Review of Select Commercials for Information, Effectiveness, Manipulation and Ethics
According to author, John Lannon: "We are often tempted to emphasize anything that advances our case and to ignore anything that impedes it. But a message is unethical if it prevents readers from making their best decision. Don 't let readers down by doing 'whatever it takes ' to persuade." This is sage advice, but do advertisers really follow this rule? The sampling of commercials that I reviewed leads me to believe that ethics go out the window when sales are concerned. Surprisingly, even the public service announcements go to great lengths to be extraordinarily convincing.
Part of the advertising technique is not just to convince you to “buy”, but also to be memorable. If the “hook” of the commercial sticks in your mind, you will mention it to your friends, and they will be watching for the commercial too. Also, there are awards, beyond salary, for advertising. For commercial writers and producers, this would be like winning an Academy Award. But are these awards for the most “product sales” or for the most views? These commercials aren’t just about sales, they are an art form.
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After careful review of 13 commercials most, if not all, fail the criteria for ethics penned by author John Lannon. Of his 11 points, each of these commercials fail on several counts. Most all failed the point “Do I avoid exaggeration, understatement, sugarcoating, or any distortion or admission that leaves readers at a
In order to back up his claims about the past sanctity of advertising, Postman favorably discusses its true purpose and paraphrases a famous orator: "Advertising [...] was to convey information and make claims in propositional form. Advertising was, as Stephen Douglas said in another text, intended to appeal to understanding, not to passions" (Postman 59-60). Ads need to pass off applicable facts for customers to consider any type of product with old, wordy ads. Companies do not have the convenience of covering for product quality with amazing, irrelevant pictures in black and white pamphlets. During the momentous switch with television commercials, Postman describes the consequences of beautiful pictures and famous people covering for the lack of product presentation: "These tell nothing about the products being sold.
With the exciting music, good looks/amiability of the cast, and the vivid footage, commercials appeal to the viewer, often times more than the actual shows (Postman 87). Commercial times average about 15-20 seconds and the times rarely go above 30-60 seconds (Postman 130). Quick images and short messages stimulate the mind and people begin to accept what they are seeing as the right (and best) choice (Postman 131). Commercials are about appealing to the audience, not advertising the product (Postman 128). Showing images of cute kittens, motivated runners, and yummy food excite the viewer, causing them to believe ideas (mythical or realistic) and force people to buy without thinking.
Advertisements are the key way to get a buyer's attention. The seller has to be able to put out a quick message, to make the buyer want and need the product which they are trying to tell. Now looking at types of advertisements such as Pathos, and Ethos, we often see these in a lot of ads and billboards. Pathos building that emotions in the buyer, and Ethos telling someone's character, of that person and building their trust.
Therefore, an ad is effective if it is successfully selling a product. The constant bombardment of advertising across all forms of available media means Americans are increasingly not independently analyzing content fed to them in an ad, even if the answers or verification of fact is a mere fingertip away. This ad for, presumably, the John Ellis water distiller, effectively illustrates inaccurate and/or false advertising while enumerating patents, tests, angles, and
The advertisements are public notices designed to inform and motivate. Their objective is to change the thinking pattern (or buying behavior) of the recipient, so that he or she is persuaded to take the action desired by the advertiser. The NFL Super Bowl used an ad for taking what is the Super Bowl. The ad is like a seller who want to sell his product, and the audience are people. There exist a different forms of ads for different categories of people.
In the text Advertisements R Us by Melissa Rubin, the author educates and goes into depth on how advertisements are designed to persuade the audience to do something. It seems that advertisers incorporate certain texts or images in their ads to target a specific group of people that they are trying to sell something to. Theoretically, people are more prone to buy or do something, if they see an ad that sparks their interest. This is where companies tailor their ads to be more interesting and expressive towards the audience they are trying to advertise to by incorporating details that would help target. It is possible to analyze an advertisement to determine who they are targeting and what message they are trying to give off based off the context
Bill Bryson’s article "The Hard Sell: Advertising in America" was fascinating to me. I was really surprised by all the great examples he used to follow up with his statements. Bryson points out sound many factors in advertising that us, the consumers, can be so blind to. Bryson states,” If we fall for such commercial manipulation, we have no one to blame but ourselves” (67). And he is correct, we as consumers always complain about advertising manipulation, yet large companies are still profitable.
The last way the writer persuades the audience to make the commercial effective is through logical reasoning and well-thought-out situations. The writer did not exaggerate advertising. However, the writer used a logical situation that would keep the audience’s attention and allow them to see the product multiple times within the commercial. For example, if the writer of the commercial stood in a room and said buy our Chevy truck there would not be many people interested in the product. However, the writer used a logical situation, a dog and a young boy, to interest the audience and keep them guessing what the commercial is about.
The effect that this has on a viewer of the advertisement is trust in what they are about to tell you. All the customer reviews also establish a bandwagon appeal and make it appear that
You probably do not notice it, but everywhere you turn you see an advertisement of some sort. You see them on billboards as you are driving in your car, you see them on the television when you are watching TV, and you see them in magazines and newspapers when you are reading. In all of the advertisements you see every day almost all of them include some kind of rhetorical devices. Rhetoric is the art of using language effectively so as to persuade or influence others. Most advertisements include rhetorical devices because it has been proven that “advertisement that incorporate rhetorical devices perform better than advertisements that do not for both measurement of recall and persuasion” (Tom, 42).
Advertising has been around for decades and has been the center point for buyers by different subjects peaking different audience’s interests. Advertisers make attempts to strengthen the implied and unequivocal messages in trying to manipulate consumers’ decisions. Jib Fowles wrote an article called “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals,” explaining where he got his ideas about the appeals, from studying interviews by Henry A. Murray. Fowles gives details and examples on how each appeal is used and how advertisements can “form people’s deep-lying desires, and picturing states of being that individuals privately yearn for” (552). The minds of human beings can be influenced by many basic needs for example, the need for sex, affiliation, nurture,
Introduction In order to generate sales, marketers often promote aggressively and uniquely. Unfortunately, not all marketing advertisements are done ethically. Companies around the globe spend billions of dollars to promote new products or services and advertising is one of the key tools to communicate with consumers. However, some methods that marketers use to produce advertisements and to generate sales is deceptive and unethical.
Have You Been Brain Washed? Have you ever looked at an advertisement and pictured yourself using the product that was being advertised, to than actually being interested in purchasing that product? Well that was their goal, advertisers have mastered the market industry by being aware of the fact that us humans are very concerned with our image. Advertisers know that we have a greater chance of buying a product if we can picture ourselves how we would like to be portrayed of course with the help of their product. In ads, companies want to provide an image that can be relatable to the viewers and what would want to appeal to them.
John Boyne wrote this book over the horrifying topic of the holocaust. John Boyne 's approach towards this event both awes and terrifies the reader. It definitely captures a child’s perspective from this terrible event. It was very creative how he wrote this book to captivate us into one of the most well known events in history. Bruno 's relationship with Gretel is more of a love/hate relationship.
“My Dad is a Liar” is a heart-wrenching commercial that accurately depicts the sacrifices and challenges of being a parent. This seemingly simple-plotted commercial conveys its intended message and appeals to its audience through the utilization of pathos, ethos, and logos. Undoubtedly the most notable element is pathos - the appeal to emotion. As a young girl reads this essay throughout the commercial, viewers are provided with look at the world through the unique perspective of a young girl.