Explanations (AO1)
1.
Hard Sell vs Soft Sell Advertising
Snyder & DeBono (1985) found that hard sell and soft sell approaches had different effects of different
types of people. Hard sell adverts include presenting factual information about a product and soft sell
adverts involve using more subtle and creative persuasion techniques.
People who scored highly on a ‘self-monitoring’ test (i.e. regulating their behaviour so that they would be
perceived by others in a favourable manner) had more favourable attitudes to soft-sell advertisements.
People low in self-monitoring (i.e. less image conscious) preferred more factual, hard sell approaches.
Explanations for the Persuasiveness of TV Advertising
Evaluation of Explanations (AO2)
P: One issue with the research into hard vs soft-sell advertising in that it is still unclear as to which technique is most persuasive.
E: For example, Okazaki et al (2007) carried out a meta-analysis on over 75 investigation to test whether ‘hard-sell’ or ‘soft-sell’
adverts were more persuasive in terms of attitude towards a product. They found that because hard-sell adverts focus on specific
factual information, they are more believable. However soft-sell techniques are focussed on generating positive attitudes and so
increase the attitude towards a product.
E: This is an issue because although research has been conducted into this area, it remains unclear as to which technique is the
most appropriate to use when attempting to persuade an audience.
L: Therefore, it should be recommended that advertisers think carefully about the audience the product is aimed at before choosing
the hard or soft-sell route.
2.
Product Endorsement
Giles (2003) suggests that celebrities provide a familiar face – a reliable source of information that we feel
we can trust because of the parasocial relationship we have built up with that celebrity. (Para-social
relationship = not a true relationship where one person is unaware of the other person’s existence).
O’Mahony and Meenaghan (1997) found that in general, celebrity endorsements were not regarded as
overly convincing or believable, with perceived credibility and expertise of the endorser being more
important influences on whether or not a product is sold.
P: A weakness of the research into the persuasiveness of product endorsement is that other studies suggest that celebrity
endorsement may not be as effective as first thought.
E: For example, Martin et al (2008) found that their student participants were more convinced by a television endorsement from a
fictional fellow student when buying a digital camera than by one from a celebrity. They concluded that this is because young
people like to make sure their product is fashionable amongst people who resemble them rather than by celebrities.
E: This is an issue because it suggests that perhaps the perceived credibility and expertise of the endorser are more influential in
making a TV advert persuasive (as argued by O’Mahony and Meenaghan, 1997) than the endorsement of an attractive or popular
celebrity.
L: As a result, advertisers should think carefully about the characteristics of the celebrities they approach to endorse a product.
3.
Children and Advertising
Martin (1997) used a meta-analysis to investigate whether children understand the purpose of
advertisements is to persuade us to buy. He found a strong positive correlation between age and
understanding of persuasive intent. Older children could discriminate between commercials and regular
programming, and they better understood the persuasive intent of commercials and trusted them less.
Furthermore, advertising to young children increases the degree to which they pester their parents for the
product they have seen on TV. Pine and Nash (2001) studied childrens’ Christmas gift requests (the number
of items on their letter to Santa) in the US and in Sweden. In Sweden, TV advertising to under 12s is banned
by law. They found that significantly fewer gift requests among Swedish children than among children in the
US. Pine and Nash (2001) argue that a lack of advertising to this age group in Sweden is a strong candidate
for the relationship seen.
4.
Sex, Violence and Persuasive Advertisements
Hamilton (1998) suggests that 18 – 34 year olds are more susceptible to commercial influence because they
have less well established purchasing habits and more disposable income than older viewers. Therefore,
advertisers tend to embed their commercials in programs that younger viewers watch, such as those
containing sex and violence.
However, Bushman (2005) found that the content of these programs appears to impair memory for
advertising shown during the commercial breaks, thus reducing their power to persuade the audience.
P: A weakness of the research into the effect of advertising on children is that there may be other factors that play a role in how
persuasive the TV advert is to children.
E: For example, Pine and Nash found a stronger correlation for children who watched TV on their own than for those who watched
it with a parent. This suggests that parents somehow mediate in the relationship between advertising and subsequent behaviour.
E: This is an issue because it becomes very difficult to establish a direct cause and effect relationship between exposure to
advertising and subsequent consumer behaviour among children.
L: As a result, we the effect of advertising on children still remains unclear.
P: One strength of the research into the persuasiveness of TV adverts embedded in program containing sex and violence is that
there is empirical evidence to support the effect found.
E: For example, Bushman (2007) tested whether sex and violence increased or decreased persuasiveness of TV adverts. Student
participants were randomly assigned to watch wither a violent, sexually explicit or neutral programme. Each 40 – 45 minute
program was accompanied by 3 commercial breaks containing a total of 9 adverts (3 violent, 3 sexual, 3 neutral). Participants were
then asked to recall the adverts when the program was over. They were less likely to remember the advert brands when the adverts
were embedded in a violent or sexual program than then they were embedded in a neutral program.
E: This is a strength because it provides support for the idea that advertisers should avoid embedding adverts in programs
containing sex and violence if they want their adverts to be particularly persuasive.
L: As a result, it can be said that research into this area is highly reliable and should be considered during broadcasting adverts.
MAID (AO2/AO3)
Reliability
P: A strength of the research into hard vs soft-sell advertising in
that it is high in reliability.
E: This is because Okazaki et al (2007) conducted a meta-analysis
on over 75 investigations into hard and soft sell advertising and
was able to establish clear effects of both hard and soft sell
adverts from number of different studies.
E: This is a strength because the findings from the meta-analyses
that Okazaki used in his study were consistent.
L: As a consequence, this increases the credibility hard and soft
sell advertising as an explanation of the persuasiveness of TV
Advertising.
High Temporal Validity
P: One weakness of Martin at al (2008) is that the research is low
in population validity.
E: For example Martin conducted a study using undergraduate
students to investigate the persuasiveness of TV advertising.
E: This is an issue because his sample had a very specific and
narrow demography, largely atypical of the general population.
For example the sample would have been young, of high
intelligence and likely to be affluent (rich). As a result, we cannot
generalise the fact that he found fellow students were more
persuasive than celebrities when endorsing a product to the wider
population. It may be that celebrity endorsement has a more
persuasive impact on younger or older generations (as in line with
Giles (2003)).
L: As a consequence, this actually strengthens the explanation of
celebrities increasing the persuasiveness of products as the
research to contradict its assumptions is flawed.
P: One weakness of Bushman’s research into the effect of sex and
violence on persuasiveness of TV advertising is that it has low
ecological validity.
E: This is because he tested whether sex and violence increased or
decreased persuasiveness of TV adverts in a highly controlled,
artificial environment.
E: This is an issue because the experiment was conducted in a lab,
so we cannot generalise the findings that sex and violence causes
a decrease in retention for the advert, to real life settings.
Furthermore as the participants knew they were being
experimented on, they may have displayed demand
characteristics and intentionally not recalled the adverts
embedded in the violence programs.
L: As a consequence, this casts doubt over the explanatory power
of the explanation (adverts embedded in sex and violence are not
persuasive) as the research supporting the assumptions is flawed
5.
The importance of Congruence
Overall Evaluation of research into the Persuasiveness of TV advertising.
Bushman (2007) argues that TV adverts are better remembered if there is congruence between the
P: Giles (2003) argues that one issue with the research into the Persuasiveness of TV advertising is the way in which researchers have operationalise the persuasiveness of the TV adverts.
program content and the content of the adverts. For example, adverts for DIY products and interior design
E: For example, researchers usually measure how much viewers like a product after viewing, or measure the intention to buy.
may be better remembered in programs featuring home makeovers such as ‘Grand Designs’.
E: This is an issue because for an advert to have been persuasive, it should lead to an actual purchase of the product being advertised not just the intention of liking of the product.
This can be explained in terms of viewer’s motives for watching a particular program. For example an
L: As a consequence, this casts doubt over the internal validity of the research into this area (are researchers actually measuring persuasiveness of adverts?). Furthermore, in order to truly measure the
individual may watch a program with cognitively involving content (such as a documentary) in order to gain
persuasiveness of TV adverts, perhaps researchers should begin to study actual sales of items once adverts have been broadcast.
knowledge. Commercials that are consistent with this content (i.e. are also cognitively involving) would be
easier to recall and therefore more persuasive.
NOTE: If you get a question on the persuasiveness of TV advertising, you can use this information or the information on ELM and HY Model (AS LONG AS IT IS FULLY CONTEXTUALISED IN THE CONTEXT OF TV ADVERTS). However, if you get a question on the persuasiveness if ANY OTHER MEDIA (cinema adverts, radio,
newspaper, websites etc.) then you must use information on ELM and HY Model and NOT this information as this is specific to TV advertising.