Analysis of "Persuasion in the Media Age" (part 20)

Advertising in the Media Age

by:

Charles Lamson

The most frequent encounter we have with mediated persuasion is through advertising. Researchers estimate that the typical American is exposed to some 3,000 advertisements a day. Advertising reaches us as we listen to the radio, watch TV, read our favorite magazine, sit at a bus stop or drive past billboards. Advertising also reaches us in less conspicuous ways. When we tune in to the latest episode of our favorite television show, we might see our favorite sitcom star use a Macintosh laptop. When we watch our favorite college football team, we see the logo of an athletic shoe company emblazoned on the uniforms. As we use the internet, we see a constant barrage of advertising messages, all wanting us to click on some site. We are surrounded by the messages of companies that desire to attract our eyes and change our attitudes (Persuasion in the Media Age by Timothy A. Borchers, pg. 358).

The mediated environment of the 21st century places new demands on advertisers. They must try to make their product or service stand apart from other similar products or services. They must cut through the clutter of our mediated world, keep audience members' attention and find ways of forming relationships with audience members. Because advertising is increasingly sophisticated, we as consumers, must understand how advertising influences our decisions and lifestyles. We often make spending decisions based on advertising. On a deeper level, we form emotional attachments to certain brands (Persuasion, pg. 358).

The advertising process begins when clients approach an advertising agency in order to create a message that can be transmitted to potential customers via the media. The advertising agency researches the potential audience, creates a message, chooses media to transmit the message to the audience and evaluates the results of the advertising. Often the advertising agency works with other organizations such as research companies or media-buying agencies to complete its tasks. Media create vehicles such as a magazine or television show, that attracts audiences. The audiences are then sold to the advertising agency, which buys time or space for the advertisement (Persuason, pg. 358).

Advertising provides a constant stream of persuasive messages that are transmitted through media to audience members. Advertisers make use of language and visual images to induce us to identify with their message. Our acceptance of their message is tied to our emotional state and our perception of what we need and value. Identification takes the form of purchasing the advertiser's product or feeling some kind of connection to the advertiser's brand. Throughout this process, we as audience members, provide information to the advertiser that can be used in audience analysis. Our interests, preferences and demographic information all influence how advertisers shape their messages for us (Persuasion, pg. 359).

James B. Twitchell (1996) describes several qualities of advertising in today's culture. He writes that advertising is ubiquitous, symbolic, profane, and magical. Advertising is ubiquitous; it is all around us. Twitchell writes that advertising cannot not be found. It is in magazines, newspapers and on television shows. Babies' diapers contain images of Warner Brothers' cartoon characters. The Olympics are sponsored by technology companies and banks. We cannot escape advertising's reach (Persuasion, pg. 359).

Advertising is symbiotic. It lives on other cultural organisms. It thrives on the success of cultural icons and events. A good example is advertising's association of sports stars with companies. Tiger Woods and Nike were synonymous at one time. As the golf star continued to win championships, his success was tied to Nike's, Nike uses a premise - Tiger Woods is a great golfer - and we fill in the rest to draw the conclusion that Nike can somehow make us better athletes and people (Persuasion, pg. 359).

Advertising is also profane. It is of this world, it is shocking and it is repetitious. Advertising sells goods and services to us for our use in this world. In addition, advertising is shocking. Whether it is sexual in nature, intense or grotesque, advertising must seek to get our attention. Advertisements burn themselves into our consciousness by repetition.

Finally, advertising is magical. Twitchell (1996) argues that the process by which things come to have meaning is magical. When we purchase a good, we expect magical results. We expect the product to work as advertised and we expect to feel different having purchased the item. For example, you might think that driving a particular type of car will make you feel like a different person (Persuasion, pg. 359).

When we purchase a product or service or adopt a particular kind of lifestyle, we identify with the persuader's message. Identification occurs because we bring to the persuader's message our ideas about cultural expectations and beliefs.

End