Advertising and Persuasive Strategies
Bandwagon Appeal, Repetition, Association, & Other Techniques
Sep 9, 2008
Advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry with one main goal: persuading people to buy products. This is an industry that’s spent an enormous amount of time and effort to figure out the best strategies for getting you to do exactly what they want. As a consumer, it’s in your best interests to understand the techniques used by advertisers to get you to buy their products.
Here are some of the common techniques and strategies used by advertisers.
The Bandwagon Appeal
The bandwagon appeal is an advertising technique that makes the claim that a product is desirable because it is being used by lots of desirable people -- therefore encouraging the consumer to “jump on the appeal is commonly used in products that are sold to children and teenagers, but "keeping up with the Jones" snob appeals are used to sell products to adults as well, especially cars and luxury goods.
Celebrity Testimonial
Celebrity endorsements are the oldest trick in the book, and you would think we know longer care what brand of underwear Michael Jordan wears or what kind of appliances Kelly Ripa uses. Nonetheless, celebrity pitches stick in peoples minds, so even if we know better than to buy something just because a famous person claims to like it, we nonetheless remember the pitch and the product.
The Association Principle
Association is an advertising technique that involves drawing a mental link between a product and desirable qualities of various kinds that may include attractiveness, wealth, success, family, patriotism, or security. These appeals are usually implicit, as no one jumps onto the screen and says, "You're patriotic and love your family, don't you? If so, shop at Wal-Mart!" Instead, these ads show images and story lines that represent these values, like a Wal-Mart ad that shows a single mother buying Fourth of July merchandise for her adorable children.
Emotional Appeal
Emotional appeals are advertising techniques in which the advertiser tries to play up on the emotions of the audience, often in lieu of information that might appeal to an audience rationally. One kind of emotional appeal is the fear appeal, where the advertiser implicitly or explicitly draws upon people's anxieties to sell a product. For example, a security alarm company might show a scenario where the home of a mother and her children is burglarized. Advertisers also appeal to sentiment, often through images like babies, cute animals, and touching parent-child interactions.
Repetition
One of the most simple techniques used by advertisers is repetition. Look closely at any ad and you're likely to see repeated images of the product's name and logo. In a TV or radio ad, the product's name will be stated regularly. Advertisers also create repetition by running an ad frequently. When it comes time to make a purchase, and the name of one of the products on the shelf has been repeated to the consumer many times, that product might just stand out enough for the consumer to choose it..
Use of Humor
Of course, one of the most effective ways to get the audience's attention is to be funny -- if the attempt works and doesn't misfire. Humor is one of the best ways to break through the "noise" of all the competition advertising messages out there and get people to pay attention to the sales pitch.
Advertisements aren't put together haphazardly. Advertisers carefully choose time-tested techniques to persuade audiences to purchase products. These are some of the most popular, and effective, techniques that they use to make sure that you buy the product they want to sell you.
