Psychology in Advertising and Marketing - Essay Example

Psychology plays an important part in advertising and marketing.  The fact of the matter is that advertising has become something of an art form in which marketers have tried to leverage various aspects of human psychological behavior as a way of convincing a potential buyers that they should buy a particular product or utilize a particular service. Accordingly, the following review and analysis will consider Susan Krauss's “The lure of celebrity endorsements” article.  Through such a review, it is the hope of this author that the reader will be able to come to a more informed understanding of the way in which psychology is used for effective marketing and advertising purposes within the current society. 

Ultimately, the way in which the marketer seeks to portray overall consciousness within a product offering is almost always linked to the identification of self-awareness. For instance, the article in question elaborates on the way in which a celebrity endorser necessarily exhibits upon the consumer a heightened sense of self-awareness as a result of personal appearance, social class, or overall beauty and societal standing in general. Whereas a product can be sold based on its usefulness, advertisers and marketers in general usually try to have celebrity endorsements because this help to give their product an edge. As a result of the way that global culture has grown to respect and regard celebrities to such a high degree, the psychological impacts of celebrity endorsement are great. This understanding of the way in which society has come to appreciate celebrity as the representation of good taste and the so-called “good life” is another indicator with regards to the way in which the reader should seek to understand and relate to the way in which celebrity advertising is able to integrate to such a great and actionable degree within the consumer base.

Another aspect of psychology that is referenced in the article is the fact that psychological motivation also plays a key role with regard to buyer behavior and marketing/advertising.  The reader can come to understand that the point that the celebrity endorser is able to engage the audience within and of itself is not the most important fact.  Instead, it is the motivation that they are able to represent that is what most deeply impacts the potential buyer and drives them towards making a particular purchase or engaging with a particular product in another way. Although it can be understood by the reader that celebrity endorsers are able to manipulate the individual to act in a certain way, the fact of the matter is that they are able to use their “expert” power in order to encourage the buyer that they are making a wise decision based upon the fact that it is a decision that a celebrity has made, or stands by, themselves. Oftentimes, these psychologically motivated choices are related to beauty/human sexuality, the level to which productivity can be assumed inferred (power dynamics), and a hierarchical ranking of intrinsic versus extrinsic value.

Within this particular article, the authors analyze the way by which advertisers use celebrity endorsers to approach the consumer from a multi-layered motivational approach. Due to the fact that all consumers cannot be engaged in the same topics, the authors seek to make a quantification analysis of the most common way that this motivation is engaged. As has been discussed within the first part of this paragraph, it was determined that motivation related to human sexuality, power dynamics, and hierarchical ranking of intrinsic versus extrinsic value are the three most common approaches with are used (Krauss 1). As a way of understanding this, the reader can and should understand the general assumption and understanding that celebrity endorsements are not one-dimensional. Instead, the reader can appreciate the fact that the advertisers seek to integrate with the largest sub-section of the general population based upon key dynamics and psychological indicators that are referenced throughout the broadest swaths of society. As can and should be noted from the preceding analysis, these trends and levels of psychological integration are almost invariably ranked rather low on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; choosing to appeal to the desire of the individual to be sexually attractive and/or fit into a greater or lesser degree with the society in which they interact.

Although there are a number of takeaways that can be understood from the information which has been discussed above, both with respect to the original ideas from this author as well as the inference which can be gained from the research studies which a been listed, the most important take away is necessary with regards to the multifaceted and multilayered approach that celebrity endorsements are able to engender within the potential consumer. Although it may be easy for the reader to look at how celebrity endorsements impact different layers of psychology, the fact of the matter is that regardless of the level of understanding, such an approach necessarily works and has worked to a great degree in order to positively present products to the consumer base.