Advertising

Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.
Bovee/Arens, 1992

Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.

Two kinds of selling

Personal

Plenty of time to deliver the message

Expensive in both time and money

Labor-intensive Time

Done

face to face Message can be adjusted to fit how its getting across Easy to find customers

consuming

Non-Personal

Limited in time and/or space Dont know who the customer is Dont know how the customer is reacting Cant change the message in mid-stream

Message doesnt have to be created on the spot Extensive research Far cheaper than personal selling

Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.

The Senses
Smell Touch Taste Sound Sight

Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.

Affirmative disclosure

"Sometimes the consumer is provided not with information he wants but only with the information the seller wants him to have. Sellers, for instance, are not inclined to advertise negative aspects of their products even though those aspects may be of primary concern to the consumer, particularly if they involve considerations of health or safety . . . " Lewis A. Engman, FTC Chair

Puffery
The

legitimate exaggeration of advertising claims to overcome natural consumer skepticism

Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.

Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.

Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.

The bundle of values

Functional

value Social value Psychological value Economic value Whatever else the consumer thinks is important

Three ways to differentiate products

Perceptible
Actual differences Easily seen

Imperceptible
Actual differences Cant be seen

Induced
No actual differences Parity products

Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.

Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the

various media

Has been around for a long time We still dont know what the Lascoux paintings were for

For the first few thousand years advertising promoted locations, services and want ads.

Ad written on a Roman tomb

Weather permitting, 30 pairs of gladiators, furnished by A. Clodius Flaccus, together with substitutes in case any get killed too quickly, will fight May 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at the Circus Maximus. The fights will be followed by a big wild beast hunt. The famous gladiator Paris will fight. Hurrah for Paris! Hurrah for the generous Flaccus, who is running for Duumvirate.

Under the ad was written: Marcus wrote this sign by the light of the moon. If you hire Marcus, hell work day and night to do a good job.
Daniel Mannix, Those About to Die

Location

Handbills and fliers to promote events or to recruit for the military

Handbill recruiting sailors for USS Constitution 1798

Ad about runaway slave - 1770

Since most products such as shoes and clothing were one-of and made to order you only needed to advertise where to order

Service

Industrial Revolution

Early 19th Century Mass production of products Led to three stages of marketing:

Production-oriented

Demand far outstripped supply Could just advertise the existence of the product and where to get it Whatever was made was sold Example: People wanted cars, so car companies made whatever they wanted and the cars were sold before they were built

Sales-oriented

Supply exceeded demand Companies tried to convince consumers to buy their products rather than their competitors Companies still made whatever they wanted, counting on their ability to peddle their products Example: supply of cars went up, so the companies made whatever they wanted and convinced people they wanted that

Marketing-oriented

Supply of products far exceeded demand

More choices than any promotion could overcome Resistance to hard-sell

Companies tried to discover what products consumers wanted before making them, then advertise they had it Non-American companies (e.g., VW) found out what people wanted, then built cars that had it (e.g., a gas gauge)

Lets take a example

The American auto industry

Production-oriented

Sales-oriented

Marketing-oriented

Early sales-oriented ads were basically caveat emptor (let the buyer beware)
Producers said whatever they wanted and thought they could get away with For example, the Health Jolting Chair

Led to consumer and competitor anger 1938 Federal Trade Commission given power to regulate deceptive and unfair advertising Advertising could no longer lie, so new approaches were tried

40s and 50s

Era of the hard-sell Rosser Reeves irritation school of advertising

Relied on brain-numbing repetition and treating the consumer as an idiot The USP Unique Selling Proposition It was jack-hammered into consumers skulls

A Reeves ad

60s

The positioning era Shift to the soft-sell Compare your product to your competitors Treat consumers as intelligent

Appeal to emotion more than intellect

General comments on ads

Advertising is limited in time and/or space

Breaks the rules of grammar and syntax

Ads contain two elements

Copy illustrations

Two basic ways of presenting a sales message

Intellectually
Usually about the products function Usually copy heavy and line drawings

Emotionally
Usually not about the products function Usually copy is light with high connotative content Uses photographs or video

Advertising aims at consumers subconscious minds much more than their conscious minds Its all about getting the consumer to react on a basic, instinctive level, and not think at all Its about act now on your basic desires think only of yourself Its usually selfish and anti-social

Psychological Appeals
Self-preservation Sex Greed Self-esteem Personal enjoyment

Constructiveness Destructiveness Curiosity Imitation Altruism

Self-preservation

Listen to me, Ill keep you alive Because humans are so social, we extend the appeal to others, like family, friends, and social group

Sex Appeal

Listen to me, Ill get you laid Gender linked because of different goals:

For men its sex with ease and no complications

In other words, attract more women that want to have sex with you

For women its attract more men from which to choose

Select the best among the possible choices, and the greater the selection, the better the choice

Sex Appeal

Male and female animals have different sexual strategies based on the cost of sex

Males are promiscuous because the cost is very low

A little time, a little energy, then move on Criteria are simple she has to be there, breathing, and impregnable

Females are picky because the cost is so high

Lots of time, lots of energy Must select the best possible male, not the nearest Criteria can be complex

Non-humans are concerned with genetics

Males want, on an instinctive level, to have as many offspring as possible to ensure genetic success Females, because of the cost of reproduction, on an instinctive level want the best genes in their male

Males compete with other males, usually physically, to demonstrate theyre the best choice Females select the winner because hes shown hes better than the other males

For most animals, it is the female that deals with raising offspring (a major part of the cost of sex) The male has no place in rearing offspring (shell even drive him away) The major exception is birds

Even there, the female will often select one male as the father, and another male to help her raise the chicks

Sex appeal in humans

Humans have the most complex social life on Earth Instinctive criteria for men are the same as for any other male animal shes there Criteria for women is far more complex:

Not just genetically, but socially:

Be a good father help with raising children be a good provider have money, social connections, etc.

Sex appeal for men

Buy the product, get the woman Think of all those Axe commercials

Sex appeal for women

For most female animals, genetic quality is the most important For women, its a good provider

The ad shows he has money, cares about her as an individual, and will stick around Its called romance

The use of sex appeal in advertising may appear sexist. Thats because it is on a social level. But sex in advertising aims at instinct, and society is conscious, not subconscious.

Advertising often appeals to one gender at the social expense of the other.

Greed

Listen to me, Ill make you rich Human social life requires having resources, usually represented by money Instinctively, greed is good

Self-esteem

Requires a social group Requires the individual to be able to make a comparison with other individuals in the group Thus, requires a sense of self as a separate entity from others

Self-esteem

Again, theres an instinctive gender link

For men, its competitive

Demonstrate hes the best male around Self-esteem comes from a sense of superiority

For women, its cooperative

Make and maintain as many connections as possible Self-esteem comes from a sense of connection

Self-esteem for men

Demonstration of superiority Buy the product, be the superior man Often shows a loser beating a winner because the loser buys the product

Self-esteem for women

The product increases the number and quality of connections with others

Personal Enjoyment

Listen to me, youll have more fun Humans, because of their intelligence, are often easily bored by routine The ad promotes getting out of the routine In other words, have fun

Constructiveness

Listen to me, Ill help you improve things A desire to build and improve on whatever you have

Destructiveness

Listen to me, Ill tell you how to destroy things We all have a desire to occasionally blow things up

Just watch The Mythbusters

There does seem to be a gender link men seem to like it more than women

Curiosity

Listen to me, Ill answer your questions We all want answers to things its a survival characteristic The problem is raising that curiosity if the person doesnt care about the answer, its a useless appeal

Imitation

Listen to me, Ill make you just like someone else Requires the person to want to be like the model Almost always linked to one or the top five appeals

Altruism

Listen to me, youll give of yourself with no hope or expectation of return Doesnt exist as an ideal Reciprocal altruism does exist

Ill do for you now, you do for me later

Linked to top five

Tricks of the Trade

Advertising often uses logical fallacies rather than giving logical reasons to buy the product advertised. You think the ad is saying one thing when it fact its saying something else, or saying nothing at all

Black/White

You want it [whatever it is], you can only get it from us. It leaves out any other options, e.g., love it or leave it.

Buzz Words

Words that seem to say something, but what?

Crisp Natural Organic

Weasel Words

Words tossed into a sentence that changes the meaning while leaving an impression thats different Examples:

Our [canned] corn is as good as fresh cooked corn.

Libbys Vegetables

Note it doesnt say its as good as fresh corn, but as good as fresh cooked corn. Cooked corn has had vitamins and minerals boiled out in the cooking process. And now you have to heat the corn again, which takes out even more nutrients. The weasel is cooked

Our dog food contains as much meat protein as 10 pounds of sirloin steak.
Alpo dog food

Targets people who love their dogs Doesnt contain sirloin steak, only as much meat protein as sirloin steak

That could be any kind of meat its sure not sirloin, and may not even come from a cow

Three out of four doctors recommend the major ingredient in Excedrin.

 Some

studies seem to suggest that eating the major ingredient in our cereal may have an effect on certain kinds of cancer.

If . . .
The ultimate weasel word

Begging the Question

The question contains a statement that has not been and is never proven, basically saying that something is simply because it is. Example:
Henry Millers filthy books should be banned. Contains the unsupported premise that the books are filthy.

Dangling Comparative

There appears to be a comparison, but compared to what? It relies on the consumer filling in the blank

Complaints about advertising

It perpetuates stereotypes
Absolutely true It has to

Makes people buy things they dont need

Not true Advertising cant make anybody do anything