Advertising

Constructiveness

• “Listen to me, I’ll help you improve things”
• A desire to build and improve on whatever you have

Destructiveness

• “Listen to me, I’ll tell you how to destroy things”
• We all have a desire to occasionally blow things up
• Just watch “The Mythbusters”
• There does seem to be a gender link – men seem to like it more than women

Curiosity

• “Listen to me, I’ll answer your questions”
• We all want answers to things – it’s a survival characteristic
• The problem is raising that curiosity – if the person doesn’t care about the answer, it’s a useless appeal

Imitation

• “Listen to me, I’ll make you just like someone else”
• Requires the person to want to be like the model
• Almost always linked to one or the top five appeals

Altruism

• “Listen to me, you’ll give of yourself with no hope or expectation of return”
• Doesn’t exist as an ideal
• Reciprocal altruism does exist
• I’ll do for you now, you do for me later
• Linked to top five

Tricks of the Trade

• Advertising often uses logical fallacies rather than giving logical reasons to buy the product advertised.
• You think the ad is saying one thing when it fact it’s saying something else, or saying nothing at all

Black/White

• “You want it [whatever it is], you can only get it from us.”
• It leaves out any other options, e.g., “love it or leave it.”

Buzz Words

• Words that seem to say something, but what?
• “Crisp”
• “Natural”
• “Organic”

Weasel Words

• Words tossed into a sentence that changes the meaning while leaving an impression that’s different
• Examples: