This advert for Proactive skincare possibly uses every trick
in the book. It starts with the use of a celebrity (Lindsay Lohan) knowing that
the audience will instantly want to buy anything that will enable them to look
like her. This first tactic is used for a reason; Joseph (1982) declares that physically
attractive celebrities can have a positive effect on advertising.
The use of Lindsay Lohan in this advert is an example of
social proof. Social proof states that people look to others to try and
establish what the correct behaviour is, demonstrated by Bandura, Grusec and
Menlove (1967) who found that children who were scared of dogs were more likely
to go in a pen with them, after watching others do so. In this advert the
creators are using Lindsay to make the audience feel that if this works for
her, maybe it can work for them to. As Lindsay sais; “I’m a normal person and I
do get zits.” The statement of: Proactive skincare ‘is a
best-selling product,’ is also leading the viewer to believe that many other
people use it, and thus it is the best one to use.
The advert also uses the technique of Reciprocity. The rule
of reciprocity states that we should try to repay a person if they have given
something to us. Strohmetz, Rind, Fisher and Lynn (2002) demonstrated that
people are more likely to leave a tip if they are given a mint with their bill.
This advert adopts this technique, offering a free gift when you purchase their
product, thus making the customer more likely to buy the product as they have
been offered something in return. This technique is used again by the
advertisers towards the end of the advert; ‘Act quickly and receive a free upgrade
of priority shipping!’ This doesn’t just use the technique of reciprocity but
also uses Scarcity. As humans we have in our head that ‘What’s rare must also
be valuable.’ Worchel, Lee and Adeqole (1975) demonstrated this by finding that
subjects rated cookies as more attractive when there were only 2 in the jar
compared to 10. This technique will make the customer think that the offer is
rare and they need to buy the product quickly.
The advert then ends with the classic rhetorical question ‘What
have you got to lose?’ Rhetorical
questions can draw attention to the source of the message, resulting in an
increase in persuasion (Ahluwalia & Burnkrant, 2004). This last ditch
attempt to persuade the viewer is a fitting end to an advert that, from a
theoretical point of view, ticks every box.
References
Ahluwalia, R.,
& Burnkrant, R.E. (2004). Answering questions about questions: A persuasion
knowledge perspective for understanding the effects of rhetorical questions. Journal of Consumer Research, 31, 26-42.
Bandura, A.,
Grusec, J.E., & Menlove, F.L. (1967). Vicarious extinction of avoidance
behaviour. Journal of personality and
social psychology, 5, 16-23.
Joseph, W.B.
(1982). The Credibility of Physically Attractive Communicators. Journal of Advertising, 11, 13-23.
Strohmetz,
D.B., Rind, B., Fisher, R., & Lynn, M. (2002). Sweetening the Till: The use
of candy to increase restaurant tipping. Journal
of applied social psychology, 32, 300-309.
Worchel, S.,
Lee, J., & Adewole, A. (1975). Effects of supply and demand on ratings of
objective value. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 32, 906-914.
Laura Clarke
Well done, you packed quite a lot in there! By the way, i think reciprocity requires the salesman to give a gift prior to purchase, rather than following it.
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