I have received the same lesson twice in as many weeks. Tuesday in our media lectorial we were asked to sit in silence for half a minute and listen, tune into all the sounds that we normally don’t notice, the sound of people next to us breathing, the hum of air conditioners, the trams outside. This exercise in noticing is the exam same I’d received a week previously in martial arts.

I stood in a field blindfolded and listened for the movements of those around me, tried to predict where people were and who was closest to me, if there was anyone approaching me, if anyone was trying to sneak up behind me. I was tuned into the rustle of grass, the sound of crickets and the sound of people next to me breathing.

In both cases the objective was noticing; it is said that the human brain is conditioned to automatically pay attention to three things, danger, food and sex. The first is what my Sensei was focussing on, and media definitely utilises the latter to grab attention.

Once I’d begun the exercise one thing became clearer and clearer with every new sound I noticed; I don’t normally pay attention. For the exercise to be effective there had to be a notable difference between our normal sensory input and what we notice when we focus.

So once I got into Melbourne Central and had noticed all the tiny instances of mediated information that were visible now that I was paying attention I performed the exercise in reverse. I tried to tune out most of what was going on, narrow my focus and see what jumped out at me.

The thing with Melbourne Central is that there is so much going on thats its easier to tune out all of it then to pick one thing out of the masses to focus on. But the things that jumped out had consistency in their form. Moving images and screens stood out from the static advertisements, we pay attention to sudden movements in order to check for: danger.

Despite being more a bi-product of the product then an advertisement in itself, smell still proves to be an effective method of reaching an audience. We are bombarded by sights and sounds, but smell appeals to a whole different cognitive level, and can instantly make our mouth water and divert our minds to thoughts of: food.

Theres something mesmerising about a giant pair of boobs or rippling abs staring at you from the front of the store. Even straight women will naturally draw their eyes to the scantily clad women prominently displayed in front of lingerie stores and sigh enviously. Theres one thing we know will always sell: sex.

Of course this doesn’t go for all media, if not executed properly these principles can fail, and well thought out media and advertisements can succeed without using any of these principles, but the base of most basic advertising rests on these principles.

Check out perfume commercials for example. If you can find one that doesn’t feature a gorgeous, sensual woman/man/couple, i’ll eat my belt.