1. •Most people believe advertising doesn’t influence
their choices … yet advertising is a multi-million dollar
business.
•Businesses spend money on advertising because IT
WORKS!
•Advertising influences us to buy products even when
we don’t realize we’re being influenced.
•All advertising works on the basic principle of making
us WANT something, even if we don’t NEED it.
2. Advertising Techniques
Advertisers use many different techniques to convince
people to buy their products. For example: SEX.
The suggestion is clear: buy the suit; get the sexy girl.
Watch the video that follows and try to see if you can guess what product is being
sold before the ad ends. How is sex used to sell the product?
4. American Apparel has been criticized for using semi-
nude models who appear to be underage girls …
…although the company claims all the models are
actually over 18.
5. Advertisers may use
“weasel words”
like “virtually,” “helps control,” or “up to.” These words allow
advertisings to make BIG claims for their product, then
undercut the claims if they’re not quite true.
6. Take a closer look at this ad…
Can you read the fine print at the bottom?
It says: “Removes up to 100% of visible dandruff flakes.
Claim based on the visibility of flakes at two-foot
distance when used regularly.”
7. Advertisers may also use …
Vague claims: Saying a product is “better” or offers
“more” without telling us – better than what? more
than what?
“Water is wet” claims: Saying something about a
product that’s true for every product of that type – for
example, saying a cereal is “made with the goodness of
grain.” What else would a cereal be made with?
“So what” claims: Claims that are true, but don’t
actually make the product any better than any other.
“Has more than twice the iron of other supplements!”
OK, but is twice the iron actually better for you?
8. Humour
Sometimes, advertisers know that consumers are aware of vague claims
and similar tricks. Ads may make fun of these claims to make us laugh,
as with this ad for “New” Shreddies.
Amazingly, this ad actually WORKED to increase sales of Shreddies – and
won a major advertising award.
9. Humour in advertising can have the
effect of making a product more
memorable and giving consumers
positive associations with the product
… as with another ad that revitalized
interest in an older, “classic” product
and became a viral YouTube sensation:
10. Advertisers Use Association
Advertisers try to get you to feel positive about their
product by associating it with something you already
feel positive about.
Are you proud to be a Canadian? Do you love your
country?
Watch how the following ads link Canada with the
products being sold:
11. It’s Not Just Sex, Humour and
Patriotism…
Advertisers will use images of people having fun at
parties, beautiful landscapes, babies, puppies …
…even if these things have NO connection to the
product they’re selling.
Positive images become connected in our minds with
the produce that’s being sold.
12. Advertisers Try to Address our
Concerns (even if they don’t really care)
For instance, as more people become concerned about
the environment, products are advertised as
“environmentally friendly.”
13. This can backfire. Many companies are
accused of “Greenwashing”
Greenwashing is when a product is advertised as being
good for the environment without any actual evidence
that it is.
Sometimes, the product may even be harmful!
The video that follows gives some more information
about greenwashing and how to spot it.
14. Claiming a product is good for you …
(because everyone knows parents are concerned about their
kids’ health)
…can also backfire
as the makers of Nutella just found out.
They got sued for claiming their product was a healthy
breakfast food, when in fact it has about the same
nutritional content as CHOCOLATE ICING. True story.
15. •What’s acceptable in an ad in one place may be unacceptable in
another.
•For example, in France it’s common to see ads featuring topless
female models during prime-time TV viewing. This would not
be acceptable in North America.
•Certain products may not be consider acceptable to advertise.
For example, in the U.S. it’s common to see ads for medications
on television. In Canada, these kind of ads are much more
strictly controlled.
16. Cigarette ads, for example …
Cigarette ads have been
banned on US television
since 1970, but are still
allowed in some
magazines. All tobacco ads
have been banned in
Canada since 1988.
Anti-smoking activists like
to remind us that at least
two of the former
“Marlboro Man” models
died of lung cancer …
17. …which led to “ads” like this:
Some ads are developed not by businesses to sell a product,
but by organizations to promote an attitude or idea.
19. •Marketing has been big business for most of the 20th century.
•But it used to be simpler than it is now.
•Once upon a time, most people in North America were
listening to the same radio shows, reading the same magazines,
and watching the same TV shows on a handful of TV channels.
•Advertisers just had to figure out who would be watching that
show or reading that magazine (kids, senior citizens,
housewives, etc.), design their ad for that market, and pay for an
advertising spot.
20. You could create an ad and be sure millions of people
would see it – because people had fewer media choices.
21. In 1984, the Wendys commercial you just saw
was recognized all over North America
It was as well-known in its time as the “Old Spice”
commercial is today, if not more so (and the “Where’s the
Beef?” lady was as famous as the Old Spice guy.
But in the 80s, Wendy’s knew everyone would see the ad
because everyone was watching the same handful of
network television stations.
Today’s advertisers need to be much more creative in
getting consumers to look for their ads and promote the ads
themselves … as we do when we share a video on Facebook
or recommend it on YouTube.
22. Today, we live in a different world
Consumers have endless choices – hundreds of TV
channels, the entire internet to choose from.
Advertisers have more ways to reach us, but since we’re
using so many different media outlets, they have to
work harder to get our attention.
Rather than relying just on traditional ads, businesses
use more:
Product placement
Interactive advertising
Targeted marketing
Creating brand loyalty through “lifestyle marketing”
23. What is
“Product Placement?”
The following video explains a little of how “product
placement” and “branded content” are used to sell
advertising through entertainment, such as TV shows
and movies.
24. Interactive Advertising
Marketers are just beginning to explore the
possibilities of advertising in an interactive online
world. Consumers are now being offered chances
to participate in marketing campaigns, not just
view them.
Remember the Old Spice guy? For a limited time,
he accepted requests on Twitter to make custom
videos, which kept interest in the Old Spice
campaign active. The video that follows is an
example of one of these:
25. Remember the recent Lays chips campaign that
invited people to vote on the most popular new
flavour?
Expect to see a LOT more “interactive” marketing
campaigns in future as advertisers harness the power
of Facebook, Twitter and other social media to get
consumers involved in promoting products.
26. Targeted Marketing
Today’s technology allows companies to track what
websites you’ve visited and what products you’ve
bought in the past.
Based on that information, they can target online ads
specifically to you, for products they think you’ll be
interested in.
Ads may also be targeted to you based on demographics
– your age, where you live, whether you’re male or
female.
27. For example, when I’m on
Facebook, I see ads for:
a cookbook for “kid-friendly meals.”
Facebook knows I’m a mom with
school-aged kids. (They’re right)
the “flat-belly diet,” because Facebook
assumes all women in their 40s hate their
bodies and want to be skinnier. (They’re
wrong)
28. When my teenaged son is on
Facebook, he sees ads for
the band Hedley
(because he’s young and likes music)
AXE
(because … teenage boys are smelly?)
29. •Of course they are!
•Your computer is tracking who you are, what you like,
where you shop and what you buy.
•Marketers use that information to try to sell you stuff.
•Next time you’re online, notice what ads Facebook,
Google or other sites are showing you.
•What assumptions are they making about you?
30. Branding, Sponsorship and
“Lifestyle Marketing”
Consumers in the 21st century expect to be more than
passive consumers watching TV commercials during the
breaks in their favourite shows. Marketers have to create
loyalty to their brands and get consumers to become
actively involved in promoting the product themselves.
“With an effective Integrated Lifestyle Marketing
campaign, the brand becomes much more than something
being advertised, and the promotion and the brand itself
become part of the consumers’ lives.”
(from www.snipermarketing.net, a manual for advertisers and marketers)
31. The goal for marketers today is to get us to think, “I’m the kind
of person who buys XYZ product. It fits with who I am as a
person.” We’re willing to help promote the product ourselves.
Think of how clothing
manufacturers get us to
participate in advertising by
wearing their logos on our
clothing.
This was unheard-of fifty years
ago, but today we take it for
granted.
32. We may laugh at the people who sell ad
space on their foreheads or chests…
…but we’re all living in a world where we’re more and
more willing to be “branded” by logos we wear on our
clothes or personal items.
34. Branding also includes sponsorship
When companies sponsor events, their name becomes
associated with that event and the people who
participate in it.
This creates positive associations between the product
and the event.
People who participate in or watch the event are more
likely to view the product as being part of their
lifestyle.
35. Think about … Red Bull
•What is it?
•A highly-caffeinated
“energy drink” that has
been linked to possible
increased risk of heart
problems, especially
when combined with
alcohol (which, let’s face
it, it often is)
•But it has a massive
marketing campaign
which includes
sponsorship of …
36. …car racing, motocross, extreme winter sports, air races,
mountain biking … the list goes on and on
By sponsoring sports events, Red Bull associates its drink – and
the people who drink it – with an outdoor, athletic, high-energy,
fun-loving, risk-taking lifestyle. Even if you never do any of these
sports, they’re part of your “image” -- because you drink Red Bull.
37. Sponsorship can be sneaky…
Companies can use event sponsorship to get around
advertising rules. Remember how cigarette ads were
banned in Canada?
Until 2003, tobacco companies were still allowed to
sponsor sports and cultural events. This allowed them
to promote their product without print or TV ads.
38. Businesses also sponsor charitable organizations in the
community. What does this do for them?
Let’s look at McDonalds’ “Ronald
McDonald House Charity.”
•Does it provide a needed service
for sick kids and their families?
•Definitely, yes!
•What ELSE does it do?
•It associates the name
“McDonalds” and the McDonalds
restaurant chain with something
good that people are happy to
support.
•A business we often associate with
unhealthy food, now has a positive
association that tells us McDonalds
cares about kids’ health and wants
to help the community.
•Do they really care? Maybe. But
remember, their number 1 motive
is always: SELL MORE BURGERS.
39. Just to sum it up:
The parody video illustrates many of the
strategies advertisers use … and how little they
actually mean.
As you watch it, think about how many times
you’ve seen words and images like these used
in real ads designed to sell you something.
40. So, what can you do?
•BE AWARE! Notice when you’re being advertised to, even if it’s not
obvious.
•BE SUSPICIOUS! No matter what good things a company claims to be
doing, remember their first priority is always to SELL YOU STUFF.
•BE INDEPENDENT! When you start to identify yourself with a brand,
it’s easy for companies to see you a lot of stuff you don’t need. (“I’m an
Apple kind of guy, so I have to buy the new iPhone as soon as it comes
out!!”)
•BE A SMART CONSUMER! When you decide to buy a product, do your
research. Buy it because it’s what you want and need, not because of
the attractive images in the ad or the exciting events the company
sponsors.