Hasta La Creative!

My new column for Talent Zoo takes a look at negative ads–both in political campaigns and consumer marketing.

A psychologist could explore the pathology more in-depth than I could, but the basic fact is that negativity sticks in the brain. It has an immediate, visceral impact. Compliments are fleeting, but insults sting for years. You need not have been a high school outcast to understand the long-lasting effects of an insult.

While we may have gotten older, we still haven’t outgrown our kid fears. And marketers have done a tremendous job instilling in consumers a deep-rooted desire to do what it takes to conform themselves in order to avoid those insults or those inadequate feelings.

Read the entire column after the jump: