The Connection Between Advertising And Affect

A surprising fact presented in this video is that audiences in America are exposed to an average of 3,000 ads per day. Overall, Americans will spend an average of 3 years of their lifetime watching commercials. It is no surprise that the images presented on those commercials mold the minds and ideas of viewers, even at a subconscious level.

Magazines are popular in the United States; they can be found in stores, offices, and houses. They are popular for advertising. Television, news, radio, billboards and online websites are just a few forms of media that companies use to advertise their products or services. Companies use advertisements to influence the consumer to either buy or use their products and services. Advertisements are used to manipulate consumers in many ways.

Advertisements are making a negative impact on American culture, as they sway people’s emotions and moods, causing them to purchase unnecessary products. In the web article, Seven Reasons Why We’re Irrational Shoppers, Dr. Alain Samson observes that, “51 percent of respondents said that ‘feeling happy’ was a trigger for unplanned purchases” (Samson).This shows that, at times, a person’s feelings can also be a play a crucial role in persuading him or her to buy a specific item or good. For instance, a person may be having a great day, due to some special circumstances, and this excitement may cause them to purchase unnecessary items, such as

“There are over 250 billion advertisements released to the public every year with the average person seeing over 3000 ads every single day” (Kilbourne). This is an astronomical amount of information for anyone to process in a week let alone in one day. This is a prime example of Capitalism at it’s finest. Controlling the consumer in every aspect of their lives. Jean Kilbourne also talks about how “Only 8 percent of an advertisement is actually processed by the conscious mind, with the other 92 percent being soaked up by the subconscious” (Kilbourne). Thinking about those numbers really brings into perspective how much we are truly influenced by media

Today’s society is faced with a plethora of media appealing to their emotional state by advertising the basic human need, to eat. The images that we see each and every day of our lives appear in media such as, magazines, billboards, television, during movies, and on the internet. These images are artfully recorded as film or photographs in such an advanced way that they tempt and tease our senses, inviting us to purchase and eat such a wonderful product (Cyberpat.com, 2013). Our senses are bombarded with messages constantly and are extremely sensitive to the messages they receive. The sense of sight and sense of smell are particularly sensitive and have a special connection with the processing of messages that affect the emotions Croy, Schirato and Webb, 2004). This is often referred to as The Hedonic Experiential Model. It is refers to the way consumers process information based on the concept that purchasing decision may be spur of the moment or irrational. This model reflects the emotions of the consumer, which more than likely, have been influenced by advertising or visual propaganda. (Clow) It is with little wonder that advertising or mass media propaganda, are expressed utilising the senses, and in particular, the sense of sight (Alden and Steenkamp et al., 1999).

Advertising in a mass consumer society such as America is a very competitive industry. Advertising companies continually come up with new and more creative techniques of increasing sale. Advertising companies decide which group of people would be more attracted to a specific product and link that product to the feelings of excitement and anxiety of the targeted customers. The ads are carefully crafted bundles of images, frequently designed to associate the product with feelings of pleasure stemming from deep-seated fantasies and anxieties (Craig 197). For example, usually advertisements of beer and cars demonstrate masculine men, loners and free of

Many companies sway a consumer’s mindset by using emotional advertising. This type of advertising pulls at the consumer’s heartstrings and makes them act quickly without thinking critically. Strong images are used often in emotional advertising, as they provide a

The ad would flash so quickly, that the conscious mind would be unable to register it. They just wanted to see if they could subconsciously cause individuals to crave their product, (I believe it was the Coca-Cola company). To return to my own experiences, one of the most novel things to me when I first arrived, was the bus stop ads which actually change every few minutes. I would never have dreamed of such an approach. I suppose I’ve written all of this to show, as the author points out, how advertising permeates our entire society. There’s a chemical term which I think would apply to this, the Point of Saturation. Basically, when you have mixed so much solute (e.g. sugar) into a solvent (e.g. water) to the point that the solvent can hold no more of the solute (In my example, any further sugar crystals would just drop to the bottom), it had reached its P.O.S. Somehow, I think this aptly describes our minds when it comes to advertising. I wonder if we can take much more without any adverse effects. The author starts to delve into this when they mention how children watch ads in the classroom, and in the last sentence [kid singing the … song]. Actually, most advertisements target children. They want children to see the ads, desire the product, and then beg their parents to buy it. As an additional bonus, this constant message of consumerism at such a young age will ensure that many children wanting (overspending) all sorts of products into adulthood. To illustrate, one study found that Polish families spend the most family time when shopping together. Maybe facts like this, and the rising number of families in perpetual credit card debt, can be taken as evidence of the adverse effects of advertising. All things considered, we suffer. We are victims of a malady known as overabundant advertising. Maybe one day,

The campaign aims to influence components such as the evaluation of advertisement execution, viewing context and advertisement evoked mood.

you buy them this toy. Every one of our emotions is played on so that

The “LP” advertisements included a cigarette ad with a table of facts and a dog food ad designed to appeal to viewers based on what is most nutritionally suitable for their pet’s activity level. When exposed to these ads, participants showed higher levels of brain activity involved in decision-making. The “NI” ads in this study included a liquor ad showing an image of beading water and a cigarette ad “showing a woman leapfrogging over a fire hydrant that is spraying water as a man grins behind her.” After viewing these ads, the same decision-making areas of the brain targeted by the “LP” ads experienced decreased levels of activity. The author of this article, Remy Melina, was a staff writer for Live Science for two years. She also earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication from Hofstra University. While she does not have a background in the field of science, Melina’s experience and education make her a reliable author for this source. The lack of personal involvement in this study also eliminates the possibility for bias. This study scientifically proves, therefore, that certain advertising techniques interfere with a viewer’s ability to make logical choices, thereby causing them to

Marketing and advertising play a major role in the promotion of companies and products in the United States. Consumers are constantly surrounded by advertisements by means of television and radio commercials, billboards, magazines, and even social media. But how exactly do companies appeal to their consumers? My topic explores the different strategies used to persuade everyday people to use a certain product or service. One of the biggest effective strategies used in advertising is by appealing to the audience’s emotions. I chose to analyze two different sources for my research. The first source is called Emotional Moneymaker: Why Advertisers Need to Appeal to Emotions, and it talks about emotion-based

One very prevalent demographic that advertisers appeal to are parents. People are able to relate with these family oriented ads more than any other type of advertisement out there. From cars, to toys, to baby products, and more, many consumer items are something that parents will need to buy. With parents being one of the largest possible groups of consumers in our world today, its no wonder these companies are targeting them. I looked at and analyzed 4 different commercials from 3 different companies; Lego, Huggies, And Coca Cola. All of them were specifically tailored to parents. I found there to be an incredible amount of similarities almost as if they were following a specific formula. In addition there were also some differences in

The research in consumer behavior and psychology shows that the brand related information determines the probability if the customer will select a particular brand (Mitchell 100). Companies have learned to play with the psychology and emotions of consumers and have succeeded in attracting even those consumers that were not motivated by the traditional advertisements. Companies these days are focusing on the basic psychological principles to understand how to plan and execute the advertisement.

     However, with every positive side comes a negative, and advertising is no different. Advertising has been blamed for a great variety of negative social impacts. One of the major criticisms received by advertising is that it forces people to buy things they don’t really need, often projecting negative emotions such as fear, anxiety of guilt upon the consumer (Engel). It is claimed that advertising plays with our basic human emotions and takes advantage of them, using them as merely another technique to sell goods or services.