3 Ways in which Advertising Affects Critical Reasoning
People are bombarded with ads every day, and for most they are simply ads, nothing more but a disruption and an annoyance. Numerous people have problems acknowledging the fact that ads can manipulate them because they firmly believe that they are absolutely in control of their preferences and behavior. Even though the notion of advertising is not naturally questionable or dubious, advertisers have moved into a much more complicated and at times even emotional, cinematic contents that are intended to form strong, positive responses to a product. Such responses are formed because ads are able to induce emotions in their audiences, whether positive or negative, and such emotional outcome can have a tremendous impact on how people think and choose. There are three ways in which ads affect critical reasoning, namely, through emotional branding, cult branding, and use of language.
Brands and their relevant communication approaches interact with or appeal to the emotions of their target audiences, because they have discovered that it is the most effective way to influence them and shape their thoughts or, more specifically, their critical reasoning. The emotional mechanism is directly associated with perception, memory, and attention. The attention of the consumer can be seized by means of emotions, and, once this occurs, the content, message, and experience embeds into the person's memory (Zaltman and Zaltman 22). Thus, the first way in which advertising affects consumers' critical reasoning is through emotional branding. The goal of a brand is to offer a positive experience for customers by means of its different communication strategies and imagery. For instance, the SONG team of Delta Airlines tries to make a 'new culture of travelling' (PBS Chap. 1) by focusing on the perception of a specific demographic-- women.
Andy Spade, a known personality in the fashion and design industry, is consulted by SONG regarding a new TV commercial for Delta that would focus specifically on women. Spade's immediate idea is to appeal to women's preferences and reasoning by targeting their emotions. Other examples of successful emotional branding are Nike and Starbucks. Nike's ads are effective in the sense that they encourage many of its audiences that sports is not a mere competition, but also a transcendent pursuit. Thus, through its emotionally charged ads, Nike becomes more than a manufacturer of sports products-- it becomes a representative of their customers' need to create meaning for themselves. The same is true for Starbucks-- a company that promotes not only coffee, but also cultural diversity. Hence, the question is, why do these companies prefer emotional branding over reason-based approaches for their ads? The answer is simple-- emotions have a huge influence on critical reasoning.
Secondly, advertising influences critical reasoning through what is called 'cult brands'. Advertisers have realized that they can apply the fundamental premises that govern the appeal of actual cults to potential followers or, more particularly, the core reason why some people are encouraged to join cults. Cult brands influence consumers' critical reasoning by provoking a sense of belonging, something that people want to feel. Cult brands are very successful that numerous loyal consumers persuade their loved ones and significant others to choose and use a specific brand over another rooted in their profound liking and intimacy to such brands. One example is SATURN, which is described as a remarkably successful cult brand. The company has an exceptional mass following because of its ability to foster a sense of community and belongingness among its customers. T
SATURN has successfully taken advantage of the need of the consumers to belong to a community, which, consequently, cultivated a sense of loyalty among them. Advertisers have realized that some people join cults because they want to create meaning, to find their identity, and to discover their life's purpose. All of these realities are applied by advertisers to make their promotional materials more appealing and persuasive to their target customers. This, basically, refers to people's beliefs or the values that influence consumer behavior. Cult brands demand loyalty, and they successfully do so by tapping into the deep-seated emotional needs of their customers-- the need to be one with a community or, basically speaking, the need for acceptance.
And, thirdly, advertising affects critical reasoning through language. In The Persuaders (2004), an expert in the language of political campaigns shows that the choice of words in an advertisement would definitely make it or break it. In an experiment, it was revealed that specific terms or words have a greater appeal to audiences' consciousness than others; for instance, climate change instead of global warming, war on terror instead of war on Iraq, and tax relief instead of tax cuts. Thus, the mass media, when advertising and making news broadcasts have to take into consideration the emotive impact of the language they employ. Primarily, they decide what to convey or communicate to their audiences and what to hold back. Without a doubt, language affects how people would respond to an advertisement and shapes their preferences or evaluation of a marketed product and/or service.
The premises seem rational because they are grounded on actual findings of current research on the diet of early hominid. The author gives relevant and concrete evidence, and names actual researchers who are known in the field of archaeology and biology. Likewise, the reality assumptions and value assumptions seem rational because they are based on predetermined, hard facts. The terms, especially scientific jargons (e.g. early hominid, foraging, paleo diet), are all sufficiently defined. However, the argument would have been stronger if the author included more findings from other disciplines, such as anthropology, psychology, and sociology. These disciplines would have reinforced the premises given by providing background and complementary evidence.
Works Cited
PBS. “The Persuaders.” PBS.org N.p., 9 November 2004. Web. 22 February 2016.
Sayers, Ken. “Early Hominids Ate Just About Everything.” Phys.Org N.p., 17 February 2015. Web. 22 February 2016.
Zaltman, Gerald and Lindsay Zaltman. Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors Reveal about the Minds of Consumers. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Press, 2013. Print.
