We don't always buy what we need; more often we buy want we WANT.

"The consumer isn't a moron. She is your wife."

David Ogilvy, "Confessions of an Advertising Man," 1971, New York: Ballantine, p. 84.


Advertising is any paid form of nonpersonal presentation or promotion of goods, services or ideas by an identified sponsor. It is one part of the marketing cycle which begins and ends with the consumer.
  • Click here for the history of advertising.
Vance Packard's "The Hidden Persuaders" offers us the Eight Hidden Needs of Man. 
An outspoken critic of advertising, Packard suggests people buy products because they are manipulated into believing they need the advertised product, service or idea. The eight emotional and psychological appeals he describes are found in TV, newspaper, magazine, radio, direct mail, outdoor or point of purchase, and they represent emotional or psychological appeals to the prospective buyer's basic emotions.
Conscious messages are the plain, unvarnished facts about a product: price, size, capacity, weight, etc., without any outside appeals.
To see examples of subliminal (unconscious) advertising, click here
To see subliminals in a Disney film, click here.

These are the subconscious messages.
Reassurance of worth
By using the product, I will be a better (mother, wife, provider, grandma, etc..)
Emotional Security
By using the product, I will not have to worry about (body odor, halitosis, the frizzies, etc.,) or by NOT using the product I will have a problem with these conditions.
Ego Gratification
By using the product, I will be happier, warmer, etc., even though it may cost more. (L'Oreal products, name brands, etc.,)
Creative Outlets
By using the product, I will be more creative or use the product in a more creative manner. These are products such as Kraft Foods, Arm and Hammer baking soda.
Sense of Roots
Nostalgia, "It was good enough for grandma. . ." The use of historical data such as "Since 1876. . ."
Sense of Power
Advertising for motorcycles, vehicles and other swift powerful objects. But it also may include an appeal about "the power of wealth, politics, prestige and the like."
Love Objects
Appeals include attractive people of either gender, animals, children (particularly babies) and old people. The idea is to show these "objects" in a positive way to make the prospective consumer feel good about the product. Michelin tires and other products which use children for decorative effect. They aren't selling kids, obviously.
Immortality or Mortality
Either way you look at it, people do not worry about mortality, particularly young people. They think they will live forever.
But, an appeal is made to older people through insurance advertising that they will not live forever and need to plan for their family's future.
  • Other appeals may be success, family, intimacy, vitality, humor, good health or numerous others.  Watch television commercials and look at magazine advertisements to find examples of these emotional or psychological appeals.
How does advertising serve business?
  1. # Lowers cost of most consumer goods by promoting more sales.
  2. # Encourages the development of new and improved products.
  3. # Helps assure new product availability at the retail level.
  4. # Helps ensure consistent product quality.
  5. # Supports free media.
4 requirements for a successful ad campaign:
  1. # The formulation of a persuasive idea
  2. # Design of a message to convey the idea
  3. # A series of ads embodying the message
  4. # Means of transmitting the ads
The MARKETING CYCLE
  • Advertisers aim sales messages (conscious, subconscious or unconscious) through channels (newspaper, magazine, radio, television, direct mail, outdoor, Internet, specialty) to prospective consumers whose needs and desires are known through market research.
  • Advertising falls within a larger framework of the business operation known as marketing. Marketing includes all those activities involved in getting a product to the consumer, such as packaging, pricing, promotions, publicity, etc.,
  • Marketing begins and ends with the consumer. The consumer will likely be consulted during research, development and production - throughout the life of the product - to make certain it responds to changing wants and preferences.
How to determine the Unique Selling Proposition of USP of a product.
What does positioning a product mean? What about repositioning a product? Can you think of any examples?
  1. # Break the clutter. What is the product's position and Unique Selling Proposition? Examples of USP include Goldfish in colors and Quaker Oats for Women in recent commercials. The latter is also a positioning technique to increase the sale of the product to a specific target group.
  2. # Feature consumer BENEFITS. Don't sell the steak, sell the sizzle; don't sell furniture, sell the appeal of comfortable family get togethers. In the Quaker Oats for Women example, the advertised benefit would be "increased calcium." In the Goldfish in colors example, the advertised benefit would be "fun with your food."
  3. # Write the way people talk: conversational, even colloquial at times. This means to use contractions, phrases, single words. No need to write in complete sentences. That's not the way people speak. Is it?
  4. # Place copy below the rectangular space which contains the visual. Type it or print it neatly
  5. # Use ALL CAPS to identify who is talking in the commercial, and place these below the rectangular shape in which it will appear. VOICE OVER, ANNOUNCER, ETC.,
  6. # Then, place what the person is saying in caps and lower case.Click here for early political advertising on the Web.



Classic TV commercials RealPlayer needed
An overview of video production for a commercial
CLIOs winners
Tricks of the Trade in Political Advertising
Racism in Advertising
Saturday morning commercials
Designing a logo

Back to Mass Media Stuff -- stuff I have collected over 28 1/2 years of teaching a beginning mass media course in journalism-photography at San Antonio College
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