Task 6- Will an increase in awareness of Anti-Smoking campaigns lead to a decline in the number of people that smoke?

“The cigarette is the deadliest object in the history of human civilization” (Proctor, 2013), with approximately 100,000 smoking, related deaths a year in the United Kingdom (Action on Smoking and Health, 2014).
It is because of this that the awareness of Anti-Smoking campaigns has increased and also why anti-smoking commercials are more frequently shown in between television programs.
These adverts are designed to demonstrate the effects smoking can have on both the smoker and those they hold close to them by using a variety a scenarios to demonstrate the damage of a cigarette.
Thus the hope is that people will see these adverts and be shocked into quitting.

Firstly, many of the campaign adverts display the dangers of smoking and the harm it causes to the users body, as well as the long term implications such as lung cancer and heart disease (NHS, N.D).
Research shows that around half of all long-term smokers will be eventually killed by their habit (Cancer Research UK, 2015).
Therefore an increase in awareness of the campaign will lead to more people seeing the damage that smoking can cause to their body and the consequences of not quitting.
Then this knowledge about the damage it can cause to your body and the bodies of those that surround you, is supposed to be used to help persuade individual to quit smoking.
In 2012, an anti-smoking campaign launched in America with an advert showing the affect of smoking on a woman’s body. This drove 1.6 million people to try and quit, with 100,000 of them being successful.

However, it can be argued that a raise in the awareness of the campaigns wont help people stop smoking as the nicotine which is present in cigarettes makes them addictive, which therefore makes cigarettes hard to quit.
Taking this point into account, the anti-smoking campaigns also highlight alternative sources of nicotine, such as lozenges and nicotine patches (NHS, N.D).
These alternatives can be controlled and nicotine levels reduced to a point where the addiction has disappeared, as “addiction is learned” (Thombs, 1999, p. 8).

Also, an increase in the awareness of the campaigns may lead to a rise in the fear appeal of quitting smoking.
“A fear appeal posits the risks of using and not using a specific product, service, or idea” (Williams, 2012).
A worldwide study carried out in 2004, found that 166,221 children below the age of 15 had died because of secondhand smoke (BBC, 2011).
Therefore some of the adverts graphically demonstrates the affect the second hand smoke can have on children that are around the lit cigarette and how much danger the cigarette poses to them and there future.
This has been created to make adults fear for their children’s health and enlighten them on the damage that they are causing to their children, with the hope that this enlightenment will force the smoker to quit before they damage there children any further.
Thus meaning if people were more aware of the damage they could cause, they may be more likely to quit smoking.

Although, some will argue that as they were growing up the people they looked up to within their family smoked cigarettes.
However, it wasn’t until the 1950’s to which scientist started suggesting the links between smoking and the illnesses they cause and then it wasn’t until 1971, where health warnings were put on the front of cigarette packets for every smoker to be made aware of the dangers (Science Museum, N.D).
Which means that there role models will have started smoking before the affects were fully understood and were openly communicated, meaning that generation had a lack of information when they decided to start smoking and once the effects were known, the treatments weren’t available to help them stop.

Another reason that an increase in awareness of anti-smoking campaigns will result in a decline of the number of smokers is because the campaigns will force smokers to look at their personal experiences with smoking related illnesses.
“Smoking causes over a quarter (28 per cent) of cancer deaths in the UK and nearly one in five cancer cases” (Cancer Research UK, 2015).
This therefore means that the probability of everyone knowing someone who has either passed away or been diagnosed with a severe illness because of smoking is high.
Therefore if more people are made aware by the campaign that smoking was the cause of the illness or death, then they may be more likely to quit because they have seen first hand the damage cigarettes can cause to the body and want to change there habits so they don’t suffer the same fate.

Though some will counter act the health issues by saying that there are also benefits to smoking, such as it reduces stress.
The claim that smoking reduces stress is in fact false.
“Research into smoking and stress has shown that instead of helping people to relax, smoking actually increases anxiety and tension”, (Mental Health Foundation, N.D).
Smoking provides a short-term stress release, as the nicotine is initially inhaled.
Nevertheless, the relaxation disappears as withdrawal symptoms take its place.

Taking all into consideration, an increase in the awareness of anti-smoking campaigns will lead to a decline in the number of smokers, because it will increase peoples knowledge of the help which is available for those who wish to quit.
Where as for those that don’t, it will reinforce the consequences of smoking for not just them, but even their children and friends.
However to what scale the increase in awareness will succeed will depend of the individuals’ self-efficacy.
What is self-efficacy? Self-efficacy can be defined as “The strength of people’s convictions in their own effectiveness”, (Bandura, 1977, p. 79).
Albert Bandura stated that the person’s expectations of there own efficacy is based on four sources of information, which are; Performance accomplishments (Physiology factors), Vicarious experience (Modeling), Verbal persuasion (Social Persuasion) and Emotional arousal (Past Experience), (Bandura, 2000, p. 285 – 298).
Which means that these factors will have a major impact on the level of success an increase in awareness will have because the higher the smokers self-efficacy, the greater the chance that the increased awareness of the campaigns will be persuade the individual to quit.

Reference List

Action on Smoking and Health (2014) Smoking Statistics: illness and death. [Online]. Available from: http://ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_107.pdf [Accessed 14 April 2015].

Bandura, A. (1977) Social learning theory. United States: Prentice Hall.

Bandura, A. (2000) ‘Self-Efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change’. In: Baumeister, R. (ed.) The self in social psychology. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press, pp. 285-298.

BBC (2011) ‘Passive smoking “kills 600,000” worldwide’. [Online] Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11844169 [Accessed 15 April 2015].

Campaign for Tobacco- Free Kids (2013) CDC’s Anti-Smoking Ad Campaign Spurred Over 100,000 Smokers to Quit; Media Campaigns Must be Expanded Nationally and in the States. [Online] Available from: http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/press_releases/post/2013_09_09_cdc [Accessed 15 April 2015].

Cancer Research UK (2015) ‘Smoking facts and evidence’. [Online] Available from: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/smoking-and-cancer/smoking-facts-and-evidence#smoking_facts0 [Accessed: 15 April 2015].

Mental Health Foundation (N.D) Smoking and Mental Health, [Online] Available from: http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-health-a-z/S/smoking/ [Accessed: 15 April 2015].

NHS (N.D) Effects of smoking on the body. [Online] Available from: http://www.nhs.uk/smokefree/why-quit/smoking-health-problems [Accessed: 15 April 2015].

NHS (N.D) NHS stop smoking medicines. [Online] Available from: http://www.nhs.uk/smokefree/help-and-advice/prescription-medicines (Accessed: 15 April 2015).

Proctor, R. N. (2013) ‘Why ban the sale of cigarettes? The case for abolition’. Tobacco Control. [Online] 22, 27. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3632991/ [Accessed: 14 April 2015].

Science Museum (N.D) Stubbed out: the rise and fall(?) of smoking in Britain.[Online] Available from: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/publichealth/smoking.aspx [Accessed: 15 April 2015].

Thombs, D. L. (1999) Introduction to Addictive Behaviours. New York: Guilford Publications.

Williams, K. (2012) ‘Fear Appeal Theory’. Research in Business and Economics Journal. [Online] 5, 1–21. Available from: http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/11907.pdf [Accessed: 15 April 2015].

Task 8- Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning in Advertsising

It has been recognised by Stuart et al (1987), that behaviourism has become very widespread in the field of advertising.
Two of the key theories that are used in advertising are Burhuss F Skinner’s operant conditioning and Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning.
Throughout this essay, it’ll be explained how behaviourism is used in adverts, and the subsequent effects it causes.
The adverts that’ll be used to demonstrate these theories are: Coca Cola
(VenikOfficial, 2010), Specsavers (SpecsaversOfficial, 2010) and the Dannon advert (Daily babes and COD, 2012).

Classical Conditioning

The theory was created by Ivan Pavlov and refers to “the class of procedures and the outcome of those procedures”, (LoLordo, 2000).
Pavlov’s theory has 4 key components, which are: Unconditioned stimulus (US), Conditioned stimulus (CS), Unconditioned response (UR) and Conditioned response (CR).
Classical conditioning is demonstrated by Pavlov’s dog experiment, where dogs were conditioned to salivate when they heard a bell sound as they had linked the sound of a bell with receiving food.

In Pavlov’s experiment, the food was the unconditional stimulus, which produced the unconditional response, which was the dog salivating. Then after a period of time where the bell was rang a number of times to signal that food was served, the dogs were conditioned to salivate every time they heard the bell.
The conditional stimulus is the bell sound, and the conditional response is the salivation.
However the sound of the bell alone wasn’t enough to cause the dog to salivate, thus meaning that the sound of the bell was a neutral stimulus.
Hence by pairing the neutral stimulus with the unconditional stimulus, the neutral stimulus becomes the conditional stimulus, which in turn causes the conditional response, which is usually the same as unconditional response.

With regard to the Dannon advert, the unconditional stimulus is the flirtation between the couple, which leads to the unconditional response of enjoyment.
The yoghurt product is a neutral stimulus, since it has been paired with the couple, because of this association, similar to Pavlov’s experiment, the yoghurt has become the conditional stimulus and has triggered the conditional response of enjoyment.
This means that its possible that the viewers may associate Dannon’s product with the feelings that come with intimacy with a partner.
Fox et al (1997) states that repetitive exposure to the stimulus can lead to an increase in the response, which would therefore aid in emphasising the consumers behaviour, which means its reasonable to assume that the relationship between the consumer stimuli and consumer response may become stronger if the advert is repetitively viewed.
Meaning that the more the advert is viewed the greater the response (enjoyment) to the product, which leads to people purchasing the product to achieve this feeling.

Then in the case of the Coca Cola advert, Christmas is the unconditional stimuli, which causes the unconditional response that is excitement and happiness.
For this advert, the Coca Cola is the neutral stimulus, since before the advert there was no previous associations.
However, by combining Christmas and Coca Cola, Coca Cola has become the conditional response that triggers the unconditional response of excitement and happiness.
Furthermore, this association may have conditioned viewers so that when they see a can of Coke, a conditional response of happiness and excitement is triggered, which means its possible that the consumer may be more likely to purchase the can of Coke since they want to fully experience the excitement and happiness that has been associated to the product.
This may be the reason why at Christmas, Coca Cola sales reached £185 million in 2011 (forecourt trader, 2012).

Operant Conditioning

It was stated by Staddon et al (2003) that consequences are what controls the operant behaviour; thus meaning that operant condition is designed to manipulate consumer behaviour by controlling the consequences of that behaviour.
Moreover, Skinner said that there are three parts to operant condition, which is Stimulus, the consumer’s response to that stimulus and then the consequence of that response (Iverson, 1992).

Slater (2004) says that skinner explained his theory by placing animals within a box, which has piece of equipment within it to test operant learning.
Within the experiment Skinner put an animal into the box, which contained a lever, then the animal would press down on the lever (unintentionally to start), then the lever would release a treat for the animal.
Eventually, the animal would learn that the lever would release a treat for them.
In this experiment, the animal was the consumer, then the lever being pressed down was the stimulus, the animal receiving the treat was the response, then finally the enjoyment from that treat was the consequence of the consumers response.

A potential limitation of skinner’s model is that in 1990, McConnell explained that Skinner described two types of reinforcement (positive and negative), however failed to distinguish between positive and negative punishment.
Nevid (2012) defined positive punishment as the “application of aversive stimulus “.
Positive punishment can be seen in use in the Specsavers advert.
This advert shows a male on a beach, who has just sprayed him self with a brand of deodorant, then a number of females running towards him.
Once the females arrive he puts on a pair of unattractive glasses, which results in the females losing interest and turning away.
In this advert, the aversive stimulus is the male putting on the unattractive glasses, the response to this stimulus is the male becoming unattractive in the eyes of the females, then the consequence is the negative feelings (embarrassment etc.) that would come from this situation.

Consequently, due to the theory it’s reasonable to say that after the male in the advert was punished by the females for wearing a pair of non-Specsavers glasses, it may persuade viewers to purchase a pair of Specsavers glasses to avoid similar situations involving women.

To conclude, all three of the adverts discussed in this essay have shown aspects of behaviourism, which isn’t surprising as it is becoming regularly used in advertising.
Their creators have proved the training behaviour theories successful, however they were proven with animals, which may react in a different way to humans.
Which perhaps means that the level of effectiveness on humans may yet to be fully understood.
Skinners operant theory appears to be the most used theory in the world of advertising, potentially the reason for this is that it’s the more recent and up to date theory, as well as being the simpler model to understand out of the two.

References

Daily babes and COD (2012) Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt Super Bowl 2012 Commercial! [Online] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgzYJZyabio [Accessed 12 May 2015].

Forecourt Trader (2012) Coca-Cola is a £185m seasonal sales winner. [Online] Available from: http://www.forecourttrader.co.uk/news/archivestory.php/aid/6548/Coca-Cola_is_a__pound;185m_seasonal_sales_winner.html [Accessed 12 May 2015].

Fox, R. & Reddy, S. & Rao, B. (1997) Modeling Response to Repetitive Promotional Stimuli. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. [Online] 25 (3), 242-256. Available from: Business Source Complete [Accessed 12 May 2015].

Iverson, I. (1992) Skinner’s early research: From reflexology to operant conditioning. American Psychologist. [Online] 47 (11), 1318-1328. Available from: PsycARTICLES [Accessed 12 May 2015].

LoLordo, V. (2000) Classical Conditioning. Encyclopaedia of Psychology. [Online] 2, 91-95. Available from: PsycBOOKS [Accessed 12 May 2015].

McConnell, J. (1990). Negative reinforcement and positive punishment. Teaching of Psychology. [Online] 17 (4), 247. Available from: Academic Search Complete [Accessed 12 May 2015].

Nevid, J. (2012) ‪Psychology: Concepts and Applications‬. 4th Edition. [e-book] Belmont, Cengage Learning. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0KboCxDWFKwC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed 12 May 2015].‬
Rom, H. (2010). Pavlov’s dogs and schrödinger’s cat: scenes from the living laboratory. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Slater, L. (2004). Opening Skinner’s box: great psychological experiments of the 20th century. London, Bloomsbury.

SpecsaversOfficial (2010) Specsavers ‘The Specs Effect’ Advert (Lynx/Axe parody). [Online] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x89xAXHd2l8 [Accessed 12 May 2015].

Staddon, J. & Cerutti, D. (2003). Operant conditioning. Annual review of psychology. [Online] 54 (1), 115-114. Available from: Business Source Complete [Accessed 12 May 2015].

Stuart, E., Shimp, T. & Engle, R. (1987). Classical conditioning of consumer attitudes: four experiments in an advertising context. The Journal of Consumer Reaearch. [Online] 14 (3), 334-349. Available from: Business Source Complete [Accessed 12 May 2015].

VenikOfficial (2010) Coca-Cola – Shake Up Christmas [Commercial 2010]. [Online] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6f2uF_ddKQ [Accessed 12 May 2015].

Task 7- Evaluating Muller’s choice of music

In 2013, VCCP designed an advert for Muller Dairy for them to promote the relaunch of Muller Rice Pots.
The advert contains a bear named Tasty B that sings the song “Rice Rice Baby”, a spoof on the 1989 song “Ice Ice Baby” preformed by Vanilla Ice.
It’s been found that music can have an effect on the customers buying behaviour (Zeeshan, 2013), which means that the success of the advert will be influenced by the choice of music used within the advert.
 
The song chosen for the advert is “Rice Rice Baby”, an altered version of the song “Ice Ice Baby”.
In 2007, DeVere stated “Repetition aids memory”, which means it’s reasonable to suggest that because of the altered lyrics used within the advert, the memorability of the advert may increase because the main three words that are used with in the are rice, rice and baby.
Therefore if the memorability of the advert increased, the chance of the viewer selecting the Muller product over its competitors may increase as the advert may appear in the customers mind when it comes to making a decision of what to purchase.
 
Another potential reason why Muller selected to use the altered version of the 80’s song is because it has been found that an advert which includes vocals in an advert is more effective than adverts which have only instrumentals or no popular music within them.
Allan (2006) completed a study and found that “song vocals, either original or altered, are more effective stimuli of advertising effects than instrumentals or no popular music”.
Hence meaning that Muller’s choice to use their version of “ice ice baby” may mean that the advert may be more successful in appealing to the target audience, as the use of altered lyrics of a popular song leads to a more effective stimulus of advertising effects.
Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that the demand for the product increasing, consequently meaning sales of the Muller product may increase.
 
Also Muller may have opted to use an altered version of the 80’s music hit in the foreground of their advert, so that it may lead to a link being established between the song “Ice Ice Baby” and the product being advertised.
This would benefit Muller because in 1991, Yalch discovered that music could aid in remembering advertising slogans, as long as the slogan has been used within the advert as foreground music.
Consequently, the memorability of the Muller slogan “rice rice baby” may increase due to the link between advert and the song chosen.
Thus meaning that every time the song is heard, it may remind people of the Muller product by association, potentially meaning that they are more likely to select the Muller product over other alternatives.
 
Music can also be used within an advert to draw people attention, so that the advert has a larger number of viewers.
In 2008, Attrep said that for decades music had been used to draw people’s attention to the product.
Then in 2010, Scott Armstrong supports Attrep by stating “music has many functions in advertising, such as gaining attention”.
Hence meaning that the use of the song, “Rice Rice Baby”, may aid the advert as it may draw the attention of more people, which means that more people may see the advert leading to the chance of more people purchasing the product.
The reason for this is because if more people view the advert, then it means that the other advantages to using this song, which has been mentioned within this essay, can take effect on more people.
This may lead to a greater number of people opting to purchase the Muller product, indirectly because of the advert.
 
Overall, the music which Muller decided to put in the foreground of there Muller Rice adverts will benefit the advert as a whole, because according to multiple theories the choose of music will aid with the memorability of the advert, which could lead to greater chance of the Muller product being selected in front of its alternatives.
On the other hand, there is a possibility that the choice of music may discourage people from watching the advert as people have different taste in music.
Therefore, if the viewer sees the music that has been used in a negative light, they may choose to ignore or avoid the advert, leading to the message of the advert not being communicated successfully.
 

Reference List

Allan, D. (2006) Effects of Popular Music in Advertising on Attention and Memory. Journal of Advertising Research. 46 (4), 2-16. Available from: http://www.warc.com.proxy.worc.ac.uk/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=33885ece-50b6-4cbb-a49b-2e15bca47916&q=(%22Effects+of+popular+music+in+advertising+on+attention+and+memory%22)&CID=A84602&PUB=JAR [Accessed 29 April 2015].

Attrep, K. (2008) ‪The Sonic Inscription of Identity: Music, Race, and Nostalgia in Advertising. [e-book] USA, Proquest. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gmULRYHZvyMC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=music+to+draw+peoples+attention+in+advertising&source=bl&ots=0eXOxFulTm&sig=OVjBK1E92epfPCNW2PwYFvAuX_c&hl=en&sa=X&ei=y6tAVdibGcjtaNjYgYAF&ved=0CFYQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=music%20to%20draw%20peoples%20attention%20in%20advertising&f=false [Accessed 29 April 2015].

DeVere, R. (2007) Motor Memory Performance and Compulsive Tendencies. [e-book] USA, Proquest. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=61YQ9N7mMXoC&pg=PP3&lpg=PP3&dq=Motor+Memory+Performance+and+Compulsive+Tendencies&source=bl&ots=SIYo2aLMQM&sig=TCIP2XcKxUgjQBwf26YNnBXXa9c&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gGtBVZvII87oaMyUgKgH&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Motor%20Memory%20Performance%20and%20Compulsive%20Tendencies&f=false [Accessed 29 April 2015]. Scott Armstrong, J. (2010) ‪Persuasive Advertising: Evidence-based Principles. [e-book] Houndmills, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-czrPbGn6SEC&pg=PA271&lpg=PA271&dq=music+attention+advertising&source=bl&ots=zsPyzqiJyO&sig=Zgmg6KF3G0KZX2mmIcaaRWNFbG0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=G8FAVbiDDtLoaLLtgbAM&ved=0CCAQ6AEwADgy#v=onepage&q=music%20attention%20advertising&f=false [Accessed 29 April 2015].

VCCP. (N.D) Rice Rice Baby. [Online] Available from: http://www.vccp.com/campaign/rice-rice-baby/ [Accessed 29 April 2015].

Yalch, R. (1991) Memory in a Jingle Jungle: Music as a Mnemonic Device in Communicating Advertising Slogans. Journal of Applied Psychology. [Online] 76 (2), 268-275. Available from: http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.worc.ac.uk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8f5354f7-08b6-45cf-ad64-aa3ed2278810%40sessionmgr113&vid=2&hid=102 [Accessed 29 April 2015].

Zeeshan, M. & Obaid, M.H. (2013) Impact of Music on Consumer Behaviour: A Perspective on retail atmospheric. Asian Journal of Business and Management Sciences. [Online] 3 (2), 56-63. Available from: http://www.ajbms.org/articlepdf/5ajbms201303022769-06June14.pdf [Accessed 29 April 2015].

 

Task 5A: Ray Ban Adverts

Id:13003035

Advert 1

Advert 2

 

 

Ray-Ban is a company that have manufactured glasses since 1937 (Shilling, 2011: p.69), and differentiate themselves from their competition by offering high quality frames and lenses (Jones, 2000).

Within advert one there is an example of a rhetorical question, which is a question that is asked for an alternate reason than to gain any information (Burton, N.D).This has been used to make the advert more personal, thus leading to the viewer becoming more engaged with advert (Harold Ellens et al, 2009: p158).Therefore meaning that the viewer is more likely to spend time looking at and contemplating the question the advert asks, as they may believe the advert is talking to them. Leading to the viewer creating answers of their own, which may make them consider all the advantages to Ray-Ban glasses over competitors, including the Unique Selling Point (USP) that the brand is famous for.Potentially making it more likely for the viewer to purchase a pair of Ray-Ban glasses over alternatives.

Also, within advert one, Hollywood actor Andrew Garfield has been used to endorse Ray-Ban, with the intended impact of an increase in the memorability of the advert.Studies show adverts that included a celebrity have a 34% increased viewer awareness level, than adverts without (Mehta, 1999).This means that the advert may be more memorable for the viewer,  meaning when the viewer comes to a time where they have to purchase a new pair of glasses, there is a greater chance that they will remember this advert and potentially be influenced to purchase a set of Ray-Ban glasses, instead of the competitor’s products.

Additionally, by involving a Hollywood actor in the advert, Ray-Ban has created an association between their brand and Andrew Garfield, who has won numerous acting awards (IMDB, N.D).Opinions are made about the quality of a product based on its associations (Fil et al, 2013: p.171), meaning that opinions of Ray-Ban’s product quality may be created based on Garfield’s association.Which means the viewer may perceive Ray-ban as a high-quality product, since Garfield is an award winning high-quality actor.Therefore the association in the advert will promote Ray-Ban’s USP, potentially making it more likely that the viewer will purchase a pair of Ray-Ban’s over alternatives.

Advert two’s strap line “ Quality Like No Other” is an example of a hyperbole, which has been used to exaggerate the quality of Ray-Ban products.A hyperbole has been used to exaggerate particular features of the glasses (Kalmane, 2012).This strongly promotes Ray-Ban’s USP, meaning that the message of the advert has a greater chance of being communicated to the viewer, leading to a greater chance that the viewer will purchase the product instead of alternatives.

 

 

References

Burton, G. (N.D) rhetorical questions. [Online] Available from: http://rhetoric.byu.edu/figures/r/rhetorical%20questions.htm [Accessed 18 March 2015].

Fil, C. & Hughes, G. & De Francesco, S. (2013) Advertising: strategy, creativity and media. Harlow, Essex, Pierson Education Ltd.

Harrold Ellen, J. & Greene, J. (2009) Probing the Frontiers of Biblical Studies. [e-book] Oregon, Wipf and Stock Publishers. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xwhMAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed Wednesday 18 March 2015].

IMDB (N.D) Andrew Garfield. [Online] Available from: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1940449/?ref_=tt_cl_t1 [Accessed Wednesday 18 March 2015].

Jones, K. (July 2000) In Search Of Cool Shades. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. [Online] p. 106. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Lv4DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA106&lpg=PA106&dq=high-quality+lenses+Ray-Ban&source=bl&ots=N8dXYpBvqM&sig=3aEg12DBAVlj9ed6QoXCIu0eufw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=un4JVar2MenV7QaBmIDAAQ&ved=0CGAQ6AEwCzgK#v=onepage&q=high-quality%20lenses%20Ray-Ban&f=false. [Accessed Wednesday 18 March 2015].

Kalmane, R. (2012) Advertising: Using Words as Tools for Selling. 2^nd Edition. [e-book] Riga, Lulu Enterprises Ltd. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ruCfAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA60&lpg=PA60&dq=hyperbole+in+advertising&source=bl&ots=2fyOgguqhX&sig=VvmWysgZiYZS5rz57tg8nh6lhiA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=WDEKVdyZB6WS7AbKs4CwAw&ved=0CCAQ6AEwADgU#v=onepage&q=hyperbole%20in%20advertising&f=false [Accessed 18 March 2015].

Mehta, A. (1999) The Advertising Business. [e-book] London, International Educational and Professional Publisher. Available from: http://gandrllc.com/reprints/celebritiesinadvertising.pdf [Accessed 18 March 2015].

Shilling, D. (2011) ‪A Photographic History of Bausch + Lomb. Victor, New York, Pancoast Publishing.

 

 

Task 2-The ‘Specs Effect”

Student ID: 13003035

In 2010, Specsavers released ‘The Specs Effect” advert.
It is a parody of the famous 2006 “Billions” advert released by lynx (Campaign, 2010).
The advert shows women dressed in bikinis, with some carrying handbags, shopping bags and some wearing high heels, racing towards the man on the beach spraying him self with deodorant.
When all the women finally reach the man, he puts on a set of “ugly glasses” (Framestore, 2010), which then leads to all the women rejecting him.

Specsavers have used a number of appeals in this advert.

One appeal that Specsavers have used is sex appeal, which can be defined as “appeals perceived as sexual by the receiver”, (Reichert et al, 2000).
Meaning that a company will design their adverts to include parts that there target audience may find sexually appealing.
Sengupta et al (2008) stated, “Men on average will exhibit a more positive spontaneous reaction to gratuitous sex appeals”.
Therefore it’s reasonable to assume that the target audience for this advert are men.
This means that by using this sex appeal, men watching the advert will believe that irrelevant of what they’re wearing in terms of both clothes and deodorant, if they have a pair of glasses that aren’t from Specsavers, then they will not appeal to the opposite sex.
Consequently, men will want to own Specsavers glasses rather than any other brand.

Another appeal that was used by Specsavers is humour, and “Consumers have historically given high ratings to humorous advertising”, (Lee et al, 2013: p.175).
In 1990, Speck stated that there were three types of humour: Arousal-Safety, Incongruity-Resolution and Disparagement.
For this advert Specsavers decided to use Disparagement humour, which is where humour is derived from a disparagement context.
Within this advert, it is the man’s glasses that are the source of the disparagement humour.
One of the key reasons that adverts contain humour is because it attracts the audience’s attention, “studies show that 94% of advertising practitioners see humour as an effective way to gain attention”, (Weinberger et al, 1992).
Therefore by including the humour, the chance of the advert attracting the viewers attention may increase, which leads to an increase in awareness of the product being advertised, which means in this case that the viewer is more likely to purchase a pair of Specsavers glasses.

The final appeal that has been used in this advert is Fear.
Fear is used because it will “stimulate audience involvement with a message and thereby promote acceptance of the message arguments”, (Shimp, 2007: p.312).
In the case of the Specsavers advert, they are appealing to the consumer’s fear that they wont fit in and will be socially rejected by showing a male being rejected by lots of women, once he puts on a pair of ugly glasses which weren’t from Specsavers.
Hence the advert is suggesting if men wear a pair of glasses that aren’t from Specsavers they will be rejected by the opposite sex, thus meaning that the advert may persuade men to purchase a pair of Specsavers glasses instead of a rival brand, so that the chance of rejection is reduced.

However there are disadvantages to the appeals that have been used.

A disadvantage to sex-appeal is that “there is evidence to suggest that the use of explicit sexual illustrations in advertising may interfere with consumers’ processing of message arguments and reduce message comprehension”, (Shimp, 2000: p.353).
Therefore meaning that the message that Specsavers are trying to communicate may be missed, which would mean the advert wouldn’t be successful in its aim to persuade men to purchase Specsavers Glasses.

Also, different types of humour appeal to different types of people.
According to Nielson (2012), men aged 13-34 like “Slapstick, Edgy, Sarcastic” humour, where as women aged 13-34 prefer “Offbeat, but not mean-spirited”.
Meaning that if Specsavers chose the wrong type of humour for their advert it wouldn’t be successful, as it may come across as mean to their target audience.

Due to the protagonist of the advert and the appeals that have been used, its reasonable to assume that the target audience is men, aged 26-34.
Meaning that the strategies that have been used in this advert are suitable for the target audience, leading to the advert being successful.
According to Nielson, the adverts slapstick, sarcastic humour will appeal to the target audience, which means that the humour should make the advert more memorable for the target audience.
Also, the sex-appeal used in the advert is likely to appeal to the target audience, meaning that the advert is more likely to grab their attention, leading to greater awareness of Specsavers.

 
 
 
 
 
 

References

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Framestore (2010) Specsavers ‘The Specs Effect’. [Online] Available from: http://www.framestore.com/work/specsavers-specs-effect [Accessed 2 February 2015].
Lee, M. & Johnson, C. (2013) Principles of Advertising: A Global Perspective. 2nd edition. Binghamton, New York, The Haworth Press.

Nielsen (2012) GENDER DIVIDE REACHING MALE VS FEMALE MILLENNIALS. [Online] Available from: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2012/gender-divide-reaching-male-vs-female-millennials.html [Accessed 4 February 2015].

Reichert, T. & Ramirez, A. (2000) Defining Sexually Oriented Appeals in Advertising: a Grounded Theory Investigation. Advances in Consumer Research. [Online] 27, 267-273. Available from: http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=8402 [Accessed 3 February 2015].

Sengupta, J. & Dahl, D.W. (2008) Gender-related reactions to gratuitous sex appeals in advertising. Journal of Consumer Psychology. [Online] 18 (1), 62-78. Available from: http://www.bm.ust.hk/~mark/staff/Jaideep/Jaideep%20JCP-1%202008.pdf [Accessed 3 February 2015].

Shimp, T. (2000) Advertising Promotion Supplemental Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications. 5th Edition. Orlando, Florida, The Dryden Press.

Shimp, T. (2007) Integrated Marketing Communication in Advertising and Promotion. 7th Edition. Mason, Ohio, Thomson Higher Education.

Speck, P. (1990) The Humorous Message Taxonomy: A Framework for the Study of Humorous Ads. Current Issues and Research in Advertising. [Online] 13, 1-44. Available from: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=34a7109e-cf83-43f8-9e62-7d9cef03f6c1%40sessionmgr4001&vid=1&hid=4104 [Accessed 3 February 2015].

Weinberger, M.G. & Gulas, C.S. (1992) The impact of Humour in Advertising: A Review. Journal of Advertising. [Online] 21 (4), 35-59. Available from: https://blackboard.worc.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-472872-dt-content-rid-589454_1/courses/BUSM2619_AS.14-15/Humor%20in%20ad%2C%20a%20review.pdf [Accessed 3 February 2015].