This Advert was used to encourage people with sensitive
teeth to use Sensodyne rapid relief toothpaste. The advert makes effective use
of source credibility by using an expert (a dentist) who is making
recommendations based on his patient’s experiences.
The effects of a high expert source has been investigated by
Maddux and Rogers (1980) who gave participants a description of the source
(expert or non-expert) followed by their opinions on sleep. They found that agreement
with the source was higher if the source was an expert than a non-expert.
In addition, Sensodyne rapid relief is said to be like ‘regular
toothpaste’, suggesting that it is regular toothpaste but better because of its
additional health benefits. The use of this comparison is a useful persuasion
technique because people evaluate options and choices by comparing them to
salient alternatives and by making this comparison an endowment effect is
created (Thaler, 1992) resulting in a bias favouring Sensodyne rapid relief
over ‘regular toothpastes’.
References:
Maddux, J.E., & Rogers, R.W. (1980). Effects of source
expertness, physical attractiveness, and supporting arguments on persuasion:
A case of brains over beauty. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 39 (2), 235-244.
Thaler, R.H. (1992). The winner’s curse: Paradoxes and anomalies of economic life. New York, NY, US: Free Press, New York,NY.
Thaler, R.H. (1992). The winner’s curse: Paradoxes and anomalies of economic life. New York, NY, US: Free Press, New York,NY.
Nice description of Maddux and Rogers. I don't quite see how the endowment effect is relevant here, though. Could you elaborate? Usually the endowment effect has to do with willingness to accept payment for something you already own vs. willingness to pay for something you don't yet own. Is that taking place here?
ReplyDeleteHaving read deeper into the endowment effect I do think you are right and it is not quite relevant here. However, the point I was trying to make was that by comparing sensodyne rapid relief to regular toothpaste customers are more likely to evaluate the benefits of sensodyne rapid relief than they would without this comparison, most especially that the information is coming from a credible source. Also, the comparison suggests that customers should not be worried about switching from their regular toothpastes to sensodyne because it is the same as their regular toothpaste but with additional health benefits.
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