Color plays a big role in advertising as certain colors can evoke different emotions and behaviors. What I found interesting is how most fast food have the colors red and yellow in their logos on their signs. These colors are associated with what makes people hungry. The color red is associated with emotion and passion. Therefore, when someone sees red they may become “passionately hungry. “
The color red can be associated with a sense of urgency and eyes are sensitive to the color red and are able to notice it much faster than other colors. As Gobé (2019) explains, “Colors with long wavelengths are arousing (e.g., red is the most stimulating color that will attract the eye faster than any other) and colors with short wavelengths are soothing (e.g., blue, which actually lowers blood pressure, pulse, and respiration rates). For example, if you are driving on the freeway and see a sign for “In-N-Out” your eyes are able to notice it rather quickly because of the colors in the logo.
Embedded images are buried or hidden within an advertisement. Researchers are unable to substantiate any claims about hidden images persuading people to want to buy what is being advertised (Gable, Wilkens, & Harris, 1987).
In the Basking Robbins logo, there is the number 31 in the B & R which I think is a clever way to advertise because Baskin Robbins has 31 flavors. This can also be seen as a subliminal influence which is a message that is processed without conscious awareness. Trappey (1996) concluded in his analysis “the results show now significant positive or negative effect… subliminal advertising does little to influence consumer behavior.” Personally, when I first looked at the Baskin Robbins logo I did not see the 31 embedded in the image until I looked more carefully, this would require someone to have high Central Processing (Chapter 2) to really look at the image closely and put in mental effort.
Sony lyrics persuade, they do so though the central route to persuasion, which the song lyrics are thought about and reflected by listeners (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). Music can also persuade through the peripheral route to persuasion which occurs when listeners hear, but don’t actively attend to the music.The congruity of a song with a brand is known as musical fit and it affects consumers’ perceptions of a product or service (North, Sheridan, & Areni, 2016).
This is an example of the song played by Carrie Underwood on every Sunday night during football season and it is easily recognizable to many. Even at the very beginning of the song, I know exactly what it is and I associate it with football. The audience of this song is football fans and people that regularly watch Sunday Night football. Brand endorsements appear with mention of the Steelers and the name of one of the announcers. According to the textbook, brand endorsements appear regularly in song lyrics (Gloor, 2014). One study found that 30 percent of all songs, and 73 percent of rap songs included brand mentions ( Craig, Flynn, & Holody, 2017).
One way that images persuade is by functioning as icons, which means that they stand for and resemble the things they represent. An image can sum up a concept, it does not matter whether they are accurate representations or not as long as people understand what they represent. The most important property of images is to summarize ideas and concepts. “If there is one property that most clearly shows pictures from language and other modes of communication that property is iconicity” (Messaris, 1997)
This photo was taken in 1945 of a sailor kissing a woman in a nurse outfit is very recognizable by Americans. The photo represents happiness and joy by the war being over and is an example of iconicity.
The photo has been recreated several times and is in many history books in the United States, representing freedom and happiness. There is also a statue in New York modeled after this photograph.
The picture superiority effect suggests pictures are more easily recognized and recalled than words (Hockley, 2008). Medina (2014) reports, for example that people remember only about 10 percent of what they hear three days before, compared to 65 percent recall when pictures are included. Images also cross languages and cultures more easily.
This is an image of a car accident that happened as a result of drunk driving after the 2015 Super Bowl in Los Angeles. This image really shows the dangers of drunk driving with the way the cars are completely destroyed. I think the audience is anyone that drives and it raises awareness to them to not drunk drive because you are risking not only your own life, but other peoples lives.
Often times, people use statistics of drunk driving but I think images do a better job and getting the message to the reader because they are able to physically see the damage that can happen as a result.
Images can be used in the form of advertising knows as shock ads. Shock ads or “shockvertising” push the boundaries of taste and propriety (Lazar, 2003; McCarthy, 2000). The overall goal is to sell or promote something by being edgy, some ads are vulgar, humorous or nauseating.
This is an example of a shock ad to raise awareness to people who are unaware when they are pedestrians with their headphones in and might get hit by a car. The blood coming from her ear symbolizes where the headphones are supposed to be. When I first saw this image, it scared me a little bit and made me realize how dangerous it can be when you are not aware of traffic going on around you because you are distracted. This ad gets the message across rather quickly as the image speaks for it self and only requires peripheral processing (chapter 2).
A study conducted by Dahl, Frankenberger, and Manchanda (2003) suggests that shock ads work as a method of persuasion. These researches observed that “shocking content in an advertisement significantly increases attention, benefits memory, and positively influences behavior.” However, shock ads have to be just shocking enough to provoke the public dialogue and publicity but if they are overly shocking, they may influence a rebellion by consumers.
Persuaders try to evoke negative emotions in people. Pity, guilt, and shame are three emotions that a persuaders can use to their advantage. Becheur and Valette Florence (2014) found that a combination of guilt and shame was more effective that guilt alone.
This advertisement made me feel guilty, especially with the use of logos by saying “pint of beer costs 4.50 euros and 50 liters of fresh water is 1.50 euros.” The man in the advertisement looks frustrated, maybe he is being deprived of food and water. Therefore, I think this advertisement is targeted at people, such as Americans that have all these natural resources at their fingertips.
Sometimes, as Americans I think we take these resources for granted, such as food, water, and shelter when other people in the world do not have these things. I think the goal of this advertisement is to raise awareness for what is going on in other parts of the world, as well as trying to make the reader feel guilty.
I saw this advertisement of SKYY Vodka and noticed the branding technique of sexualizing advertisements, which can be seen in this SKYY Infusions Cherry advertisement.
SKYY Vodka targets its brand at an audience of young, successful people. In this advertisement, SKYY wants to show the elegance of drinking their vodka, along with a sex appeal of it. This ad shows risky behavior in a sexual way and portrays the pleasure of what comes when drinking their product. The two women are wearing bright red lipstick and have a full face of makeup on and only a portion of their face is being shown. The focus is on their lips around the cherry’s rather than their actual face.
According to the textbook, one analysis found that half of all print ads depict women as sex objects ( Stankiewicz & Rosselli, 2008). The use of more overt sexual appeals has increased (Malik, 2016) and increasingly younger audiences are being targeted. For example, I think this advertisement targets young men and women, age 21 and over, who can be easily influenced.
The Extended Parallel Processing Model (EPPM) predicts how people will respond to a threat. According to the model, when a person encounters a fear-arousing message, the person can respond in one of three ways ( Maloney, Lapinksi, & Witte, 2011). First, the person might ignore the message altogether. Second, if the person believes they are at risk, they may use danger control, by focusing on constructive ways of preventing or reducing the threat. Third, the person may have a non-constructive response which is known as fear control. Fear control involves panic and message rejection.
In this message about COVID-19 the perceived threat and efficacy are high because it says “slow the spread, stay home if you can.” Because this message is advising people to stay home and not go outside, the audience may use danger control which is effective response to the message because it focuses on the solution and the audience will take the appropriate action.
Perceived efficacy has two parts. The first is response efficacy, which has to do with whether there are effective steps in avoiding harm. For example, an audience of people who want to avoid getting COVID-19 will take the precautions of staying home. Self-efficacy has do with whether the audience is able to take those steps. If both of these are present, danger control is more likely to occur.
I think this advertisement by Juul is clearly appealing to a youth audience, age 16-20 years old which is unethical to make kids and teenagers think this product is safe to use.
Juul says their goal is to “save the lives of billions of smokers,” says Dr. Robert Jackler from Stanford University who studies tobacco advertising. However, looking at their marketing campaigns it does not look like the company’s behavior is aligned with that goal. Juul ads are usually portraying attractive, young models showing behavior, such as dancing and wearing teenager clothing styles.
Others models strike playful poses and smile in bright lipstick. The campaign also ran in a full-page spread in Vice magazine in 2015, a publication that has marketed itself as the “#1 youth media company.” This ad features a model with a long, high ponytail, styled like a teen pop star.
Juul even used names for their flavors, such as “Cool Mint,” “Creme Brûlée,” and “Cool Cucumber” to appeal to younger audiences.
I think the main motivation for deception Juul is using is lying to benefit others. Early on in Juuls campaign they did not advertise that this device was safer than cigarettes. Now, they have said that to attract more people even when the FDA announced that it was not true.
Last semester, I studied abroad in Rome, Italy. By the University I attended, there is a piazza called “Piazza del Popolo” and almost every time I walked through it there were men shoving roses in my face, trying to get me to take it. I also saw these people with toy cars, trying to attract young kids to pick them up and make their parents buy it for them. These men were mostly targeting tourists or people that did not know once you physically held the rose in your hand they would beg and follow you until you gave them money, so locals obviously knew better.
All of these are examples of pregiving which is doing favors or offering gifts in advance. The textbook talks about how real-world persuaders are known to put the tactic of pregiving to use. The book refers to the men I was talking about as “panhandlers.” They say the panhandlers wait a block or two from a well-known tourist destination. Once there, the panhandlers ask for a donation for the unrequested and unneeded service they just did (Gass & Seiter, 2018 p. 262).
source: personal story
Girl Scout Cookies & LPC
I was a Girl Scout when I was a little girl. I was the most competitive girl in my troop, especially when it came to selling Girl Scout cookies. I always had a goal to sell the most in my troop so I can get the cool prize for that year. It may have driven my mom a little crazy when all 300 boxes of cookies were piled up in the hall of our house for me to go out and deliver, but I loved it. Each year, I would go around to nearly every house in my neighborhood.
The reason why I would sell so many cookies is because I would not take no for an answer. When someone told me, they didn’t eat sugar or were on a “diet,” I had the perfect sales pitch. I would say, “if you do not want the cookies for yourself, you can buy boxes to donate to the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.” This worked almost every time.
When I read about the legitimizing paltry contributions (LPC) in Chapter 11, I immediately thought about my way of selling Girl Scout cookies when I was younger. The LPC involves letting people know that very small donations would be acceptable (Gass & Seiter, 2018 p. 275). If people did not want to buy the cookies, I would give them the option that they could donate to our soldiers and this almost always worked and increased my cookie sales.
source: personal story
Bait-and-Switch Tactic with European Airlines
I had always heard that flights throughout Europe were often cheaper than flights within the United States. When I was studying abroad last semester, I found this to be true. I thought it must be because the demand to travel around Europe is higher than it is within the United States so prices were a lot cheaper.
My friends and I booked a flight from Rome to Paris for 35 euros, which is crazy cheap. However, after finding these cheap flights, they sold out really fast so you have to book it right away. When I read about the bait-and-switch tactic in Chapter 11, it made me think of cheap European airline prices. According to the textbook, the bait and switch is an effective strategy for gaining compliance (Joule, 1989). I agree with this because these cheap prices got me to purchase airline tickets right away before they would sell out, or prices would increase and I would no longer be interested in purchasing tickets (Gass & Seiter, 2018 p. 274).
However, because the prices are so cheap the quality of service these airlines are offering is not the best. One particular, airline called “RyanAir” is known to be extremely cheap but probably the worst quality of service in any airline I have flown on.
During this time with COVID-19, I have noticed many persuasive messages in the media. This photo shows nurses and doctors holding up signs that read, “we stay at work for you please stay home for us!”
This persuasive message is very powerful for several reasons. This persuasive message applies expert power. Expert power is based on what a person knows, for example you may do what a doctor tells you to do because they know more about medicine than you do (Gass & Seiter, 2018 p. 244). In this photo, doctors are using expert power to get US citizens to stay at home during this national pandemic so we can get rid of the virus. By staying at home, people will be healthier and safer, and help to not overwhelm the hospitals which is a personal benefit.
This image can also be seen as a rewarding activity under compliance-gaining because the doctors are seeking compliance in an active and positive way (Gass & Seiter, 2018 p. 237). They are making a promise to citizens that they are going to work each day to fight this virus, so we must stay home for this to end.
When my brother and I were younger, my parents had us to chores around the house. For example, my job was to always feed the dog and set the table for dinner.
Sometimes, when I was younger I would say things like, “mom I don’t want to do that.” My mom would say, “Lauren it is your job, I don’t care what you want. Feed the dog!”
In this case, my mom was not concerned belief or attitude change. My mom does not care that I do not enjoy doing my chores, such as feeding the dog. My mom just wanted compliance, or behavior change. The textbook explains, research examining compliance gaining generally focuses on persuasion aimed at getting others to do something or to act in a certain way.
This example can also be seen as dominance in compliance gaining because in my family, my mom and dad hold the most power (Gass & Seiter, 2018 p. 240). Therefore, they have more power to influence my brother and I.
source: personal story
Tiger Woods & Expertise
This article with Tiger Woods came from Nike when Tiger secured his third victory of the season at the AT&T National in 2014. In the article, it says “helping him to his third victory of the season was his full bag of 14 Nike clubs, including his Nike 001 putter.”
Nike’s Method technology features Nike’s polymetal groove technology that generates a faster forward roll at impact for increased accuracy. This technology has been instrumental in the 37 wins by Nike athletes on the Professional Tours worldwide.
With high temperatures reaching over 110 degrees, Woods, along with his fellow Nike athletes in the field, were prepared for the heat thanks to Nike’s Dri-FIT technology in its apparel. First introduced to golf by Nike in 1998, Nike’s Dri-FIT technology is a moisture-wicking performance fabric that is lightweight and less restrictive. Dri-FIT technology dries more quickly and promotes moisture management, while preventing clinging to the skin.
This article is targeted at people who play golf and want to get better. Nike used Tiger Woods to get people to buy their equipment so they “can play like Tiger.” I thought Nike using Tiger Woods is a good example of expertise. Expertise involves attempts to make a person think that the persuader has some special knowledge (Gass & Seiter, 2018 p. 244). Here, Nike is using Tiger to appear more credible that their equipment and apparel works.
The Inoculation Theory was proposed by McGuire (1964) in response to a situation where the goal is to persuade someone not to be persuaded by another. The theory is a model for building resistance to persuasion attempts by exposing people to arguments against their beliefs and giving them counter arguments to refute attacks. The theory therefore offers mechanisms by which communication is used to help people defend their beliefs.
Research has shown that the focus on promoting methods by which students can resist peer pressure to start smoking has resulted in a substantial reduction of smoking among students. Inoculation theory has also been used to bring down the cases of drunken driving.
I think this advertisement by Fiat Brazil is a great example of Inoculation theory. It shows a bicyclist who disappears after the tab on a beer can is opened. The purpose of this ad is to persuade people not to drink and drive. The audience of this advertisement is anyone that drives and also drinks or may be in a situation where they are persuaded to drink and drive because it may be convenient for them but they should not because they could put other people in danger, as this advertisement is showing.
When I saw this commercial, I thought of the repetition in the breaking and crunch in the sound of chewing the Kit Kat over and over again. I think this Kit Kat commercial is a good example of message repetition.
The mere exposure theory suggests that we really do “acquire tastes,” that things “grow on us” (Sawyer 1981). This theory hypothesizes that familiar objects are more liked than less familiar ones, and that by merely being repetitively exposed, something initially will be looked upon more favorably. The repetition of the sound when the people break the Kit Kat off the bar and chew it then proceed to say, “mhm” persuades the audience to get this snack. I think the audience is people who may have office jobs and want a quick treat during the day that Kit Kat’s taste delicious and is a great snack to treat yourself throughout a busy work day.
I think this Geico commercial is a good example of an implicit conclusion because at the end, they say “who wants more value for that dollar.”
Because this commercial relies on customers to draw their own inferences, in this case the value of getting Geico insurance. It uses what persuasion scholars refer to as an implicit conclusions approach. If the ad had said, “switch to Geico insurance,” the ad would have used an explicit conclusion approach, in which case claims are directly stated by the person sending the message.
The audience for this advertisements is adults over the age of 22 and interested in saving money on insurance. I think this implicit message comes off in a funny way because of the way they are showing how much of a long way one dollar can go with the vending machine example. I think this message can be relevant to the receiver because most people want to save money. Therefore, implicit conclusions are more persuasive than explicit ones (Sawyer & Howard, 1991). Similarly, because people who are “high in the need for cognition” are more likely to “fill in the blanks,” they prefer implicit approaches to explicit ones (Martin, Lang, and Wong, 2003/2004).
Facial Expressions: Crest “You Can Say Anything with a Smile” Campaign
Of all possible facial expressions, smiling has been studied the most. To be sure, research has shown that by smiling, waitresses can earn more tips, therapists are judged to be warmer and more competent, and job interviewees create positive impressions of themselves.
The situational nature of facial expressions and other non verbal behaviors is even more apparent if you consider communication accommodation theory (Giles & Wiemann, 1987). According to this theory, rather than using any one type of nonverbal behavior, a persuader should try to build rapport with others by mirroring or mimicking their nonverbal cues. In other words, smile when people smile and frown when people frown.
This behavior can be seen in the Crest “You Can Say Anything with a Smile” Campaign. In each of the 3 scenarios the other person starts to smile because they other person is smiling even though he is bringing the other person bad news. Overall, mimicking the other person’s behavior makes us more susceptible to that person’s persuasive attempts.
A person’s physical appearance may be only skin deep, but it is persuasive. The people out there trying to influence us know this. The products being endorsed by attractive models do not even have to be connected with making us more attractive. Attractive people are judged to be happier, more intelligent, friendlier, stronger, and kinder, and are thought to have better personalities, better jobs, and greater marital competence (Knapp, 1992).
According to Argyle (1998), faces are perceived as more attractive when they have wide cheekbones, narrow cheeks, high eyebrows, wide pupils, large smiles, noses that are not too long or too short, and eyes not too far apart or too close together.
The “Perfect Body” Campaign by Victorias Secret is a great example of a company using physical appearance to persuade customers to buy their product. All the models they use are skinny, have long beautiful hair, and are tall with long legs. This persuasive technique may not work on every female but it will work on some as they see how beautiful the models are and if they buy their product they can look like that too. Victoria’s Secret did get into trouble for this advertisement campaign because it was body shaming which is unethical.
Paralinguistics or vocalics, is the study of vocal stimuli aside from spoken words. It includes such elements as pitch, rate, pauses, volume, tone of voice, silences, laughs, screams, and sighs. The way in which persons speak affects how they are perceived as well as their ability to persuade.
Vocal Fry or “creaky voice” is characterized by drawing out the end of sentences with a low, croaking growl int he back of the throat. Vocal fry is increasingly common among young American females, and leads them, more so than males, to be perceived as less competent, less trustworthy, less attractive, and less hirable.
In this compilation of Kim Kardashian, you can hear her “creaky voice” and because of her high-pitched voice, people may thunk she is more attractive and extroverted than people who have low-pitched voices.
A euphemism is the practice of using words to make the worse appear the better and vice versa. Companies often use euphemisms which are inoffensive terms substituted for offensive ones to create messages with less sting. Companies engage in “downsizing,” “right-sizing,” or even “bright-sizing.”
For example, Mercedes uses this car commercial to make their “used” cars appear almost just as good as their new cars. They do not used the word “used” in this commercial, instead they use the term “certified pre-owned” because it sounds more appealing to a potential customer that is looking to buy their car. I think a customer is more likely to be interested in buying a “used” care if the car dealer is using the term “pre-owned.” I think the target audience of this advertisement is anyone in the market for purchasing a luxury car but does not want to pay the full price for a brand new car, so they are looking into certified pre-owned cars.
Ultimate terms are words or phrases that are highly revered, widely accepted, and carry special power in a culture. Charismatic terms is a type of an ultimate term. People in the business worlds are fond of using ultimate terms as persuasion devices. For instance, the word empowerment is a modern – day charismatic term on which marketers and advertisers have capitalized. Products and services that promise to empower people have become unavoidable.
The #LikeAGirl campaign is a great example of the use of an ultimate term, in particular a charismatic term. This campaign is all about women’s empowerment and showing that doing anything, like running, throwing, etc. “like a girl” is not a bad thing because if you are a girl that is how you do those things. However, our society has put a negative connotation behind “running like a girl and throwing like a girl” and this campaign is saying that just because you are girl does not mean you are bad at doing these types of things.
This advertisement played during the Super Bowl for the first time. Because of this I think the target audience is not only girls but it is also targeting men to show what the words “like a girl” actually mean to women and how it is an insult.
This commercial can also be applied to the Attachment Theory in Chapter 14. This theory is when people develop emotional ties to specific brands (Thomson, MacInnis, & Park, 2005). When watching this commercial, I got emotional and I am sure when men watch it, they can also get emotional because they do not realize how much of an insult these words are and how much of an impact they have on young girls.
Political correctness is all about being nonoffensive. Political correctness refers to issues of inclusive speech and advocacy of nonracist and nonsexist terminology (Hoover & Howard, 1995). Although political correctness is relevant to a wide range of contexts and topics, including issues of gender, race, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status.
In this ad, a man holding a sign reading “death to abortions,” a white supremacist, and a Nazi are lined up at a “Free Speech Complaints” booth. The law says Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech to American people. However, these people may be offensive to certain groups of people but under the law they have the right to say whatever they want.
Political correctness seeks to put boundaries on offensive speech and behavior, but there is the risk that such boundaries are likely to be determined by the personal beliefs and values of those in power. This means that the definition of what is offensive can change with each group that comes into power.
Deindividuation is the group results in a loss of individual indentity and a gaining of the social identity of the group, the tendency “to get lost in the crowd.” Deindividuation happens in everyday life such as gangs, cults, sports teams, and the military (Gass & Seiter, 2018 p. 149).
Sports fans are a very good example of deindividuation because they are a big group and if they do ridiculous such as, paint their bodies or riot or even start fights, they are “lost in the crowd” and less likely tp stand out as an individual person. I think people tend to do things they would not normally do when they are part of a larger group. I think sports fan are a good example because an individual wouldn’t just paint their body unless they are part of a large group, they are more persuaded to act this way if they are part of a larger group than by themselves.
Social proof is the tendency to view behaviors as more appropriate or correct when a lot of other people are engaging in such behaviors. According to Cialdini (1993), however, although using social proof can be a handy shortcut for deciding how to behave, it can also make us vulnerable to the persuasive attempts of others. This is because we are more likely to engage in a behavior when persuaders lead us to believe that a lot of other people are engaging in that behavior. The life stage hypothesis (Sears, 1981) predicts high susceptibility to change during childhood and low susceptibility through adulthood. (Gass & Seiter, 2018 p. 135).
The saying “Billions and Billions Served” makes people want to go to McDonalds because everyone else is doing it and it therefore must me good. When a child grows up eating McDonald’s, they are more likely to comply with it for the rest of their life rather than someone eating it for the first time when they are an adult.
#3: Social Proof Instagram Influencers
Social media is a haven for social proof as well. Some bloggers earn $100,000 or more per year to promote certain brands. Those bloggers may seem ordinary enough, but beware – their brand choices are not always random (Wolverson, 2013).
It’s been clear for a while now that influence is becoming a major contributor to driving business. This advertisement by Kylie Jenner on instagram with Fit Tea is persuading others to buy this tea because she uses it. The 775K likes the post has can be identified as social proof. Once enough people are doing, believing or buying a certain thing, the process reaches a tipping point when it becomes natural to follow the crowd and almost unthinkable to do something else. What people buy is hugely influenced by what other people around them are buying.
On the other hand, there are threatening comments on this Instagram post which may counter-act the persuasive power of social proof.
