Advertising 1

Activity

Advertising 1

Advertising is a strategy used to inform consumers about a INFORMATIONThis is a Ready-Ed Publications' product or persuade them to buy goods and services. Advertising is everywhere - on the television, the radio, online, in newspapers and magazines, on billboards, public transport and at sporting events. Everyday, messages presented through advertisements book preview. are both consciously and unconsciously absorbed by potential consumers and often infl uence their behaviour. Consumers may be targeted according to their age, gender, interests or activities. Advertisements attract consumers’ attention by one or more of the following strategies: brand• names – the names of the products being marketed; • logos – graphic images used to represent the brands so that they can be easily recognised by consumers; • slogans – short, often catchy phrases that consumers can associate with the product. On television and on the radio, these may be sung or form part of a jingle in order to remain in the memories of listeners; • language and images – phrases and images are carefully chosen to attract the attention of the target audience. Persuasive advertising uses language together with images that are often exaggerated in order to convince consumers that they must have the products, while informative advertising presents consumers with selective factual information; • other advertising techniques – strategies used to appeal to a target audience may include the use of humour; the inclusion of beautiful people such as models and celebrities; the promise of popularity, happiness, success or beauty; bribery (for example buy one get one free); play on the consumers’ fear of ill-health or lack of safety; sentimental images including families, children and pets; scientifi c evidence that a product really works; the use of repetitive language, for example ‘Save! Save! Save!’ may also be used to emphasise a particular message and commit it to the buyers’ memories.

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Identify two advertisements that you have seen on television that either appeal to you or appear to be eff ective in attracting the attention of consumers.

Television advertisement (product or brand).

How the advertisement appeals to consumers. (Refer to its use of language, images and other advertising techniques.)