How Much Advertising is Too Much?

           The documentary The Persuader’s presents the issue that advertising in today’s world is no longer just on TV or in newspapers, but it is everywhere. In fact, it is getting more and more difficult to promote a product through advertising because there is so much advertising for everything else that it becomes difficult to break through the “clutter” of it all. Are we getting to a point that we have too much advertising? The answer to that may be yes, but without advertising products and companies would never make it in this competitive world and so, the “vicious cycle” continues.¹

            According to the documentary American’s, on average, view 5,000 advertisements every single day.² In order to stay in business advertising companies must make their business’s ads stand out and a major way to do that is to attack their consumers emotionally. The company must find the big meaning behind their brand and make sure that the meaning is able to stand out and create a good and emotional connection between it and the consumers. In order to do this, focus groups and questionnaires are useful to find out what the public wants to see and what they think about the company and brand ideas. This way the brand can channel what the consumers want to see and what they need.^1,2

The documentary follows the development of the airline Song, which used many of these techniques to develop their brand. They wanted to target a new audience, women in their case, and develop a new flying culture. It is amazing that it is as easy as a click of a button to obtain targeted data for potential clients because of the existence of companies like Acxiom. This way the Song airline company can find the people that fall into the category of the woman client that they are basing their entire airline around. In order to promote their airline the best they did a lot of market research using those methods as well as pseudo-events. These events had the single purpose to promote their airline. Despite the developer’s efforts, many people found it difficult to remember where the ads came from and most of the time did not associate the ads Song put out with Song.^1,2 This probably has to do with the fact that an association principle was used that had nothing to do with the airline whatsoever. Although, this type of advertising can be useful, there is a risk with it that these developers ended up with.²

The Persuaders also focuses on the ways advertisement can easily persuade you and change your opinions. Just by using different words to describe something or changing the name of a product, a new association can be developed. If an advertiser can find words that trigger the right emotions for their idea or product, then consumers will be moved in a positive way. The more emotion that can be invoked in people is better because people lives are more emotion than actual thinking. Once an advertiser figures out what people are looking to hear, they can use words to channel that in their product. Many advertisement’s use the idea that their product is “for you” and “all about you” in order to make you seem in control. That way the consumer will believe that they are persuaded within themselves, not by the advertisement. It is all these tricks that can make for successful or not so successful advertising.¹

This Liberty Mutual advertisement channels emotional and hidden-fear advertising. It creates a fear in us that these bad and unlucky things happen all of the time, but that we shouldn’t worry because their company will be there to help us out when these things happen. They promote the word responsible at the end.³ This ad provokes a lot of emotion within us and uses powerful words that create a good association within us. That is successful advertising.²

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-fxY8MwATc

This example of product placement in ABC Family’s popular television show The Secret Life of the American Teenager is done very poorly. It is completely obvious that they are promoting the product and this type of product placement will not work, according to the documentary. This is because it is completely out of place and almost irrelevant and obviously added into the script. These types of ads are what make people notice how much advertising surrounds us and how it is involved in so much more now today than in the past.^1,4

So, is there too much advertising in today’s world? No matter the true answer, advertising will continue to surround us every day in order to keep selling product and keep consumer’s buying product.

 

Works Cited

 

1. The Persuaders. Frontline; 2004. Available at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/view/.

2. Campbell R, Martin CR, Fabos B. Media & Culture: Mass Communication in a Digital Age. 9th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/ St. Martin’s Available at: https://reader.cafescribe.com/reader/Reader.html. Accessed May 22, 2013.

3. Liberty Mutual Insurance Commercial -- Humans. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB3oEHzakOw. Accessed May 23, 2013.

4. Worst Product Placement. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-fxY8MwATc. Accessed May 23, 2013.