PROPAGANDA FOR CHANGE is a project created by the students of Behaviour Change (ps359) and Professor Thomas Hills@thomhills at the Psychology Department of the University of Warwick. This work was supported by funding from Warwick's Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning.
Apart
from using source credibility this advertisement uses the fear appeal as a
persuasion technique. The fear appeal aims to arouse fear by diverting attention
towards the source or cause of threat and then suggesting a form of protective
action, which can reduce the threat or harm (Maddux & Rogers, 1983). In a
study conducted by Dillard & Anderson (2004) messages with higher levels of
fear (influenza) led participants to report greater likelihood of taking vaccinations
in the future. This advertisement talks about acid wear and how it can damage
the enamel and when the enamels “gone… its gone” indicating that’s its
permanent damage. This is the fear element the advertisement creates. Who after
all wants to lose their enamel coating?
To
protect the enamel use pronamel. Repeating “pronamel” three times
by an authoritative figure (dentist) is very persuasive. According to (O'Guinn, Allen, & Semenik, 2008) things that are said more
often are more likely to be remembered than things said less often. Messages
that are moderately repeated are beneficial as they create greater attitude
change (Petty, Wheeler & Tormala, 2003).
Sensodyne
has therefore created a powerful and persuasive add by exploiting the fear
appeal technique and repeating and recommending the product through a dentist
(Source credibility).
Akshay shah (blog 2)
References
Dillard, J. P., & Anderson, J. W.
(2004). The role of fear in persuasion. Psychology & Marketing, 21,
909-926
Maddux, J. E., & Rogers, R. W. (1983). Protection motivation and
self-efficacy: A revised theory of fear appeals and attitude change. Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 469-479.
O'Guinn, T., Allen, C., &
Semenik, R, J. (2008). Advertising and
Integrated Brand Promotion. Thomson/South-Western.
Petty, R. E., Wheeler, S. C., & Tormala, Z. L. (2003).
Persuasion and attitude change. In
T. Millon & M. J. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of psychology:
Personality and social
This ad from the Northern Bariatric Surgery Institute in Pennsylvania undoubtedly
holds a clear message. Eating certain types of food (mostly the yummy stuff)
will probably kill you. And sure, we all know “obesity is suicide” is
hyperbolical but my triple chocolate cake-filled fork just hit the plate
regardless. Thanks guys. The main point of the ad is that obesity is not only
dangerous but deadly and self-inflicted; like suicide.
As mentioned, this ad comes from the Northern Bariatric Surgery
Institute, (people who know what they’re talking about) so naturally people
will comply with the message. As Hofling, Brotzman, Dalrymple, Graves and Pierce (1966) demonstrated, simply the
appearance of an authority title such as Dr. can influence people. Use medical
jargon and people will believe whatever you say.
This image is intended to induce fear, it has been shown by
Yan, Dillard and Shen (2012) that fearful individuals are more susceptible to
persuasive negative messages. This fear appeal creates an aversive state in
which the person seeing the message will feel arousal, this will elicit the
desire to escape the aversive state and therefore the person is more likely to
comply with the persuasive message. Or in other words, the more gross, gory or
off-putting it is, the more likely you are to pay attention. This also has a
lot to do with negative information receiving more attention than positive
information (Kanouse & Hanson, 1972). This heightened attention and induced
fear leads to systematic processing of a recommended action (Das, de Wit &
Stroebe, 2003) which in turn leads to attitude change (Elaboration and
likelihood model; Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). Basically, spotting danger,
being afraid and then avoiding the danger is survival instinct, which is what
they’re appealing to.
This ad is a clever use of Goldenberg, Mazursky and
Solomon’s (1999) inverted consequences template which suggests that not acting
on the persuasive message is tantamount to becoming morbidly obese and figuratively
being hanged by a string of sausages. Also incorporating the extreme situation
template, the image suggests a fate so unlikely and unrealistic in order to
enhance the key message, that obesity can be fatal.
The health-belief model (HBM) suggests that people will
engage in preventative behaviour if 1) they feel they are susceptible to the
health condition, 2) the health condition is highly severe and 3) the perceived
costs of ignoring the message outweigh the benefits. In the case of obesity,
the implied risk (death) is definitely severe enough to persuade people,
whether the cue is internal (they are themselves overweight) or external (they
know someone who is). The vivid appeal (Pratkarnis, 2007) of this ad means that
it is emotionally interesting, image-provoking and immediate ie the audience
grasps the message straight away and it’s remembered (Nisbett & Ross, 1980).
And this ad delivers, the next time I dig in to a juicy
steak or a morning fry-up, I will be disturbed by the triple-chinned man
accompanied by his sausage noose.
References
Das, E. H., De Wit, J. B., & Stroebe, W. (2003). Fear appeals motivate acceptance of action recommendations: Evidence for a positive bias in the processing of persuasive messages.Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,29(5), 650-664.
Goldenberg, J., Mazursky, D., & Solomon, S. (1999). Creative sparks.Science, 285(5433), 1495-1496.
Hofling, C. K., Brotzman, E., Dalrymple, S., Graves, N., & Pierce, C. M. (1966). An experimental study in nurse-physician relationships.The Journal of nervous and mental disease,143(2), 171-180.
Kanouse, D. E., & Hanson Jr, L. R. (1987). Negativity in evaluations. In Preparation of this paper grew out of a workshop on attribution theory held at University of California, Los Angeles, Aug 1969. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Nisbett, R. E., & Ross, L. (1980).Human inference: Strategies and shortcomings of social judgment(p. 167). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. InCommunication and Persuasion(pp. 1-24). Springer New York.
Pratkanis, A. R. (2007). Social influence analysis: An index of tactics.The science of social influence: Advances and future progress, 17-82.
Ross, L., & Nisbett, R. (1980). Human inference: Strategies and shortcomings of social judgment.NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Yan, C., Dillard, J. P., & Shen, F. (2012). Emotion, Motivation, and the Persuasive Effects of Message Framing.Journal of Communication,62(4), 682-700.
This advert by Starbucks has used the rule of reciprocity to
tempt potential customers; by offering a free latte, people are likely to
comply not because their name will be written on their cup, but because they
will receive a free drink! This will inevitably result in them feeling
obligated to return the favour. Greenberg and Shapiro (1971) demonstrated that
when people feel they will be unable to return the favour they are less likely
to accept it. So, by emphasizing that this gesture is “only a little thing”, they
are reassuring viewers and so will be more likely to accept the free drink.
Furthermore, because this offer has been given a time limit,
Starbucks have employed the scarcity principle, a commonly used weapon of
influence by profiteers which exploits the automatic shortcuts people make; we
typically assume that the more available an item is, the less quality it
possesses. For example, Theo, Verhallena and Robben (1994) examined product
availability and preferences for books. Results showed that participants
preferred the books of limited availability in comparison to those with
unlimited availability as these were deemed more costly and unique. In this
way, setting a time limit on their free sample makes the drink more attractive
and people are likely to comply.
This limited time effect is exaggerated when competition
with others becomes apparent and this was evident in the same research. The
most preferred books were those of limited availability as a result of market
conditions such as popularity and limited supply as opposed to those of
accidental limited availability (Theo, Verhallena and Robben, 1994). Starbucks
have portrayed a busy atmosphere in the advert by speeding up footage of
customers purchasing drinks, making their products appear to be in high demand.
This also exploits the social proof principle; people have a tendency to follow
others and by seeing numerous ‘normal’ people in Starbucks, viewers are likely
to follow their lead.
Finally, if these methods weren’t enough to persuade people
to get their free latte, the advert gives a friendly message encouraging people
to introduce themselves and ends by saying “we’re Starbucks…nice to meet you”.
This is an attempt to get people to like their company and view their shops as
friendly and welcoming. Research has shown that liking increases compliance:
Goei, Massi Lindsey, Boster, Skalski, & Bowman (2003) found that favours
increased liking and that this likability in turn affected compliance. This friendly
presentation could also be a bid to change the face of the company; Starbucks
are generally located in urban areas, with an individualist nature and so
portraying their company as a friendly place to go with interactions on a
name-to-name basis, people are more likely to comply.
References
Goei, R., Massi Lindsey, L. L., Boster, F. J., Skalski, P.
D., & Bowman, J. M. (2003). The mediating roles of liking and obligation on
the relationship between favors and compliance. Communication Research, 30, 178-197.
Greenberg, M. S., & Shapiro, S. P. (1971). Indebtedness:
An adverse aspect of asking for and receiving help. Sociometry, 34, 290-301.
Theo, M.M., Verhallena, H. S. J., & Robben, B. (1994).
Scarcity and preference: An experiment on unavailability and product evaluation. Journal of Economic Psychology, 15,
315–331.
As
the previous student pointed out, the main persuasive tactic used here is
multiple sources. Harkins and Petty (1981) found that a message was more
effectively received when multiple sources were used to deliver the message, instead
of just one. This advert uses 3 ‘real’ women, (4, if you count Davina) to
convince you that the product works. They’re all telling you how great it is,
exemplifying the multiple sources method.
The
clever thing about it though, is that another tactic is employed at the same
time. By having ‘real’ women tell you their experiences, the Similarity
Altercast (Pratkanis, 2007) is used to help convince you to buy the product.
This was mentioned in the first blog about this advert, and research has shown that
we like people who appear
similar to us (Burger et al., 2004) and are more likely to look to these
individuals when making decisions (Festinger, 1954). If we feel that these
women are just like us, and it’s worked for them, why shouldn’t it work for us?
We’d at least give it a shot…
However, there
are a few more persuasive tactics that jump out to me that weren’t mentioned
last year. A blatantly obvious one is the use of Davina McCall, a very famous
television presenter. Many adverts nowadays use celebrities as a way of selling
their products, and there is a good reason for this. Pratkanis (2007) describes
the High Status-Admirer Altercast, where celebrities are seen to be at the top
of the social hierarchy and can therefore influence us because we admire and
want to be like them. We think if we buy the product, we can achieve this
desire. Celebrities receive a lot of attention and can greatly influence
consumers’ attitudes towards buying a product (Pughazhendi, Thirunavukkarasu & Susendiran
2011). This was shown to be
the case by Kahle and Homer (1985) who found that reported purchase intentions
of a disposable razor increased after a celebrity endorsement.
Pratkanis (2007)
also talks of the Physically Attractive Altercast, which is present in this
advert as well. Davina herself is known to be an attractive woman, and the
other ladies aren’t bad either. Research has shown that attractive individuals
are more effective in selling (Reingen & Kernan, 1993) and persuading
others (Chaiken, 1979).
In
addition, social proof is used very clearly. By getting multiple women to
testify the amazing benefits of the product, as well as the use of statistics
such as “over 25,000” have tested it and “80% saw visible results” it makes us
assume that we should be using it too, as so many people say it works. Social
proof works in advertising because it takes advantage of the fact that we tend
to automatically act in accordance with others. We determine what is right by
what other people think is right (Lun et al., 2007) and then go along with the
majority.
So can
over 25,000 women, including the lovely ladies in the advert be lying to you?
Garnier’s UltraLift is evidently your best chance to fight those wrinkles!
References:
Burger,
J. M., Messian, N., Patel, S., Prado, A., & Anderson, C. (2004). What a
coincidence! The effects of incidental similarity on compliance. Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 35-43.
Chaiken,
S. (1979). Communicator physical attractiveness and persuasion. Journal of
personality and social psychology, 37(8),1387-1397.
Festinger, L.
(1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7,117-140.
Harkins, S.
G., & Petty, R. E. (1981). Effects of source magnification of cognitive
effects on attitudes: An information-processing view. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 40,401-413.
Kahle,
L. R., & Homer, P. M. (1985). Physical attractiveness of the celebrity
endorser: A social adaptation perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 11, 954-961.
Lun,
J., Sinclair, S., Whitchurch, E. R., & Glenn, C. (2007). (Why) do I think
what I think? Epistemic social tuning and implicit prejudice. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 957-972.
Pratkanis,
A. (Ed.) (2007). The Science of Social Influence: Advances and Future Progress.
Psychology Press.
Pughazhendi, A., Thirunavukkarasu, R., &
Susendiran, S. (2011). A Study on Celebrity Based Advertisements on the
Purchase Attitude of Consumers towards Durable Products in Coimbatore city,
Tamil Nadu, India. Far East Journal of Marketing and Management, 1, 16-27.
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, 2, 25-38. Zara Heal (Blog 2)
This advert is certainly one that makes us stop and think.
It shows the aftermath of a car crash where two boys are slumped lifeless in
the front seats. It then shows their ‘angels,’ one of which disappears to
heaven, with the other one staying with the boy who has kept his seat-belt on. At
the end of the advert the boy who had his seat-belt on wakes up and the advert
ends with ‘Heaven Can Wait.’ Apart from the shock tactics that this advert
adopts, which were mentioned by the previous writer, this advert also takes you
on an emotional roller-coaster and uses multiple techniques to do so.
Using emotion as a persuasive technique can be very
effective as it can impact choices and judgements (Lerner & Keltner, 2000)
and can motivate a change in behaviour to avoid negative feelings (Festinger,
1957). One of the most blatant
techniques that this advert uses is Fear. It does this by linking an action (not
fastening your seat-belt) with a negative consequence (dying in an accident).
Fear has been found to be especially effective when a specific recommendation
for overcoming it is offered, and the target believes that it is easy to
overcome (Maddux & Rogers, 1983). In this advert a very simple solution is
offered to avoid death; do up your seat-belt. Surely any idiot could do this
right? And if it saves your life there is surely no reason not to do it.
This advert also adopts a form of anticipatory regret. This is
when someone experiences the negative emotion that a decision you make will be
irreversible. This advert it shows the viewer what could happen if you don’t
put your seat-belt on. It could only be one slip up, but you will never be able
to change that. Hetts et al (2000) tested this effect using a gambling game
with participants. When the experimenters emphasised the regret they would feel
if they lost their stake, they were more likely to take out insurance for their
money. This perceived regret will be amplified by the creator’s clever use of
contrast. Tormala and Petty (2007) have found that contrast can be an extremely
effective persuasive technique. Although
this advert may not be an obvious use of the technique, it is a powerful one.
By using two people, who either use their seat-belt or don’t, and then showing
the different outcomes for the two men, amplifies the effect that wearing a
seat-belt could have. Okay, so he doesn't come away unharmed, but the guy with
the seat-belt lives while the other doesn't. I’d say that’s a pretty big contrast
and thus makes his outcome seem brilliant compared to what could have happened.
This advert continues to make us think by using empathy. By making
us aware of the fact that this situation could easily happen to us, it makes it
seem more real and therefore more threatening. Empathetic concern for another can
make a person more likely to agree to a request (Batson et al, 1981). The fact
that the boys in the advert are like us will also make it more effective. A considerable
amount of research has shown that similarity increases persuasion and influence.
In conclusion, this advert uses a multitude of shocking and
emotional tactics, leading most viewers to think twice about safety. I
certainly know what I’d do.
References
Batson, C.D.,
Duncan, B.D., Ackerman, D., Buckley, T., & Birch, K. (1981). Is empathetic
emotion a source of altruistic motivation? Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 40, 290-302.
Festinger, L.
(1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance.
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Hetts, J.J.,
Boninger, D.S., Armor, D.A., Gleicher, F., & Nathanson, A. (2000). The
influence of anticipated counterfactual regret on behavior. Psychology and Marketing, 17, 345-368.
Lerner, J.S.,
& Keltner, D. (2000). Beyond valence: Toward a model of emotion-specific
influence on judgement and choice. Cognition
and Emotion, 14, 473-493.
Maddux, J.E.,
& Rogers, R.W. (1983) Protection motivation and self-efficacy: A revised
theory of fear appeals and attitude change. Journal
of Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 469-479.
Tormala,
Z.L., & Petty, R.E. (2007). Contextual contrast and perceived knowledge:
Exploring the implications for persuasion. Journal
of experimental social psychology, 43, 17-30.
Las Vegas. A city of gambling, alcohol, and sex. For
straight people. These adverts were released by R&R Partners, as a way of
attracting more gay people to Las Vegas, which has developed the image of being
a straight-dominated city. There was a whole collection of adverts created, but
let’s just focus on the one above for now.
Las Vegas. A city of safety, fun, and heat for all sexual
orientations. That is the impression that these adverts wanted to create, and
it may have worked for me. I feel a trip to Las Vegas coming on.
Oliver Stoney
References
Baker, Michael J. and Gilbert A. Churchill, Jr. (1977), "The Impact
of Physically Attractive Models on Advertising
Evaluations," Journal of
Marketing Research, 14, 538-555.
Chaiken, Shelly (1979), "Communicator Physical Attractiveness
and Persuasion," Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1387-1397.
Deshpande, R., &
Stayman, D. M. (1994). A tale of two cities: Distinctiveness theory and
advertising effectiveness. Journal of
Marketing Research, 31, 57–64.
Pratkanis,
A. R. (2007). The science of social influence: Advances and future progress. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.
Shrum,
L. J., Robert S. Wyer, Jr., and Thomas C. O’Guinn. 1998. The Effect of
Television Consumption
on Social Perceptions: The Use of
Priming Procedures to Investigate Psychological Processes. Journal of
Consumer Research, 24, 447– 458.
This advert is for Guinness, one of the most well-known and
popular drinks in society. The poster was originally created by S.H.Benson in
1935 and was mainly featured in Guinness' advertising during World War 2.
The content of the advert is linked to an
experience that most of society would have experienced at the time, a war plane
flying overhead. Guinness are using humour to tell the audience that in times
of great distress, when a plane is threatening to crash into the ground, their
drink is what you need, it’s the main character’s lifeline. This amuses the
audience, leading you to associate the brand with happiness. Pratkanis and
Shadel (2005) found that fraudsters often tailer their scams to characteristics
of the target, to be able to effectively persuade them to act in a way that the
fraudster would like. Guinness use a similar technique in this advert, as they
are trying to appeal to the common man, seen in the image.
The slogan, 'My Goodness, My Guinness,' implies that Guinness is
goodness, therefore drinking Guinness will make you feel good, which is a
desirable state. Being able to infer an indirect meaning from a slogan gives a
feeling of intellectual satisfaction, which will increase the memorability of
the slogan, and therefore the brand that is being promoted (Liu, 2012). Rhetorical
techniques, such as alliteration and repetition, are also used, giving rhythm
to the slogan, making you more likely to remember the slogan in the future,
perhaps when you are next at the bar and wondering what drink to order. Rhetorical
techniques have been shown to more persuasive than slogans that do not use
these techniques (Beasley & Danesi).
Following on from this advert, Guinness remains a hugely
successful brand, and continues to create persuasive and memorable adverts to
this day.
References
Beasley, R., Danesi, M., & Gruyer, W. (2002). Persuasive signs: The semiotics of
advertising. Berlin: New York.
Liu, F. (2012). A study of principal of conversation in
advertising language. Theory and Practice
in Language Studies, 2, 2619-2623.
Pratkanis, A., & Shadel. D. (2005). Weapons of fraud: A source book for fraud fighters. Seattle:
AARP Washington.
Who doesn’t want to capture all their memories in
everlasting form? We all have the desire to remember our past times, to capture
the moment, crystallising it so that later we can reminisce on times gone by.
Nikon take advantage of this desire, playing upon our fascination for recording
all that we do, demonstrating how effective their cameras are whilst showing
just how many folk, from celebrities to ‘people just like us’, are using them.
Within this advert Nikon cleverly get celebrities to help
endorse the product. Jamie Oliver and Robbie Williams are two prominent celebs,
with global recognition. The use of celebrities to aid endorsement of a product
has been found to be effective. Atkin and Block (1983) looked at alcohol
adverts, both with and without a celebrity in them. They found that the
celebrity in the advert was perceived to be more trustworthy. As consumers we
may therefore be more attracted to Nikon’s products. Jamie Oliver, the rich
celebrity that he is, could afford a high end camera that most of us could
never hope to. However we see him here using one which all of us can afford,
and thus we presume that it must be a great camera, otherwise why would a
celebrity go and buy it.
We observe Nikon cameras being used in all of life’s
situations, from a marriage, to a toddler walking; we even see astronauts
apparently capturing incredible moments all on a Nikon camera. Thus, we are led
to believe that this camera is for everyone, from the professional photographer
to the casual individual taking the occasional home photo. Here we are
presented with a crucial technique. The technique relies on the advert showing
us people who perceive to be just like ourselves using Nikon cameras, meaning
we are likely to think that this camera is one we should use as people like us
are using it. Pratkanis (2000) refers to this as the similarity altercast,
stating that we are more likely to comply if we see a similarity between source
and the target. Burger, Messian, Patel, del Prado, and Anderson (2004) found that even if we think
people are similar to us in incidental ways we are more likely to comply if
they make a request. In the advert we are observing ordinary people using
Nikons, as opposed to models, and so we are more likely to observe incidental
similarities between them and ourselves, consequently increasing the likelihood
that we will comply with Nikon’s request and buy their camera.
Imagery sells. We are visual beings, taking in everything we
see in our environment. Understanding this, and using it, is a golden technique
for advertising. Nikon have clearly done their homework and have utilised this
method. Through the advert Nikon sell us not only a camera, but a desirable
life style. Realistically not many of us are going to chase after tornados to
photograph them, it’s dangerous and arguably completely mad behaviour; but that
is irrelevant, as we are all fascinated, and may imagine ourselves as the
person that does this.
The imagery in this advert is like a collage of all the
things we would aspire to photograph, but realistically will not. However, we
see the possibilities of what we could do with this camera, and are convinced.
They sell us the possibility of the excitement that can accompany owning a
Nikon camera. Gregory, Cialdini and Carpenter (1982) demonstrated that getting
individuals to imagine scenarios could be used as a compliance method, as then
the subjects would believe the event would happen. So, Nikon get us to imagine
taking all these fantastic pictures with our new camera, thus making us believe
it’s more likely to happen. Whether we take these fantastic pictures is
irrelevant; all Nikon need is for us to believe we will, so we go out and buy
their cameras.
References:
Atkin, B., & Martin, B. (1983). Effectiveness of
Celebrity Endorsers. Journal of
Advertising Research, 23, 57-61.
Burger, J. M., & Messian, N., Patel, S., del Prado, A.,
& Anderson, C. (2004). What a coincidence! The effects of incidental similarity
on compliance. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 30, 35-43
.
Gregory, L. W., Cialdini, R. B., & Carpenter, K. M.
(1982). Self-relevant scenarios as mediators of likelihood estimates and
compliance: Does imagining make it so? Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 89-99.
Pratkanis, A. (2007). The science of social influence:
Advances and future progress. Psychology Press, New York, NY.
For those of us who drive, we’ve all been there haven’t we?
We imagine ourselves in an extravagant situation, whizzing around, looking
super-fly, but in reality, we’ve got a budget. I would presume it is many a man’s
goal to own a Lambo, or a Ferrari to show that they have truly made it in the
world, and it would be an added bonus to have a chick in the passenger seat who
is in no way gold-digging. But what could be better? Well, Daihatsu are giving you
more. Five seats in fact, to accommodate
all those beautiful women that you meet. Sexist? Or is it just a piece of
marketing genius?
Previous analysis of this advertisement merely picked up on
the effect of humour in this advertisement which is, of course, incredibly
prominent. However, there is much more to it than that. Contrast is used quite deliberately
within this ad, in order to turn this fairly mediocre mini-van into what has
been stated as a “babe magnet” in the passage (see below the picture). By
placing five beautiful, and fairly scantily-clad women within the van, it
suddenly becomes more appealing, if not unrealistic (Cialdini, 2007). We aren’t
looking at the teeny-tiny wheels or the fairly awful colour choice anymore,
instead, we are looking at a very excited male and his entourage.
The most
obvious use of contrast is of course the comparison between this mini-van and a
Lamborghini. Interestingly, it works incredibly well, despite the fact that a
Lamborghini would be considered much better and faster than what we are
presented with. The use of humour and connotations towards sex, for example, “six
seats, four of them reclining!” and “two sun roofs for when things get hot” make the Daihatsu seem better due to spaciousness that a Lamborghini
doesn’t have. Not only that, but the ad goes on to contrast the prices, the
mini-van being a “£167, 503 change”, using money as a weapon that everyone can
relate to.
The use of social proof is brilliant here, in fact my
favourite part of the ad. Look at average Joe here. He is so happy and
genuinely chuffed with himself for buying this mini-van and of course finding
these girls. It looks like he made the best decision of his life. Festinger (1954)
said that when we look at people similar to ourselves we are more likely to
relate with them and therefore buy the product. By using a normal young guy, not only will people relate,
but they may feel that they will be able to afford this product and look cool
as a result of purchase. Parks, Sanna & Berel (2001) said that we use the
actions of others to decide behaviour for ourselves, particularly if there is a
strong sense of similarity. Therefore, Daihatsu may have got this spot on.
The ‘halo effect’ is also used in this ad, albeit rather unsubtly.
Primacy effect is the tendency to be influenced by what information we gather
first and those who we deem physically attractive are considered in a more
positive manner (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012). By using attractive
women in this advertisement, Daihatsu create positive associations about the
mini-van, as if it somehow ‘passes the test’ for these women to be seen in it.
So if you want to attract the babes (note: plural), go for
the mini-van. After all, it’s better suited for physical needs when you manage
to score!
Amber Kalejs
References:
Parks, C. D., Sanna, L. J., & Berel, S. R. (2001).
Actions of similar others as inducements to cooperate in social dilemmas. Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin, 3, 345-354.
Festinger, L. (1954). A Theory of Social Comparison
Processes. Human Relations, 7,
117-140.
Schneider, F., J. Gruman, L. Coutts. (2012). Applied Social
Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. Second
edition. Sage: Los Angeles, CA.
Cialdini, R. B. (2007). Influence: The psychology of
Persuasion. New York: HarperCollins
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is the world’s best
known independent conservation body focused on safeguarding the natural world. Its
main focus sits on conservation, tackling the threat of climate change with its
big global campaigns and promoting the sustainable use of resources, promoting
ways helping to change the way in which we live.
This advertisement on climate changes focuses on the
possible effect of climate change on mutation. How exactly this is to occur isn’t
explained at all. While we can assume mutation, in relation to climate change
may have its basis in the effects radiation from Ultra Violet rays from the thinning
of the Ozone layer this is not gone into. Instead, we have the slogan “stop
climate change before it changes you” and a picture of a fish-man half breed.
This, of course is somewhat ridiculous. In real life mutation doesn’t happen
like it does in sci-fi films. Half-fish half-man super hero’s aren’t popping up
all over the globe. Spiderman isn’t real. Astronauts don’t come back from space
with the magical powers of invisibility, fire, super-stretching or having
turned into gigantic stone men in tiny shorts! But, if we know that this isn’t
really the face of mutation. Why does an advert like this work?
One reason adverts like this are effective because they use
a tool called “The Extreme Consequence Template”. The idea of this tactic is to
present an extreme consequence in order to emphasise the importance of the
point they are trying to make. Usually when this approach is employed, consequences
are based on a true fact (but they take a key attribute of the argument to the
extreme) and this absurdity and unrealism of the consequence is obvious and
recognisable. In this case mutation caused by climate change is arguably a
fact. This has been taken to the extreme by the placement of our fishy friend.
We know if we don’t help stop climate change we’re not going to mutate into a
fish-monster, but this branch of advertising is effective none-the-less.
Another reason advertising like this works so well is
because fear appeals! Let’s be honest, the idea of turning into some sort of fish
half-breed is scary and the picture presented is hardly raindrops on roses! A
fear appeal presents a risk (mutation through climate change) and then
describes a suggested form of protective action (help WWF stop climate change)
(Hoog et al 2005). This works well with advertising and persuasion as a state
of fear is an unpleasant emotional state which we are then motivated to prevent
( Ruiter et al 2001). In order to avoid the fear induced from the idea of mutation
caused by climate change we are thus motivated to help prevent it.
Alice Owen
References:
Goldenberg, J., Mazusky, D.,
& Solomon, S. (1999). Fundamental Templates of Quality Advertisements. Marketing Science, 18, 333-351.
Hoog, N., Stroebe, W., & John,
B. F. (2005). The impact of fear appeals on processing and acceptance of action
recommendations. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 31, 24-33.
