The evolution of shame in our culture is an interesting one to look at. Take body odour for instance; in the early 1900’s people were not ashamed of having it, so why invest in deodorant? This provided an interesting obstacle for some businesses at the time, who were trying to sell a product that society didn’t believe they had a need for. Lifebuoy came up with an interesting tactic to solve this problem. Their ads started to introduce body odour as being a bad thing, and portrayed how shameful people should feel for having it.

By simply implying body odour was a shameful thing to have, their sales increased, and they managed to reshape societal views. Advertisements have a bigger impact on society than one may originally think, Lifebuoy was able to reshape the view of society by simply introducing an idea in a few ads. This example makes one think. Had such ads never been introduced, would these typical things we deem to be shameful still be such a big faux pas?

(Terry O’Reily. Shame: The Secret Tool of Marketing. Under the Influence. cbc.ca. Published June 1, 2013. http://www.cbc.ca/undertheinfluence/season-2/2013/06/01/shame-the-secret-tool-of-marketing/)