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RADU IOANA

Universitatea Titu Maioresc

 Facultatea de Stiinte Sociale, Politice si Umaniste – Specializarea Comunicare si Relatii Publice – AN I

ADVERTISING BETWEEN TRUTH AND MANIPULATION

 It sas t!at t!e soul o" a #ood PR campai#n is t!e advertisin#$ Advertising  is a "orm o"  communicatio

used bet%een t!e audience &t!e customers' and t!e seller$ (o% t!is !appens and %!ere is t!e line bet%ee

 sellin#)in"ormin# and manipulatin# t!e audience %e*ll "ind out to#et!er in t!e lines belo%$

 A little bit of history about advertising

Egyptians used papyrus to make sales messages and wall posters. Commercial messages and politica

campaign displays have been found in the ruins of Pompeii and ancient Arabia that date back to 4000 BC

ost and found advertising on papyrus was common in Ancient !reece  and Ancient "ome. #all or roc

 painting for commercial advertising is another manifestation of an ancient advertising form$ which is presen

to this day in many parts of Asia$ Africa$ and %outh America.

&n '(th century$ in ondon$ was created an effective advertising campaign for the company products

which involved the use of targeted slogans$ images and phrases. )ne of his slogans$ +ood mornin#$(ave o

used Pears- soap.+  was famous in its day and into the *0th century. As the economy e+panded across th

world during the '(th century$ advertising grew alongside. &n the ,nited %tates$ the success of this advertisin

format eventually led to the growth of mail-order advertising.

Advertising increased dramatically in the *0th  century in the ,nited %tates as industrialiatio

e+panded the supply of manufactured products. &n order to profit from this higher rate of production$ industry

needed to recruit workers as consumers of factory products. &t did so through the invention of mass marketing

designed to influence the population/s economic behavior on a larger scale.  &n the '('0s and '(*0

advertisers in the ,.%. adopted the doctrine that human instincts could be targeted and harnessed

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RADU IOANA

Universitatea Titu Maioresc

 Facultatea de Stiinte Sociale, Politice si Umaniste – Specializarea Comunicare si Relatii Publice – AN I

1sublimated1 into the desire to purchase commodities. Edward Bernays$ a nephew of %igmund 2reud$ becam

associated with the method and is now often considered the founder of modern advertising.

Why do we need it?

3he greatest answer on the side of business was given by )gilvy an English business man$ called in

'(5* by the 3ime magaine 63he 2ather of Advertising78 when he said$ "Doing business without advertising

is like waving in the dark. You might know what you are doing, but nobody else does." 

Advertising is necessary to all business in order to get their goods sold. #ithout letting consumer

know about the products how are products going to get to the consumer9 Advertising draws attention to th

 product or service$ which can be performed through a number of mediums$ such as television$ radio

 billboards$ flyers$ sandwich boards$ web banners$ adverts in newspapers and magaine sand on vehicles$ be

company or public transport such as buses and trains.

Anywhere where there are people advertising can be found. &t is all part of the promotional strateg

that helps sustain the business within the markets$ which in turn lets business understand what the consume

wants and the sort of prices the consumer will be willing to pay for the product. Adverts keep the consumer u

to date with new developments$ for instance new variations of electric cars that are now becoming mor

environmentally acceptable to use.

3his is beneficial to governments that are trying to e+act a change in behavior towards th

environment and carbon emissions.

3he benefits of advertising produce customer loyalty that can bring a long-term competitiv

advantage: this will be most significant during times of a slow economic growth or recession. &f busines

continues to advertise strongly during a recession rather than cutting the budget$ this will bring confidenc

from consumers and continue the ;brand loyalty<: this will keep the business going whilst others can fai

Advertising increases the sale of the product that benefits both the business and the consumer$ with e+tr

 profits the business can afford to treat the consumer with more cost - effective products.

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RADU IOANA

Universitatea Titu Maioresc

 Facultatea de Stiinte Sociale, Politice si Umaniste – Specializarea Comunicare si Relatii Publice – AN I

5 Most ommon Advertising !ehni#ues

A successful advertisement creates a desire in viewers$ listeners or readers. &t also provide

information on how to fulfill that desire and makes the potential customer feel good about doing so.

Repetition

"epetition is a simple yet effective techni=ue used to build identity awareness and customer memory

Even advertisements using other successful approaches mention the product or company name more tha

once$ particularly in television because its combination of sight and sound$ allows the advertiser to disguis

the repetition by changing its delivery from visual to audio8.

Claims

Advertising that promotes specific features or makes claims about what a product or service can do fo

the potential customers provides successful results by informing$ educating and developing e+pectations in th

 buyer. Claims can state facts or simply use hype$ such as calling one brand of orange >uice 1the best1 whe

nutritionally it is identical to other brands. Claims may mislead through omission or by using what som

advertisers and political campaigners call 1weasel words1. 3hese are subtle statement modifiers that render th

claim meaningless if studied closely. Common weasel words include 1helps$1 1fights1 and 1virtually.1

 Association

Associating a product or company with a famous person$ catchy >ingle$ desirable state of being o

 powerful emotion creates a strong psychological connection in the customer. %porting e=uipment companie

use successful athletes in their ads$ automakers display their cars in front of mansions$ brewers show thei

 beer consumed by groups of friends having fun and cosmetic companies sign celebrities to represent the

 products. 3hese ads encourage an emotional response in customers$ which then is linked to the product bein

advertised$ making it attractive through transference.

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RADU IOANA

Universitatea Titu Maioresc

 Facultatea de Stiinte Sociale, Politice si Umaniste – Specializarea Comunicare si Relatii Publice – AN I

Bandwagon

3he bandwagon techni=ue sells a product or service by convincing the customer that others are using

and they should >oin the crowd. )ther bandwagon advertisements suggest that the customer will be left out i

they do not buy what/s being sold. 3hese ads often employ 1glittering generalities$1 words linked to highl

valued ideas or concepts that evoke instant approval$ which may or may not relate to the sub>ect of th

advertisement. 1America loves...1 connects patriotism with a product$ creating an automatic positive response

Promotions

Coupons$ sweepstakes$ games with pries and gifts with purchases create e+citement$ and participatio

encourages customers to build a relationship with the sponsoring product or service. 3he attraction of gettin

something 1free1 or earning 1rewards1 makes promotions successful. imited-time offers and entry deadline

add urgency to this advertising techni=ue/s call to action.

When $s the Advertising mani%ulating us?

3he person most often credited with developing modern advertising was 2reud/s nephew$ Edward

Bernays. ?e used the concept of conditionin# $ developed by Pavlov$ to promote products$ capitaliing on th

fact that humans have desires.

3he desire to have a relationship with someone who is attractive is fertile material for advertisin

strategy. &n a car ad$ an attractive person gets behind the wheel and is >oined on the passenger side by an

e=ually beautiful partner. After a person sees this ad a hundred times$ the suggestion that driving that ca

would attract that kind of partner works its way into the reptilian brain. Ads showing people having a grea

time drinking a particular beverage make people associate the product with being entertained$ and so on.

 &'%osure  is the key to making people buy things. %everal models of how this works have bee

developed$ but they all arrive at the same general conclusion@ repeated e+posure to the same ads will embe

the product in a person/s mind. &t/s the same idea as truth through repetition: if a person hears something sai

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