Behaviour Change

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.

Monday, March 4, 2013

'Life's too short for the wrong job'.

 
 
 
 
The adverts above are created by a staffing agency in Germany, called ‘Job in Town’.  The message on the advert translates to, ‘Life’s too short for the wrong job’.  All the images depict imaginary work scenarios of individuals if they were to operate one of the following machines, such as a washing machine, or a tobacco dispenser.  The people all have bored, and fed up expressions on their faces, emphasising the lack of interest they have in their current ‘job’.  The agency is trying to encourage individuals to use their site if they feel like they are disinterested with their jobs like the people in the adverts.  Two techniques described by Goldenberg, Mazursky, and Solomon (1999) are demonstrated in this advert, the extreme situation template, and the consequences template.
The extreme situations template uses unrealistic situations to enhance the benefits of the product.  It would obviously be impossible for a person to actually work inside the machines, however, the unlikeliness of the scenario places emphasis on the message the agency are trying to convey.  These ‘jobs’ do not require individuals to be creative or to motivate themselves to become better.  They are so simplistic, they can be (and are) powered by machinery.  Individuals may be reminded of how they actually feel about their jobs and be prompted to think of the dream jobs they may have once aspired to have.
The consequences template, which highlights the implications of executing, or failing to execute the recommendation in the message, is also used in these adverts.  Here, the images show the inverted consequence, the consequences of failing to carry out the recommendations of the advert, which is going on to the agency site to find the right job.  If individuals do feel they have the wrong job, but they do not go on the ‘Job in Town’ site to find themselves a better, more fulfilling job, they will be stuck doing something they hate, like the people in the pictures. 
Both templates have been used effectively as they have produced images which easily capture the attention of the viewers and leaves a long-lasting impression.
 
 
References
Goldenberg, J., Mazursky, D., & Salomon, S. (1999). The fundamental templates of quality ads. Marketing Science, 18, 333-351.
 
 
 
 

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