Cartier- Love Day.

This advertisement by the well-known jewelry brand Cartier uses various persuasion techniques. First of all, they take advantage of the scarcity of what they are selling, gold and diamonds.

A recent study suggests that enhanced value perception leads to purchase likelihood not only because of the scarcity itself but also because it increases the perceived influence of us in others. German undergraduate students were the subjects of the study, in which printed images and a questionnaire were used to test the hypothesis. The researcher used a printed advertisement by the popular company “H&M”. In that campaign the company sold items designed by the famous designer Karl Lagerfeld, in a limited supply.  The subjects were presented with a picture of the designer and a statement. In the scarcity condition, the statement was complemented with the phrase “Because of the limited edition, supplies are only available for a short time”, whereas in the non-scarcity condition the phrase that went with the statement was “Presently there are sufficient items in stock.” After the exposure to the advertisements, the subjects filled a questionnaire. The results were that the image with scarcity appeals leads to enhanced value perception and therefore increases purchase intention. This effect is found to be mediated by the perceived influence on self relative to others (Eisend, M., 2008). 

In this advertisement, this effect is reinforced by the use of words like “unique”. 

Another technique used is commitment, asking “how far would you go for love” is like asking how much you love your partner or if you love him/her enough. Using emotional words helps orienting the consumer’s attention towards what is being sold.  Researchers studied how orienting responses on advertisements with high emotional elements influence awareness of both the advertisement and the brand. They tested their predictions in a busy newspaper environment in which the subjects were focused on reading an article. Then, high emotional single words were embedded in the headlines of peripheral advertisements. The responses were compared to those to advertisements with less emotional words.  The results demonstrated that emotional ad content is identified pre-attentively and has the ability to attract attention from a primary task (Nielsen, J.H., Shapiro, A.S. & Mason, H.C., 2010).

The background color and the fire used in the design of the advertisement are symbols of passion, which is also being used to remind  potential consumers of their partners, evoking passionate feelings, and therefore persuading them to buy a gift that symbolizes those feelings.

Eisend, M.(2008). Explaining the Impact of Scarcity Appeals in Advertising.The Mediating Role of Perceptions of Susceptibility.Journal of advertising, 37(3), 33-40.

Nielsen, J.H., Shapiro, A.S. & Mason, H.C.(2010). Emotionality and Semantic Onsets: Exploring Orienting Attention Responses in Advertising. Journal of marketing research, 47, 1138-1150.