International Journal of Education & Management © 2015 Indian Association of Health, Research and Welfare

Studies, 2015, 5(2), 169-174 ISSN-p-2231-5632-e-2321-3671

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Understanding advertising and consumer behaviour

Pankaj Kumar
Department of Commerce, Government College, Barwala, Hisar, Haryana

The role of advertisement in today's fast changing economic and social scenario hardly needs to be emphasised.
Every entrepreneur, big or small adheres to some kind of publicity. It may be well planned, organised or just a
common passing phase. This very important tool in the marketing mix of any organisation has been approached
through various paths and traditions which have continuously been changing. The approaches adopted in
advertisements have given them sometimes customary and traditional look and sometimes the presentations appear
to be wearing a distinct and fresh look which is well taken not only by the consumers but by general public too. The
various studies and researches have undoubtedly revealed positive impact of advertisement on customer's mind and
have supported advertisement as a very important demand push factors. The present paper highlights on
understanding advertisement and consumer behaviours.

Keywords: advertisement, consumer behaviour

Advertising in today's business world has attained and earned
importance in magnifying proportions. Marketing mix of any
business whether big or small cannot be thought of without this very
handy and important tool of marketing. Every marketing effort
somehow and some where is surrounded by the advertising activity.
The marketers of today are busy in finding new ways and means to
communicate with the consumers and disseminate the required
information among them. Some ways prove to be effective while
others fail in their mission. This success and effectiveness of the
effort makes marketing and its people feel pumped up to think afresh
with renewed energy and vision. The budget allotted to this activity,
the efforts, and the magnitude of endeavours being put in compels
one to ponder over the factors which go a long way in making such
efforts effective and on the other hand otherwise too. The success of
advertising campaigns today is considered
n to be judged on various
parameters which require proper understanding
n of the true and real
meaning of marketing as a very important
n
function of management.
Advertising in today's complexn and competitive business
environment has attained a very important and significant position in
the marketing tool box of any company. Advertising in general is
understood to perform the task of providing important and vital
information to the audience with regard to the product and brand. The
information disseminated through advertisements is persuasive in
nature and is meant for the general audience without various kinds of
bias present in the market (Thomas, 1996). The presentations in
advertisements are paid, sponsored and for some specific purpose
which primarily aims at the benefit of sponsors in the form of
companies whose products are being advertised (Burnett, 2007).
Advertisements not necessarily target the short term goals.
Advertisements generally are drafted with such messages which
target long term goals and objectives of a concern (Oracle, 2002).
Every individual uses various kinds of goods and services to make
his life comfortable, or even to sustain his life with bare minimum
necessities of life. One has to toil hard to buy these goods and
services. Hence the entire process of buying and consuming these
goods and services might appear to be the simplest one, yet it
involves various factors-personal, social, cultural which go a long
Correspondence should be sent to Pankaj Kumar, Department of
Commerce, Government College, Barwala, Hisar, Haryana
way in understanding consumer behaviour on the whole. The buying
or consumer behaviour starts when the first spark to use or consume
a particular commodity appears. Gradually that spark or ignition
takes a bigger shape, resulting into the proximity to product
knowledge, use and satisfaction, repurchase evolving into brand
preference and then brand loyalty. The behaviour that a consumer
displays in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating and
disposing of products and services that they expect shall satisfy their
needs is at the centre of the concept of consumer behaviour in the
context of marketing (Leon, Kanuk, Sciffman, & Leslie, 2008).
Factors affecting consumer behaviour
The whole crux of consumer behaviour primarily revolves around
the below mentioned basic factors:-
Cultural factors
Social factors
Personal factors
Psychological factors
Of the above mentioned factors the psychological factors are the
soft targets for the advertisement agencies. They try to make impact
on the motivations, perceptions and attitudes which reside in the
psychology of consumers. Thus in order to judge the effectiveness of
such efforts, it shall be worthwhile to examine various psychological
factors which go a long way in shaping consumer behaviour.
Motivation
Every individual has his own needs, wants and desires some of them
satisfied or fulfilled and some yet to be fulfilled. The desires which
are still unsatisfied create some kind of induced tensions which
result into desires, into the driving forces which in turn can be
described as motivations for buying (Maheshwaran &
Strenthal,1990). The satisfied desires too tend to create or build
some kind of motivation, the motivation to remain in comfort zone
offered by the product. The immense or near full satisfaction also
generates motivation for repurchase, the motivation for not
deviating or tilting towards other products or brands and thus
creating brand value and loyalty. Motivational aspect happens to be
the most important part of the consumer behaviour.
Consumer behaviour is always goal oriented and the goals are the
170 KUMAR/UNDERSTANDING ADVERTISING AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
sought after results of motivated behaviour (Maheshwaran &
Strenthal, 1990).
Goals targeted: The selection of goal as a result of consumer
behaviour stems from the thought process and the previous
experiences. The factors emerging from thought process are termed
as cognitive factors while factors emerging from past experiences are
known to be the learnt factors. The goals targeted by the consumers
are of two kinds i.e. generic goals and product specific goals'
(Baggozi &Dholakia, 1999).
Generic goals are related with the satisfaction of certain needs i.e.
need to own a car or bike, need to have a mobile phone connection,
need for the use of construction material such as cement, adhesive,
paint etc. Product specific goal is related with the choice of
specifically branded product that might satisfy consumer's needs.
The present study is suited to the product specific goals of the
consumer as effort is being made to measure impact of selected
works of advertisements of some selected brands on the minds and
buying behaviour of the consumers. Although motivation factor
occupies a very prominent and important place as for as study of
consumer behaviour is concerned yet there might be some deviations
or variations what so ever. People with same goals may have
different needs and in the same way people with same needs may
approach them with different goals in mind. Hence, various studies
on motivational aspect of consumer's behaviour have not yet
concluded or arrived at some definite pattern which can be applied on
all the consumers in general. Such consumer behaviour keeps the need
for research in the field of marketing alive. The volatile behaviour of
consumer makes the marketing action important and challenging both.
The goals or the motives guide the purchase patterns of the consumers
which in turn drive the marketing action in a suitable way. The human
needs and their pyramid has been explained in the above mentioned
model known as Maslow's Hierarchy of needs pyramid.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs lays down five levels of human needs
namely physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, egoistic
needs and self actualization needs (Murray, 1955). The advertisers
and marketing people generally try to integrate the above mentioned
needs and related motivations in their advertisements and try to
exploit various appeals to reach and influence consumers. The
advertisers of selected products and brands have used various kinds
of appeals in their respective advertisements. Some appeals tend to
touch consumers in a very delicate and subtle way, while others try
the direct approach of highlighting their product with its features.
The use of source in the form of renowned celebrities is also being
commonly used by different advertisers. The appeals selected to be
targeted by them are based on above mentioned needs. The ways and
means to approach and exploit various kinds of appeals based on
needs and motivations of the consumers tend to differ. The unique
and innovative approach makes the advertisement creative one. The
present study is aimed at testing the effectiveness of not only the
advertisement but of the novel, unique approach on different
parameters which can make the advertisement effective on every
platform. The most effective and important platform obviously
happens to be the psychological aspect of consumer behaviour. As
everything, cost effectiveness, ethical aspect comes after that. Once
an advertisement clicks with the consumers in general, it gets the
much required foothold from where the other aspects which
contribute to the effectiveness of an advertisement can be tested and
tried.
Perception
For a marketer it is not important that what things are, but important
is how things are seen by consumers, how consumers react, how
they behave and how they act in market in the given set of
circumstances and stimuli offered by the marketers. Consumer's
actions, responses and buying habits move or tend to change on the
basis of how consumers look at a particular phenomenon or concept
which is termed as Perception (Maslow,1943)
Any marketing effort without the clear cut understanding and
knowledge of consumer perception towards a particular point
cannot bring in the desired results. Hence the study of consumer
perception or how consumers perceive. The factors which can affect
perception become all the more important to judge the effectiveness
of any marketing tool whether it is an advertisement or any other
sales promotion activity. In order to understand the perception
building process, we need to understand various elements involved
in making of perception. Any input to our senses is known as
stimulus, while response to that stimulus is termed as sensation
which occupies not only the basic but the foremost important
position in the structure of perception (Palmer & Martein, 2003).
Sensory organs are the sensory receptors. (Wansink, Brian, &
Ittersum, 2005). The activities of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting,
smelling are all related to sensory functions of human body. These
are all put to collective or joint action when any product or its related
marketing activity is offered before consumers, The outcome of
these marketing efforts depend heavily on consumer perception of
those related products or communications. The important thing is
how the consumer receives or adapts himself or is made to adapt
himself to the flurry of products and their presentations.
Stimuli: Every consumer comes across different innumerous stimuli
daily. Some such stimuli are deservingly accepted by consumer and
others which are rejected bounce back. The rejected or bounced back
stuff of stimuli are consciously or subconsciously blocked by human
beings as these stimuli are not perfectly attuned to match one's
needs, desires, aspirations and physical environments. Stimuli that
penetrate through different layers, passes through and makes their
own ways and paths into first the body (sensory receptors), then to
heart and finally activate the mind to act or react can be termed as the
effective stimuli. The others which could not make inroads deep into
 International Journal of Education & Management Studies, 2015, 5(2), 169-174
the heart and mind are automatically bounced back. Some are
instantly accepted by only the body and even by the heart and are
immediately stored there itself to be reprieved when the needs, wants
and environments change. These stored stimuli gradually get
recharged and make their way to the mind of consumer even after a
very long gap of time. Hence, to be the effective one, it is not
necessary for the stimuli to instantly reach the mind of consumer and
initiate actions accordingly. Even to make a place or space in one's
body or heart and be stored there in such a way to last for a longer
period of time and make sustainable impact there from can also
make any product or its presentation worth it. Marketing people
understand the importance of targeting their product and its
presentation attuned to the perceived needs and aspirations of
consumers. The market can then be segmented into various classes
based on the basis of different perceptions and communications
with the consumers and messages are drafted strictly according to
that. Consumers react or behave to such communications
depending upon their perceptions in the following manner (Leon &
Kanuk, 2003).
Selective exposure: Consumers or human beings sometimes
consciously or deliberately give space or get themselves exposed
to such advertisements which remind them of wisdom of their
purchase decision. The consumer after the purchase of any
particular brand automatically gets interested in the brand's
advertisement and likes to see or experience the wisdom of their
purchase decision.
Selective attention: The consumers tend to give notice to those
advertisements which depict or have proximity to their needs,
desires and aspirations. They tend to ignore communications of
those products in which they have no interest at all. The ways and
means of communications, the style and design, the medium, the
media vehicle, all go a long way in accepting or rejecting the
particular communication in the process of advertisement.
Perceptual defence: Consumers tend to ignore or reject stimuli that
are not in tune with their perceptions. Even though the exposure
has taken place, consumers deliberately try to screen out the
'unwanted' and 'undesired' communications from their hearts
and minds. Perceptual defence also comes as an obstacle in the
way of making advertisements effective as this can block the
way or path which can guide the consumer to enact the real
purchase.
Perceptual blocking: Nothing which goes against one's desires, one's
perceptions, founded or unfounded, is allowed even to reach the
sensory receptors. Skipping over the channels, ignoring the
advertisement part, muting the advertisements breaks are in fact
the results of perceptual blocking which also poses obstacles in the
process of making advertisements have their desired impact. The
stimuli, some accepted and some rejected are jointly or
collectively organized by the consumers to form perception. Thus
advertisers through their styles of presentations try to make longer
lasting impact on the minds of consumers and even try to make
dent on the perceptions build by consumers which tend to block or
slow down the effectiveness of their presentations.
The way every human being or every individual perceives his
image, consumers perceive the image of various brands and products
in the same way. This perceived image of brand or product plays the
pivotal role in the ultimate success of the brand.
The advertisers through their product presentations can play a very
171
important role in building or moulding such perceptions in the minds
of consumers. The products and presentations which perfectly
match the perceptions or are positioned and presented to match
perfectly, have a much better chance of being successful. The
advertisers through their efforts even try to change the existing
perception of the consumer to match the inherent features of the
product being advertised.
Consumers often perceive various kinds of risks which at times
can be founded or can even be unfounded at several times in respect
of their purchase decisions. These risks can be of several types such
as physical risks, financial risks, time risks, social risks,
psychological risks etc. These risks pose formidable hindrances or
obstacles in the success of the product and its presentation by the
advertisers. The advertisers through their presentations try to
minimize or mitigate altogether such risks as increased information,
reassurance, faith, pride, warranties and guarantees if presented
strategically, can go a long way in changing one's negative
perceptions or perceived risks.
Attitude
“An attitude is defined as a learned predisposition to behave in a
consistently favourable or unfavourable way, with respect to a given
object”. (Leon, 2008). An attitude, its building or change, governs in
a very important way the behaviour of the consumer in selection of a
particular brand or product. The advertisers can form or change the
attitude of consumer or consumers towards a particular product or
brand through their presentations also. The creative people in the
advertisement industry often try and test various approaches to make
impact on the attitudes of consumers in a very subtle yet effective
way. Some advertisement agencies adhere to the path of employing
or engaging established celebrities as their brand ambassadors and
project them in their advertisements to make impact on the attitude
of consumers. The image and reputation enjoyed by the celebrity is
exploited this way to build or change the attitude of the consumers.
The use of some catchy phrases and lines and jugglery of worlds
with the touch of semantics or a novel idea or approach is also tried
by advertising people to change the perceptions and attitude of the
consumers. Out of various models of attitude formation the most
suitable and worthy model for the purpose and object of this study is
Attitude-towards-thead- model (Ajzen, 1980).
Attitude towards the Ad Model
(Julie A. Edell, Marian Chapman Burke 'The Power of Feelings in
Understanding Ad Effects'. Journal of Consumer Research 14
172 KUMAR/UNDERSTANDING ADVERTISING AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
The above model of attitude formation depicts that an advertisement
presented in a distinct, innovative and different way generates a fair
amount of feelings in the consumers which in turn tend to affect
favourable beliefs towards brands. The same feelings generated from
advertisements may develop favourable or unfavourable attitudes
towards the ad itself and through it, if the signals or feelings are
strong enough travel through to building or formation of attitude
towards brand which in turn leads to enactment of purchase. Various
studies conducted so far, to gauge the impact of various ads on the
attitude of consumers reveal positive relationship between the
attitude towards the ad and purchase intention for the advertised
products. The studies conducted on measuring the effectiveness of
advertisements are mostly concerned with FMCGs which are
comparatively low priced products and thus ads may have greater
impact on the purchase intentions of the consumers. This study in the
forthcoming pages tries to explore and analyze the impact of unique,
out of box presentations on the minds and feelings of consumers and
beyond that on the favourable attitude formation of the consumers
towards a particular brand.
The attitude is formed in the process of search of a suitable brand
for the satisfaction of a particular need. The information already with
him or being made available to him provides the platform on which
attitudes (positive or negative) are formed. Consumers are not
always willing or capable to analyze the complete details of each and
every feature of the product. Instead they tend to focus on the
selected factors only. Only such selected or chosen factors dominate
the formation of attitudes. The other factors which are of no or lesser
importance provide little input for building favourable attitudes.
Instead they tend to form negative attitude towards the product and
its advertisement as they leave consumers in utmost confused state of
mind.
The Maruti-800 (the brand and its advertisement under study)
have tried to shape their advertisements on only a few selected
factors to influence Indian consumers. Fuel efficiency, availability of
wide service network, availability of affordable spares, availability
of easy payment plans have been focused in the advertisements of
their product in an effort to build or form the favourable consumer
attitude of the consumers towards their product. The consumers in
general and the consumers related to brands under the present study
in particular have a strong urge and need to know hence they are
cognitive ones. The buying behaviour regarding these products
which are comparatively high priced and at the same time tend to be
kept for a comparatively longer period of time, is considerably based
on analysis of information either gained through advertisement or
from friends and experts or from one's own observations and
experiences. Hence it becomes all the more important for advertisers
to shape and mould their presentations or provide the vital
information in such a way that consumers readily and eagerly accept
that.
Reference groups
A reference group is any person or a group of persons that serves
various or some specific benchmarks or provides vital platform in the
form of opinion, suggestion or advice to the consumers on which the
entire decision making process of selection of a particular brand can
be established. These reference groups sometimes formally and
sometimes informally make considerable impact on the behaviour of
the consumer. Consumer's beliefs, his perception, his attitude can
strongly be affected by these reference groups. The degree of impact
that a reference group can make on consumer behaviour depends on
various factors such as nature of consumer, nature of product,
economic status of consumer, age group of consumer etc. For
making this study purposeful and effective, the nature of products
whose advertisements and their effectiveness and impact is being
measured is of prime importance. An effort has specifically been
made to gather responses from respondents as to who among the
many reference groups influences their purchase decision regarding
a particular product. The impact of creativity of the advertisement is
then tested and tried subjectively on that particular reference group
to determine the real impact and effectiveness of that creative aspect
of advertisement.
Apart from the characteristics of the product and consumers,
characteristics of reference groups are equally important in making
impact on consumer behaviour. Information, experience, credibility,
social status, attractiveness, reputation, proximity of the reference of
the reference group has its clear say in moulding and shaping
consumer behaviour.
Communication and consumer behaviour
The basic essence of any work of advertisement is undoubtedly
communicating with the target audience. The target audience can be
the users of the product, the prospective consumers, and consumers
of the rival or competitive brands or sometimes the non users also
who can suitably be allured into the fold of brand users. The
advertisers evolve or chalk out various means and ways of
communication through distinct and innovative styles and manners
to reach the consumers in the desired and effective way. The ways
and means of reaching the consumers can be verbal and non verbal
both. Use of attractive and meaningful colors, symbols, pictures,
computer graphics, cartoon characters and real life celebrities as
brand ambassadors are in a way non verbal communication. The use
of taglines highlighting products features, comparison with the rival
brands, storey line, catchy slogans are the types of verbal communi-
cation mostly used by the advertisers to reach their respective
targets.
The object of the present study is to gauge the effectiveness of
such communication vis-a-vis impact on consumer which can lead
to improved demand of the product. There are certain factors which
attract or boost the impact of such communication while at the same
time improper use and handling of these factors renders the whole
process of communication ineffective. Such factors start
functioning as hindrances or obstacles in the path of communication
and fail the basic purpose and object of such communication. The
advertisers are supposed to know their positives as well as negative
factors playing for and against their works. The advertisers on their
part try to combat the negative forces present and make effort to
bank upon the positive platform. The effective and successful work
is supposed to mitigate or minimize the negative factors or the 'noise'
as it is often termed in the marketing circles and smartly amplify the
positive forces which make the communication go in the desired and
purposeful manner.
It shall be advisable for the basic purpose of this study to analyze
threadbare both these factors and test them on the parameters of
creative advertisement messages or works and draw conclusions on
their strength of effectiveness. The factors which facilitate or
smoothen the process of communication or can pose obstacles and
roughen this process are described as under:-
Sender: The sender is a person who initiates the message or
 International Journal of Education & Management Studies, 2015, 5(2), 169-174
communication. The credibility of the sender plays a vital role in
making communication effective. Various studies have revealed
that senders with non commercial and non profit motive are
received with fair amount of belief and trust in comparison to the
sender with profit motive. Hence the publicity programs for
awareness of general public regarding various social evils
plaguing the society, depicting social evils and other menaces are
found to be taken seriously by the receivers. The findings of
various studies have compelled marketers to adhere to WOM
(Word of Mouth) (Thorsten 2004) advertising programs where
scripted words are made to come from lesser renowned models
who enact to be the common users of the product. That provides
the hint that experiences of the users are being shared with the
general public through the advertisement. The words coming from
the mouth of general public through the advertisement sequence
also lend a fair amount of credibility and hence taken seriously by
the receivers, fulfilling the basic purpose of advertisement.
Synergy between the Sender/Endorser and the Product Advertised
: The synergy between the endorser or the spokesperson and the
product plays a crucial role in making the communication
effective. Therefore the beauty products are often advertised by
glamorous beauty queens, attractive models or cine stars. While
the products not related with beauty and glamour are often
advertised by technicians, engineers, doctors etc. The
advertisements of Mobil oils, tyres, construction material, and
medicines are enacted by models posing as truck drivers, builders,
and doctors. This automatically generates the required synergy
which in turn establishes the bond of natural trust and faith
between the receiver and the product, making communication
move in the desired way (Michael, 1991)
Draft of the message: The words used or the formal draft of the
communication intended to be transmitted also plays its own
distinct role in making it effective and work for desired motive.
The use of uncommon, extremely technical and semantically
crafted words make it difficult for the receiver to properly decode
the message and understand its extremely hidden meaning in the
sense in which it is desired to be delivered. The messages with
precisely hidden meaning, with finest of the literary or poetic
touch can project the outer shell of the message in a very strong
way, but the real inner essence of the message intended to be
transmitted is lost completely. The length of the storey or the event
sequence with which the message is intended to be transmitted is
also important. Unduly long and lengthy sequences make the real
message fade or lost in between. The studies have often revealed
that the use of excessive sex and glamour renders the real message
to the back seat thereby making the advertisement ineffective in
the real sense (Dana, Alden, 2000). The observed ad scenario has
also revealed that relatively simpler and straight forward
messages are received by the audience with fair amount of ease
and smoothness. 'Yeh Dil Maange More' from Pepsi and 'Thanda
Matlab Coca cola' from Coca Cola stand testimony to such
claims. 'Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye (Cadbury) and 'A Gift For
Someone You Love' (Amul) are certain other examples cementing
such claims.
Involvement or the Association of the Receiver: The degree of the
involvement or the association of the receiver with the product is
also of utmost importance in effective transmission of the
message. The person not intending to buy laptop in the near future
shall ignore the otherwise attractive advertisement highlighting its
173
features. The younger persons in the household shall not be
interested in the advertisement of cement and other construction
materials, the way matured and grown up people who are in thick
of things while constructing or renovating a house are. People
tend to pay attention to only advertisements of those products in
which they are interested in one way or the other. They seem to
ignore or pay no serious attention to the message related to the
product not related to them.
Rationality: The advertisements of the products whose buying
decisions are based on rationality are not taken seriously by their
prospective buyers unless and until such advertisement messages
directly communicate the real benefits and uses of the product.
The advertisements which highlight the advantages, the edge
over rival or competitive brands, discounts offered, quality
norms, technical features described in the simpler way are of
extreme interest for consumers relying heavily on rationality
factors.
Repetition or the Repeated Exposure: Repetition or the frequency
of the advertisement message being communicated can also make
the message reach even the persons who are not extremely
interested in receiving the message and is smoothly stored in the
memory box which can be revived and put to use at some later
stage. Baba Ram Dev a severe and most vocal critique of aerated
soft drinks often in his discourses vehemently criticizes Coca
Cola as 'Thanda Matlab Toilet Cleaner'. Although he is not at all
interested in the use of product, yet he knows the advertisement
and the tag line used in the advertisement and thrives his whole
criticism on the platform of this advertisement and its tag line
itself. That shows that simple words if repeated regularly and
given repeated exposure tend to reach even the distant
destinations.
Positioning and the USP (Unique Selling Proposition): Keeping
in view the above mentioned factors which can facilitate or
smoothen the communication process and can otherwise render it
rough and jammed also, one fact which emerges very clearly is
that the Brahmastra of communication in advertisements is the
effective positioning and highlighting the unique selling
proposition of the product which is sometimes buried deep under
the whims of various creative people engaged in making of the
advertisement and other marketing activities. The so called
creativity thus gains the foreground and the basic purpose and
essence of the advertisement and message goes deep in the back
ground which ultimately fails the basic purpose of the
advertisement.
Advertising appeals
The process of communication flows unhindered and its objective
accomplished in relatively easier way if the suitable communication
appeal is effectively addressed. The advertisers and especially the
creative people involved in such advertisement process tend to rely
heavily on various appeals. The right appeal if struck at the right
juncture, time and at the right person can do wonders in making the
advertisement effective. Advertising people often use emotional,
humorous, fear, and rational appeals, according to the target
audience and circumstances prevailing in the market. The products
involving rational behaviour are required to be advertised through
rational appeals. Comparatively younger audience can be
approached with emotional and humour appeals. The products
involving personal hygiene, health care, medical risk covers and
174 KUMAR/UNDERSTANDING ADVERTISING AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
other high cost or value products having lengthy retention period are
and can be effectively advertised using rational and fear appeals. The
whole structure of advertisement can be rendered ineffective if right
kind of appeal to right type of people and at right juncture of time is
not taken care of. The appeals used in the advertisements selected for
the present study are as under:-
BRAND APPEAL USED
Fevicol Humour
Asian Paints Emotional, Humour
Ambuja Cement Rational, Emotional
Hero Honda Rational, Emotional
Maruti Rational, Humour
Vodafone Humour
The coming pages of this study try to explore the effectiveness of
such appeals in the selected advertisements of some selected
products. The selected advertisements have been recognized as the
works of exquisite creativity and have been awarded and rewarded
by appropriate and recognized advertising bodies. The effectiveness
of such appeals has been tested by various researchers in their
research pursuits. The results of these studies have also to be kept in
mind while making analysis on these award winning creative
advertisements. Humorous appeals have been found to be more
effective when audience already have a strong and positive attitude
and perception towards the brand (Lavidge & Steiner, 1961). The
advertisements of already established brands can be entirely based
on humorous appeals. But such advertisements although liked and
enjoyed by the audience and people connected or not connected with
the brand have not been found to increase the sales of the product.
Such advertisements can be seen successful, at the recall test
podium, can entertain the masses, and can even be seen being
showered the accolades, but their efficacy at the most important lap
of increasing the sales is yet to be proven.
Emotional appeals have been found to be effective when target
audience is young and purchase decisions involve low levels of
rationality. The so called creative works of advertisements thrive
more on emotional appeals with somewhat distinct and innovative
storey line which can very easily strike the emotional chord. The
purpose of this present study is to find whether the target audience of
these advertisements is effectively reached or not, do such creative
works successfully touch the heart and through it, the pocket of the
consumer? Persuasiveness part of the advertisement may start with
the initial liking of the advertisement by the target audience, but this
liking in many cases does not ignite effectively, rendering the
advertisement fall at the final and most important hurdle and
juncture of making decision in favour of a particular brand.
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