Chapter 15: Advertising and Public Relations

What effect does advertising have on consumers? Surely advertising cannot change a person’s deeply rooted values but is sure can succeed in transforming a person’s negative attitude toward a product into a positive one. I mean take a papertowel that is cheap and falls apart when you try to absorb your spilled milk, only to be disappointed that you have to grab 3-4 to wipe up the mess you just made with the leaky papertowel you first used. Yep, your attitude toward papertowels isn't great until you see an ad where a new and improved papertowel has been designed to absorb in one wipe and can be used over and over again with continuous washes. Amazing how commercials can change the way you feel about something.

 I personally like Institutional advertising, this is where the goal of the advertisement is to build up the image of the company instead of enhance the sale of a specific good or service. I like to see how companies are helping and benefiting people and not so much what they do to get you to focus on the company: "me, me, me". Pioneering advertising was also easily understood because it’s intended to promote the demand of a new product. The one we often see is comparative advertising with the comparison of two or more competing brands per one or more attributes. We see this in politics, and when it comes to comparing paper towels or laundry detergent. Someone is always trying to get the consumer to purchase their product because it’s so much better than the other brand. Another fun one is identifying product benefit. When a consumer looks at a product they say “What’s in it for me?” An easy way to remember if the ad is an attribute or a benefit you see if it provides details and information or if it tries to catch your attention and what it will do for you. Info=attribute; satisfaction=benefit.