Argument Essay Example

The advertising industry is a multi-billion dollar business, with one main goal: convincing consumers to purchase the advertised products (Jennings and Mary, 364). In most businesses, sales volume in most cases is determined by the magnitude done on advertising the product or services. Manufacturers use adverting to influence consumers to purchase their goods and services (Koekemoer and Bird 361). On the other hand, business firms advertise to promote the company’s “image”. Advertising in businesses is used to attract new consumers thus increasing sales. Organizations, groups, individuals, the government, and political parties and their candidates also they do advertising. The armed forces also use ads when they are recruiting volunteers. Politicians use attractive advertisements to try to win the people’s votes.

People also advertise in mass media to sell property, homes, cars, or any item they want to sell.

Advertising guarantees a lot of things, mostly, happiness (Koekemoer and Bird 254). Successfully, it has used every conceivable emotion just to sell products to us. Our desire to live a secure life is used to promote the benefits of a home security system. A normal setting of a baby and a house pet is used to sell cleaning products. A desire to acquire more friends is transformed into a dazzling brand new trendy car procure to cruise around. Advertising has become craftier – everything exists in the world to be consumed or to sell something else.

Ever since mass media became mass media, naturally companies have used this means of communications to spread information about their product to a large number of people. There is no problem with that, as it allows innovative concept and ideas to be interchanged. However, as years progressed, the complexity of advertising techniques and methods has advanced, shaping, attracting and even creating consumerism and needs where they never existed before, or turning luxuries into necessities (Kelley and Jugenheimer 67).

The weight of creating attention through print advertising remains an essential ingredient in today’s society. Print advertising remains one of the most universally used advertising medium to bring out the message to the end user; the vast innovation of the Internet and technology not withstanding. Magazine adverts contain a variety of figurative messages in an effort to reach the target audience. Advertisers shower their target audience with pleasing images and messages to draw them in and consequently get them pay attention to their adverts.

In this analysis, I will analyze an advert by Citibank and American Airline on a package being referred to as Citibank American Airlines AAdvantage program- appearing in ‘the US News’ and ‘the World Report’. The advert also appears on outdoors displays in various locations in America. In this advert, Citibank has partnered with American Airlines in rewarding their customers who shop with their Citibank card (Citi). In this advert the main objective, like any advertising, is persuasion. It is designed in such a way that in order to purchase a product the consumer has to take some kind of action. Advertising campaign furthermore tries to persuade the consumers to be loyal to one brand so they purchase the same brand of the product each time they want the product. The advertisement applies some technique that tries to influence people to think or act in a certain way. Some of persuasive techniques are direct, while others are subtle.

The advert shows a lady relaxing in a canoe on a serene lake near snow covered mountains. The advert appeals to our sense of satisfaction and pride. The messages in this advert has taken into careful reflection and also formed in such a way as to be appealing and attractive to the audience. Likewise, the use of non-verbal quintessence in this advert has a broader meaning that indirectly draws interest in consumers’ minds. The advertiser want us to believe that by using their card for shopping gives as an opportunity enjoy a fully paid holiday trip.

The image of the lady relaxing in a canoe on a serene lake near snow covered mountains enjoying the beautiful view is symbolic of her independence; the independence the advertiser wants us to believe those using their card possess. In advertising, one common persuasive techniques used is to try to associate a product or services with attractive people and sexuality. Sex is an undisputable attention-getter, and an advertisement that creates a connection between a product and images of attractive sexuality has a strong persuasive effect on consumers.

One of the most commonly applied persuasive methods is convincing people that certain products will increase their sexuality (Nysveen, and Breivik 390). The lady being alone is symbolic of her autonomy and you get the sense she does not need anyone else, except just her Citibank shopping card, to get whatever she desires.

The advertiser appeals to our need to escape. This need habitually comes with a sense of enjoyment- and the advertiser has used it well in this advert. When you read the advert, it temps you start to thinking about stopping on your way to work at least for a change. There is nothing visual to imply this but our thoughts start to conceive a familiar narrative by seeing the advert.

The advert is logical and we can accept the reality of steps taken by the lady to bring her to this particular place of pleasure. She simply obtained her card, used it in her shopping, earned the reward and made use of her reward. We all wish to leave behind the daily chores of our lives and unwind. It is presumed that human beings during their day to day life walk around with a vast array of unfulfilled motive and urges spinning in their minds. Aspiration, vulnerabilities, gentleness and desire are constantly bubbling up, in search of a solution. These mental forces strengthen people and they must be capped with contentment. This is the un-fulfillment that the advertiser claims to have an answer to(Nysveen, and Breivik 403).

This advert also appeals to the need for aesthetic sensations. This appeal is used by advertisers in almost every advertisement to make it easier to communicate with prospective customer using visually appeasing images than with text. Other than information content, this advert carries along consumer appeal and uses diversion and an indirect persuasion as an advertising technique that convince people by creating an connection between a product and a situation where there is no any direct relationship.

Use of beautiful pictures in well laid out advert as well as witty slogans and carefully thought out camera angles sparks an interest from the target audience. They have been sneaky and underhanded in efforts to bring us a message they want to convey

In addition, consumers prefer to purchase products and services from those they feel there is a similarity or kinship. This comes in many advertising forms, for example associating a product with an elite group, family principles, or positioning for “ordinary people. This kind of advertisements presents a very powerful persuasive advertising technique that makes a consumer to believe that the product is a perfect fit for the way she perceives herself.

The company uses outdoor advertising, especially billboards to cover the spectrum of audience involvement, from the passive medium of billboards through to the involving ambient media. One major advantage of billboards is their usefulness in teaser campaigns and reinforcing public relations. The outdoor adverts also show a lady relaxing in a canoe on a serene lake near snow covered mountains- appealing to our sense of satisfaction and pride. The messages in this advert has taken into careful reflection and also formed in such a way as to be appealing and attractive to the audience. Still, the picture is the most important element of advertising when it comes to attracting attention. The picture acts as an eye catcher, and it is easily understood and processed fast- conveying a lot of information in the shortest time, even if the recipient is not paying attention (Nysveen, and Breivik 397). Likewise, the use of non-verbal quintessence in this advert has a broader meaning that indirectly draws interest in consumers’ minds.

The advert makes use of specifically selected images of supine female, which is designed to stimulate sub-rational impulses and desires and thus communication is carried across. In addition the advert has an emotional appeal in the text, though to a greater extent, the appeal is limited in the art work. This is logic, since visual communication is better suited in more primary levels of the brain. If this adverts viewer has the importunate motive, given that the appeal is satisfactorily well fashioned then the person can be hooked.

The fact is that nothing in this ad- or in any ad-is there by mistake(Kelley and Jugenheimer 22); every detail is carefully chosen, every word carefully selected, every photo carefully arranged. The designers of this ad know that the readers usually spend only a few seconds glancing at ads as they page through a magazine; as she drives past a billboard. Therefore, the advertising agent spends a great deal of time trying to understand the complex psychodynamic of their target audiences and then tailoring ads to appeal to those audiences. Therefore, even with simplicity, the advert carries subtly powerful messages about ‘coolness’ as well as about appropriate modes of standard of success and beauty, and other markers of normalcy and status.