Analysis of Tescos Lights-On Advert - Essay Example

Analysis of Tesco Christmas Advert Lights On Analysis of Tesco’s “Lights-On” Advert Tesco’s Lights On ad was created as a response to social media complaints from a Tesco customer who was disappointed when, in 2013, she could not find a green Christmas hat on the sign outside Tesco in Wigan (Butler & Sweney, 2014: p1). The ad opens with a dad going through boxes in the attic to find decorations for Christmas, going on to introduce families coming together to decorate their houses as staff at Tesco help them in choosing their decorations at the store. The ad then culminates in a display of Christmas lights at a local Tesco store in Wigan, which features almost a million lights, as well as Tesco staff placing a green hat above the Tesco sign. The ad ends with a tagline “Every Little Helps Make Christmas”. General Persuasive Strategy Tesco seems to be shifting from its messaging, which has been price-based in the past, to focusing on customers and how the supermarket can help customers over the Christmas period (Butler & Sweney, 2014: p1). The ad seeks to celebrate Christmas and the excitement that the Christmas season brings to customer, as well as Tesco’s focus on aiding the country’s citizens in useful and fun ways. Tesco’s advertising and marketing throughout the 2014 season has been based on price, especially in promoting their money-saving schemes and lower prices. However, it has been noted that this barely helped to improve Tesco’s sales, as the supermarket has been one of the worst performers in the sector with sales dropping by 3.6% in the third quarter of 2014. As a result, their new ad has sought to focus on the customer (Butler & Sweney, 2014: p1). Cialdini’s Weapons of Influence The Tesco advertisement can be analyzed using Cialdini’s weapons of influence, in this case using the weapons of reciprocity, social proof, and liking. Cialdini (2001; p132) identifies reciprocity as one of the weapons of influence, contending that if a request is preceded by a gift that the individual did not expect, then the marketer has a better chance of convincing potential clients. In this case, the customer will feel the importance of returning the marketer’s favour. Tesco uses scenes of their staff aiding customers visiting their supermarket to choose their Christmas decorations, which they hope customers will view as a favour and will reciprocate by buying Christmas decorations from Tesco. Social norms compel people to reciprocate a favour with another (Rodgers & Thorson, 2013: p29). As such, the narrator in the Tesco ad claims that Tesco is there to help customers every step of the way during the Christmas season, making it more likely that potential customers will do their Christmas shopping at Tesco as the supermarket is also doing something for them. This feeling of obligation may make the customers more inclined to accept Tesco’s request. However, using the principle of reciprocity requires that the marketer is clear about their target audience, why the marketer wants to influence them, and what the target group wants (Cronin, 2010: p34). In this case, Tesco is targeting families, as evidenced by the dad rummaging his attic for Christmas decorations, children receiving Christmas decorations from the attic, and a father and son setting up a blow-up Santa Claus figure outside their house. Tesco is seeking to influence them to conduct their Christmas shopping with them and knows that they want the best Christmas shopping items available, thus using an extravagant lights display along with smaller lights displays to show that customers can achieve the best Christmas decorations with Tesco. The ad also uses social proofing as a weapon of influence, which holds that individuals will observe what other similar people are doing when they feel uncertain about their decisions, seeking to get proof or evidence that what they are doing is fine (Cronin, 2010: p40). In the ad, Tesco uses normal, everyday families preparing for Christmas by buying decorations at Tesco. This creates an impression that customers, especially those with families, prefer to do their Christmas shopping at Tesco. For potential customers who are not sure about where to do their shopping, the advert offers social proof that families are best served at Tesco. People will normally act in the same manner as majority of society to gain acceptance to society or social sub-groups (Cronin, 2010: p41). Thus, the lights display outside a Tesco store that is watched by what seems like thousands of people, including the elderly, middle-aged, young people, and children is seeking to influence the potential customer that everybody shops at Tesco. This principle also contends that people tend to follow societal trends and what the society is currently interested in (Jethwaney & Jain, 2012: p60). The Tesco ad’s narrator tells the audience that they should get their hats out and lights on this Christmas, which is said alongside cheering people in a Christmas spirit. Again, this is an attempt at offering social proof that people wear hats and put on their lights during Christmas, which Tesco is offering in their stores. By showing that their efforts have achieved collective approval from the citizens of Wigan, where the lights display is held, the potential customer is offered evidence that this is a trend they should not miss (Jethwaney & Jain, 2012: p61). Finally, the ad also uses liking/likeability as a weapon of influence. This principle holds that people are more likely to be influenced by others who they like and that, if they like someone, they will be more likely to do what is being asked of them (Davis, 2011: p54). Mostly, this principle is based on superficial factors like a person’s physical appearance. In the Tesco ad, a lot of children are used from the beginning and, in fact, there seems to be a child in almost every scene. Most adults generally like children and will do what they can to please their children. In the ad, there is a scene where children are shown ecstatically celebrating as their father hands them Christmas decorations from the attic, while another scene shows a child grinning widely as her mother helps her up to place a star on a Christmas tree. In another scene, a child is shown smiling in anticipation as an electrician climbs onto the roof to install Christmas lights, while children jump around excitedly around a Christmas tree as their mother switches on the Christmas lights. Most potential customers seeking to please their children during Christmas will like the images of happy children, influencing them to shop at Tesco for Christmas. People are most likely to buy from people whom they like, such as people with similar values and beliefs (Davis, 2011: p55). By understanding that Christmas is a family affair, Tesco has created an ad that seeks to influence potential customers by identifying values they like. In this case, they use happy children, bright colours, and lights, which are all, associated with Christmas and are liked by most people during the Christmas period. Rhetorical Techniques Advertisers can use three major persuasive strategies to get potential consumers to purchase their products, which are pathos, ethos, and logos. Pathos involves appealing to the emotions of the audience by evoking an emotional response from them, including happiness or joy (Hetsroni, 2012: p44). In the ad, Tesco uses images of children and their parents happily and excitedly making preparations for Christmas, which evokes emotions of Christmas cheer in the potential consumer and may convince them to try shopping at Tesco for Christmas. Pathos is especially effective when the marketer agrees with underlying values of the audience, appealing to their hopes and imaginations that there will be positive results if they follow the proposed course of action (Hetsroni, 2012: p44). In this case, Tesco appeals to the consumer’s hopes and imaginations of a happy and merry Christmas, imploring them to let Tesco help them with Christmas preparations so that they can be as happy as the families in the ad. The ad also uses the rhetorical technique of logos, which is an appeal to the individual’s reason or logic, offering them proof and evidence required for them to understand what is being said to them (Hetsroni, 2012: p47). The facts offered to the consumer in this case are that Christmas involves green hats and lights and, therefore, customers should shop at Tesco if they are to get the best Christmas paraphernalia. However, logos are not a strong point of this ad as there are minimal figures and facts to support Tesco’s claims. Finally, the ad also uses the technique of ethos, which is an appeal to the presenter’s credibility or authority on the issue being presented (Hetsroni, 2012: p51). Tesco seeks to convince the ad’s audience that they are credible and reliable, placing a green hat on their Tesco sign, showing an employee opening boxes of Christmas decorations, and an entire store lit up with Christmas lights. This is an attempt to persuade the potential customer that Tesco is always ready to give them the best Christmas possible as they are also in the Christmas spirit. References Butler, S., & Sweney, M. (2014, November 9). Tesco aims to light up its fortunes with sparkly Christmas TV ad. Retrieved December 4, 2014, from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/09/tesco-christmas-tv-ad-joins-supermarket-battle-social-media Cialdini, R. (2001). Influence: Science and Practice. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Cronin, A. M. (2010). Advertising, commercial spaces and the urban. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Davis, J. (2011). Advertising research: Theory and practice. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall. Hetsroni, A. (2012). Advertising and reality: A global study of representation and content. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group. Jethwaney, J. N., & Jain, S. (2012). Advertising management. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press. Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. (2013). Advertising theory. New York: Routledge. Read More