Advertising Business As The Commercial Persuasion Industry

In his 1982 article, “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals,” Jib Fowles informs readers of various psychological human needs, defined as appeals. These appeals are used in advertising, to persuade consumers to purchase a product. Due to the prevalence of advertisements in today’s society, consumers have learned to block out advertisements. By using any of the fifteen appeals such as the need for sex, or the need for affiliation, companies can get into consumers’ minds, with hopes of selling their products. In other words, by appealing to consumers desires, the chance of marketing success

When it comes to the topic of commercials, most of us readily agree that commercials are irritating. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the purpose of the commercial. Whereas some are convinced that commercials are meaningless, others maintain that commercials tell a story. Effective commercials are repetitive and illustrate a story. Marketers use rhetoric marketing, the art of persuasive speaking and writing, when persuading an audience to buy a product. Rhetoric marketing is especially effective through the illustration of a story. It is effective because the marketer is able to relate to the consumer with a story or message. Advertisers also use the appeals of logic, credibility, and emotions to intrigue interest in a company. Coca-Cola’s advertisement, “Falling,” depicts the product as a confidence building companion suitable for young love through a series of logical and emotional appeals that visibly promotes the brand’s credibility.

Advertisements are everywhere. From billboards, to magazines, to newspapers, flyers and TV commercials, chances are that you won’t go a day without observing some sort of ad. In most cases, companies use these ads as persuasive tools, deploying rhetorical appeals—logos, pathos, and ethos—to move their audiences to think or act in a certain way. The two magazine ads featured here, both endorsing Pedigree products, serve as excellent examples of how these modes of persuasion are strategically used.

He and Lutz’s arguments coincide on the grounds that advertising is primarily about selling a product, and that there is unique language involved in doing so. O’Neill suggests that “Advertising is nothing more than the delivery system for salesmanship” and asserts that it is the consumer, not the advertisers, with the power to buy or not buy a good or service. He later delves into the many techniques used by advertising agencies, from their unique advertising speak to the powerful imagery used to capture the attention of their demographic.

Over the years, it is apparent that adverts in general have adapted their advertising language by employing extensive methods of persuasion, instead of focusing on their actual product or purpose.

The Persuaders (2004, directed by Douglass Rushcoff) is a documentary with a hard eye on the multi-billion dollar advertising and marketing industry. They examine the subconscious and psychological techniques behind advertising and marketing developments. The documentary also determines how these new methods of marketing influence us, our desires and our self-image, finally theorizing on the future implications or repercussions of the influential forces that are constantly at work.

Each day we are bombarded with advertisements from a plethora of corporations in every waking moment of our lives. Advertising agencies have become so advanced at what they do, that often times we may not even realize we are being advertised a product. This raises an interesting ethical dilemma over a certain type of advertising: persuasive advertising. Philosophers, economists, and business professionals have debated over whether or not persuasive advertising is an immoral violation of the autonomy of consumers. While not all forms of advertising are in and of themselves certainly immoral, persuasive advertising is particularly reprehensible due to the fact that not only does it manipulate our unconscious desires of which we are completely unaware in order to sell a product, but it also routinely leads us to act against our own best interest, thus overriding our autonomy.

In order to attract a specific demographic, advertisement companies employ diverse methods of persuasion. Corporations such as Wendy’s hire advertisement agencies for their expertise in how to attract target audiences to their products. Wendy’s advertisement campaign for ‘Where’s the Beef?’ integrates a few different methods of persuasion; credibility, similarity with the target, and likeability. Wendy’s is trying to entice the 16-40 age demographic of Americans. By incorporating these methods of persuasion to attract the aforementioned target age demographic, Wendy’s is anticipating to attract new customers, consequently increasing profitability.

The viewer sits on the couch, nestled inside a cozy, warm blanket with a large bowl of buttery and salty popcorn on his lap. His heart starts racing as the movie reaches its climax. Just as his lungs stop breathing and his eyes grow wide with fascination, the channel changes to an old advertisement that he’s seen a thousand times. Ads like that one appeal to the three main techniques that have subliminal messages to viewers. These different techniques have proven to be effective with television watchers. Advertisers use these three techniques to target a certain audience.

Advertisements work in such a way that we grow to envy those we are not; they exploit our perceived flaws by displaying a person who is the living and breathing version of who we wish to be. John Berger in his book, Ways of Seeing, explains that publicity works by convincing his reader that advertisements use envy to entice the public to buy products: “Publicity persuades us...by showing us people who have apparently been transformed and are, as a result, enviable” (131). Though Berger published his book in 1972, his arguments about envy and publicity still hold truth, perhaps now more than ever. Furthermore, the more present advertisements are in our everyday life, the more envious our society becomes. With the power of envy, those who fall under its spell become choiceless, and therefore powerless. Berger also argues in his book that there is a correlation between the number of advertisements we see and the less freedom Americans possess. However, Berger believes that capitalism hides this powerlessness with the illusion of choice: “Publicity helps to mask and compensate for all that is undemocratic within society” (149). This idea Berger has relates not only to the advertisement of products, but also to present-day politics. Withheld information creates power using envy which is used in both advertisements and the US government. As more envy is created with modern day technology, and we become more immersed into social media, the further we stray from democracy.

Advertisements play a highly important role in the United States’ consumerist society, as Americans are exposed to ads in nearly every form of media. Each of these ads target a different audience and have varying levels of persuasive effect. Take for example an Audi commercial that was released in 2017, where clowns drove around recklessly and created a dangerous environment for other drivers. In this commercial, different safety features of the Audi cars caused the vehicles to avoid crashes in spite of the dangerous driving around them. The content of this advertisement helps to determine the target audience: wealthy American drivers. The use of clowns within the commercial provided evidence that the ad primarily targeted American consumers, as clowns were depicted as both a symbol of humor and fear or danger. This media portrayal of clowns as a scary and dangerous symbol, along with the common childhood fear of clowns, is mostly unique to American culture. As a result, those from different countries or different cultural backgrounds would have less understanding of this advertisement. The high price for purchasing a new Audi vehicle also gave evidence that the advertisement was targeting wealthy consumers. The persuasive effect that the advertisement has on this target audience is determined by a number of message strategies used throughout the commercial. These strategies included fear appeal, appeals to positive emotion, and storytelling, with each of these strategies

Advertising has become an integral part of our society. In the world of advertising, many tactics and strategies are used to lure consumers into purchasing a product or delivering a message. Producers try various ways to attract people’s attention, and persuasive advertising is one of the many methods they use to promote ideas that can earn them consumers’ trust and loyalty as well as to advertise for their products. In persuasive advertising, advertisers try to apply the appropriate use of persuasive tools to appeal to the consumer and get their message through. The BMW advertisement of texting and driving uses pathos, or the emotion of regret, and the use of this emotion is being applied effectively because regret is associated with all car accidents especially those due to texting and driving.

“Advertising is far from impotent or harmless; it is not a mere mirror image. Its power is real, and on the brink of a great increase. Not the power to brainwash overnight, but the power to create subtle and

There are several different ways that marketers get their message across to potential customers(1), each marketing communications tool can have different effects on us. Marketing is intrusive, businesses are constantly trying to push their brands in our faces… we barely process one piece of information before the next one comes shooting our way. The pervasiveness marketing has undoubtedly influenced our mind-set and behaviour… a disposable culture creeps closer to becoming reality. It’s because

According to Lipsyte (1977:59), “sport is the single most influential currency of mass communication in the world ... sport cuts right through the differences of age, education, language, gender, and social and economic status, all those differences that tend to divide us“. Yet when it comes to advertising these differences are not put aside, especially in terms of gender and race. According to Schroeder & Borgerson (1998), advertising is quite significant when influencing, building and illustrating consumers vision of the good life, which includes sexual attraction. Domzal & Kernan (1993), added that, advertising images represent an essential part of the experienced visual world. Reality and advertising are not separated and affecting one another, but instead advertising and the mass media contribute to the visual scene that shapes reality. Advertising shapes identity, especially gender identity. In other words, the way women are portrayed in advertisements should represent their images and identities in the real world. A study by Knoll, Eisland, & Steinhagan (2011: 878-879) established that compared to men, women were seven times more likely to be stereotyped. This is due to the fact that men’s roles haven’t changed as much in society and at work place, thus they are not as regularly stereotyped. Moreover they added that in adverts, usually, women are younger than men and likely to be under 35