Discover how marketing directs your subconscious and regain control over your daily choices!

Opinion

Discover how marketing directs your subconscious and regain control over your daily choices!

Our choices are increasingly driven by subconscious triggers, carefully engineered by modern marketing pioneers since Philip Kotler. Media, news, and large brands continuously shape our daily routines and personal opinions. As we effortlessly transform into creatures of habit within this highly structured puppet world, one critical question remains: are you truly making your own decisions, or is someone else deciding for you?
Antonius Bakker
Antonius Bakker
August 14, 2026 · 4 Min Read

The Fantastic Network of Cartoon Characters.

Do you ever wonder what you and everyone else are doing in our world? Why do we do the things we do? Why do we go along with the many trends around us? How do we determine our choices, or goals? Or are they made for us through our subconscious? Do we know what things are shot into our brains via our subconscious? Do we know for ourselves how we act upon this, or does this completely bypass our daily reality? In short, who actually determines what choices we make, and why do we make these choices?

What do our choices yield us?

Have you ever thought about that? How do you actually fill your days, or are they filled for you through your subconscious? Are you aware of all the stimuli that are fired at you daily? Do you recognize and select all the stimuli first before you do anything with them? I deliberately ask you all these questions, because ever since Philip Kotler (1931) and all his peers invented marketing, we have been used in a cunning way, "or we let ourselves be used". Since these people figured out how our brains work and what they respond to, they make eager use of it, and you could say that we are all participating in a way in a freak show that, for convenience, I will call a network of cartoon characters.

Are these networks deliberately created?

Sometimes when I am quietly drinking a cup of coffee somewhere in a restaurant and observing the people around me. And secretly listening to them from a distance, I hear many talking about the same thing. They have all watched the same television program and are convinced of the quality of a product they saw passing by in the commercial. Many of these products from certain brands are bought by almost the whole world, and the people behind them are getting richer and richer. These wealthy people do everything they can to ensure that we keep buying their product. They manipulate us in newspapers, magazines, and all other media we visit. It matters a great deal to them to keep us on the right path, their path!

Are we simply creatures of habit?

The news broadcast on television years ago was still impartial and made in such a way that everyone could form their own opinion on it. But times have changed. Nowadays, the news is already largely colored in for us. We are also manipulated by the neutral, yet state-subsidized broadcasters towards the great "puppet world". We are given an opinion. Unfortunately, as creatures of habit, we find this quite fine, because at least then we no longer have to think for ourselves, and the news anchor will surely speak the truth? Just imagine if you can no longer even trust the national news anchor?

Are all your channels set to automatic tracking?

How often do you catch yourself just sitting quietly in a chair, staring at the horizon. Thinking about everything you did that day, and what you actually gained from it entirely for yourself? How often can you then say with a peaceful heart: "In hindsight, this is exactly what I wanted to have or?Our choices are increasingly driven by subconscious triggers, carefully engineered by modern marketing pioneers since Philip Kotler. Media, news, and large brands continuously shape our daily routines and personal opinions. As we effortlessly transform into creatures of habit within this highly structured puppet world, one critical question remains: are you truly making your own decisions, or is someone else deciding for you?

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Antonius Bakker
Written By

Antonius Bakker

Antonius "Ton" Bakker, born May 23, 1961, in the Netherlands, is a writer, speaker, and coach/trainer. With a passion for personal development, he has inspired audiences worldwide.

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