The Modern Mann

What makes you buy a product? The look? The smell? The layout of the store? In today's cut-throat business world, none of that is left to coincidence: behavioural science is influencing the design of high street shops, supermarkets and online emporiums alike. In this episode, Olly meets consumer psychologists Reece Akhtar and Dr Dimitrios Tsivrikos from University College, London and learns how we consumers are manipulated into buying stuff we don't want or need because retailers are cleverly appealing to our fear of scarcity, desire to belong or our basest instincts. So, next time you go shopping, you'll know what to look out for - you'll never walk the floor tiles in Tesco the same way again! Elsewhere, Ollie Peart considers ice cream van wars and KFC-flavoured nail polish in The Zeitgeist, and Alix Fox discusses animal role-play and sex toy cleaning regimes in The Foxhole. Music is provided by The Anchoress and their track 'Doesn't Kill You', out now on Kscope Records. If you have a question for Alix for a