Persuasion Through Advertising: Creating Product Recognition

By Author: Amandda
Total Articles: 59
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If we are to be persuaded to buy a product or service, we must be able to recognize it, distinguish it from its competitors, conclude that we want it or need it, and remember our desire for that product when the opportunity to obtain it arises or when we create that opportunity. To accomplish their persuasive goals, advertisers create product recognition through use of trademarks, packaging, and slogans; differentiate the product from others by creating a unique selling proposition; encourage us to want the product by enveloping it in a set of favorable associations; commit us to the product and its associated promises by inducing our participation in the creation of the ad's meaning; and ensure that we recall the product and our need for it by Links Of London Bracelets capsulizing these means of identification and differentiation and these associations and acts of participation in redundant messages--messages that are repeated again and again. In this chapter we examine the function served by advertisers' messages and expose some of the ways in which ads can entice ...
... the unwary consumer into false conclusions about products.

Packaging
Packaging is another potent means of providing product identification. For example, we associate Quaker Oats with the smiling Quaker on a cylindrical box, and L'eggs pantyhose with their plastic egg-shaped containers. Ideally, the name of the product and the package will reinforce each other the way the picture of the Quaker under-scores Quaker Oats and the egg like container is a reminder of the name L'eggs. Similarly, the Coca-Cola bottle is recognizable both by shape and by touch.

Study after study verifies the power of packaging. In one test, the same deodorant was packaged in three different color combinations. The participants were told that they were testing three different formulations. "In this case," notes Thomas Hine, author of The Total Package, color scheme B was the one considered "just right." Those tested praised its pleasant, yet unobtrusive fragrance and its ability to stop wetness and odor for as much as 12 hours. Color scheme C was found to have a strong aroma, but not really very much effectiveness. And color scheme A was downright threatening. Several users developed skin rashes after using it, and three Links Of London Charms had severe enough problems to consult dermatologists.

Selecting an appropriate name and appropriate packaging generally precedes selection of the slogan. The slogan describes either the product or the reasons people will want or need the product. Like the name and the package, it is usually repeated in all major forms of advertising for the product.