Those in the advertising industry can pay in the region of $5 million to ensure a mere 30-second ad space reaches enough potential customers.

US-based pediatrician, Robert Lustig, believes many adverts deliberately trick consumers into believing that companies are selling them happiness.

He explains that, in fact, we're being sold pleasure in the form of addictive products.

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Advertising is a tool that's essential to companies when it comes to finding customers, with many corporations prepared to pay shocking sums for their adverts to reach a large enough number of people.

A good example of this is the annual Super Bowl, where several hundred million people watch the final of the US NFL every year, which increases advertising costs for companies: a 30-second ad space can cost somewhere in the region $5 million.

It's no secret that adverts are trying to sell us happiness — but why and how does it work?

Nowadays, nothing is left to chance when it comes to planning adverts and it's all about ensuring ads reach people where they're most vulnerable to manipulation. This is what Robert Lustig, a German pediatrician based in the US, addresses in his most recent book, "Brainwashed".

"Every advert is manipulating us — that's the point of them," said Lustig in an interview with Business Insider. "But corporations don't actively distinguish between the terms "pleasure" and "happiness". This allows them to sell addictive products while consumers are led to believe they are buying happiness, even though really, they're buying into pleasure."

Advertising appeals to our rewards centre

But that alone is no longer enough for companies today: "A hint of fear is also important, because it deactivates the prefrontal cortex in the brain — which further disinhibits the reward centre and tempts consumers even more strongly to make purchases," said the author.

A study from 2010 by Columbia University in the USA and the Universities of Basel and Zurich explains this process in more detail, concluding that the prefrontal cortex has an important role to play in delaying rewards. Once this part of the brain is activated, a delay is impossible, according to the research.

Sugar is as addictive as cocaine, nicotine and alcohol, according to Lustig, who also says it's the cheapest intoxicating substance around. Ingus Kruklitis/Shutterstock

Corporations' advertising departments capitalise on these biochemical reactions in our brains and digital media also makes us even more susceptible to manipulation through advertising. Personal information on social networks helps companies create advertising tailored to each individual, also known as targeting. Lustig is sure that elections can also be influenced in this way and uses the Brexit vote and the US presidential election in 2016 as examples.

It's often said that these elections were made possible by stolen records from Facebook — according to Lustig, by influencing users' dopamine concentrations. "Your body's dopamine level takes a U-shaped journey. Too little dopamine and you become lethargic, too much and you get irritable," Lustig explained. In the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the company specifically aimed to up users' dopamine levels using advertisements. The goal: people should feel so irritated that they vote without realising the consequences, explained the physician.

Sugar and happiness are two of the biggest buzzwords in the advertising industry

Though we're already well aware of the unhealthy effects of sugar on the body — especially how it ups our risk of developing obesity — candy, chocolate, and soft drinks have a strong and very much constant grip on many. What people forget is that consuming sugar also triggers your body to release dopamine.

"Sugar is as addictive as cocaine, nicotine and alcohol," said Lustig. "It's the cheapest of all intoxicating substances because it's always available. The industry knows that the more sugar they put into a product, the higher the probability that consumers will buy the product again".

So sugar leads to a dopamine release, we feel good and our reward centre is tricked into an endless cycle. This makes it difficult to resist candy. Lustig highlighted a video that takes this strategy to the top: when the song "Happy" by Pharrell Williams was released, at least two of the music videos in the song depict Williams dancing through a store with his arms full of branded products in a large portion of the shots, often with candy — happiness and sugar combined.

Similarly with this Lustig Kellogg's ad, "The Way to Happiness" is associated with the product. Companies that manage to make consumers think they're helping consumers in the quest for personal fulfilment have basically achieved their goal.

Kellogg's advertised the "Way to Happiness" in the USA. Business Insider

How to defend yourself against manipulative advertising

Since this type of advertising works subliminally, it's difficult to arm yourself against it — but not impossible. "The first thing you can do is increase your general overall satisfaction — this tells your body: 'It does feel good, but I don't want and don't need more of it'," Lustig explained. Satisfaction is regulated by the neurotransmitter serotonin. "Empathy and contact with other people are important in increasing serotonin levels, but it can't be via social media; it has to be face to face," the physician stressed.

This brings us to the question of how we can defend ourselves against manipulative advertising. Apart from personal contact, there are other ways to boost serotonin levels. "Filling your diet with fresh produce ups serotonin when dopamine levels drop, while the opposite is true for ready meals. Cook with friends or family, eat together and you've already covered off two important bases that could help protect you from being manipulated into buying things", said Lustig, adding: "And switch off your smartphone."