Sigmund Freud: the Most Influential Thinker of the Twentieth Century. Essay

[pic] Sigmund Freud: The most influential thinker of the twentieth century.
    Sigmund Freud; Physiologist, medical doctor, and father of psychoanalysis, is known as one of the most influential and authoritative thinkers of the twentieth century[1]   According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality, personality is composed of three elements. The id, ego and superego. These three elements work together to create complex human behaviors. [2]   The id is the uncoordinated part of our secret desire. The ego is the organized, the realistic part; and the super-ego plays and moralizing role.[3] The royal road to the unconscious also known as a dream, represents our biggest wishes and desires; dreams that we don’t dare to share with other people. According to Freud we should try to understand and master the unconscious mind, instead of denying it. We can extrapolate this idea to advertising. In a good advertisement people recognize their hidden desire. Therefore instead of denying the desire they may buy the product.
      One particular advertisement that can be used to explain Freud’s theory is an advertisement from BMW,   a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916[4]. The target market of BMW is the upper middle class - around the age of 40-60.   The ad promotes the premium select cars of BMW. The ad shows a beautiful young, blond girl, who is undressed. It only shows her upper body, one hand covers her breast. She lies in an inviting position. Next to her body is a caption that reads: “You know you’re not the first. But do you really care?”   BMW is selling the unconscious desire for classic beauty and freedom.


    BMW is selling the unconscious desire for classical beauty. According to Freud what people dream is highly correlated to their hidden desires. The unconscious desire only appears in our dreams, in the ID. In the phallic stage people develop their sexual erogenous zone in the genital region. The young woman...