Walking into the Westfield Topanga Mall, I was already on high alert and prepared for the amount of marketing I was about to be subjected to. Only three steps in and my eyes were immediately confronted with sales signs and beautifully enticing store entrances, all of which were overwhelming to me considering I had walked in with a purpose to only buy one specific product at Target. On the way to my destination, I was halted by a young and hip designer eyewear salesman with an eyewear stand who had managed to pull me aside and begin his sales pitch. During our encounter, Shahin, the salesman, had used multiple “weapons of influence” when trying to sell his eyewear to me. Some of these weapons included conformity and comparison, compliance, persuasion, …show more content…
He had also told me that many of the brands were selling very quickly because of their high quality having a negative correlation to their low, competitive prices and that if I was interested in a pair, or two, I would need to act quickly before they would all be sold out. In telling me this, I had felt a sense of urgency and confusion creep up inside of me. I wasn’t even sure if I had wanted glasses or if I had the money to get them before I walked into the salesman’s store, but at that moment all I had thought about was getting them while they were available and wanting to show them off to everyone later. I was not aware of it at the time, but Shahin was using the very strong social influence tactic of scarcity. The Rule of Scarcity dictates that people find things more valuable and enticing when they have limited availability. By telling me that the eyewear deals and brands were only available for a short time, Shahin had made me strongly desire the eyewear and want to buy them immediately without second guessing this