Your Basic Instincts Made You Buy That Wine

Not just wine, but other products, too. Our basic instincts can be used against us. We all want food, shelter, clothing. We want security. We want sex. Your basic instincts are used to sell you luxury goods, things you don't really need.

Security and sex are certainly used to sell you more car than you need. Sexy vehicles have been around for a long time. Tall four-wheel drive vehicles take care of the security instinct. Wine can't do much about security (maybe some marketing genius will figure that out someday), but sex has always been used for premium wine sales.

You see gorgeous couples in wine ads. You see a female model in skimpy, but expensive clothing, with a sexy look in her eyes. Guys are subconsciously thinking, "That Bordeaux will get me the hot women!" Maybe women are thinking, "If I drink that Pinot Noir I'll look hot like her!"

Where there are real people selling wine you'll often find boobs. This will draw a certain segment of people in, but what do the others think? Do they need boobs to take the focus away from their mediocre wine?  The movie Sideways did this oh so well with the tasting room scene with Sandra Oh.

Lots of other tricks can be used to sell you a wine from flashy labels, to heavy glass bottles, to show off bottles (Grand Cru, cult wines). Nope, our survival doesn't depend on that Mercedes SUV or that $150 Napa Cab, but we want them.