phobias! “At the disposal of any NLP specialist there is a ready-made set of standard proven techniques for all many occasions. Are you afraid of cockroaches? - please,
want to succeed in business ? - here's a model for success. "I looked for a price list - how much do they charge for cockroaches, and how much for business success? Probably, it will be in the next NLP revelation.
Our programmer went into a rage: “In NLP they talk about a well-formed
result (
I didn't notice something! But I noticed that they just speak well there! ) ... Psychologists keep rapport well (
contact with the client - AR ), but they program poorly ... Computer programmers are good at programming, but poorly at rapport. And without rapport, NLP does not work, claims are not accepted. "- The foregoing excludes the use of NLP in advertising in principle. But, realizing himself - and who wants to let advertising go from the hands of a fat crucian carp (where there is no such rapport and cannot be) - our software developer instantly begins to promote NLP in advertising. Without the
results he praises so much, of course! - Wow!
For dessert, I saved the extremely funny St. Petersburg NLP-ist Viktor Savitsky. In his quest to jump out of his pants, he even wrote an article "Embed NLP in Advertising." And although, according to his own statement, he did not make a single advertisement, and he could not give me a single other people's example, nevertheless, he asserts with enviable confidence:
“Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), successfully leading in the field of superiority strategies (
Does anyone know what this is? ),
Is beginning to be systematically applied in the field of advertising business ... (
And I overslept this“ systemic ” moment, to my shame! ) How does this technology work in advertising? NLP provides the most important functional resources for 5 main processes: advertising management, creative design, modeling and design, examination of advertising messages, typological analysis of the audience and the media, communication training of personnel. (
From this I did not understand anything, but - cool!) For each of these processes, NLP provides a common set of assumptions, knowledge and skills, as well as a specialized set of tools that provide an effective solution to the problems of the established context ... It is not surprising that, having appreciated the great possibilities of this socio-psychological method,
many rushed to use it in advertising ... (
The author has never been able to introduce me to at least one "rushed"! ) Based on expert judgment (
And who are these experts? ), NLP allows you to make only well-grounded (
Where are these justifications? ) Decisions in advertising, differing in purposefulness (
Where are they directed? ), Certainty (
What is this?) and controllability (
Who, how and what should control? ) ".
I asked this NLP advertiser to show me a rough idea of how he would use NLP to advertise, say, building materials. Here is his answer:
- I would study the specifics of contact persons and the organization with which you have to work (based on NLP solutions).
- Define goals and describe the desired outcome (based on NLP solutions).
- I would decide on the criteria (restrictions) for advertising in this advertising context (customer-audience-manufacturer (product) -media-budget, etc.) (based on NLP solutions).
- I decided on the methodological resources (NLP techniques, templates, techniques), which, in accordance with the above, began to use further.
- Described and formed an advertising project: options for advertising messages and presentation strategies (based on NLP solutions).
- I would have received feedback from the customer, focus group, referents (and here not without NLP).
- I would choose the best option and earn it in accordance with the feedback (and here not without NLP).
- Approved and put into production, controlling the process (and here not without NLP).
When I received this "recipe", I was speechless for a long time.
First, when I asked how you will advertise using NLP, I got the answer - using NLP. Secondly, it is impossible to disassemble this from the point of view of marketing or the experience of practical advertising for the reason that it does not smell like marketing and advertising. Thirdly, this text will not be understood by any marketer or copywriter. You can cite fourth, fifth, and tenth. But it's not that. The following amazes me:
Just think, gentlemen! The person has never dealt with advertising, never learned this most complex multidisciplinary craft, did not make a single advertisement, does not know a single example of the application of NLP in advertising. But he does not hesitate to write an article calling for the use of his beloved NLP in advertising, and offers a "technique" for creating advertising, which in a veteran of selling advertising, say Ogilvie, can only cause homeric laughter. And not only Ogilvy's; I think that any more or less thinking person.
What is this, gentlemen? - Eclipse, insanity, zombie, charlatanism? Explain to me? After all, Ogilvy once said on a more innocent occasion - madmen seized power in a madhouse! What would he say about this clinical case?
Advertising educational program for NLP-ists
Ueli Frischknecht, the Secretary General of the IANLP International Association for Neuro-Linguistic Programing (International Association of NLP), rightly believes that "if someone is poorly versed in advertising, then, studying NLP, this person will not become more qualified in advertising. "Our NLP guys will clearly disagree with him. Another statement of the IANLP Secretary General fits them perfectly: “Many people, having attended a couple of seminars on NLP, declare themselves to be the best in any professional field”. And then some kind of elementary advertising!
There is a striking gap between the self-conceit of NLPists regarding their advertising capabilities and their real qualifications in this most difficult "professional field". If you analyze my correspondence with NLP-ists and samples of NLP-advertising, then the conclusion is unambiguous - these guys are distinguished not just by dense advertising ignorance, but by
militant dense ignorance.
This little educational program is designed not so much for NLP-ists, claiming a role in advertising - they can hardly be enlightened, as for advertisers thinking about whether to spend money and time on NLP consultants or not.
Seller and advertiser
To begin with, NLPists don't understand the difference between salesperson and advertiser. On the one hand, both the seller and the advertiser solve similar problems - to convince the client to make a purchase decision. And each such solution is unique - any experienced salesperson will tell you about it. The situation is often complicated by the fact that several people take part in making a decision (difficult purchase), each of whom has its own interests, character and temperament. Both the seller and the advertiser know and take this into account.
On the other hand, a salesperson works with a client face to face, and advertising tries to influence the client indirectly, through paper or a screen, that is, without direct contact with the client. That is why co-founder of NLP John Grinder rightly believes that using NLP in advertising is impossible in principle. But NLP-ists (especially ours) go all the way, arguing (but not proving) the opposite.
Average client
Further, NLP works with one person, while advertising deals with the "average" client. Being addressed to thousands and even millions, advertising should simultaneously "sell" to people with different archetypes, temperaments, educational levels, prejudices, language perceptions. Thus, the division of people into types according to the preferred channels of perception of information (audio, visual, tactile), so beloved by NLPists, in advertising is meaningless. How senseless are their attempts to influence the unconscious with the same words (and NLP claims to be unconscious) of thousands of people at once - after all, all people have different reactions to certain words, different vocabulary ... and different unconscious.
Where is consciousness?
NLP-istam man is seen as a kind of amorphous creature living exclusively in the unconscious and subconscious world. This creature consists only of emotions and archetypes, it easily falls into a trance - for this, it is supposedly enough to use this or that word (and NLP magicians and wizards know exactly which word) or just change the words in the sentence. This creature is completely devoid of logic and reason. The same Grinder is convinced that NLP cannot be applied in advertising until “until the people doing the advertising understand that they need to develop ways to test the
unconscious response ... that the appeal should be done rather on the
unconsciousthan on a conscious level. "- So, gentlemen, it turns out that you make your purchasing decisions in a completely unconscious, thoughtless state. It is in this state, according to the NLP experts, that you solve all your production, scientific and everyday problems.
How does everything really happen? A person has both unconscious and subconscious beginnings, but the dominant role is played by consciousness. This is best described in the book by Vita Tsenev "The Psychology of Advertising: Advertising, NLP and the 25th frame." See also my article “The Myth of the 25th Frame. Russian chapter ".
Rational and emotional
NLPists try to act only on emotions. But in any decision, both rational and emotional principles are involved. In Passion and Reason (1994), Richard and Bernice Lazarus debunk many of the myths about emotion. According to one of the myths, emotions are supposedly irrational and do not depend on thinking and logic. This is not the case - emotions and reason go hand in hand. Emotions always depend on the cause that caused them and on the individual assessment of the meaning. Without meaning, without evaluation, emotions do not arise. If an advertisement evokes emotions, but does not contain a reason for making a purchase, then the advertiser can say goodbye to the money.
Psychologist Carol Myg: “Generally speaking, strictly emotional behavior is characteristic only of young children and adults with severe cognitive disabilities. (For
some reason, I thought about NLP-ists. )
Realistic, rational assessment of properties is more or less present in all decisions, and also accompanies all points of difference, regardless of the strength of emotions, loyalty or exciting properties of goods. "
For example, we choose a car not only on the basis of the analysis of "bolts and nuts", we are also concerned about prestige, aesthetics, driving pleasure and other emotional aspects. We value everything together! When working with a specific product, I describe the product to myself and / or the client using a scheme that does not allow me to forget that I need to think over both rational selling points and emotional ones:
In this diagram, each product is represented by two squares (one on the left, the other on the right). The area of the left square determines the contribution of
reason (rational) to the assessment of a given product, and the area of the right one - of
emotions (irrational). So, white squares characterize a product with a predominance of emotions over a rational principle (jewelry, etc.); gray squares - on the contrary, the predominance of the rational (industrial equipment, etc.). The shaded squares describe the intermediate case.
Sometimes they try to earn additional selling points by shifting the focus to one side or the other. Thus, traditionally "emotional" advertisements for mascaras began to include "rational" figures - the percentage of increase in the volume of eyelashes as a result of the use of this mascara. I have seen advertisements for computers using the name of the famous designer who created the computer case as the selling point.
There are goods (for example, industrial equipment, military equipment), the advertising of which consists of almost 100% of rational selling points. There is effective advertising that is entirely composed of emotions.
Form and content
Generations of the world's best copywriters have convincingly proven that in advertising,
content (selling points, proof, etc.)
is a hundred times more important than form (language, formatting and design). However, our NLPists try to "program" ad consumers only through form, linguistically. I refer the reader interested in the topic of advertising language to my articles. Here's what I'll point out here: ads will benefit slightly from a combed tongue, but even the most combed language will not save an ad with poor marketing content. At the same time, the main task of combing in advertising is to express the maximum content with a minimum of words. The advertising texts offered by NLPists are distinguished by just the opposite - a minimum of content and a maximum of (often meaningless) words.
Content should prevail not only in such a utilitarian business as advertising. This applies to literally any text, even artistic. AS Pushkin: "Accuracy and brevity - these are the first advantages of prose, and prose requires
thoughts and thoughts - without them, brilliant expressions are useless." When I read advertising NLP opuses and letters, I constantly heard an expression that I heard somewhere -
diarrhea of words, constipation of thoughts... NLP-true copywriting in verbiage has even gagged the pseudo-literary copywriting that existed in England a couple of generations ago. Ogilvy was grateful to Claude Hopkins, the terrific "salesman" in advertising, for curing him of this pseudo-literary rhetoric. Have NLPists Read Hopkins? - Unlikely. All pre-NLP ads are contemptuously called orthodox. From now on, they alone are the true magicians of advertising. (One of them, the psycho-virologist Viktor Orlov from Ufa, was even called by the author of one copywriting site "the best advertiser of the Russian Internet" - that's it!)
Simplicity
Much has been written about simplicity, "precision, and brevity," but NLP scholars have not read it. They clog the advertising text with empty lisp and impenetrable verbiage (
see below for a sample ). At the same time, any professional copywriter knows that advertising has a chance to be noticed and read by an indifferent reader only when it is simple. Some professionals recommend testing ad copy on 12 year olds. Every letter and every point in the graphic should work in advertising. But NLP advertising advisors take a different view.
Multidisciplinary Advertising
A professional ad creator should have an understanding of marketing, sales, consumer behavior, advertising media, the laws of visual perception and readability, and many other things. The same is required of a representative of any discipline who wishes to become useful in advertising. Otherwise, his narrowly disciplinary guidelines may conflict with the provisions of another discipline. NLPists don't understand this. They resemble the character of an American joke: if the only thing a person has is a hammer, then all problems he sees as a nail. (
See above for a brilliant example of Mr. Savitsky's hammer vision of advertising. )
NLP Advertising Samples
For months I have been trying to beg from NLP applicants for the role of advertising guru for some sample of advertising created with the help of their teachings. They fought to death. With great difficulty, I found several samples on the website of one "maestro of psychotechnology". A couple more samples were sent to me by one NLP-yin.
As I said, the hard-won experience of generations of advertising practitioners is of no interest to NLP advertisers. They do not know, for example, that advertising is killed by a "vampire" (so they can offer to place a half-naked woman next to the advertised product), that blind headlines do not work in advertising (almost all of their headlines are blind!), That a bored uninterested reader is just waiting for a reason to leave an advertisement and turn the page, and that he will do it with 100% probability if he comes across, for example, such an NLP masterpiece:
A REALLY WINTER essay ...
The obvious truth is that winter has come ... The recent slush turned into sparkling ice crystals, as if some desperate artist, with one stroke of the brush, replaced the gloomy off-season with something brighter and more impressive ... believe the promises of the ubiquitous weather forecasters and the sour predictions of Mr. Nostradamus ...
The winter of 2000 promises to be cold ...
And, if adults are somehow warmed by their current worries and fussy everyday running, then with children it is more difficult ... They need not only to be warmed, but also to please!
The most far-sighted dads and mothers already today begin thoughtfully scratching their heads, puzzled by the eternal question: "How can I reliably protect my child from the coming flu epidemics, which constantly cause so many difficult troubles?" Well, the most non-standard ones add: "How to combine this protection with the upcoming New Year holidays?"
Celebration and protection ... Isn't it too difficult for us?
You can buy vaunted imported drugs for the whole winter, which are now sold on every corner ... You can stock up on a hundred or two mustard plasters and a couple of kilograms of raspberry jam ... You can also buy a dozen or two disposable syringes for all these chronic bronchitis and pneumonia ...
But it is unlikely that all this will be a luxurious gift from Santa Claus ... Children understand little about the intricacies of antibiotics and they do not really like it when their beloved parents drag them to injections ... Would you like it yourself? We don't think ... Remember your childhood ... The smell of the Christmas tree ... The enthusiastic New Year's shine of garlands and balls ... Mom comes up to you ... Kisses and takes out from under the Christmas tree a mysterious bag with a GIFT ... Opens it and takes out ...
Has your mother ever given you a Coldrex package and a brand new plastic syringe for New Years?
No, because your mom is not crazy ...
Then why not just dress the child warmly? And more beautiful ...
Do you want to tell a secret? Now there will be a small advertisement for one charming, sweet and cozy shop ...
Have you guessed?
Right! "Children's fashion"!
We hate ads just like you, but how the hell do you steer us parents towards something really good? So good that it's not a sin to just watch?
Look to instantly feel the comfort and sympathy, warmth and calmness from all these wonderful, unique and seductive hats, jumpers, fur coats ...
We do not want you to immediately rush headlong to acquire something special for your children, which is really worth acquiring, unless you understand that time, alas, waits for no one and that anything can happen in this strange and unpredictable country ...
Let's calm down and just ask ourselves: "Is my child so dear to me that I want to give him SOMETHING?"
Let's make the following simple truth with an affectionate and caring motto: “My child will definitely receive his present! And he will be glad to him ... "
Or what kind of parents are we?
Is not it?
VZ
(Truly Caring Dad ...)
(
I wonder if anyone has read to the end? )
As you probably guessed, after reading such an NLP lisp, the parents simply dared everything in this store - after all, they were given so many selling arguments! In addition, this store is probably the only one in a big city!
(A few more examples of NLP advertising lisp about furniture, textiles, paint, SPA, pubs.)
As a great NLP wisdom in advertising, Mr. Niesov gave me the following samples:
"Why X is the No. 1 shampoo in the world ..."
"Choosing X, you ..."
"Do you know that ..."
"Choosing X1 or X2 ..."
This NLP historian is clearly unaware that professional salespeople and copywriters have known all these little tricks from time immemorial. In a good sales textbook, he can find as many of them as he wants. For example:
"When will the copier be delivered to you, in the morning or afternoon?"
"Where do you put the computer."
But harsh practitioners also know that such tricks will not save a failed (in terms of content) ad or a failed (in terms of content) salesperson presentation. Both the salesperson and the copywriter are amused to see these little things elevated to the rank of theory and underlying all NLP exposure in advertising.
By the way, I would like to see an NLP guru trying to sell building materials, computers, pumps and other prosaic goods. One NLP lady imagines a paint salesperson like this: “A good salesperson will talk about 'the beauty of a ceiling that will be as smooth as a testicle and will never crack' and 'You will wake up and look at this ceiling and be glad that you made this repair. '- One can feel a huge sales experience!
People with NLP hello
When I started communicating with NLP-ists, I had no idea what awaited me. Requests to confirm, prove, give results are common and common in physics, biology and other sciences. And here I was expecting simple calm answers: say, there are results, you can look in such sources; or - I have no results, if there are, then I will inform you, etc. This is how scientists or just intelligent people communicate. But that's not the case in NLP. I don't even know how to characterize this "communication".
Several episodes.
In an address to one of our "NLP chiefs" I made a typo in his last name, calling him Niyazov. In response, I immediately got in the face: "To confuse the name in circulation is elementary rudeness and unprofessionalism." Having worn out and frowned, I tried to continue the dialogue. Data, of course, no. But there was an avalanche of aggression, distortion, stupidity and insults. When I allowed myself to react, I was immediately categorically declared: "It's strange, after all - the pros, but succumbed to a simple technological provocation - a challenge."
By the way, the topic of "provocation" among NLP-friendly individuals is very respected. Here is one of their joyful exclamations: “That's really amazing, sir! Precisely hurt. It was cleaved as it should. An intelligent person simply would not have reacted ... And the advertiser who read Ogilvie and Rubikam - even more so (
And what does Ogilvie have to do with it? ) ... So it got hooked ... So it's true .. ... (
And what, in fact, is true? ) ”.
It is impossible to communicate with NLP experts. If you ask about Thomas, then they answer you about Eremu. To a simple question, you can hear in response - and you are wrong. And it is useless to explain that the questioner cannot be wrong. Right or wrong can only be the one who asserts something. Strangely, NLP adults don't understand that the use of something and the proof of the effectiveness of that use of it are completely different things. Many are pathologically stupid.
(I was speechless when the author of numerous articles on NLP, including NLP in advertising, stated: "Show me in our correspondence where it says that I am an adherent or supporter of NLP. I have never been an adherent of NLP." - We've arrived!)
It is useless to talk with this public about scientific honesty, about responsibility to society, about decency. I was pleasantly surprised by the attempt by the IANLP to make the NLP craft a little civilized. In its newsletter, the Association encourages its members to speak with non-specialists in normal language, “to openly describe the nature of the results and methods”, “to make only such statements about their services that are truthful and accurate at the level of their knowledge ”,“ not to make unlawful claims containing false information about their services ”. Nevertheless, it took General Secretary Ueli Frischknecht, in correspondence with me, to make an effort to finally admit that NLP does not work in advertising.
As I communicated with the NLP-ists, a suspicion arose and gradually grew - and I'm talking to insane ... or outright charlatans! In the end, suspicion was replaced by complete certainty.
So Ueli Frischknecht authoritatively states: “In NLP you will meet different people. From really serious specialists to charlatans ”. Perhaps there are serious specialists in NLP, but somehow I had no luck with them.
Correspondence with members of the Russian NLP community should be shown to a psychiatrist. I think that he would confirm the observations of the psychologist VP Gudkov on the mental health of pseudoscientists: paranoia, sluggish erased paranoid schizophrenia, induced delirium, hysteroid.
Interesting is the opinion of Pavel Vedenin, a professor of psychology at the Kuban University, who is trying to explain the strangeness of NLP on the Internet. He's writing:
“People who have been processed by the NLP technique are distinguished by a specific demeanor. They are distinguished by fanatically burning eyes, widely spaced elbows, fast, sharp gait. As a rule, they are intolerant, incapable of compromise. They are tough in achieving goals, most often straightforward ... They are cruel and vindictive. Merciless, two-faced and deceitful. Their flattering is a maneuver that has very specific selfish goals. "- It is felt that the person has gotten.
Now, I can rightfully subscribe to the professor's other words:
“NLPisky direction is very aggressive in its essence and does not shun even the most rude methods of misinformation, distortion. For example, NLPists often present material about the methods of their direction in such a way that an inexperienced reader may have an illusory idea that the technologies they have developed are also used by other psychological schools. "
"A bunch of brawlers"
As if confirming the characterization given by NLP scholars Pavel Vedenin, psychologist and NLP historian Michael Watson writes in his article “NLP: Narrow Linguistic Programming” bitterly: “Today NLP seems to be a bunch of brawlers who do not respect each other friend and constantly gnawing at the position (and authority) in the society of consumers. "- You feel it right away when you start communicating with NLP-ists. Here are a couple of examples.
Niesov: “I don't like NLP coaches. I believe that most of them do not know how to teach and do not know how to use in reality what they are talking about. So I started teaching NLP myself."
The manners of the "local" NLR-ists are not much better than those of ours. So, the Italian NLP guru Gianni Fortunato declares with the courtesy inherent in this "science": "I think the whole European Association for Neurolinguistic Psychotherapy is
idiots ."
And to top it all off, the two founding fathers of NLP fought for rights and laurels, as a result of which one of them slammed the door and created a new "science" DHE (Design Human Engineering), prudently hanging a trademark mark ( TM) on this absurd name.
Now you can imagine how the NLP pack pounces on the doubter of their "magical" talents. What I had to hear from them, the paper will not stand. And all this is so wretched and plebeian! Often the only incentive to continue the correspondence with the next brutal NLP-sore "sage" was curiosity - and to what degree of insanity can he get?
NLP in Russia
On the Internet, I met the statement of Tatyana Shubenkova, with which I completely agree:
“Why did NLP develop so much in Russia? It just fits well with our mentality: you can do nothing, "bang" - a miracle will happen, you winked, and all the problems were solved by themselves ... You can confuse a person's head, but you can do it without NLP , there are thousands of other ways. "
I think that the overseas founders of NLP never imagined that their Russian followers would turn out to be more NLP than themselves. Their colleague Vaikari also did not think and did not guess that in half a century it was in Russia that his theory would be exhumed and even come up with the absurd name "25th frame".
Gentlemen, why do we have all the dregs that easily pass through the Western intellectual sieve? Why does the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (see my article "Science and Pseudoscience in Advertising") rightly assert that "pseudoscience is flourishing in Russia", which "leads the general population straight into the new Middle Ages"?
There are many reasons. One of them seems to me to be that we still think in the Bolshevik way. And Bolshevism does not need facts and proofs. It used to be - this cannot be, because it can never be. Now - it must be, because it must be. And to hell with the different proofs there!
These are the thoughts I took from the conference on psychotechnology, which was held in a very cool academy. It turned out that at conferences on this "science" you can carry any nonsense, and no one will stop you. At the final session, next to me were two former physicists who became teachers of something humanitarian. Then in their hotel room they drank me with vodka, trying to get me out of my stupor. These guys have listened and watched such conferences so that now they will not be surprised with anything.
Poor Russia!
Conclusion
With this article, I would like to put an end to my protracted research. I repeat - I was not interested in the entire spectrum of NLP applications, but only in the narrow, but extremely important for the advertising community, the issue of the effectiveness and expediency of using NLP in advertising. Having carefully analyzed all the accumulated data and impressions, I will allow myself to answer the following questions in this way:
Can NLP improve advertising performance, that is, make the advertiser more money? - NO.
Can NLP Reduce Advertising Effectiveness? - YES.
Can NLP kill ads in extreme cases? - YES.
In conclusion, I would like to cite the statement of psychologist Vita Tsenev: “The more emphasis in advertising is placed on the unconscious aspect of influence, the worse the advertising is. People, according to whose theory the whole concept of advertising is based on subthreshold influence, should be kept away from the advertising budget."
My dear advertisers and advertisers, it's up to you whether to allow self-proclaimed NLP advisors to mock your ad or "keep them out of the ad budget." It is up to you to decide whether to send your employees to useless and even harmful NLP courses or not. I made my choice.
