Words: 1400
As an aspiring advertiser I have chosen to study how advertising effects us, I think it is important for me to learn more about the industry and what techniques they use to pull a response from their audience. I will be researching into the different methods used for different target audiences. Children make up a key portion of the demographics and are highly susceptible to advertising, either through magazines or television. I want to see how children receive these adverts and whether they act as a positive or negative influence in their childhood and whether it affects their future buying habits.
There are lots of discussions on age bans or restrictions which will also becomes apart of my research as this topic is related to a top issue in recent news stories, about screening and controlling what children see. As a hopeful future advertiser I want to use my findings in order to be more successful in the industry, it will help me reach target markets more precisely as I will have an insight into how to reach an audience and to gain a specific response, the information I gather should help me be able to design adverts to sell a product effectively.
Advertising is where business interests, consumer needs, creativity, and government regulation meet in a public form. It is usually used to change or influence peoples attitudes, adverts aim to sway you to buy one products over another, or they promote the habit of continuing to buy the same product. Advertising “has been a growing feature of the commercial scene (and hence the social scene also) over the past two centuries”. John Wilmshurst, Adrian Mackay, 1999, 2nd ed. The Fundamentals of Advertising.
In one form or another advertising has existed since the beginning of recorded civilization, it started to develop into the form of advertising as we know it now, as the industrial revolution took place. Many of the methods first used to advertise are still used today, such as Newspapers and ‘sandwich men’ who wear a board on their front and back with advertisements of shops or restaurant’s, it is only with the development of technology we now use Television and the Internet. This has enabled advertising to become an integral part in our everyday lives, “the modern world depends on advertising.
Without it producers and distributors would be unable to sell, buyers would not know about and continue to remember products or services”. Frank Jefkins, Daniel Yadin, 2000, 4th ed. Advertising. Advertising has changed rapidly with the advances of technology and is now available everywhere you go, from newspapers, magazines, television and the internet, to supermarkets, buildings and transport. Due to its high visibility in the public eye it makes it very vulnerable to criticism, issues such as false, misleading and inappropriate advertising are some of the criticisms made.
Along with statements such as “It is a waste of money that would be better spent on price reductions or product improvements…it encourages people to spend money they can ill afford on things they would be better off with out…the sheer weight of advertising ‘forces’ people to buy things they would not otherwise buy”. John Wilmshurst, Adrian Mackay, 1999, 2nd ed. The Fundamentals of Advertising. Although we are aware that adverts are designed to persuade us to buy their product or service, many of us do not like the sneaky manor in which is done.
For example in many adverts subliminal messages are used “beneath our level of awareness, so that the appeals which move us are often, in a sense, hidden” Vance Packard, The Hidden Persuaders. This makes the consumer feel they are not in control of their buying habits. Social issues have pushed adverts to advertise products which would not have been allowed, not many years ago, for example contraception and adverts of a sexual nature. Many people do not agree with this type of advertising because children of whom the content is too old for can see it.
Children’s advertising takes up a large part of the advertising sector, adverts are made specifically for children and stimulate them to keep there attention for longer. Such as bright, vivid colours are used along with fast paced moving images, often they will use a ‘catchy’ theme tune or moto which the children remember ” children like adults enjoy good TV commercials”. Sometimes a well-established children’s tv character, whether human or cartoon, is used to promote a product.
A childs “TV commercial is carefully designed, and usually written, designed and usually musically scored with the help of private research agencies as t maximise its impact on the young viewer” Robert M. Liebert, Joyce. Sprafkin, 1982, 2nd ed. The Early Window:- The effects of television on children and youth. Lots of people believe that children’s adverts put too much pressure on parents to buy the product. There is an ongoing battle between the government and parent’s, as to whose responsibility it is to control what children see.
However there are some positive outcomes of advertising, for example “advertising…not only plays a vital role in promoting our economic growth but is a colourful, diverting aspect of…life” Vance Packard, The Hidden Persuaders. Advertising has been pushed by consumer needs; one argument is that the industry responds to these needs by offering a wide variety products/services to suit as many tastes as possible. The advertising industry cannot force people to see these adverts as ultimately the consumer can choose what advertisements she/he wants to see and consider.
Advertising media definitely affects behaviour, but it doesn’t determine it. I will be using a wide range of sources to gather my information, from online, to printed, to primary research I will conduct myself. The topic advertising covers a vast amount of research, in order to form a concise and informative essay I am going to refine my findings to the most relevant points that refer to my essay title. I have chosen these three methods of research because I think they will give me a wide variety of information each aiding me in a different way.
Online sources allow me access to a wide amount of knowledge quick and easy, as I have it available to me at home I can access it whenever I want, not tied down to library opening and closing times, and book hand in deadlines. However as the World Wide Web does cover such a huge amount of information it will also take me longer to filter out what I don’t want, because often non related items are brought to you just because they match one word in your search.
It can also prove difficult to find where the original content of a web page came from and therefore it is hard to cite in your bibliography. I will be using books and journals as these are often more reliable than Internet sources, although reference books are often on high demand so I will have to make sure I book them early enough to allow myself time to go through them and gather the relevant content. As I have already found, some libraries do not have the books I need and have to order them from there main store which can take up to two weeks.
I have looked into buying books but this can be costly if I am to buy books I will have to maybe get them out the library first to check it has information relevant to my topic. I would like to use some primary research, this will give me a personal account and individuals examples and opinions, I will need to design an effective questionnaire which is created appropriately to get the information I need without ambiguous answers as this will lead to inaccurate data. Bibliography Frank Jefkins, Daniel Yadin, 2000, 4th ed.
Advertising John Wilmshurst, Adrian Mackay, 1999, 2nd ed. The Fundamentals of Advertising Robert M. Liebert, Joyce. Sprafkin, 1982, 2nd ed. The Early Window:- The effects of television on children and youth Vance Packard, The Hidden Persuaders Research Sources Barrie Gunter, Caroline Oates, Mark Blade, 2005, Advertising to children on TV. Guardian. co. uk/ audio The Sunday Times, Channel 4 100 Greatest TV Ads, 2000 Ofcom: Office communication, 2007 www. ofcom. org. uk/research/tv/reports/update