Appeals in Advertisements

     Each product in our world today must fit to someone's needs. Whether it is shoes, clothing, websites, food, restaurants, or puppies, each one appeals in different ways. The advertising industry is known for using fifteen basic appeals to get into the minds of the viewers. These appeals vary from the need to escape to the need for affiliation. If you pay close attention to ads, or even just take a quick glance at them you will notice that there is a main emotion or appeal within each one.

     For example, the ad posted above uses the appeals of the need to achieve and the need for prominence. The need to achieve reaches out to the viewers who want the ability to accomplish something difficult and succeed. This advertisement is saying that if you use grammarly you will get a good grade on the paper you are writing, which is every student's goal. In school, a large group of students want to feel admired and respected (the need for prominence). Most students will feel like they need to get good grades to feel admired or respected in school. By using grammarly, they claim that all of these things will come true. Advertisements also aim at a certain group of people. This ad, with the setting of a library is targeting students and what they believe appeals to this specific group of people. Lastly, sometimes, advertisements are found within advertisements. The apple computer is set right in the middle of the screen for a large portion of the advertisement, which will lead people to associate grammarly with apple. 

     Advertisements, along with using basic appeals, often puts famous people in the ads. When people see a famous person or someone they look up to in an advertisement the product suddenly becomes better. Most beauty products and sports companies tend to do this. Beauty products such as pantene or nearly every makeup company tend to use the appeals of attention or affiliation. By wearing what these companies are selling you will suddenly get the amount of attention Selena Gomez does. Sports ads, such as Nike, tend to focus on making the viewer more empowered and stronger than they really are. If you wear Nike products you will suddenly run or play like an olympic athlete.

     The main question i have about all of this advertising is, does it really work? Companies spend thousands of dollars trying to advertise without knowing how affective each one is. Every time i see an add on twitter, instagram or snapchat i just skip or scroll right past it. The only ads i find effective are the ones during Super Bowl or the World Cup. On a day to day basis i find myself almost annoyed  with each advertisement i see. Companies have found ways to sneak ads into every aspect of our days, but instead of focusing on putting out more they should focus on which is the most effective.