Communication through Advertising - Essay Example

? Communication through advertising depends upon the product and the target market. UK women’s magazine RED used the emotional appeal in its advertising. Since the target market is women of all ages, the advertisers have used sex appeal, freedom and the concept of women rising above the traditional roles to appeal to the sentiments of women. The advertisers wanted to explore the sex appeal of women in consumer culture. The editorial team at RED was right in not focusing on women in their 30s and 40s alone because demographics and age are no more critical in segmentation variables that marketers use (Thomas & Peters, 2009). The concept of self and larger lifestyle issues is more relevant, especially in advertising for women. Lifestyle and identity are well recognized psychographic segmentation variables. The advertising campaign of the magazine RED is to appeal to women who have the concept of the self, who like to indulge in themselves and who would like to have time for them. For the past three decades, the concept of the self among women has become pronounced. The self-concept is influenced by the cultural context in which the women live (Peters, Shelton, Thomas, 2011). The magazine is not a utilitarian product and, hence, rational appeal has not been used. Emotional appeal aims to positively or negatively influence the emotions of the consumer that should result in the purchase of the product. Some cultures support exhibiting emotions (Albers-Miller & Stafford, 1999a), and this magazine is meant for women in the UK where equality between the sexes exists. Moreover, UK scores high on the Individualism score as per Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (Geert-Hofstede) and, hence, the advertising has been rightly aimed at appealing to the emotions of the UK’s women. The people in the UK are highly individualistic and carry their own unique self-image. Consumers are known to prefer certain colors for specific products. For instance, automobiles are preferred blue and gray, while beige is used in carpeting (Grossman & Wisenbilt, 1999). For laundry detergents, blue is chosen. In this case, the advertisements have to appeal to the emotions of women. Red color is considered as an arousing and exciting color. Red is also associated with love or revolution, with ambition and desire. Thus, using this word as its name, RED communicates the message that this magazine is meant for women with ambitions and desires. People tend to use products that are consistent with their self-identities and self-concept. Senior adult women are physically and socially active. This can immediately arouse feelings of self-concept and self-identity among women of all ages. Consumers first evaluate the implications of each feature of the product or service. Mattila (2000) contends that narratives are uniquely effective in conveying and portraying experience. Thus, story-based appeals are effective in communicating the value of experiential services. However, narratives are more effective when consumers have low familiarity with the product. Domain-specific knowledge is essential. Story format is easy to understand for inexperienced consumers and this enables them to integrate information in a coherent way. The advertisements should be able to grab consumers’ attention. This is possible when the consumer is in a happy mood to decoding the information in the advertisement. The idea is to change the attitude of women and get them to purchase RED. The advertisers aim to educate the women through the narratives while also appealing to their self-concept. Through the narrative style, the changes in women’s lives have been tracked, which can be emotionally appealing to them. Advertisers now use feminist themes to market to women. They try to portray a lone woman that has risen above her traditional role from the domestic to the professional sphere. This has brought about changes in her expectations and the stereotype attributes have shifted from weak and dependent to strong and autonomous. The market for women’s magazines has also undergone a change – they now have a niche appeal and represent women’s pastimes. They represent a post-modern woman that constructs her identity "through eclectic borrowing of the fragments available in consumer culture” (Kates & Shaw-Garlock, 1999). This is the precise concept that RED has used in its advertising. Marketing communication involves advertising as the main element. The role of advertising is to build awareness and induce engagement. Emotion in advertising can influence and change attitude. Nescafe Gold Blend Coffee used the involvement framework where each advertisement sequentially unfolded the drama and was eagerly awaited by the audience. This leads to involvement of the target and this is precisely what RED advertisements have been able to do. However, the emotional appeal can stir both positive and negative emotions and can range from fear, guilt or shame appeals that would compel the consumer to change their course of action (Albers-Miller & Stafford, 1999). Experiential advertising offers multiple appeals to emotions for the advertising to be effective and advertisements should be culture-specific. Emotional appeals are grounded in the emotional, experiential side of consumption. They rely on feelings for effectiveness; they strive to make the consumer feel good about the product. However, the target segment is represented by women who still have the role to play as home keepers. The advertisements stimulate undiscovered desires, which may be unknown to women. Advertisements promise the pleasure of consumption (Ger, n.d.). The advertisers try to appeal to multiple senses and emotions of the consumer, which prompts the viewers to engage in fantasy and create their own world. They, thus, derive hedonic pleasure because there is a lot of difference in desiring and achieving the desires. Thus, these ads cannot be called practical but sensuous as they appeal to the senses. Thus, while choosing the term RED and using the involvement framework and attempting to appeal to the emotions, the advertisers have been able to capture the attention of the target segment. Nevertheless, these advertisements can be disturbing as negative emotions are stirred. Women may realize undiscovered desires but when they are unable to make their dreams come true, it can lead to greater frustration. The purpose of advertising is to capture the market but if it gives rise to negative feelings, the purpose of advertisement is not served. References Albers-Miller, N.D. and Stafford, M.R., 1999. International services advertising: an examination of variation in appeal use for experiential and utilitarian services. Journal of services marketing, 13 (4/5), pp. 390-406. Albers-Miller, N.D. and Stafford, M.R., 1999a. An international analysis of emotional and rational appeals in services vs goods advertising. Journal of consumer marketing 16 (1), pp. 42-57. Geert-Hofstede. United Kingdom. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 4 Feb 2012] Ger, G. The Delights and Discontents of Shopping. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 4 Feb 2012] Grossman, R.P. and Wisenbilt, J.Z., 1999. What we know about consumers’ color choices. Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science 5 (3), pp. 78-88. Kates, S.M. and Shaw-Garlock, G., 1999. The Ever Entangling Web: A Study of Ideologies and Discourses in Advertising to Women. Journal of Advertising 28 (2), pp. 33. Mattila, A. S., 2000. The role of narratives in the advertising of experiential services. Journal of Service Research 3 (1), PP. 35. Peters, C., Shelton, J.A. and Thomas, J.B., 2011. Self-concept and the fashion behavior of women over 50. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management 15 (3), pp. 291-305. Thomas, J.B. and Peters, C.L.O., 2009. Silver seniors Exploring the self-concept, lifestyles, and apparel consumption of women over age 65. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management 37 (12), pp. 1018-1040. Read More