Advertising: Persuasive techniques

Adverts - both print and moving image - use a range of persuasive techniques to try and positively influence their audience.

We need to learn a range of these techniques and later apply them to the two CSP adverts we need to study for the exam..

Persuasive techniques

Advertisements are generally trying to persuade their target audience to:

·               Buy a product or service

·               Believe something or act in a certain way

·               Agree with a point of view

There are many persuasive techniques used in advertising. A selection include:

·               Slogan – a catchy phrase or statement

·               Repetition – constant reference to product name

·               Bandwagon – everyone is buying it

·               Testimonial/association – e.g. celebrity endorsement

·               Emotional appeal – designed to create strong feelings

·               Expert opinion – ‘4 out of 5 dentists…’

Examples:

·               Slogan – Just Do It

·               Repetition – Go Compare

·               Bandwagon – Maybelline ‘America’s favourite mascara’

·               Testimonial/association – FIFA18 ‘El Tornado’ / Ronaldo

·               Emotional appeal – WaterAid ‘Dig toilets not graves’

·               Expert opinion – Max Factor ‘The make-up of make-up artists’

Case study: Marmite

Marmite has a long history of unusual advertising based around the idea ‘You either love it or you hate it’. How many of the persuasive techniques can you spot in these adverts?

https://youtu.be/7R1TDZtNq9g

https://youtu.be/B_191RnWwww

Advertising: Persuasive techniques blog task

Create a new blog post called 'Advertising: Persuasive techniques'. Read ‘Marketing Marmite in the Postmodern age’ in MM54  (p62). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here.

Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) What does John Berger suggest about advertising in ‘Ways of Seeing’?

2) What is it psychologists refer to as referencing? Which persuasive techniques could you link this idea to?

3) How was Marmite discovered?

4) Who owns the Marmite brand now?

5) How has Marmite marketing used intertextuality? Which of the persuasive techniques we’ve learned can this be linked to?

6) What is the difference between popular culture and high culture? How does Marmite play on this?

7) Why does Marmite position the audience as ‘enlightened, superior, knowing insiders’?

8) What examples does the writer provide of why Marmite advertising is a good example of postmodernism?