It’s no secret that marketing and advertising folks use psychological strategies to get us to buy more stuff. One of the ways they do this is something called price anchoring.

What is Price Anchoring?

Price anchoring is when a price for a product is shown with higher prices around it, so that buyers are more likely to buy something because it feels like they’re getting a good deal.

A great example of price anchoring is when an “original” price of a product is shown, crossed out, with the “sale” price next to it. Another example of this is when a very expensive product is listed (like an exorbitantly priced item on a menu, which hardly anyone will actually order), making the rest of the listed items seem less costly in comparison.

Price anchoring is just one of the ways we are drawn to “better” prices and think we are getting a good deal, when in reality our psychology is being manipulated so that we will buy more and make companies more money. You can see in this article how price anchoring is deliberately used to drive sales.

Price Anchoring and God

Marketing and advertising people don’t hesitate to use psychological tactics like price anchoring because they know these strategies tend to work. People buy more stuff when they think the price of a product is a good deal.

We are invited by God, however, to be truthful in our sales and business dealings. God says in Leviticus 19:35-36:

You shall not cheat in measuring length, weight, or quantity. You shall have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Since psychological strategies like price anchoring aren’t likely to stop anytime soon, we can become more aware of these psychological selling tactics and notice them right away. Once we know about them, we are less likely to be influenced and buy things we don’t actually need.

God is inviting us to live more simply and to buy things more intentionally. Being aware of psychological tactics like price anchoring helps us to make deliberate choices in our purchasing and consuming.

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