What Is Management s1

CRITICAL THINKING EXERCISES

CRITICAL THINKING EXERCISE 10-4 Advertising Appeals

Advertising is not a collection of homogeneous commercials. Each company and even different brands within the company use different advertising appeals. Humor works best for some commercials; honesty for others. Watch television for several days and identify commercials that use the following appeals. Then decide what TV commercial shown in the last year you remember best, and which commercial irritated you the most.

1. Identify television commercials that use the following appeals:

(a) Honesty:

(b) Fear:

(c) Emotion:

(d) Sex:

(e) Humor:

(f) Irritation:

(g) Cost-comparison:

2. What TV commercial in the last year do you remember best? Why do you remember it?

3. What is the most obnoxious, irritating, or disgusting TV advertisement you have seen recently? Why do you remember it?

CHAPTER 10: Marketing: Place and Promotion 10.1 NOTES ON CRITICAL THINKING EXERCISE 10-4

1. Identify television commercials that use the following appeals: honesty, fear, emotion, sex, humor, irritation, and cost-comparison. Honesty. Ads featuring children are perceived by the public as more honest than those featuring adults. Children project an innocent, honest image. To an extent, celebrity testimonials try to use honesty as an appeal, but may not work. Fear. Fear is a powerful advertising hook. Life insurance companies have used it for decades to sell their product. Products as varied as smoke detectors, mouth wash, deodorant, and insect sprays use fear to develop sales. Emotion. One of the pioneers in using emotional appeals to sell products is Hallmark Cards. For years, wives have been shown presenting the perfect card to doting husbands and grandmothers crying over a cherished Christmas card. Sex. The old Madison Avenue adage “Sex sells” is still true. Marketers of perfume use little else. Automobiles are shown driven by seductive women or well-dressed, elegant men. Cosmetics makers and perfume companies tout the advantages to one’s social life of their brand of eye shadow or cologne. Humor. Used judicially, humor can be very effective. Each year the new Bud Lite advertisement, unveiled during the Super Bowl, is anticipated almost as much as the game itself. Irritation. These are the commercials we as consumers generally hate. They irritate us with repe- tition or stupidity, but we remember them. One pain relief product advertises “Head-On, applied directly to the forehead. Head-On, applied directly to the forehead …” ad infinitum. The commercial is irritating, but gets the message across. Charmin bathroom tissue scored big several decades ago with its “Mr. Whip- ple” commercials. One survey showed that more elementary school kids could identify Mr. Whipple than could identify the president of the U.S. Cost-comparison. Cost comparison commercials appeal to the logical and rational side of us. In- ternet service providers frequently use cost comparisons to differentiate their services.

2. What TV commercial in the last year do you remember best? Why do you remember it? This will change with the whims of Madison Avenue.

3. What is the most obnoxious or irritating or disgusting TV advertisement you have seen recently? Why do you remember it? This, also, will vary. There are some truly disgusting advertisements on the air at any given time. Feminine hygiene products, adult diapers, and local furniture companies and automobile dealers usually top the list. Late night ads for dial-a-porn, personal injury lawyers, and herbal performance enhancers de- serve a category all their own.

10.2 INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS: Instructor’s Resource Manual