It
can be noticed that many adverts posted up on this page uses the
persuasion methods of physical attractiveness or humour, suggesting that they
are popular methods applied by advertising firms and brands. This Thai brassiere advert by Wacoal has
cleverly manipulated both methods and became so popular with a hit rate over
11,209,000 on Youtube. (The video link posted above is not the original copy of the video, the official copy of the video has been age restricted.)
In
the beginning of the advert, a physically attractive girl with sexy outfit was
shown. Physically attractive persons are
more attention getting and human has the desire to admire and become attractive
(Pratkanis, 2007). Moreover, studies
have shown that when attractive models or communicators are used, receivers
tend to make a more positive evaluation of the advert and the advertised
product, in which attractive communicators tend to be more effective in
persuading others. This can be further
explained by the halo effect, that people employed the heuristic of viewing
attractive people as favourable in general, hence, people are more likely to
comply with the ‘beauties’ (Langlois et al., 2000). Despite the fact that sexual content may act
as a distractor and inhibit specific information contained in the
advertisements, it is more likely to catch attention, resulting in a greater
recognition of the advert (Fried & Johanson, 2008).
The
model removed ‘her’ makeup and her brassiere, then the audience realises the
model is a man (sorry for the disappointment!).
Since this is a female brassiere advert and the model is physically
attractive, the unexpected result has created humour, which is another
persuasion method applied. When
humourous and non-humourous information are presented together, people are more
likely to attend the humourous information (Hansen et al., 2009). Hansen et al. (2009) further suggested that humour
does not only increases attention paid on the advert but moderate humour can
also facilitate encoding and retrieval of the associated advertisement
components. Therefore it is generally believed
that humour improves the effectiveness of adverts.
Wacoal
has successfully employed a combination of physical attractiveness, sex appeal
and humour in the advert. Nevertheless, the
persuasion method, similarity, has also been applied. Female audience of the Wacoal
advert may compare themselves with the model, even those without big boobies
(just like the model) can create a ‘big boobies effect’ with the help of the
Wacoal brassiere. Then, those who like
to have big boobies will be attracted to buy the brassiere. When people see someone similar to them use
the product, they are more likely to comply and purchase it. In other words, when advert communicator and
recipient are similar, the effectiveness in influence and persuasion increases
(Pratkanis, 2007). This social influence
process is explained by the Festinger’s (1954) social comparison process, which
people tend to compare with those who are similar to them.
Wing
Shan Jennifer Chan
References
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human relations, 7, 117-140.
Fried, C. B. and Johanson, J. C. (2008), Sexual and Violent Media's Inhibition of Advertisement Memory: Effect or Artifact?. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38, 1716–1735.
Hansen,
J., Strick, M., van Baaren, R. B., Hooghuis, M., & Wigboldus, D. H. J.
(2009). Exploring memory for product names advertised with humour. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 8,
135-148.
Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 390-423.
Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 390-423.
Pratkanis, A. R. (Ed.). (2007). Social influence analysis: An index of tactics. The Science of Social Influence: Advances and future progress. New York: Psychology Press.
Good, well done.
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