THE PROJECTS

ADVERTISING

Persuasive Strategies

Activity 1

Practice labelling pathos, logos, and ethos by placing a P, L, or E in the blank :

 P A child is shown covered in bug bites after using an inferior bug spray.

 E Tiger Woods endorses Nike.

 L Sprite Zero is 100% sugar-free.

 L A 32-oz. bottle of Tide holds enough to wash 32 loads.

 E A commercial shows an image of a happy couple riding in a Corvette.

 E Cardiologists recommend Ecotrin more than any other brand of aspirin.

 P Advil Liqui-Gels provide up to 8 hours of continuous pain relief.

 E Miley Cyrus appears in Oreo advertisements.

 L People who need more energy drink Red Bull Energy Drink.

 P A magazine ad shows people smiling while smoking cigarettes.

Activity 2

Which strategies are used in these advertisements?

1. A movie star talks about his favourite food (endorsement)
2. An ad connects lipstick with a beautiful model (association)
3. An ad  for a fast-food restaurant shows a close-up of a burger (sense appeal)
4. An ad asks you to go online to learn more (call to action)
5. An ad for an exercise product promises “amazing results” (hype)
6. An announcer repeats a product slogan (repetition)
7. Buy a burger; get free fries. (bribery)
8. A toy manufacturer encourages kids to be the first on their block to have a new toy. (Avante grade)
9. . A dish soap leaves dishes virtually spotless. (weasel words)

Activity 3

Look for two advertisements and analyse the techniques they use to persuade consumers.

Technique	Ad #1	Ad #2
Association	Ad 1	Ad 2
Call to action	Ad 1	Ad 2
Claims	Ad 1	Ad 2
Fear	Ad 1	Ad 2
Games and activities	Ad 1	Ad 2
Humour	Ad 1	Ad 2
Hype	Ad 1	Ad 2
Must-have	Ad 1
Prizes, sweepstakes, and “free” gifts	Ad 1	Ad 2
Repetition	Ad 1	Ad 2
Sales and price	Ad 1	Ad 2
Sense appeal	Ad 1	Ad 2
Special or scientific ingredients	Ad 1	Ad 2
Testimonials and endorsements	Ad 1	Ad 2

Target population

Advertising isn’t a random process—commercials are often carefully chosen to match the “target audience” of a particular show. A target group may be men, women, children, teens, a certain ethnic group, rich, poor, athletes, business people, families, activists, liberals, conservatives, etc. The characteristics of this “target audience” are referred to as demographics. 

Activity 1

Choose two ads and analyse their demographics.

	Colgate Toothpaste	Nails Bangle Blitz
Age range of the target audience:	Adults	Children
Race of the target audience	All	All
Gender of the target audience	Both	Girls
Audio	A specialist talking	Music
Sexist	No	Completely

Activity 2

Choose a target audience: 

• Children

If you were going to design an ad for this group, what would you need to know? Create a list of factors and details you’d need to know to create an effective ad for this target group (triggers, desires, insecurities, etc.). 

Factors

-Colours

-Music

-Interests

-Image of the performers

-Slogan

-Logo

Activity 3

Look for a couple of sets of two ads for the same type of product that target different groups. Write down who the ads are targeting and what strategies the designers are using to influence their target group. 

Target Audience

Pantene: Adults

H&s: Adults

Both are shampoo brands.

Strategies used

Pantene: They use the image of the singer Selena Gomez telling that she takes care of her hair as well as she does with her body. She says that strong is always beautiful.

Link 

H&s: They use the image of the famous Michael Phelps telling the people that before a competition, he only needs 2 things: Music and the confidence to win (which means their shampoo). 

Link

List ways that we can become more aware of how ads are trying to influence us and what we can do to resist that influence and make decisions for ourselves about what we buy (or don’t). 

How to resist

-Recognize the brand of the ad.

-We aware of the slogan.

- Search information of the product.

-Look for the fine print.

-Don’t let the brand concern you with an emotional advertisement.

- Don’t let them trick you by a pretty face.

- Be aware that a shampoo for example, won’t change your life.

- Not all the expensive products are the best ones.

-Recognize the strategies used.

-Search for the target of the ad.

ADS ANALYSIS

   Activity 1

Choose six advertisements–two magazine ads, two television commercials, and two internet-based advertisements—and explain how each uses pathos, logos, and ethos. Not every advertisement will use all three, but examine the ad carefully before you decide to write “none.” Also, list any other strategies used. Refer to the definitions and examples given earlier for help.

Product Name	Use of pathos emotional response	Use of logos  DADES	Use of ethos CELEBRITIES	Other strategies
PEPSI	Joy and fun		Cardi B
PANTENE	If you buy the product you will feel strong and powerful	Strong is beautiful	Selena Gomez
DIOR			Johnny Depp
DOLCE & GABBANA			Madonna
BEATS	Feeling that with their product, you will succeed.	Unleashed	Famous athletes
DIOR 2	With that fragrance, we will feel full of emotions and life		Natalie Portman

Activity 2

Now choose one of the commercials analysed and study it in depth following the questions here.

ADVERTISING: Selena Gomez Pantene
ON THE LINE
What type of ad is this? (print, digital, radio etc)  What product or service is being advertised?  What do you see/hear in the advertisement?	It is a digital ad. The product that is being advertised is The Pantene PRO-V shampoo. I see a celebrity announcing that product by saying that all the strength is beautiful while she practices what it seems to be yoga.
BETWEEN THE LINE
Who is the advertiser targeting? (target audience) What benefit/lifestyle is it promoting? Is the commercial an accurate picture of reality?  What deep need or desire is the ad promising to fulfil? (e.g. love, happiness, wealth, beauty, friendship, joy?)  What does the commercial promise to the consumer?  What lifestyle is portrayed in the commercial?  What is being sold/promoted? What is the message? In what ways does the advertisement of the product or service attract your attention? How do the images in the commercial relate to the product?  Is anyone other than the intended audience likely to see this commercial? What impact might this commercial have on that audience?	The target audience is adult people. It is promoting healthier hair. The announcement is nothing but false taking into account that it has been manipulated with photoshop. Is promoting lifestyle, beauty and health all in one. The commercial promises strength. The lifestyle portrayed in the commercial it’s perfect and stereotypical, a life that almost anyone has. What that commercial promotes is hair products with the message that if you want to have a smooth and beautiful hair you must use their products. This advert attracts your attention by making Selena Gomez (in this case) do movements that make her hair move showing it clearly and giving scientific data. The relation between the product and the images shown is that, as it promotes hair products they show a lot the hair of a famous actress moving her hair and showing the product too. We personally think that this commercial will be likely to see to anyone other than the intended audience because they use an actress that should have lots of fans and it is, in  some way, entertaining to see. The impact might be that more people will buy these products.
BEYOND THE LINES
Is the advertisement successful? Why? Why not? How does this commercial make you feel?  What, if any, are the negative impacts of using or consuming this product – on the targeted audience? On other people? On other species? On the planet Who is excluded by the ad? (i.e., what classes, races, body types, values, etc.)?  How could the advertiser make the product/service more appealing for you? How are advertisers responsible for the effects of their campaigns?	The advertisement is successful because lots of people had seen it and buy the product in consequence. it makes you feel kind of motivated because of the tone it has. In this commercial aren’t shown ani kind of negative impacts. People excluded from this add is bald people and men with short hair. The advertiser could make the product more appealing for us if it shows people that we see in our normal day, making the product seem more “natural”. Advertisers are responsible for the effects of their campaigns because they have created the campaign and they should have been conscious of the effects it could have.

ADS

Look at printed and audiovisual ads:

Colgate Toothpaste

48-hour Rapid Detox

Nails Bangle Blitz

Amazon Kindle vs iPad

Web Resources for Finding Example Advertisements

Fairness in Advertising

Activity 1

After having read the articles

1.- What is targeted advertising?

Is advertising that caters to your own personal tastes and interests.

2.- What kind of information do marketers know about you?

Where do you live, your gender, your hobbies, your political opinions, your favourite clothes and similar stuff, what media do you like, what devices do you have in your home...

3.- Why do we get the ads we get?

Advertisers discover this information by tracking our activity on the Internet.

4.- List at least three things you can do to limit what sites know about you.

• Delete the cookies of your Privacy Settings and ask websites not to track you.
• Visit an opt-out site
• Reduce the amount of information you share on social media.

5.- What is the conclusion of the research on adverts and obese people in South Africa?

The conclusion is that the numerous misleading adverts of fast and unhealthy food increase the percentage of obesity in poor and illiterate classes.

6.- Why is it so important that toys are not sexist?

When we are kids, toys are our life and the tools of early learning, which include lessons about gender. If toys are sexist, kids will be sexist.

7.- Which are the consequences of targeting toys by gender?

Targeting toys by gender has consequences beyond socialization and the development of spatial intelligence. Toys created “for boys” make them get more spatial knowledge and encouragement. Parents are more likely to use words that foster spatial thinking. Another consequence is that the biased views and stereotypes might be influencing children.

Activity 2

Watch these four commercials for toys.  Analyze them by answering these questions. 

1.- Who is being more active (running, jumping, moving) in the ads, boys or girls? 

• Girls

2.- Who is being more quiet and calm in these ads, boys or girls? 

• Boys

3.- Who is playing outside more, boys or girls? 

• Boys

4.- Who is playing in the house/ kitchen more, boys or girls? 

• Girls

5.- Who is taking care of babies/ cooking things/ shopping, boys or girls? 

• Girls

6.- Who is fixing/ building things, boys or girls? 

• Boys

7.- Who is wearing pink/ blue, boys or girls? 

• Girls

8.- Who is playing with weapons, boys or girls? 

• Boys

9.- Who is making art, boys or girls? 

• Girls

Activity 3

An opinion essay about gendered toy ads

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding 'gendered toy ads' recently, so I will state my opinion in hopes of clarifying some aspects of this argument.

Firstly, from my point of view, it is not an ideology issue as it is an economic one. Stereotypes exist for a reason: it is true that more boys prefer to play with cars than with dolls and vice-versa, even if that is not always the case, and since a company's major aim is to make the most benefit out of their products, I find natural that they would design their advert to cater to a specific demographic.

That said, nobody forces a parent to keep their purchases within the bounds of these stereotypes. They are merely a suggestion, a guide that one chooses to follow or not. I gather that (most) parents are aware of their children's tastes with toys and are also wise enough to not buy just based on an arbitrary concept such as an ad.

In the end, it all comes down to our personal preferences and whether we wish to conform to that message or not.

Planning Your Advertisement

Product or Service: 

Our product or service will be about the following product or service: 

Our service will be about a play centre.

Explain or describe this product or service: 

This service will be a place where child’s and their families can come to play and spend the day. The people wanting to use this service should pay a price of 10$ per year to have access to all our activities and events, if they have some doubts it’s possible to have a trial day by free. We don’t want our playing centre to become a child parking lot for parents wanting to have a rest, so all kids fewer than 5 should be accompanied by their parents or legal tutor. We also offer some activities to parents having an interest in learning more about how to educate a child. 

Demographics:

Describe your targeted audience:

Age: 0-12 Gender: Male

13-17 Female

18-24 Other

25-35

36-50

50  +

What will be your headline or tagline, which should appeal or “speak to” your targeted audience?

A magic hideout for children to develop personality by playing.

What might the advertiser want the responder to think, feel or do?

The advertiser might want the responder to go to this play centre feeling comfortable and seeing it like a familiar place where their children will learn how to confront a chaotical world that is not made for them by playing.

Persuasive Techniques:

Explain in detail how your advertisement will use pathos (emotion) to sell the product:

Normally, parents want their children to be happy and successful in life, we can help them to achieve that only playing. We will show them the way we teach kids how to emphasise, work in a group, react to problems, and all the things they need to know to be able to understand the world where they life guiding them by playing games and with their families (if they want, it’s not compulsory) sharing this experience with them.

Explain in detail how your advertisement will use logos (facts/stats) to sell the product:

Psychological researchers affirm that it’s essential for kids to play during their childhood to have a correct development and an easier comprehension of the world. Most parents ignore that and think that games and playing is a waste of time and don’t give it the importance it really has. We will inform these to the parents and give them the results that prove that to convince them of going to our play centre.

Explain in detail how your advertisement will use ethos (credibility) to sell the product:

All the people working in our play centre will have a degree in social education, pedagogy and other professionals of child education. Apart from that, we will show to the sceptical the data collected by specialist comparing the evolution and development of child’s attending play centres and children that didn’t attend these play centres.

What techniques do you intend to use in your ad? Be sure to review the advertisement techniques for ideas and information. You must list at least three: 

Strategy # 1: Colours. We plan on using vivid and eye-catching colours to attract and retain the viewer's attention for longer.

Strategy # 2: Pleasant pictures We'll show images of children having fun and enjoying their time in the play centre to convey trust and

Strategy # 3: Appeal to sense. We'll appeal to the parent's desire to provide a healthy and enriching environment for their child to grow up in.

What images or graphics do you believe might help you to sell your product or service?

Images of the child’s playing together, child’s with their family and images of an activity that child’s liked.

Fairness:

Which format do you think will work best for your project? Explain.

The format we think will work the best for our project it's the poster one. We have thinked that, because we can make some different versions from it and put them throw the city and near schools, where parents will see them by sure. 

Is it a fair commercial? Why?

Yes, it is. The only thing that we promote with this commercial is the importance of playing during childhood for kids and the way it could help them in the present and inthe future. In this commercial, we don’t show anything except the truth and it’s impossible that it could have negative effects.