Advertisements

Our Mini Project #5 was to find an advertisement and dissect it, pointing out who and what the ad appeals to.
I chose an add that popped up while I was reading the New York Times.



CIEE is a website that I have visited often. I have thought about studying abroad in the past but decided not to.
Because I know this ad is directed towards people like me, I thought it would be easier to analyze.

Here is what I came up with:



This project got me thinking about advertisements and how they appeal to people.
Here are a few articles I found that I thought were interesting:

• https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/10/thinking-vs-feeling-the-psychology-of-advertising/247466/
• http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/emotional-ads-work-best.htm#

According to smallbuissness.chron.com there are 5 top appeals that advertisers use to sell a product. 

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/top-five-appeals-advertisers-use-sell-product-31373.html

• Fear
• Humor 
• Rational
• Sex
• Bandwagon

I think that the bandwagon appeal is the most interesting and the most embarrassing to fall for. The ad makes the consumer believe that they need the product to belong.
"You need this because everyone has it."

Here is an example:

Most people simply enjoy Apple products. But if we all are honest with ourselves, most of us want iPhones because it sucks to be that one person with a droid.