http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hDd964pzBc
Almost a
century ago there were 40,000 tigers only in India. World over nature lovers
were shocked when the Census report of 2008 revealed that the tiger population
in India had dwindled to a mere 1411. Illegal poaching and urbanization was
blamed for the loss. Conservationists demanded stricter enforcement of the laws
and for this they needed to gain the support of the people who were unaware of
the problem. It was then that the ‘Save Our Tiger’ campaign was created.
Multiple mediums were used to spread awareness through numerous persuasive
advertisements were created.
In this
advertisement several techniques were used. A celebrity cricketer M.S. Dhoni
(the captain of the Indian cricket team) was made to talk about the campaign.
Testimonials by celebrities grab attention and exert influence due to their
familiarity, attractiveness, trustworthiness and likeability (Ohanian
1991). It is extremely likely that M.S. Dhoni one of India’s most influential
people (Times of India ,2010) and most loved sportsman can persuade the Indian
population to do something by using the personal quote “ I wont let that
happen, that’s why I’m joining the Aircel save our tigers initiative.” This simple quote is based on the principle
of “social proof” as through “I wont let that happen” people watching the
advertisement become aware that wanting to save tigers and demanding stronger law
enforcement is the “correct” and socially acceptable attitude of the people.
The advertisement is based on statistical data published in
the Census report of India (2008) and according to Petty and Cacioppo (1979)
using statistics in messages makes the message more believable and people tend
to spend more time thinking about the message. The advertisement in fact
stresses on the number “1411” as they use the principle of repetition.
Repeating information in advertisements leads to greater levels of cognitive
responding more enduring ad attitudes and better recall of messages and
advertisements (MacInnis et al, 1991).
As fear and threat increases messages become more persuasive
(Dillard & Anderson,2004). Perhaps one of the strongest persuasion techniques
this advertisement involves is fear paired with national identity. The fact
that they mention the tiger as being the “national animal” and the thought of
it disappearing is something that will grab the attention of almost any nature
lover or any person who identifies with the construct of national pride.
On the whole the advertisement is short and simple yet
extremely persuasive in more ways than one. It caused an uproar in India and
people demanded better conservation laws. However it wasn’t only the tigers
that benefited. Just in case any one missed the massive Aircel (one of the many
telecom companies in India) logo right at the end.
References
Dillard, J. P., & Anderson, J. W.
(2004). The role of fear in persuasion. Psychology & Marketing, 21,
909-926
MacInnis, D. J., Moorman, C., &
Jaworski, B. J. (1991). Enhancing and measuring consumers' motivation,
opportunity, and ability to process brand information from ads. Journal of
Marketing, 55, 32-53. R
Ohanian, Roobina (1990),
“Construction and Validation of a Scale to Measure Celebrity Endorsers’
Perceived Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Attractiveness,” Journal of
Advertising, 19, 39–52.
Petty, R. E. and Cacioppo, J. T.
(1979), "Issue-involvement Can Increase or Decrease Persuasion by
Enhancing Message-Relevant Cognitive Responses," Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 37, 1915-1926.
Akshay Shah
Interesting. A well analysed ad.
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