How Advertisers Manipulate Consumers - Essay Example

HOW ADVERTISERS MANIPULATE CONSUMERS 348945 How Advertisers Manipulate Consumers Introduction An advertisement refers to a means of communication which is paid via a medium that is non-personal where the person sponsoring it is identified. It has its massage controlled to a certain extent. Advertisements can be talking about sponsorship, underwriting, placement of a certain product or even creating general publicity to the public. Advertisements can be delivered through several media modes such as radio, internet, magazines and television (Keri, 2005). According to Sheriga (2008), early advertisements were just black-and-white. This meant that they did not have a lot of information. By this time most people carrying out the advertisements were not in apposition to pay for the media expenses. However, currently viewers are in a better position to comprehend the advertisements much more easily as almost every body can access the media. This, subsequently have made the advertisements easily visible as well as audible (Amazon.com, 2007). The ultimate outcome normally depends on the manner advertising techniques are employed. There has been, on the other hand, a wide application of what is called custom publishing which usually aims at reaching a particular community segment. This, for instance may include anti-smoking advertisements which has been employed by the cancer charities and other anti-smoking groups in collaboration with several government health departments in trial to contain the tobacco advertisement (Sheriga, 2008). They thus establish their own advertisement in order to bring to lime light the negative impacts of smoking. Initially, several commercial advertisements usually assisting cessation of smoking as well as reduce to risk posed lung cancer and its aftermath. Consumer Manipulation Several advertisers employ some sneaky strategies in order to get the attention of the consumers. Generally, advertisements are expected and as well accepted in every society. They are perceived to have nothing wrong in them by most people who usually view them every day. Most people have created the notion that the products advertised are always good ones and that the products being advertised on televisions have nothing wrong in it. Convincing the consumers to buy the products being advertised came about with some strategies. Several commercials which have nothing to do with a product on the other hand have been employing certain lifestyles (Carroll, 2009). Some of the commonly used strategies include: i). Ideal Families and Kids. Research by Raylight (2007) indicate that most TV adverts targeting families usually show up perfect families that appear to be having a hip looking modern styles such as latest hair cuts, hottest fashions as well as toys. These families appearing in the adverts acts as representatives of the type of ideal families the several children viewing the commercial would prefer their families or even themselves to appear. This subsequently leads the children's families to buying the product being marketed in these commercial adverts. The fact is that buying of these products can not make them perfect families. All what the advertisers want is for you to purchase their products. ii). Star Power Some celebrity stars have been employed to market several products through advertisements. Someone's music star, for instance, convincing them to purchase the products they are advertising would make the music fan to buy the goods without realizing that they don't necessarily possess those products or even use them but they are there just for the money. Celebrity stars are used to get attention of the fans as well as watchers who acknowledge them (Raylight, 2007). iii) Sounds Good The attention of the watchers is sometimes gotten in commercial advertisement by playing some good music and sounds which can add some excitement to the viewers. This mainly applies to commercial products meant for kids. It also applies to some mature people who might happen to be fans of the music or sounds playing in the advert. If they come across the goods or services in the stores, they remember the music that was playing during the advisement or remember the product when they here the playing in another place, thus attracting them to purchase the products or services advertised. iv). Use of tricky Words Despite the fact that the advertisers are expected by law to provide factual information regarding the products they are advertising, sometimes they employ slogans or words which might be misleading the viewers. Some of the common misleading adverts have phrases such as "because we care about you" or "the taste is real" "your choice" or "you really deserve it" even phrases like "it has a better taste now"". Another sneaky phrase is "obviously the best" (Razooz, 2007). v). Become Cool Raylight (2007) hold that several commercials make buyers to buy their goods and services by convincing them that they have purchase their products to be geek. They achieve this by portraying some individuals who don't appear cool testing or using the products or services and eventually somehow emerging to be hip-looking or even performing cool after using their products or services for some time. Although this kind of adverts is good the advertisers usually exaggerates by making the consumers to purchase their products so much that the adverts appears frequently that they annoy the watchers. A good example is in some movie breaks where there is a lot of time taken by the advert making the viewers to shift from that particular channel to another or even switch off the television. This implies that the TV channels as well as sites which are used to advertise these products might end up loosing their audience (Raylight, 2007). Level of buying Consumers Bell (2009) in his research to find out how some companies use strategies in advertising their products indicated that several advertisements have been made with a lot of consumer buying in trial to pass the information to the users. Some technologies have been attempting to reach behavior as well as contextual stuff within the consumers. This has been done with some hope that more appropriate targeted adverts would assist individuals view the adverts. The research holds that what has been taking place is not the consumers seeking the advertisements but rather a situation of not wanting to view the adverts as well as not being in a position to accept if the adverts have some contents they have not asked for. Several companies have been paying the viewers to watch their adverts. This approach includes rewards such as coupons, cash and discounts. The viewers can then watch these adverts over the internet and even in mobile phones. The viewers have also been manipulated by these companies by providing them with some usual proprietary engine which utilizes frequent, informal and quick polls including Pepsi and coke (Bell, 2009). This is meant to see to it that the adverts are provided to specific interested consumers. Several rates for various targeting levels are offered such as ZIP codes, behavioral data and in-depth demographic information. This kind of approach concentrates on providing commercials in order to ensure that the consumers watching the adverts becomes part of the demographic target chosen by the advertiser. Bell (2009) further illustrates that, initially, some advertisers used click firms' idea. Under this people were paid for clicking on certain links used for advertising at a certain rate for every click. But most of the people had no interest with the messages which were appearing there. Even with the current advertising approach, there is much doubt if the provided incentives would be sufficient to make a large number of consumers as well as the youth in general to be involved in this business. The advertisers' assumption is that there is a lot of youth out there who have nothing to do and are desperate for something which would keep them busy or earn them some income. Most of these programs have been abused and producing poorer results than the advertisers are looking for. This is because the approach does not establish actual conversation with the consumers that have passion in the products or the message since this goes far beyond the behavior of view-to-pay. Most of the youths have not shown interest to the advertised brands. They actually don't like the brands being marketed to them and hate having adverts messages send to their phones (Electrictoothsyndrome, 2005). Despite this negative welcome by some young people used to advertise, there has been a raise in the number of the general public members becoming active users for these services. The consumers are perceived to be informed as far as this technology is concerned and the advertisers are usually aware as well as receptive of the technology. Most consumers who happen to be college young adults have become the most appropriate target as they are believed to view the idea as cool, innovative, adventurous and fun hence are tempted to try it. Gengler (2009) indicates that advertisements aiming at reaching specific interests of women who are increasingly taking part in significant role of decisions concerning purchasing are actually establishing trust for their brands as well as creating a boost for their online experience. The companies using these approach target engine which have groups of users of the web into a number of segments based on demographic, geographic as well as lifestyle dimensions (Sloba, 2004). These include use of any possible approach such as asking for consumer's location, weather, family or even property. The demographics are employed in order to put the consumers into several buckets after which the advertisers try to reach the specific group they want using these buckets. Female shoppers have emerged as the favorite spot due their purchasing decisions for house holds (Gengler, 2009). A large percentage of women have expressed their interest in online couponing. This has been used by some companies as for their brands. Several women are used as a means of establishing interest in joining a list of subscriptions and motivation for making purchasing decisions. Some advertisers have agreed that this approach have made them to target new individuals who are added to their databases as highly qualified and engaged consumers (Fraedrich, 2004). Celebrity Appeal Stirland (2008) hold that celebrities and stars have been employed all over the world to win the attention of consumers as well as their interests and favorable attitudes regarding the brand products. Such celebrities and stars include famous actors, musicians, athletes and politicians. In some cases the strategy has been working while in others it has failed. Celebrity campaigns that are successful become famous while failed ones have been noted to be below average in their capability to alter preference for certain brand products. O'Brien (2007) in his research stated that consumers purchase your personality and ideas even before thinking of buying your goods and services. This implies that the brand, its marketing as well as relationship with customers are more crucial than the products, price and smarts. Establishing a personal brand calls for identification of the emotions one intends to create within the audience. A phrase for reflecting the emotion is then identified that is identified by the viewers. This makes the company's clients to feel special. Thus advertising in these names targets reserving the name in the consumers' minds. This is the reason as to why some of the best endorsement deals affords to equate the goods and services with the celebrity's appeal. In other cases the brand surpasses the celebrity. This would imply that the celebrity would no longer be remembered for their initial celebrity status but more acknowledged for their association with the specific brand. Visual Rhetoric and Strategies of Persuasion (2009) claims that this makes the consumers to buy the brand because of the image. In cases where the adverts becomes successful, the consumers want to purchase these products not because of the product's quality or personal preference but because of attachment they have to the celebrity due to their cultural status. These brands' adverts establish arguments which are concentrated precisely on the appeal of the celebrity (Cabell, 2009). Conclusion After consumers have evaluated several alternatives, they become ready to create a buying decision. Sometimes the decisions don't usually lead to actual purchase due to manipulation by these adverts. This depends on the extent the consumers get manipulated by the advertisement. Consumers have also been bought to view certain sites with advertisements. Celebrities on the other hand have been successful to some extent in advertising products to their admirers. Advertisements, as they must exist ought to be done in a normal and controlled approach. They don't need all these lies or the sneaky tricks to survive. The audience doesn't have to be surrounded by several adverts every time to inform them of what to purchase. References Amazon.com. 2007. How Consumer Culture Manipulates Parents and Harms Young Minds. (Online). Available at: http://www.amazon.com/Buy-Baby-Consumer-Culture-Manipulates/dp/0618463518 [Accessed Dec 26, 2009] Bell, L. 2009. Consumers Buy into Beezag's Ad Model. (Online). Available at: http://www.digitalmediabuzz.com/2009/10/beezag-ad-model/ [Accesses Dec 26, 2009] Cabell, A. 2009. Celebrity Endorsements reach for the Stars. . (Online). Available at: http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asppf_id=160 [Accessed Dec 26, 2009] Carroll, R. 2009. Submittal. (Online). Available at: http://www.skepdic.com/subliminal.html [Accessed Dec 26, 2009] Electrictoothsyndrome. 2005. 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Available at: http://www.stanford.edu/steener/f03/PWR1/whatisvisrhet4.htm [Accessed Dec 26, 2009] Read More