The use of psychological manipulation and cognitive abilities in advertisements is a common way of improving brand image and consumer loyalty in the market. Some techniques are currently employed to this end, including conscious and subliminal priming. Priming is the manipulation of past exposure and the acquired stimuli to influence later impulsive consumption patterns in consumers. However, the impact of priming remains unclear especially if the existing two methods are used in isolation with increasing product knowledge. The nature of the ad can also be self-praising or competitive shaming within the market. The impact of either of the two when priming is done in advertisements is less known. In this study, therefore, the effects of conscious and subliminal priming on the consumer behavior and brand loyalty when the message is self-praise or competitive shaming will be investigated. Determination of the implications of the different approaches on the behavior of consumers and loyalty is critical in influencing the advertising strategies for firms.
Literature Review
Priming is a technique with psychological merits that has been used to influence the response of people to different stimuli. In marketing, the approach is used through the introduction of words and deeds that affect memory, schema, stereotypes and even the attitude of the people and subsequently shape opinion towards goods. Pioneer studies on priming showed that consumer behavior associated with prestige
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
Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, is a superb novel with outstanding themes. One of the most prominent themes found in this novel is psychological manipulation. Citizens in this society are subject to ever present signs declaring “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (Orwell 1). Along with psychological manipulation, physical control takes place. The Party not only controls what people in Oceania think, but what they do as well. Technology is another important theme. Without the constant telescreens, microphones, and computers, the Party would be all but powerless. Big Brother is the main figure of the Party. The main symbol that drives these themes is the telescreens. It is representative of the party always watching and controlling
“BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”(Orwell 2), is a saying that surrounds society in the classic novel 1984. The author, George Orwell provides his audience with an abundant amount of themes throughout his writing. One very prominent one is Orwell’s psychological manipulation of his characters. As characters within this society are constantly surrounded by sayings such as, “WAR IS PEACE”, “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY”, and “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”(Orwell 4), Orwell shows the ultimate type of control within his characters. Orwell is able to achieve such psychological manipulation in his characters through physical control and the abundance of technology. Without Orwell’s use of telescreens, his characters would be able to have their
Picture a long, stressful day where an avalanche of work completely exhausted your energy. The only thing worth looking forward to is coming home to relax while tuning into your favorite television show. In between the show, a commercial comes on to propose an energy drink built to help overcome those prolonged and demanding days at work. Advertisers are known for creating the most influential and effective way to launch their products to the general public. In the article “Men’s Men and Women’s Women”, author Steve Craig suggests that advertisements rely on stereotypes in order to manipulate consumers. Likewise James Twitchell, author of “What We are to Advertisers” strengthens Craig's reasoning by discussing the methods of persuasion that capture their respective audience’s attention to create a good commercial and sell a product. Both authors focus on the different techniques used by the advertising industry. Through their supporting demographic and psychographic evidence, they utilize advertising to show a strong correlation between each other. By using subtitles both authors explain the distinctive stereotypic profiles that are formed just from advertisers constantly examining the target audiences in order to create a connection with the product and the consumer. Twitchell reinforces Craig's position by introducing the different types of profiles advertisers target and be recognizing the effects of the method pathos and logos has
The power of manipulation is a very powerful tool and can easily be misused to benefit
4. (Andrade, Dalton, & Laran, 2011). The Andrade, Dalton, & Laran, (2011), study focuses on the effects of priming and advertising, and they suggest that marketing strategies can cause reverse priming effects by automatically activating processes aimed at correcting for persuading. Reverse priming happens where individuals comprehend they are being primed and, they feel they have been biased, and they over-reply in their selections which are now biased in the opposite
Priming is a way of molding someone's way of thin-slicing. For example, when given a compliment the subconscious mind remembers this as a reward for the brain releasing endorphins that make you feel good. By smiling and complimenting someone, you are priming their subconscious thoughts to think happy. It also works the other way around. Insulting and demeaning will prime the thoughts to be angry or upset. Priming does not have to be verbal. Tall individuals are known to have a positive effect on the way they are perceived. Therefore being tall is a non-verbal primer. Priming is often considered as a form of “brainwashing” as the goal is to alter the decision of the mind. Personally I do not believe that priming is a form of brainwashing because a conscious mind has more control over the subconscious. Even though instinct might come first, everyone has the ability to control their decisions. Priming just makes that step more
Throughout the last decades there has been vast improvements in advertising and its persuasive effects to our psychology. Not only has it become part of our global culture, it is so deeply ingrained in our society that we sometimes don't even notice if someone trying persuade us by their use of simplistic persuasive techniques. It is only when we reflect on the speech, video, or advertisement that we can pinpoint their propaganda objectives.
Over the last few decades, American culture has been forever changed by the huge amount of advertisement the people are subjected to. Advertising has become such an integral part of society, many people will choose whether or not they want to buy a product based only on their familiarity with it rather than the product’s price or effectiveness. Do to that fact, companies must provide the very best and most convincing advertisements as possible. Those companies have, in fact, done
Most advertisements involve some sort of emotional appeal: images of charming animals, humorous slogans, delicious food, attractive models. However, advertising’s goal—to convince the consumer to purchase a product or service—does not hold the same personal connection that a child’s persuasion of a parent holds. The lack of longevity and impersonal nature weakens its effect; therefore, emotional appeals are given higher legitimacy. Regardless, one may argue that certain aspects of advertising—like images of near-perfect humans—may detriment one’s thinking and expectations. However, this is not applicable to all, as the severity to which it affects one varies, and it does not directly relate to the legitimacy of emotional appeals, as the intents of most advertisements is not to nurture feelings of insecurity and
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
There was a time when advertisement were made only to market and sell the products but now dramatic changes have taken place in this field (Shead and Dobson 01). Today companies not only want to sell their products but also aim to create emotional attachment with the customers for which they do emotional or subliminal advertising.
Advertising is a persuasive communication attempt to change or reinforce one’s prior attitude that is predictable of future behavior. We are not born with the attitudes for which we hold toward various things in our environment. Instead, we learn our feelings of favorability or unfavorability through information about the object through advertising or direct experience with the object, or some combination of the two. Furthermore, the main aim of advertising is to ‘persuade’ to consumer in order to generate new markets for production.
Today’s consumer is constantly inundated with advertisements. Their acclimatisation to this saturation of messages has resulted in defence mechanisms which have essentially allowed the modern consumer to block out undesirable attempts to capture their attention. This new era of consumer cautiousness does not mean the end of advertising, rather the dawning of a new era in advertising in which marketers must utilise a variety of tools and media to engage the audience and break through these consumer defences. Years of evolutionary processes have concreted certain internal innate qualities and triggers
Certain television advertisements present framing bias to gain more customers to purchase their products. Advertisers invest a large portion of the time presenting the audience how beneficial their product is and at the end, with in five seconds, they announce all the side effects. Viewer might be “wowed” by the product itself and pays less attention to the flaws, helping the advertisers achieve their goal.