Week 11

  When creating a message targeted at niche market, intelegence needs to be considered. If the market you wish to reach is educated, they need more information in order to persuade them. If the market is general, then the message should feature humor or use a different angle to be received well.
  An intelligent person is more receptive to a message. Meaning they understand what the advertisement is trying to convey. They are harder to pusuade because they will not yield to stupidity and are confident with their dispositions and their decisions.

   Partially intelegent individual can be persuaded without having to divulge a lot of information. Patially intelegent people generally need a message that does the thinking for them. Intelligent have a higher need for cognition need more information, but resist change more than people who have a low need for cognition. For example a cognitive thinker would be persuaded more by the Jewish advertisement above becuase they are more likely to understand the wit. Below the top image is what appeals to persons with a general intelligence.

Energizer Bunny® - Darth Vader - 1994 Commercial

First Energizer Bunny Commercial

Week 10

Repetitive advertising messages, off the top of my head, can be annoying. Fundamentally they work though. "Can you hear me now?". The following is a link explaining why Verizon is going to pursue the popular advertisement. http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/adtrack/2004-02-22-track-verizon_x.htm.
Psychologically, repetitive advertising is effective if the original ad is accepted well or if it is heard as a neutral message. If the message is not received well, repeating it will become annoying and ineffective.

  Advertisement wear out can happen to an effective message as well as ineffective messages. Advertisement wear-out occurs when the audience has seen a message too many times. All good things must eventually come to an end. On the flip-side, according to Social Psychology and Human Nature, advertisers may purposefully use the term "wear out" to persuade companies to purchase additional advertising.
  The best way to start a marketing campaign would be to use repetitions with variation. This would include the same basic message, just shown in different ways or settings. A good and example of this would be the energizer bunny ads. The ads are repetitive- the bunny banging his drum- but the settings change- he is on a spaceship or holiday settings are used as well (he's in the mall)

Week 9

  This week, as stated before in Week 8, I will address negative, political advertisements from a psychological perspective. According to the text of "Social Psychology and Human Nature," many voters do not appreciate negative advertising. So the next logical question is, "why do they exist and why do they work?"
   Most research reveals mixed results concerning negative ads in political ads. According to the book, most candidates who use their opponents negative attributes are behind in the polls. Contradictorily, Bennett, the Colorado Democrat, and Buck, the Colorado Republican are both using negative ads in their race for the Senate seat.  According to research this is because when candidates are so close, they use negativity to get ahead. The goal is to reduce the number of people who vote for the other party.
   If a person is not sure what to believe about their party's candidate, they are less likely to vote. Many people don't have time to watch debates and are dependent on the commercials they see. If they are unsure who is right or wrong, they are less likely to vote because then they feel they are not accountable for the politicians future actions. Ultimately, negative advertising in political ads are used as scare tactics... and they work. 

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper Takes a Dive for Ref C (2005)

Shower

NRSC West Virginia IE Radio Ad: "Good Shot"

NRSC Colorado IE Ad: Challenges

Michael Bennet for U.S. Senate: "Ken Buck's Plan"

Week 8

  In the heart of mid-term elections, I will focus on negative advertising in the media for two weeks. I am a native Coloradoan, and negative advertising is consuming the airwaves, the television, my web-spaces, and my mailbox. Before I delve into the psychological aspects of negative advertising, In this blog, I will express my opinion. In my next blog, I will discuss research.
  In my opinion, which is totally biased right now, I do not like the negativity. I am done hearing about who believes in abortion, or gay marriage and many of the ads are focused on these types of topics.  I know that Americans rights are always significant, threatened, and sometimes not there, but, as a country, we have other things to be worried about at this moment.
  Right now, I want to know what these politicians feel about the war and our broken economy. There are ads out there that are positive, but are lost in the negativity. I believe this says something about our country as a whole. Americans seem to thrive on negativity, even if they don't mean to. Consider: I am addressing negativity with negativity?
  In advertising negativity has a place. It can be used to scare someone into buying a product, or taking a position. It can be used in comparison advertising in a more subtle way. It can be used, and often is used by non-profits, to show how bad life can be and why a consumer should care. 
  As a side note: The political negative advertising was not to bothersome at first, but is definitely rubbing me the wrong way. Over-consumption is bad, isn't it?

Aishwarya Rai - L'Oreal Paris - Loreal Commercial

scarlett johansson for loreal

Aishwarya Rai - Loreal Commercial

Preference by L'oreal With Meredith Baxter-Birney (1979)

Week 7

   In a courtroom, attorneys will sometimes use a method of persuasion called stealing thunder. Stealing thunder happens when a defending attorney reveals potentially incriminating evidence before the prosecutor has a chance to. Attorneys use this method in order to diminish the importance of the evidence in the minds of a jury. It works because the jury will tend to believe that if the evidence were extremely important the prosecuting attorney would try to refute or deny the evidence.
  Stealing thunder is also used by advertisers. When a company shows it's audience weakness, the audience will have the tendency to believe that the company is honest and trustworthy. If the company was not trustworthy they would not share unwanted or negative company traits. But to use stealing thunder well in an advertisement a company will want to include the positive aspects of the negative trait. An example of this would be "We're #2, so we are working harder so we don't let you down. OR It's expensive, but our product is good."
  Stealing thunder is a two sided argument. Some psychologists believe that two sided arguments in advertisements persuade a more scholarly audience. One sided messages tend to work better on a less educated audience. Stealing thunder, because it is a two sided message, is also a negative message. The trick is to make sure it is two sided and the negative is turned into a positive.
  An example of stealing thunder is the L'Oreal slogan "Because your worth it." The preposition auditory left out is "It's expensive." which they may have at one point used and dropped. A basic question arises because of the slogan. Do they know if you are worth it or how much you are worth. Last time I checked, individuality could not be purchased nor will $10 make-up make someone "worth it".
  Maybe your just worth it if you are white: According to the following website, L'Oreal was sued for being racist in 2007. Hmm. Eva Longoria has since done commercials for the company, but most commercials reflected their standard. Even their Paris commercial, the girl has green eyes and is lightly complected.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jul/07/france.angeliquechrisafis

Week 6

  Antoher persuasion technique uses scarcity to sell an item. Ads that read "for a limited time only" or "while supplies last" are perfect examples of the scarcity technique. Both examples are limiting the purchase either by time or by supply.
  Aristotle said "What is rare is a greater good than what is plentiful and what is rare will cost an extra penny. According to the book Social Psyclology and human nature, an one-of-a-kind Elvis suit was sold for $145,000. Collectors also use this technique to sell goods within categories. Because collectables are only sold for a limited time, people who collect like to have sets and will pay more money for speciality items. They hope that by completing a set, they will be reimbursed in the long run. Of course some people collect only because they like to look at the items they are collecting.
  The scarcity technique works well to sell items not only because it uses the basic business principle of supply and demand, but also because people want to feel special. People who are from individualistic societies fall prey to the technique sooner than cultures who value family or group units.
  The ad below uses the scarcity technique but uses a human emotion to draw females into the ad. As Americans we try to be individualistic, but as humans we have a natural urge to want to fit in. This ad blends both in a seductive way. It wants to pull you in, but at the same time, set you apart.
 

Week 5

  This week I will stray from my regularly scheduled phsycobabble and redirect my attention to the lighter side of advertising. I am a fan, as I am sure alot of you are, of comedic ads. Unfortunately, advertisements can sometimes fail to properly market a product because the message can become lost in the comedy.
  Below is an of example of  a well done message that use comedy and market the product.

  I believe the message is good because the product is not lost. It is amusing because for one, no one really rides a conveyor belt to get a drink, but this guy loves pepsi so much he will wait to become the bottle, and two his face is pure joy. So, the product is not lost and there is a sense of humor to the ad. Furthermore, the ad only has the logo in the corner, it uses no other words. The happy expression of the guy waiting for his fill is enough to say the message without words. Well done pepsi. Other cute or amusing ads from pepsi can be found at http://www.desicolours.com/funny-pepsi-adverts/06/06/2008 .

  I included two vidoes that also market the product well and the messages are not lost in the humor. Enjoy. 

Blonde Girl Pregnancy Test - Funny Ad

Very Funny Pepsi Commercial