PERSUASION IN ADVERTISING:

DISCOVERING THE MECHANISM

Magdalena Grabowska, PhD

Pomeranian School of Applied Sciences in
Gdynia
Gdansk University

AIMS:

MARKETING AND PERSUASION

In order to market products advertisers:

build

up brand consciousness and loyalty

educate customers
fight competition
create brand and product image.

Persuasion can be defined as human

communication that is designed to influence
others by modyfing their beliefs, values or
attitudes (Simons, 1976).
Persuasion involves a goal and a way to achieve
it. Second, communication is the means to
achieve it. Third, the recipient must have free
will. Persuasion is not accidental nor coercive.

Persuasive aims come down to a number of

models:
SLB: stand, look, buy
2. AIDA: attention, interest, desire, action
3. AIDCAS: attention, interest, desire,
conviction, action, satisfaction.
4. DIPADA: definition, identification, proof,
acceptance, desire, action.
1.

According to Aristotle, persuasion must be

affected by three points:

1. working on emotions-pathos

2. giving the right impression-ethos

3. proving the truth-logos

EFFECTIVENESS OF ADVERTISING

Hierarchy of effects, a model developed by

Robert Lavidge and Gary Steiner in 1961
which suggests that there are six steps from
viewing a product ad to product purchase.

The six steps include:

1. awareness,
2. knowledge,
3. liking,
4. preference,
5. conviction and
6. purchase.

Stages of consumer behaviour:

Cognitive (thinking) so that the consumer
becomes product aware and gathers product
knowledge.
Affective (feeling) so that the consumer
likes the product brand and has conviction in
it.
Conative (behaviour) so that the consumer
buys the product brand.

IMPRESSION, REPETITION, IMAGE

AND TIPPING THE BALANCE
Sutherland and Sylvester (1999, 2000) noted
that ads do not transfer any concrete data to
the customer.
Instead they retell some stories, present
situations but without any factual messages.

By showing us the same product a number of

times we become more and more aware of
the existing difference between different
products that are advertised.
Repetition makes us accustomed to the
message and if we are unable to verify the
truthfulness of it, we begin to treat the fact
that the message recurs as the ultimate
source of verification.

Advertising image is a seperate mechanism.

In order to enhance memorization we are
encouraged to associate a given product
with some feature.
For instance between years 1970 and 1990
Volvo company focused their advertising
attention on achieving the effect of
association between the brand name and the
idea of safety.

According to Sutherland and Sylvester,

advertising does not really want to push or
even force us to buy a product. It rather
aims to tip the balance towards this or
that direction.

THEORIES OF PERSUASION

1. Social judgment theory

2. Elaboration likelihood model

3. Cognitive dissonance theory

4. Narrative paradigm

TEXT AND DISCOURSE

Text is understood as a complete signifying

unit that informs about something. It has its
limits and transfers a message that is seen
as complete by the sender (Mayenowa,
1979). Many modern scholars view text
as a polysemiotic phenomenon as one
complete, organized expression of
communicative intention of a sender
(Witosz 1997).

Beaugrande and Dressler (1990)

understand text as a formal unit, an
occurrence of communicative situation.
Hence we feel free to perceive text in terms
of some sort of interaction.

In Polish studies discourse has been

understood as a statement that is longer,
multisentential, logically rigorous,
argumentative and opposes a persuasive
one.
Michele Foucault sees discourse in terms of
specific disciplines of human activity. They
shape the way specialists from a given field
communicate and how they construct their
texts.

Teun van Dijk states that: discourse is a

complex communicative act which apart
from encompassing text and dialogue
structure, takes into account social
context, its members as well as the process
of sending and receiving a message.
Van Dijk incorporates into the discourse
analysis economic, social and
institutional factors.

Seven standards of textuality:

1. cohesion,
2. coherence,
Writer 3. intentionality, oriented
4. acceptability,
5. informativity, Readeroriented
6. situationality,
7. intertextuality.-other idea/text-oriented

SLOGAN

Sluagh-ghairm tanmay, a Scottish Gaelic

word used to indicate war cry; the first use
in the English language referred to the idea
of a distinctive sign. Harpers weekly used
this word for the first time in 1854.

FAMOUS SLOGANS
Between love and madness lies obsession-C.
Klein
Dont be evil-Google
I am what I am. Reebok
Impossible is nothing- Adidas
Solutions for a small planet- IBM
Im lovin it. McDonalds
Just do it- Nike
Make believe- Sony
Because youre worth it- LOreal

Slogan is a concise formula, easy to

memorise, discursive and anonymous. Its
aim is to stimulate action in masses. Its
style is self-explanatory and emotionallyladen. It may also contain rational
argumentation.

Slogan is meant to evoke reactions

hence its significance exceeds beyond
semantic level.
Slogan is the only time-stable element
of advertising campaign.

Slogan functions within a communicative

situation which contains certain
components. To enumerate:
1. sender
2. copywriter
3. message
4. transfer of the message
5. intention
6. addressee
7. inner context
8. external context

TEXTUAL STRATEGIES IN
ADVERTISING
Jingles
Different music genres
Fictitious characters
Narrative
Imperative
Formulas
Alliteration
Absence of language
Intentional omission
Parallelism
Borrowing discourse styles from other genres

META-CODE STRATEGIES
The something for nothing
The use of humour
Endorsement by celebrities
Scare-copy
The use of suggestive, sensual themes

THE PRAGMATICS OF USING

RELIGIOUS MOTIFS IN
ADVERTISING
Absolutizing usefulness;
Ennobling products through identification
with high values;
Retreating into the imaginary, mythical and
religious order of life (homo magus);
Transcending beyond logic and materialism
to focus on spiritual, mystical matters;

Religious motifs becomes a counterpoint

for the mundane and materialistic character
of advertising;
Creating contrasts, dichotomizing and at
the same time showing these contrasts in
such a way as if they were not there, as if
they did not exist, blurring the border
between axiological divisions into the sacred
and the profane.

The co-existence of intimacy and deeply

rooted tradition;
Sanctioning social taboos;

Thank you for your

attention!!!