Context of Practice: 2014

‘Advertising doesn’t sell things; all advertising does is change the way people think or feel’ (Jeremy Bullmore). Evaluate this statement with reference to selected critical theories (past and present)

Advertising impacts on people in a variety of ways weather it is the colours, typeface, image, sound, idea, emotion or a combination of these elements. We are constantly exposed to advertising through radio, television, magazines, internet and newspapers. It not only appears on personal things we are reading, watching and listening to, but outside on billboards, shop windows and public transport making them inescapable in everyday life. The average American is exposed to 3,000 advertisements a day which all have a conscious or subconscious influence on people’s decisions. Advertising agencies and brands have had to do more than just sell a product, they must change the way people think or feel by merging what they want to sell into people’s lives.

In the book Decoding Advertisements Judith Williamson talks about how advertisements have different motives when it comes to selling a product. By simple definition advertisements are created to sell a product but they must first mean something to the consumer. This is why it is important to change the way people think or feel about the category, lifestyle or subject the product fits into in their own lives. An example Williamson gives is how diamonds have been marketed by “likening them to eternal love” showing how the meaning of a diamond has been changed to something “not in its own terms, as a rock, but in human terms as a sign” (Williamson, 1978: 12). Advertisement has the ability the change the way we think or feel because of the need people have to fit in to a certain lifestyle so advertisements encourage people to take up this lifestyle by showing others who are currently experiencing it. The Budweiser ad (fig. 1) puts the product into an environment people might want to experience such as a camping trip. While the word ‘Budweiser’ is written in the largest font in the image the ad is primarily focusing on where the viewer might want to be when drinking Budweiser – enjoying themselves (as suggested by the smiles on the men’s faces) on a relaxing camping trip. This creates the structure of an ideal situation they may want to attain in the viewers mind and fits the product into this situation by placing the beers on the table. Williamson talks about this method of creating a narrative or overlay to put the product into as ideology “We feel a need to belong, to have a social ‘place’; it can be hard to find. Instead we may be given an imaginary one.’ (Williamson, 1978: 13)

An example of how advertising changes the way people think or feel is through Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ launched in 1988. The adverts have moved away from focusing on the product and instead advertised the possibility of achieving a level equal to the already popular top athletes, which the consumer associates with the brand. The image shows the products (Nike Air Jordan trainers) being worn by Michael Jordan who is the icon in this image standing along side a young aspiring basketball player also wearing the trainers as Nike wanted to encompass an audience regardless of age, gender or physical fitness level (fig. 2). Bob M. Fennis and Wolfgang Stroebe talk about the “source and message variables in advertising” they say that in many instances “sources are individuals delivering the message” (indirect source) and in “other instances they are the organisation or the brand behind the product or service” (direct source e.g spokesperson for the company) (Fennis and Stroebe, 2010). In the Nike Air Jordan advertisement, the image is not directly referencing the trainers to the viewer, but is associating it with the brand, so is considered an indirect source. The symmetrical composition of the image suggests the young player is equal to Jordan using the ‘ditto’ as a way of communicating this notion. The phrase ‘Just Do it’ Nike used when these advertisements started are simple and definitive. If there is something you want to achieve ‘Just Do It’ and if this statement was fulfilled you would achieve anything you wanted making consumers associate what they buy with the prospect of achieving greatness rather than the quality of the brand. This is what Naomi Klien refers to in her book ‘No Logo’ as a lifestyle brand.

A lifestyle brand is an effort to make a corporate brand part of the identity of a person or group, in Nike’s case the person(s) being the famous athletes and sportsmen. People already identify very strongly with their interests and hobbies, elements of their lives they are passionate about. Lifestyle brands often attempt to create similar connections to the things people are already interested in. Their goal is to become another way that people could see where the product could be integrated into their lives.

Lifestyle brands are an attempt to sell an identity, or an image, rather than a product. Advertisers for lifestyle brands make an effort direct attention to would use this product or what ideals it represents, as opposed to what the product actually does. “Advertisers for lifestyle brands make an effort to call attention to who would use this product or what ideals it represents, as opposed to what the product actually does” (Laskowski, 2010). Brands try to present themselves as more of a culture than an individual product. Rather than making factual points about the product, brands try to change the way you think or feel to convince you that their brand represents of a set of values or aspirations that you desire.

Marlboro cigarettes launched an ad campaign in 1954 known as ‘The Marlboro Man’ created by Leo Burnett which was originally produced as a way to popularise filtered cigarettes (fig. 3). At the time they were considered feminine due to their slogan ‘Mild as May’ and the female models used in the posters. The new advertising campaign targeted a male audience, featuring a cowboy smoking a cigarette with a serious expression, symbols of masculinity, changing the way people felt about the brand. No information about the cigarette is given in the ad, however Marlboro’s sales shot up which suggests that the lifestyle and connotations such as confidence, authority and masculinity linked with the advert was more significant then the product. It gives the viewer an idea that they could become the man in the image. By the time the Marlboro Man went national in 1955, sales were at “$5 billion, a 3,241% jump over 1954 and light years ahead of pre-cowboy sales” (1999) this shows the advertisements had made an impact. The historical context has significance in the advert as smoking wasn’t seen as a health risk until scientific evidence mounted in the 1980s, so cigarettes could be portrayed positively through their adverts. Vance Packard talks about the way brands create self-images in his book The Hidden Persuaders. Companies were creating “distinctive, highly appealing ‘personalities’ for products for that were essentially indistinctive.” (Packard, 2007: 65). If a brand has products that have similar competitors to one another, such as in Marlboros case, it is important to create an image so the brand can have their own distinctive ‘personality’. Their cigarettes weren’t altered when the Marlboro Man campaign launched yet the sales increased dramatically. The people buying the cigarettes weren’t doing so because of the change in flavour or price, they were buying because they wanted to fit the image the new branding was selling with. The customers then develop a brand loyalty even though it is the same product just targeted at a different audience with a different self-image. If the Marlboro advertisements wanted to sell their cigarettes based on quality of the product alone they would have had a far more difficult task of standing out above competitors who could replicate or were already producing a product of the same standard. Giving the brand an image or personality however would be far more difficult to copy because it makes it more personal and is down to how customers feel about the brand rather than the quality or taste. A good example of how well this image Marlboro had created had done was when the company decided to cut their prices in the 1990s an event that became known as ‘Marlboro Friday’. Marlboro did this compete with the smaller brands as they could no longer justify their high prices. Doing this pulled away the ‘mask’ the Marlboro Man had been covering the company with and they were effectively admitting they were not better than the other brands on the market. Their stocks fell dramatically as a result of lowering the price and the loss of reputation in their brand.

While advertising is at its core there to sell a brand or product, what makes an effective ad is weather it is rational or plays on peoples emotions and the way they do it depends on the product. An ad for something like medicine for example would want show the method it uses to relive pain and discomfort in a technical way such as in this Gaviscon advert (fig. 4). It uses diagrams to show the product working and pays little attention to the scene or people in the advert. There is little, if any, emotional value in this advertisement as it is something people may need as opposed to what they want. Someone suffering from heartburn wouldn’t need convincing if they want to get rid of it. All the advertisements need to do is show how it works and that it works more effectively than other competitors by either the ease of use, time it takes to have and effect and the outcome of taking the medicine. Adverts that are there to sell items we don’t necessarily need take an alternative approach through evoking an emotional response. Meaningful emotional responses help shape brand perceptions. Advertising that generates positive feelings guide consumers to develop positive brand associations. Bob M. Fennis and Wolfgang Stroebe refer to this as argument-based and affect-based appeals “Experimental products such as wine, soft drinks, perfumes, paintings or designer clothing are evaluated primarily by personal preference (e.g. taste, flavour, style and design) and thus lend themselves well to affect-based appeals” (Fennis and Stroebe, 2010). Products that play on the consumers’ emotions over appealing to them because of their use or practicality will use affect techniques. An example of where this is commonly used is through soft drink advertisements as buying choices for soft drinks is down to personal taste and a lot have similar ingredients so don’t differ that way. If an advert for soft drinks was advertised in a rational way it would detail the facts such as ingredients which may even put people off from buying the product. This advert for Coca-Cola (fig. 5) shows a young attractive couple enjoying themselves. This is a way the company is appealing to peoples emotions, soft drinks are known to be unhealthy and damaging to teeth, so to contrast this and move away from these connotations they are attempting to associate their product with feelings of youth, attractiveness and enjoyment. As a result of this a lot of soft drink advertising holds similar characteristics. They will often show someone drinking it with glistening white teeth and healthy skin as opposed to a more reason-based transparent advert showing the negative effects soft drinks could have. In this case it is far more important for the companies behind these adverts to change the way people feel about the product and brand in general. They can hide this image of tooth rot and unhealthy lifestyle people have if they viewed the product in a rational way. Similar techniques can be used in the opposite way by incorporating fear and shock tactics into adverts. Fear is a fundamental human emotion and affects everyone; therefore it works just as well as positive emotional adverts. An article on The Agency Post titled ‘Fear in Advertising: Friend or Foe?’ suggests that there is two types of reactions to fear “Fear is the result of a perceived threat, which we respond to in one of two ways: fight or flight.” (N. Fleming 2013). To summarise the article is suggesting that adverts will introduce a mild threat that will make people want to fight against it by the use of their product. Going to far however by evoking to strong a reaction then people would want to distance themselves from the threat ‘flight’. In an advert for Corsodyl the advert starts with a normal person getting ready to go out. The ad shows a physical injury where the person is bleeding from their eye (something shocking that people wouldn’t be used to seeing) but ignoring it. The company are referring to when gums can sometimes bleed after brushing teeth which is more common and is ignored when it happens however the initial ambiguity of the advert grabs the viewers attention as they will want to know the problem and given an answer. The advert makes use of a serious voice over saying ‘we wouldn’t ignore blood for any other part of our body, so why do we ignore it from our gums?’ (fig. 6). The product appears at the end of the advert to almost suggest it is the solution to prevent gum disease from occurring.

There is without doubt evidence that advertisements are not just used to simply show a product and sell it, they must first change the way we think or feel. This is down to a number of factors; because of the sheer volume of adverts that are being made Companies must create complex narratives surrounding their product. Adverts can be put in place to inspire people such as with Nike, using famous athletes and giving a sense that the viewer could be in their position. The fact that this technique of advertising has very little focus on the product but associates this sense of achievement and fame with their brand, evidence that what the brand represents can be more powerful than what they are selling. An advert can change the way people think or feel using just an image. The Marlboro Man was put in place to remove connotations of filtered cigarettes being for women. Without changing the product the company was able to completely change their image resulting in an appeal to a different audience and boosting their sales. Consumers want to be associated with a brand that reflects their interests, tastes and ideas even though they may not be aware of it. Lifestyle brands and adverts employ these techniques of integrating their product into someone’s personal life. They create a situation were the product might be needed or could be used I day to day life showing the benefits of the product being there. Another powerful method of advertising is adverts that play on peoples emotions. Fear is a powerful motivator and an emotion everyone experiences one way or another. Companies have used this to sell products putting their product in place to form the solution to any problems the viewer could be relating to in the advert. This causes them to act upon it often resulting in them buying the product. Good emotions are also used to encourage people to buy a product. It was shown through Coca-Cola’s advertisement showing attractive people in a positive situation drinking coke. The single word ‘enjoy’ they use with their product is simple and innocent. It creates positive ideas suggesting that not only you are enjoying the drink but also the environment you are in. It is not just enough to sell a product rationally in a world where there is so much competition. People must feel the need to have the product and the brand must create its own identity. Adverts don’t just change the way we think or feel and not sell a product, they change the way we think or feel in other to sell them.

Fig.1