psychology in communication why do companies advertise? what would you say is a sign that an...

Psychology in Communication

• Why do companies advertise?

• What would you say is a sign that an advertisement is a good, effective one?

• What is an example of an effective ad?

Psychology in Communication

• Advertising is a form of communication

• Much advertising is communicated on the level of _________________

• Advertising exists in order to sell products and services

• Advertising must have an appeal to a large number of the receivers

Psychology in Communication• Advertisers make messages that appeal

to people’s needs

• Advertising tries to make wants into needs so that people will buy things they don’t need

• If we look at the needs from a psychological model, we may be able to see how the advertisers are trying to appeal to us ---go to Glasser PPT

Advertising Study

• What product or service is the advertisement promoting?

• What images are visible in the ad? Landscape, buildings, objects, people, animals

• What words are shown in the ad?

Advertising Study

For an advertisement to work, it must

appeal on two levels:

• It has to catch/hold the viewer’s attention– (What does just looking at the ad do for the

viewer?)

• It has to create the feeling that the product will fulfill a want or need

Advertising Study

What “story” does the ad show or suggest?

What would have happened to make the visible scene possible?

Advertising Study

What does the product or service being advertised have to offer?

• What will the buyer have, or be able to do, that will be better than the way things are?

Advertising Study

• From Glasser’s set of needs, to which need(s) is the advertiser trying to appeal?• What need will the product meet, according

to the ad?

• What need does just looking at the ad itself meet?

Glasser• Survival – met by having food, shelter,

clothing

• Love and belonging – met by feeling accepted and loved by others

• Power – met by accomplishing goals, receiving recognition

• Freedom – met by making one’s own choices of what to do

• Fun – met by laughing and playing

Example #1

• What product?

Example #1

• What product?– Original Honda

parts

• What images?

Example #1

• What product?– Original Honda

parts

• What images?

-- man with

elephant trunk

and tusks

Example #1• What words?

• What “story”?

Example #1• What words?

– “Use original

auto parts…

Honda”

• What “story”?

Example #1• What words?

– “Use original

auto parts…

Honda”

• What “story”?-- man has had his

nose and mouth

replaced with

parts from an

elephant

Example #1• What words?

– “Use original

auto parts…

Honda”

• What “story”?-- man has had his

nose and mouth

replaced with

parts from an

elephant

Example #1• What does the

advertiser offer?

(or, what do you

get if you use

original Honda

parts?)

Example #1• What does the

advertiser offer?

-- parts that are

right for your

Honda.

-- Your Honda

will look and

work right.

Example #1• What “Need”

will this product

meet?

• What “Need”

does seeing the

ad meet?

Example #2

• What product?

• What images?

Example #2

• What words?

• What “story”?

Example #2

• What does the

ad offer?

Example #2

• What need(s) is

the advertiser

trying to appeal to?

Example #2

• What need is

met by just seeing

the ad?

Subliminal

• Sub-li-min-al

• Sub: below

• Limin: from Latin limen meaning “threshhold”

• Subliminal communication happens through messages that a person is not consciously aware of, it is below the threshhold of your attention

Subliminal

• Subliminal communication happens through messages that a person is not consciously aware of

• A classic example of subliminal messages is the “popcorn at the movies” trick…

Subliminal• The “popcorn at the movies” trick…

– Some individual frames of a movie are replaced with either pictures of popcorn, or the words “Eat Popcorn.”

– Each movie frame is one the screen for only 1/24 of a second

– The message is not visible long enough for your mind to be aware of it, but your subconscious mind sees and responds to it

Subliminal• The “popcorn at the movies” trick…

– The message is not visible long enough for your mind to be aware of it, but your subconscious mind sees and responds to it

– The theory is that more people will buy popcorn because of the messages, even though no one was consciously aware of the message

Subliminal• A subliminal message in a magazine ad

might be a faint image in the picture

• A subliminal message in a TV ad might be a quick or faint visual image, or it might be a sound “buried” in the sound track

TV Commercial

• What’s the product?

• What are the words?

• What are the images?

• Who are the characters?

• What is the story?

• What is the need being appealed to?

• What need does looking at the ad meet?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeicFCl1ABM