Advertisings Fifteen Basic Appeals - Essay Example

 Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals At the outset it is worth beginning the critique with a very wise (and humorous) quote from the genius Lewis Carroll in his very famous work “Alice in the Wonderland” to illustrate the difficulty faced by advertisers aiming to be innovative and creative thereby invoking the shock factor amongst their marketing gimmicks in keeping their work in context and relevant while at the same time being unable to estimate their own direction and stance in relation to the marketing research for the consumer base of the product. Would you tell me, please? Which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. "I don't much care where -" said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat Struggling with the same issues of direction and context this advertisement pertains to the financial services offered by Toyota financial services. Like most Advertisements aiming to persuade us into buying a certain product or service the advertisement employs a degree of persuasion to the tune of tapping into our emotional financial and sub-rational (Fowles) perspectives and sub consciousness. The aim of any advertisement then in Fowles observation is to permeate the inner layer of the sub consciousness to play with our securities and insecurities. Now coming to this advertisement under analysis it is as mentioned before about a financial services company, from the renowned Toyota Group.The Advertisement claims to be able to help college students in particular with funds and finances to be able to afford a car during their rocky college years when they have no stable source of income.The question here that springs to the mind can be very colloquially put as “So what’s the catch?”.The catch is what lies in the small print at the bottom of the page which will be discussed later.The first thing of utmost importance here is whether Fowles's psychological analysis that advertisers will try to sell anything to us in a box by packing it to get around the need for rational thinking and critical reflection. The advertisement is all set in white with what seems to be a college freshman displaying all signs of frustration due to some unknown matter at the first instance. Curiosity demands that the reason for this frustration should be traced. The problem here is that at the first instance the Advertisement seems to remind us of old Advertisements for Intel computers or maybe some software.Then it states “sociology term paper due at 9 am” and then it states that the computer of what is the screaming college freshman has crashed somewhere 45 minutes before the date of submission.At this point the consumer is confused.So they are offering to either fix your computer in 45 minutes or write u a brand new term paper at a reasonable rate.The eye wanders to the very familiar symbol of the Toyota trademark. Next query-What has Toyota got to do with a terribly late term paper or a crashing Pentium 4 computer?The last time I checked Toyota did not become a bank or a financial broker. Once the initial confusion with the conflicting symbolism is over the reader then begins to read the printed matter which seems to get smaller and impossible to glean or pay attention to in the end.What is the logical conclusion here?Toyota is giving away free cars if our computer crashes and the term paper is late? Of course not. Toyota is not a charity and they don’t intend to become one anytime sooner either. So the next query that poses itself to the reader who is incessantly scratching his or head now is that whether to get over computer crashes and late terms papers and overall this advertisement wants to make things better for us by helping us as poor and bored college students a car.Sounds like a kind thing to do.But “Achtung!”.Toyota is not a charity and certainly will not distribute free cars to any one who misses their term paper.(Read the small print). Infact anyone who is wise enough to read the small print in the very beginning will toss this advertisement aside and continue whatever they are doing.Yes we have reached the perfect example of a failure to communicate in an advertisement. Granted it can be argued that the advertisement attempt to arouse curiousity in the context of Fowles’ 15 reasons for appeal of an advertisement.But this premise is weak and of little consolation.It can also be argued that the advertisement aims to target the consumer’s need for which is a basic target in most financial services (Fowles) and make us look at the material goods without wondering about their affordability and to feel financially independent during the college years.This advertise is however conceptually flawed.Firstly no student unless related to some wealthy Arab sheik or the Sultan of Brunei or our good old Mr Rockefeller would dream of buying a Toyota car during college years while struggling with college loans and other stress factors.Alternatively the Advertisement might offer the consumers a means to escape.How far can an already indebted college student escape then with a leased Toyota car ?This advertisement does not do any of the above and yet it promises every student with a late term paper a loan and a car with heavy interest ridden finance for a Car!Or maybe as the Advertisement confusingly claims some financial help. This advertisement is a blatant failure to communicate and the consumer base has been wrongly estimated.The target should have been the middle aged consumers with stable incomes trying to raise families in the suburbs.In conclusion in my critical opinion the advertisement is not only ineffective but also very confusing to relate with all the insights we have been taught so far. Reference Jib Fowles, Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals Shiner, Donald V. (1988). Marketing’s Role In Strategic And Tactical Planning. European Journal Of Marketing, Vol. 22, Issue 5 Lewis Carroll, Alice in the Wonderland Read More