The thing about the baldness treatment industry and the array of informercials we see on TV is that, whatever we might think about them, we really want to believe them. We can't help but be suckered by the bold and flashy text, the before and after pics, the revolutionary but dodgy science that almost never has medical approval, the today-only offers, and the money back guarantees. We just want to believe in it, we really do. Because as bald (or balding) people, we just want that hair back, we really do. And I firmly maintain that if it were any other product being marketed in which we have no real interest, we wouldn't be gulled as easily. So I put my theory to the test and watched a few hours of informercials selling other product lines to see if there was any real difference.

The first thing I realised about watching informercials, and this really doesn't depend on the product, is that you are thoroughly mesmerised by what you are seeing. Informercials are slick and expert at creating a need for their product. Nonetheless, by the end of my two-hour session I was not running for the phone to buy a vaccum cleaner so powerful it could suck-out my innards, nor was I interested in an over-sized plastic boomerang that when pressed against my stomache repeatedly would give me abs of steel. I came away thinking that the products on offer were manifestly ridiculous. And I realised that this was only the case because the "problems" they claimed to solve had no real emotional charge for me. Walking away from them was easy. But for me and for many others, walking away from products that treat baldness is not as straightforward.

It all comes down to how emotionally charged a problem is, because these are the problems that tend to resist rational decision making processes. Normally, when we go to buy deoderant at the supermarket, we behave rationally by reviewing all options on the shelf and selecting a deoderant based on variables such as cost, ease-of-use, brand awareness and proven efficacy. It's quite straighforward. But when we go the supermarket to buy deoderant because we have a hot date that night and we need to smell good, then we don't mind throwing all rational judgement out the window and purchasing this $20 can of never-heard-of-before deoderant called Pounce! made with real musk extracted from the sweat glands of the rare Siberian snowleopard, that should only be applied to your ankles precisely nine and a half minutes after sunset. The nubile young blonde who sells it promises it will work, or your-money-back-guarantee. Emotionally-charged decisions? Not so straighforward.

When it comes to making decisions concerning emotionally-charged issues, instead of being critical and rational decision-makers, we tend to believe what we want to believe. We may even go as far as to look for more and more information in order to support our unfounded beliefs. Have you ever seen a child trying to convince their parent to buy them an expensive toy because it's educational, it will keep them busy for hours, and they promise not to misbehave, and for today only it's ten bucks off the marked price, and besides you promised! If you want something badly enough you'll support it with any number of real or desperate reasons, just so you can get it. Think about this the next time you reach for the phone to place your order for the limited offer on the latest miracle ointment, made from the powdered hoof of an Andean llama, guaranteed to show results in six weeks or your-money-back-guarantee. Resist the urge to Pounce!

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