A Campaign by Fragrance Maker Old Spice - Essay Example

Paper 2 PAPER 2 Introduction “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” is a campaign by fragrance maker Old Spice, which features formerFootball player Isaiah Mustafa shirtless in a number of locations, such as on a tropical beach, in the shower, on horseback, and on a yacht. Isaiah Mustafa talks in a witty, fast voice tone and does this directly into the camera, talking about his masculinity and manliness, as well as the fact that if a woman’s man used body wash from Old Spice, then they could be just like him. This ad was launched with print ads, TV ads, and banner display ads, although it gained most of its traction from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, which made it a sensation across the internet. The campaign was re-launched, this time with Isaiah Mustafa answering messages from fans and consumers in real time via YahooAnswers, Facebook, and Twitter. Using sex appeal and humor for entertainment, this ad was targeted at women since the company believed that women are the decision makers when it comes to purchasing household goods in the store. The campaign was very successful, especially in the generation of interest on social media. However, it also led to heated debate about whether the use of branded entertainment as means of communicating with the target audience could drive sales by resonating with them. This paper will use the Elaboration Likelihood Model in analyzing and describing how it is used in the ad, as well as why the model fits with the strategy and message of the campaign. To do this, the paper will first provide an overview of the theory, after which the model will then be applied to the ad campaign. Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion While the concept of persuasion has gained a bad reputation because of its association with being pressured or swindled, it is not inherently negative and should also be considered as a process of influencing audiences (Petty et al, 2012). For example, Perloff (2014) argues that persuasion is, indeed, a form of communication and that it needs one party to send a clear and strong message to another. In addition, persuasion is also an attempt to influence another party and, in this case, understanding the audience, as well as what drives them, increases the likelihood that this attempt will succeed. Moreover, persuasion also uses interactions and aesthetics to make messages more persuasive to audiences. Finally, persuasion also influences and reinforces attitudes based on the assumption that the opinions of the audience should be strengthened over time. One of the most popular and cited persuasion models is Petty and Cacioppo’s (1986) elaboration likelihood model that explains how behavior is shaped by the shaping of attitudes. The elaboration likelihood model is a dual-process theory of persuasion, which describes the manner in which the attitudes of individuals in society form and change (Cacioppo & Petty, 1984). This theory seeks to explain how individuals process stimuli in various ways, the reasons why these different ways of processing stimuli are used, and how they influence changes in attitude. One of the core ideas underlying ELM is that when individuals receive a communication, this communication can be processed via different levels of elaboration, ranging between low elaboration and high elaboration, in which elaboration refers to the degree of thought. ELM also predicts that the individual’s level of elaboration is determined by different psychological change processes operating at varying degrees. Moreover, this theory also predicts that the resultant attitude of the individual is dependent on the degree of thought that is used in the context of persuasion. Finally, ELM also predicts that specific variables may possess several persuasion roles, such as through creating bias in the individual’s direction of thought concerning the communication and also by acting as a judgment cue for the individual (Petty & Cacioppo, 2011). Resulting changes in attitude due to the communication’s persuasion qualities are predictive of behavior, while also being relatively resistant and enduring (Cacioppo et al, 1985). The ELM theory presents two different and unique routes of message processing, which are the peripheral and central routes. In this case, the specific change processes on the continuum of elaboration are numerous and range from high to low. Where the change in attitude is determined by processes occurring at the low end of the continuum of elaboration, the individual is persuaded via the peripheral route. On the other hand, where attitudes are determined by processes operating at the elaboration continuum’s higher end, the individual is persuaded through the central route. If the individual receiving a message has the ability and motivation to consider and think about the message, as well as the subject matter of the message, then persuasion follows the central route (Petty & Cacioppo, 1984). Such individuals are at the higher elaboration end and, as such, they assess the message within the information as it relates to knowledge they already have, coming to a rational and reasoned attitude with the information’s support (Cacioppo & Petty, 1985). The person’s motivation in processing the receive message is influenced by the need for cognition, as well as the individual’s interest in the message or its subject matter. On the other hand, if the individual receiving the message already possesses negatively strong feelings concerning the subject matter of the communication or message, it is likely that an opposite effect will occur. In this case, it is more likely the person will be resistant to the message, in turn causing them to diverge from the position proposed by the communication (Petty & Briñol, 2011). Using the central route has several advantages for the entity conveying the message, including the fact that changes in attitude are more likely to last for a longer time. The peripheral route, on the other hand, is mostly used by conveyors of messages when the intended recipients have minimal interest in the topic. In addition, the peripheral route is more common where the message recipients do not have as much ability to process the information contained in the communication (Petty, 2013). Because these recipients occupy the lower continuum of elaboration, they do not examine the message as intensely as those in the higher continuum. Indeed, such individuals tend to be more reliant on the initial presentations of the message, negative and positive cues of the message’s context of persuasion, and on the message’s general impression. In addition, the mood of the recipient also plays an essential role in how the message is received. Consequently, the recipient of the message tends to retain their previous attitudes on the message and its subject, especially if they fail to notice these peripheral influences (Cacioppo & Petty, 1989). In case the recipient does notice the peripheral influences, it is more likely that attitude changes are only temporary and do not last as long as attitude changes due to central influences. Applying the ELM Theory to Old Spice Ad The elaboration likelihood model is one of the most widely used paragons in the analysis of messages that seek to persuade audiences. Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Your Man Could Smell Like” ad clearly uses the peripheral persuasion route, which can be seen by the ad’s pandering to the low motivation by the consumer to process messages, as well as other culturally embedded reasons for the use of products such as power, attraction, and sex (Berry & Shields, 2014). The ad uses the peripheral persuasion route, mindfully tailoring its message and cues towards both female and male audiences, which provide it with demographic, psychographic, and competitive advantages as compared to only targeting the male consumer of Old Spice. The topic of cosmetics, for example deodorants and fragrances, is one that necessitates low elaboration and, therefore, the use of peripheral cues such as novelty, visual appeals, and humor is the best way to go in enhancing the audience’s liking and recall of the product’s message presented by the campaign (Wagner & Petty, 2011). In marketing fragrances, the only belief that audiences have is that it makes them smell better. The ELM theory emphasizes on the importance of the audience being able to process and elaborate on the message, as well as their motivation to do so. In this case, because the fragrance and its subject matter require low involvement from the audience, there is less motivation to elaborate on the content of the message (Brechman & Purvis, 2015). Thus, the audience is more likely to be persuaded by messages and cues that are peripheral to the purchase of Old Spice shower products, such as the use of celebrities like Isaiah Mustafa to present the message, as well as the use of humor. In the ad, former Football star player and cultural icon Isaiah Mustafa seems is summoning women to make a comparison between him and their partners, while traversing a yacht deck, a bathroom, and a landscape on horseback within 30 seconds in spare and simultaneous movements. His message is that as the man that your man could smell like, nothing is impossible. The audience in this case is more likely to rely on such general impressions of how the fragrance benefits them, rather than facts and figures on the benefits of using fragrances (Schumann et al, 2012). Old Spice directly plays on the psychographic preferences of women, while also seeking to urge men not to use shower products meant for their women and, instead to use products are meant for men like Isaiah Mustafa. Old Spice seeks to emasculate the male viewer, while also providing a solution in their shower wash that will correct their impaired masculinity and, therefore, turning the spotlight on men and seeking to lead women’s attitude to become judges of their men (Briñol et al, 2014). Mustafa repeatedly intones ladies to compare him to their men and to see that, sadly, their men are not like him. In this case, men already want to be like Mustafa before he has even presented the product. Unlike previous ad messages that sought to make women the objects of judgment by men as sexual beings, which, in turn isolated women and made them almost impervious to such tactics (Valkenburg & Peter, 2013), this ad makes women the sole judges of men’s use of shower wash. This not only makes women feel empowered, they also feel that they are right, which is a feeling that in the ELM theory is associated with peripheral routes of persuasion. Generally, this ad motivates both men and women through peripheral but effective cues to purchase Old Spice. In the peripheral persuasion route, the power concept is critically important, especially as marketing messages in Western culture are geared towards the attainment and embracement of power, specifically for males (Eisend, 2013). By making the loss of this power seem imminent to men, Old Spice preys on the fear of losing power by men to women. The overarching theme in the Old Spice ad is persuasion using the peripheral route of the ELM theory and episodic framing to influence its male and female audiences. There are several emotional appeals that Old Spice uses to persuade its audience that Old Spice is the best shower wash for men. Some of the emotional appeals that are used in peripheral cues include lifestyle, desire, humor, body image, and money (Petty & Briñol, 2014). Isaiah Mustafa’s words and what they mean, for example, express humor, while desire is expressed via the ad’s association of Mustafa’s body with the man that all women want. The Old Spice ad only features one character in Isaiah Mustafa, who is a well-built African American man. In the beginning he is not recognizable, although he becomes more recognizable by the second ad series as a remembered and notable individual. Although development of characters is a tactic that has been in use for a long time (Flynn et al, 2011), the series of Old Spice ads only show Mustafa’s character changing in terms of location and physical appearance. In short, the character does not have to negotiate though personal experiences, which is the basis for the traditional storytelling narrative. This is important because audiences do not have the level of motivation to process information on deodorants and fragrances that they only use to smell good (Lowry et al, 2012). The ad also uses visual cues like a hot tub, a yacht, and diamonds, which aid in reinforcing their relation to lifestyle and money, which the audience already knows. The aforementioned emotional appeals are reinforced by verbal and auditory cues, such as Mustafa’s authoritative voice, as well as his use of rhetorical questions, which aided in targeting the ad at women who may buy their husbands or boyfriends shower wash and other personal care items. Conclusion The main argument of this paper was that the ELM theory helps in explaining how communication professionals who created the Old Spice “The Man That Your Man Could Smell Like” motivate, as well as engage, their audience. Since audiences do not have the motivation to process information on personal care items, the goal for Old Spice was most likely to have their audience notice the message, remember it, and act upon it. Using periphery cues and periphery routed communication and messaging, especially through emotional cues, has been shown as being better for Old Spice in attaining their goal. These appeals are usually effective in persuading the audience that they need to buy a product if they are repeated often, specifically for the audience to remember the message. In conclusion, the analysis has shown that Old Spice utilizes peripheral persuasion routes, mindfully tailoring their emotional cues to both female and male consumers. References Berry, T. R., & Shields, C. (2014). Source attribution and credibility of health and appearance exercise advertisements: Relationship with implicit and explicit attitudes and intentions. Journal of health psychology, 19(2), 242-252 Brechman, J. M., & Purvis, S. C. 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