Bryant Acosta
English 101
Media Analysis
Advertisement is "a paid announcement, as of goods for sale, in
newspapers or magazines, on radio or television, etc."
(http://dictionary.reference.com) They use an incredible amount of
techniques. These techniques are supposed to convince the American public
to buy a product or service. In turn, companies make so much money, just by
playing word games on us. Every commercial on the air right now has some
form of psychology tied into it to get society to spend more money. Jeffrey
Schrank explains his theory of psychology in advertisement in an essay of
his.
In Jeffrey Schrank's essay, The Language of Advertisement Claims,
he explains how he believes that society as a whole believes that they are
immune to the psychology used in advertising. "A person unaware of
advertising's claim on him or her is precisely the one most defenseless
against the ad writer’s attack. Advertisers delight in an audience that
believes ads to be harmless nonsense, for such an audience is rendered
defenseless by its belief that there is no attack taking place. "A person
unaware of advertising's claim on him or her is precisely the one most
defenseless against the ad writer’s attack. Advertisers delight in an audience
which believes ads to be harmless nonsense, for such an audience is
rendered defenseless by its belief that there is no attack taking place." Later
on in the essay, he goes on to explain ten techniques that commercial writers
use.
Such commercials that psychologies in advertisement are cologne and
deodorant commercials. A perfect example is the "The Man Your Man
Could Smell Like" Old Spice commercial. It begins with a man in a
bathroom with a towel around his waist. He says, " Hello ladies. Look at
your man. Now back to me. Now back at your man. Now back to me. Sadly,
he isn't me." He goes on to explain to the female public how if their
boyfriends or husbands began using Old Spice deodorant, anything could
happen.
Throughout the commercial, scenes changes, making it seem as if the
spokesperson is the most perfect man on Earth. Despite the fact that
perfection isn't real, he still has this image of being the man that all women
want. He's a millionaire with a yacht, and is clearly an influential person.
Many women would go for a man like that, as long as they are materialistic.
The technique in The Language of Advertising Claims that most fits
the "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" commercial is the ninth
technique, "The 'Complement the Consumer' Claim". Schrank defines this
claim by saying, "This kind of claim butters up the consumer by some form
of flattery". This is proven throughout the commercial when the
spokesperson shows how the women of society's male partners could be.
Without directly stating it, he implies, "Your man WILL be as amazing as I
am if he uses Old Spice; I guarantee it."
A cologne commercial similar to the Old Spice commercial is Axe's
"Unleash the Chaos" commercial. It begins with a man and a woman eating
lunch at a restaurant, at their respective dinner tables. When they both look
at each other, the whole town breaks out into chaos. People drop what
they're doing and begin walking towards a person of the opposite sex, as if a
magnet is pulling them together. Cars fly into each other, scooters fly into
pet store windows, and a bus even crashes. However, the people of the town
make it out unscathed and are pulled to someone else and look at each other
with an animal-like expression on their faces.
In the "Unleash the Chaos" commercial, Axe appears to act as a
pheromone. "Pheromones are chemicals released by living organisms that
send information to other organisms of the same species via scent. There
pheromones are released in response to stress, alarm, danger, and sexual
fertility." (Animal Communication) In the same article, the different kinds of
pheromones released by both insects and animals are explained. The
information pheromone is the one most similar to what is displayed in the
commercial. "Information pheromones provide information about an
animal's identity. By smelling another animal of the same species, they are
able to tell what the animal ate last, if they are in heat, their level of
dominance, and their level of health."
In the "Unleash the Chaos" commercial, it is insinuated that if you use
their new product, you will, without a doubt, attract the perfect person of the
opposite sex for you. This is clearly emphasized with all the havoc portrayed
throughout the city. This commercial has such an animalistic quality to it.
However, like the Old Spice commercial, it proves that the product will have
you attract a member of the opposite sex. Any human being would want that
out of a product.
People are naturally attracted to people who smell good. Horrible
body odor repels people. By using products such as Axe and Old Spice,
people are going to smell so much better while believing that they'll attract a
member of the opposite sex. After all, who wouldn't want people drawn to
them by some unknown force because of something as trivial as cologne or
deodorant?
Advertisers use strategies like these simply because they want people
to buy their products. Most people do not attempt to find any hidden
meanings in commercials. They look at things in black and white, rather
than in color. People will usually buy a product, or at least try it out, because
of a commercial that they enjoyed. The same goes for movies; if it looks
good in a commercial, people will want to go see it. "Advertising execs and
researchers commonly say that all ads are either rational or emotional. Of
course, this is a gross oversimplification and everybody knows it." (Thinking
vs. Feeling: The Psychology of Advertising)
This method of advertising has either a neutral or positive effect on
Americans. If looked at from the perspective of whether or not the product
will actually change a person, it will neither benefit nor harm a person. If
anything, it will just make them smell much better. The positive impact that
it will have on Americans will do with sales. These commercials are
effective enough to convince people to buy the products. In The Psychology
of Advertising, Margarita Tartakovsky states that Harry Hollingsworth "was
really behind the use of effective advertising. He believed that advertising
had to accomplish four things attract a consumer's attention. Which were to
focus the attention onto the message make the consumer remember the
message and cause the consumer to take the desired action (this really
determined the effectiveness of the ad).
In order to create an effective advertisement, these four guidelines
should be followed. They truly were in the Axe and Old Spice commercials
since they got a laugh out of people.
Psychology is one thing most people do not realize is being used in
advertisement. Writers make commercials have enough flavor to convince
consumers to think, "Hmmmm, that product seems like it'd work!" As a
result, more products will be bought from stores, proving that the hidden
psychology works. We as consumers are confronted with thousands of
products a day without realizing it. Have we ever paid any attention to how
many commercials manage to convince us to buy a product? If not, it's time
that we should.