Advertising - Persuasive techniques

Persuasive techniques

Advertisements are generally trying to persuade their target audience to:

-Buy a product or service
-Believe something or act in a certain way
-Agree with a point of view

There are many persuasive techniques used in advertising. A selection include:

Slogan – a catchy phrase or statement
Repetition – constant reference to product name
Bandwagon – everyone is buying it
Testimonial/association – e.g. celebrity endorsement
Emotional appeal – designed to create strong feelings
Expert opinion – ‘4 out of 5 dentists…’

Examples:
Slogan – Just Do It
Repetition – Go Compare
Bandwagon – Maybelline ‘America’s favourite mascara’
Testimonial/association – FIFA18 ‘El Tornado’ / Ronaldo
Emotional appeal – WaterAid ‘Dig toilets not graves’
Expert opinion – Max Factor ‘The make-up of make-up artists

Case study: Marmite
Advertising: Persuasive techniques blog task

Create a new blog post called 'Advertising: Persuasive techniques'. Read ‘Marketing Marmite in the Postmodern age’ in MM54  (p62). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here.

Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) What does John Berger suggest about advertising in ‘Ways of Seeing’?

Advertising seeks to make us dissatisfied with our present selves and promotes the idea that we can buy our way to a better life. ‘All publicity works on anxiety’ suggested John Berger in his seminal book Ways of Seeing (1972). Advertising offers us an improved version of ourselves, whether we are male or female: Publicity is always about the future buyer. It offers him an image of himself made glamorous by the product or opportunity it is trying to sell.

2) What is it psychologists refer to as referencing? Which persuasive techniques could you link this idea to?

Psychologists refer to the ways that brands offer images about people as referencing. We create a vision of ourselves living this idealised lifestyle, and then behave in ways that help us to realise this vision. This is because it creates strong feelings of dissatisfaction and the advert uses the anxiety of the consumer to make their brands appear more attractive.

3) How was Marmite discovered?

The product that was to become Marmite was invented in the late 19th century when German scientist Justus von Liebig discovered that brewer’s yeast could be concentrated, bottled and eaten.

4) Who owns the Marmite brand now?

Unilever now owns the Marmite brand. Unilever is a British-Dutch transnational consumer goods company. Is products include food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Unilever's other brands include- Magnum, Dove, Sure, Persil, Ben & Jerry's and many more.

5) How has Marmite marketing used intertextuality? Which of the persuasive techniques we’ve learned can this be linked to?

Marmite has many adverts that feature characters from cartoons. One example is Marmite’s 2003 ad featuring Zippy from the children’s television programme Rainbow. Another example is a 2007 £3m campaign featuring the 1970s cartoon character Paddington Bear (watch below). This type of marketing technique links to association/celebrity endorsement.

6) What is the difference between popular culture and high culture? How does Marmite play on this?

High culture relates to the cultural value of different products, whereas popular culture also relates to the same thing, but it is for the masses rather than a select audience. Marmite plays on the idea of popular culture and high culture through their creation of "Ma'mite". This series of advert plays on the iconography associated with the royal family (e.g. the crown and the motto) , which makes their product more memorable, as audiences would remember the comical aspect of the adverts.

7) Why does Marmite position the audience as ‘enlightened, superior, knowing insiders’?

Postmodern audiences arguably understand that they are being manipulated by marketing. They
understand the conventions that are being deployed and satirised. Postmodern consumers are simultaneously aware that they are being exploited, yet also prepared to play the game – if it brings them a sense of superiority and social cache.

8) What examples does the writer provide of why Marmite advertising is a good example of postmodernism?

Due to the view of people in the post-modern world thinking that they do not get manipulated by adverts and the media due to so many different views being publicized through social media. But Marmite uses this idea of making the audiences get the aspect of 'love it or hate it' and see the knowledge of the joke for audiences to publicize their view on their love or hate of the product.