I certainly hope I will not be needing life insurance
anytime soon. But if I somehow found I was, what would convince me to invest in
Sun Life’s cover? How effective is their television advertisement which often
plagues my daytime viewing and what are the influential tactics that they
employ?
Having Michael Parkinson (or ‘Parky’ as he is affectionately
known by smitten ladies over the age of 70), as a feature in this advert
presents an example of both a High Status-Admirer Altercast and a Similarity
Altercast. We see ‘the great British talk show host’ (as far as The Guardian is
concerned) expressing concerns for his loved ones that are likely to be shared
by the target audience, an image reinforced by the collage of family
photographs spread across the back of the studio. Support for using prestigious
people arises from Weick, Gilfillan and
Keith (1973), who found orchestras made fewer mistakes on a piece of music if
the composer was supposedly of high, rather than low status. Stotland, Zander
and Natsoulas (1961) demonstrated similar individuals were effective in
influence, who found sharing music preferences with a confederate increased
agreement in rating nonsense syllables. Research considering the following
problem seems to be sparse though: do we lose aspirations to be like a
celebrity once they depict themselves to be just like us?
We are also assured that this particular cover is the most
popular of its kind in the UK. This gives the impression that many others are
supporting the advertised service, which may remove any potential concerns
related to its legitimacy. This Social Consensus effect is perhaps best
demonstrated with the ever-amusing study by Milgram, Bickman and Berkowitz
(1969), in which confederates on a busy street looking up at a building would often
attract other pedestrians to copy the ‘looking up’ response, forming a rapidly
growing, gormless crowd.
If ‘Parkys’ soothing tones and the prospect of jumping on
the bandwagon aren’t enough to persuade you into giving up your life savings,
how about free stuff? The treasure trove of free electronics offered upon
signing up may tempt people, but perhaps the most powerful gift is the humble
pen. Despite the majority of older people having, in my experience, a
collection of pens that will outlive them several times over, this pen will
undoubtedly increase sales due to the sense of Obligation it creates. Receiving
favours (even if not requested) results in people feeling obliged to repay the
debt, in this case by using the company’s services. Another example of this
effect is receiving free mints after a meal, which increases tips (Strohmetz et
al., 2002).
Sun Life’s advert has been a success for the company,
despite seeming rather simple compared to more flashy advertisements. The proof
here would be the sheer length of time it has been airing. This is due in no
small part to the effective use of different methods employed to persuade its
target audience.
References
Milgram, S., Bickman, L., & Berkowitz, L. (1969). Note
on the drawing power of crowds of different size. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 13(2), 79
Stotland, E., Zander, A., & Natsoulas, T. (1961).
Generalization of interpersonal similarity. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,
62(2), 250
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(2),
300-309.
Weick, K. E., Gilfillan, D. P., Keith, T. A. (1973). The
effect of composer credibility on orchestra performance. Socioetry, 36, 435-462.
Stuart Miller
Very good Stu, liked the writing style and the analysis.
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