If only i could look like Jessica Simpson...Sigh

Proactive solution often use celebrities for their ad campaigns (recently dropping a certain Mr Beiber after his acne riddled mugshot) and they are not the only ones. Many companies take to using celebrities to promote their products, in recent years this technique has even been adopted by politicians and charities. There are various reasons for using celebrities (including those discussed in the previous blog citing this advert): primarily they are well known and people like and trust what they know (Zojanc,1968). We use the fact that the celebrity is using this product as social proof that the product is good, we see Jessica Simpson as a short cut/heuristic so we don't have to go to the effort of evaluating the product ourselves. If its good enough for her its good enough for us. 

Secondly, celebrities are attractive. Fact. There is a well documented effect, coined by Langlois (00), called the 'Halo effect' it refers to the habit often adopted by us mere mortals where we use physical attractiveness as a heuristic to assume other positive traits e.g. you assume they are also kind and smart and funny and simply just wonderful. For example, Dion (74) found that less attractive children were more likely to be less well liked and considered more antisocial than attractive children. Their positive feature, attractiveness, allowed other features to be assumed. This can even work with products which have no association with the attractive individual, for example Bower and Landreth (01) found that highly attractive models were believed to be selling better perfume than their less attractive colleague  The perfume picked up the woman's attractiveness as though it was contagious. It is this effect companies, in this case proactive, want to capitalize on.

This advert mentions very little facts about the product, what it does, how to use it, why its better than others, its simply sticking an attractive and familiar face on their and letting us convince ourselves that this is the product for us, if we want to look like a celebrity that is (and lets face it, we do).


Bower, A. B., & Landreth, S. (2001). Is beauty best? Highly versus normally attractive models in advertising. Journal of Advertising, 30(1), 1-12.

Dion, K. K., & Berscheid, E. (1974). Physical attractiveness and peer perception among children. Sociometry, 1-12.

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(3), 390.

Zajonc, R. B. (1968). Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. Journal of personality and social psychology, 9(22), 1.

Easy Tiger.

Static, lone “athletes” dressed in garish chequered clothing, tapping a small ball around a big field – when it comes to sports, golf is definitely on the least sexy list.... (http://top5ofanything.com/index.php?h=3c1ef583).

Nike is a brand synonymous with power, success and hot bodied athletes. Most of their ads feature sexy, powerful, professional athletes such as Maria Sharapova in tight clad Lycra, taking part in some fast-paced, dynamic sport. Although it would perhaps be amusing to see Nike attempt to make similar ads with golf, it may just have been a bit too far-fetched to be successful. Instead, Nike chose to utilise creativity and revolutionised the sport into a window-smashing, drink-splashing game of one-upmanship between two of the sport’s top dogs.

Celebrity endorsement runs on the principle that we tend to trust the judgement of successful others and want to conduct ourselves in similar ways or have products to which they are associated. One study found that celebrity endorsement on adverts for political parties, significantly increased voting for that party if political salience was low (Veer et al., 2010).

The ad starts with standard competition between the two well-known players trying to hit more accurate shots when swiftly, the aim of the game becomes hitting the ball into the cups and bowls of unsuspecting persons in the far distance. Adverts utilising contrast between everyday life and unexpected events have been shown to be humorous (Alden et al., 2003), increasing the likeability and memory for the advert, in line with the extreme situation template (Goldenberg et al., 1999).

The jazzy soundtrack fits the laid back nature of golf, (compared to the use of modern club music often used in sports ads), builds with the action in the advert and also has some comic, cheeky feel to it which fits the humorous nature of the ad. Research shows music in adverts can affect the impression of the brand (Zander, 2006), therefore the use of upbeat, catchy music in this ad should have a positive effect on the memory and likeability of Nike as a brand.

Goldenberg, J., Mazursky, D. & Solomon, S. (1999). The Fundamental Templates of Quality Ads.  Marketing Science, 18:3, 333-351

Veer, E., Becirovic, I., & Martin, B. A. S. (2010). If Kate voted conservative, would you? The role of celebrity endorsements in political party advertising. European Journal of Marketing, 44(3-4), 436-450. 

Zander, M. F. (2006). Musical influences in advertising: How music modifies first impressions of product endorsers and brands. Psychology of Music, 34(4), 465-480. 

Fiona Angell

Free Trials: are they being nice, or are you stuck?

Free Trials – Reciprocity and Consistency

As previously mentioned, this advertisement is a very clear example of the reciprocity weapon of influence – they give you a month, and four short weeks later you sign over your life savings. However, another reason for why this kind of advertising may work is due to the fact that, unbeknown to you, you are now locked into a psychological contract with the movie company.  If we put aside how notoriously difficult it is to unsubscribe from these websites (and often how little we can be bothered to try), you can see the underlying problem that they have snuck their way into our minds (and bank accounts) by making sure that you make that original little commitment of signing up for just one month.

Commitment works because of the consistency it creates in human behaviour – research shows us that we endeavor to remain consistent as is it valued by our society and helps us to make automatic decisions. Decision making becomes easier when you have an automatic response ready to be used, so deciding whether to continue with Netflix will be influenced by the fact that you have already signed up (making a small commitment), you do not need to think of an alternative option to aid your movie watching habit and you wish to remain consistent with the fact that you must have liked Netflix to sign up in the first place. You now no longer have to waste your energy analyzing this decision – it has effectively been made for you; you have committed and you are going to remain consistent.

Moriarty (1975) illustrated the power of consistency by getting a subject to ask a stranger on the beach to watch their belongings. Following this, a thief steals an item. When asked to watch the belongings, people were significantly more likely to stop the thief compared to those who hadn’t been asked. Alongside this, commitment techniques such as that of the  ‘foot in the door’ idea have been tested by many (Freedman & Fraser, 1966; Howard, 1990), which illustrate how people are more likely to say ‘yes’ to something if they have been asked to make a smaller commitment beforehand.

So next time you think you’re genius for milking big companies for all of the freebies you can get (and usually never use), remember how much effort it is to unsubscribe. This goes for the gym membership you never use too, by the way. 

References:

• Freedman, J. L., & Fraser, S. C. (1966). Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 195-202
• Howard, D. J. (1990). The influence of verbal responses to common greetings on compliance behaviour: The foot-in-the-mouth effect. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 20, 1185-1196  
• Moriarty, T. (1975). Crime, commitment, and the responsive bystander: Two field experiments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 370-376

WHO RUN THE WORLD

STRONG, SEXY WOMEN WHO SMELL NICE. Dior’s appropriation of the epitome of feminine beauty and allure, Marilyn Monroe, is both utterly transparent but equally formidable in terms of advertising strategy. In preparation for the catwalk, she not only uses but demands that golden Dior perfume, cradling it like baby Jesus.

Dior piggybacks on the publicity boom sparked by Monroe for Chanel in the 1950s, procuring her proven and famous influence for their perfume instead. This hints at their self-assurance as the modern woman’s preference over the outdated competitor Chanel (Goldenberg et al, 1999), “Marilyn’s moved on to better things, so you need to as well”.

Like almost all perfume advertisers, Dior uses a modern beauty, but their additional use of idols of past generations was genius. Their target market broadens, attracting women of all ages who want to feel beautiful and fashionable. They bring together the forces of Dietrich, Kelly, Monroe and Theron for a fashion show (an event itself embodying adoration, admiration and trend at its height). We follow the modern icon through the dressing room, bringing us into a world where beauty commands respect, fame and power, even if it arrives late! The association of the perfume with these kinds of women is a powerful technique, shown by Kahle and Homer (1985) and described by Pratkanis (2007) as the High Status-Admirer and Physically Attractive-Admirer Altercasts: famous, attractive people make you buy stuff. I mean, you see her back and everything. Also, the golden colour that pervades the ad persuasively enhances viewers’ attitudes, as it mirrors the designers’ “value and success” message (Meyers-Levy & Peracchio, 1995).

Dior uses analogy to powerful effect in more complex ways than are first apparent. The only words spoken on screen are, “Dior, j’adore” by Monroe and, “J’adore Dior” by Charlize Theron. Charlize reflects and embodies Marilyn in this way, as well as standing as a clever and blatant visual analogy (Goldenberg et al, 1999) for the perfume bottle on the catwalk, tying the women to it in a more intimate way than could a simple touch or look. As Theron with her golden necklace fades and becomes the bottle, subject and object blur into one. In being used and treasured by these idols, the perfume persists as them.

In purchasing Dior, you possess the liquid allure, power and beauty of these iconic women.

YOU RUN THE WORLD, GIRL.

References:

Goldenberg, J., Mazursky, D. & Solomon, S. (1999), The Fundamental Templates of Quality Ads.  Marketing Science, 18:3, 333-351.

Kahle, L.R. & Homer, P.M. (1985), Physical Attractiveness of the Celebrity Endorser: A Social Adaptation Perspective, Journal of Consumer Research, 11:4, 954-961.

Pratkanis, A. (Ed.) (2007). The Science of Social Influence: Advances and Future Progress. Psychology Press.

Meyers-Levy, J. & Peracchio, L. A. (1995), Understanding the Effects of Color: How the Correspondence Between Available and Required Resources Affects Attitudes, The Journal of Consumer Research, 22:2, 121-138.

By Alek Lagowski

Real women not ultra-thin models

The advert consists of six women in their underwear laughing and smiling. On the advert is the quote "As tested on real curves", with pictures of the dove products in the right hand corner of the advert.

The soap brand dove is dumping typical ultra-thin models for "real women" in their advert. Dove has played on the fact that many women feel bad about their bodies due to the comparison they make to the ultra-thin models used in typical advertising. Dove believes women would feel better about themselves when seeing women in their adverts with similar figures to their own.

Last year’s analysis focused on social proofing and similarity. I agree these two persuasive techniques have been used but many more jump out at me. The first is the fact they have used "just plain folk". Source-recipient similarity increases persuasion and influence. The similarity creates a universal bond between the women in the advert and the target. Berscheid (1966) found similarity was effective in increasing influence if the shared similarity was relevant to the issue.

Also the advert uses physically attractive women, even though the women are not super skinny models they are still beautiful women. Research shows that we tend to admire physically attractive people and want to identify with them, making attractive communicators more persuasive, for example in story telling (Reingen & Kernan, 1993) and attitude change (Chaiken, 1979).

The advert does not consist of just one woman laughing and smiling but six. Increasing the sources of communication has been shown to increase persuasion. Six women delivering a message about a product will be more persuasive that just one woman delivering the same message. Harkins and Petty (1981a, 1981b) found three different speakers delivering an argument to be more effective than one person delivering the same argument.

I think dove’s use of real women instead of ultra-thin models on their advert is extremely effective in drawing my attention to the product. I definitely feel I can relate to the women on the advert and the advert puts me in a positive and happy mood.

References 

Just plain folk: 

Berscheid, Z. (1996). Opinion change and communicator-communicatee similarity and dissimilarity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 670-680.

Physically attractive admirer altercast: 

Reingen, P. H., & Kernan, J. B. (1993). Social perception and interpersonal influence: Some consequences of the physical attractiveness stereotype in a personal selling setting. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19, 49-59.

Chaiken, S. (1979). Communicator physical attractiveness and persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1387-1397.

Multiple sources: 

Harkins, S. G., & Petty, R. E. (1981a). Effects of source magnification of cognitive effort on attitudes: An information-processing view. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40, 401-413.

Harkins, S. G., & Petty, R. E. (1981b). The multiple source effect in persuasion: the effects of distraction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 7, 627-635.