CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

October 2025

People don’t buy products — they buy the story they tell themselves while holding them. That’s the entire circus of consumer behavior. You can slap all the features, benefits, and stats you want on a product, but if it doesn’t hit an emotional nerve, it dies in the cart.

The trick isn’t selling what something is — it’s selling who someone becomes after they own it. A $5 coffee isn’t caffeine; it’s identity. A Tesla isn’t transport; it’s virtue signaling with a battery. Every purchase is self-therapy disguised as logic. We’re not rational beings with emotions — we’re emotional beings pretending to be rational.

And the scariest part? We don’t just buy to fill needs. We buy to fill gaps — ego gaps, love gaps, belonging gaps. Advertising isn’t manipulation anymore; it’s modern-day confession. Brands have become our mirrors, and we keep swiping the card just to see who we wish we were.