Recently, the topic of PayDay
Lenders has been hugely controversial, with some people- including the chief
executive of the Citizen’s Advice Bureau- arguing they are “immoral”. In
addition to Comparison site Uswitch’s
survey finding that 45% of people are calling for an outright ban, one wonders
what is making their marketing so effective they can get away with charging such
insane interests rates (1743%) which people agree to?! In other words, why would someone take out a loan of £100 knowing that, if left, figure would increase to £1734
over 12 months! The main techniques to blame for the persuasiveness of this ad are fear,
repetition, similarity altercast and social consensus.
Firstly, the ad uses a fear
appeal- linking the negative consequences of no electricity or gas to someone’s
poor financial situation, and implying that these negative outcomes could be
avoided by taking out one of their loans. Here, the viewer is scared of being
caught out in one of these situations, highlighted by the voiceover warning
“no-one expects the unexpected”, implying they could find themselves in a
similar position at any time. Leventhal (1970) found fear operates as an
effective influential device when particular recommendations are also offered
for overcoming the fear, and the target believes that they can perform the
recommended action. In this case, the viewer is motivated to take out a loan in
order to avoid having no money to pay their bills. Furthermore, Ray and Wilkie
(1970) found that in many cases of moderate arousal, fear succeeds in
heightening drive, resulting in greater
interest in the message and the product. Thus, by inciting fear in the viewer
QuickQuid are ensuring attention and interest in their advert as well as
increasing the likelihood that people will follow their solution and take out a
loan, in order to avoid the negative possible circumstances that befall them
due to a lack of cash.
The possibility that this
could indeed happen to them is heightened by the use of the ‘similarity
altercast’- using people who look as ordinary as the viewer, enabling them to
relate to and put themselves in a similar situation to that person. This creates a
bond between the people in the ad and the target, increasing compliance.
This is demonstrated through Baron’s (1971) finding that shared attitudes
boosted request compliance, especially with regards to large requests, and
Bersceid’s (1966) finding that similarity effectively elevated persuasion
through Festinger’s (1954) social comparison process- people look to others’
similar to them in order to form their opinions.
This is a form of social
consensus, the notion that the more it seems like everyone else is carrying out
a certain behaviour, or reacting in a certain way, the more likely others will
join in and act similarly. According to Deutsch
and Gerard (1955), two psychological processes promote conformity in this case.
It provides social proof about the right way to act, as demonstrated by the
presence of canned laughter in tv shows causing audiences to laugh harder and
for longer (Axsom et al, 1987). It also
provides normative influences- as people feel pressure to follow the group.
Asch’s (1951) findings supported this, as over half of his subjects chose a
clearly incorrect line in a perceptual task in order to fit in with the group. Thus, viewers are likely to turn to QuickQuid as a solution to their problems, as it seems to be how everyone else deals with the situation.
Finally, the advert repeats ‘QuickQuid’ A LOT, as well as the word ‘quick’ and the image of their site details,
in order to reinforce the main point that they offer a quick and easy solution-
even showing how and where to sign up. This works on immediacy, tapping into
the ‘impulse buying’ mentality, especially relevant for the target audience as
Hollingshead (1949) and Whyte (1943) found that the failure to learn effective
impulse control is more prevalent among the lower classes. Multiple repetitions
of a message have been proven to increase acceptance of communication- Zajonc
(1968) showing that the liking of an object is strengthened through increased
exposure and Broehm (1994) demonstrating that repeated messages are perceived as
more valid.
Thus, although objectively the
service and interest rates provided by QuickQuid may seem to some ‘immoral’, we
have gotta’ give credit to their
fantastic marketing.
-Asch, S. E. (1951). Effects of group pressure upon the
modification and distortion of judgments. In H.
Guetzkow (Ed.), Groups,
leadership, and men.
Pittsburgh: Carnegie Press.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 30–40.
-Baron, R. A. (1971).
Aggression as a function of magnitude of victim’s pain cues, level of prior
anger arousal and aggressor-victim similarity. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 18, 48-54
-Berscheid, E. (1966) Opinion change and communicator-communicatee
similarity and dissimiliarity. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 670-680.
-Boehm, L. E. (1994). The
validity effect- a search for mediating variables. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 20, 285-293.
-Deutsch, M., &
Gerard, H. (1955). A study of normative and informational social influences
upon individual judgement. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 51,
629-636.
-Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison
processes. Human Relations, 7, 11 A Meta-Analysis of Humor Effects
in Advertising, 7-140.
-Hollingshead, A. B. (1949) Elmtown’s Youth. New York: Wiley.
-Leventhal, H. (1971). Fear appeals and persuasion: the
differentiation of a motivational construct. American Journal of Public
Health, 61(6), 1208-1224.
Very thorough and well written analysis, shame the ad isn't included!
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