Theories of Communication, Advertising and Persuasion

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Introduction

Increased market competition, high levels of customer expectations, and the need to attract new customers have compelled organizations to invest large amounts of capital in advertising. In the modern capitalist markets, advertising plays an integral role in creating product awareness. In other words, advertising acts as an informative and persuasive marketing tool.

Drawing from its definition, advertising can be defined as a promotional tool which enhances communication between the producer and the buyer. Through a communication channel, an advertiser can relay a message to the targeted end receiver. Advertising has the capacity to motivate consumers to buy a particular product or service.

There are different ways through which an advertiser can pass a message to the consumers. Some of the media outlets used in advertising include social media networks like twitter and Facebook, TV adverts, print media (newspapers, magazines, journals and catalogs), radio, billboards and sideshows, and commercial displays. Depending on the message being communicated, advertising can attract or push customers away.

The objective of the essay is to critically evaluate the role of advertising in the creation of markets, communities and social identities.

Moreover, the essay endevours to determine whether advertisements reflect consumer demand for products or whether they aid in the creation of specific subject positions which attract consumers to the products. To analyse these objectives, the Apple brand been adopted. This particular choice is necessary in order to emphasize the role played by advertising.

Role of advertising in the creation of markets, communities and social identities

Advertising can be described as a form of communication aimed at persuading the targeted audience to purchase a particular product or service (Moriarty, Mitchell & Wells, 2009a). The major objective of advertising is to inform, persuade and convince a consumer on the benefits of a particular service or product. Advertising enables marketers to realize brand awareness, gain market share and attract potential customers.

Based on the above description of advertising, it is important to note that advertising plays an important role in the creation of markets. For instance, advertisements bring about product differentiation which acts as a competitive advantage relative to competitor products (Moriarty et al. 2009). With reference to Apple, the company has managed to create a strong brand through advertising.

Through the “Think Different” campaign carried out in 1990s as well as the “iPod People” campaign conducted in the 2000s, the company has managed to differentiate itself from its competitors. This has been achieved through advertising which has helped to create brand awareness and brand recognition (Armstrong & Porter, 2007).

Since then, Apple has remained as a strong brand with an established market. Over the years, customers have continued to associate themselves with Apple because they were persuaded by the company’s initial adverts. The adverts helped the company to create brand awareness, and brand recognition. Above all, it led to market differentiation.

According to Tellis (2005), past research show that advertising is a powerful promotional tool applied by marketers to create market share. In addition, it is used to target a particular consumer segment in the market. Through advertising, the targeted segment is communicated, persuaded and informed about a given brand and the benefits associated with that particular brand.

As a promotional tool, advertising is used as “an important source of information that promotes competition” (Armstrong & Porter, 2007, p. 1718). As such, organizations use advertising as a way of providing information to potential consumers in a given market segment. Informative content is communicated to the consumer.

The communicated message entails the price, the function, or the existence of the product in the market (Armstrong & Porter, 2007). Consequently, this stimulates the desire by a consumer to purchase a particular brand such as.

For instance, the words “Think Different” as used by Apple have a strong message towards the consumer as they compel him/her to start thinking differently when contemplating on purchasing Apple products. In addition, since Apple is a strong brand, consumers can associate themselves with that particular brand because of the benefits associated with the use of the product.

Organizations use advertising as a way of creating social identities. By social identity, we mean that advertisements have an impact on particular group(s) in the market which shares similar beliefs, values and norms (Zeng, Huang & Dou, 2009). Primarily, consumers can identify with a specific group.

According to Morairty et al (2009a), the main goal of an advertising campaign is to reach a large group of individuals interested in a particular product. In addition, the targeted people share the same beliefs, norms and values. With respect to Apple brand, the company used the words “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” in the “Get a Mac” campaign.

Through the use of such advertising characters, Apple was able to persuade consumers to purchase their Mac product. The campaign which lasted for four years was able to create social identity. For instance, it made likeminded consumers start believing in Mac instead of the ordinary PC. Due to its unique qualities and features, consumers were able to associate with the product.

The Mac, which was part of the computer revolution in terms of software and hardware, emerged as a strong brand. This enabled Apple to sell millions of Mac pieces to consumers who shared social identities. For example, Mac Campaign portrayed its products as modern and effective. This helped to differentiate the product from PCs that tend to be time bound.

Advertising influences and shapes the beliefs, behaviour and attitudes of consumers towards a particular brand (Morairty et al., 2009a). In addition, adverts motivate, persuade and convinced consumers. Consequently, a consumer is able to develop brand preference and taste. Preferences compel consumers to buy a particular brand.

For instances, companies make use of celebrities as part of their promotional campaigns in order change the beliefs, behaviour and attitude of consumers towards a particular brand (Morairty et al., 2009). The celebrities or endorsed personalities have a respected opinion and are highly ranked and respected in the society.

In addition, followers of these celebrities and highly respected opinion leaders have an attachment with their fans and followers. For example, the iPod advertising conducted by Apple used dark silhouettes dancing to music. The silhouettes had iPods and were believed to listen to iTunes. The advert featured music celebrities such as Eminem, U2, CSS, and Bob Dylan, among others.

In this case, the celebrities shared similar beliefs with the targeted consumers (the value for music). In addition, the celebrities were used to influence the behavior and attitude on consumers towards the iPod. This enabled the company to attract the fans that associate themselves with the celebrities to purchase iPod and belong to the same community or group.

As mentioned in the paragraph above, advertising plays an important role in creating communities. In the context of marketing, a community can be described as a group of persons (consumers) who associate themselves with a particular brand. This kind of grouping shares different beliefs and ideas.

According to O’Shaughnessy and Stadler (2008), the media is able to develop ideologies towards the targeted audience or viewer. An ideology is a set of feelings, beliefs, ideas, and social values which represent the way of life of a certain group of people (O’Shaughnessy & Stadler, 2008).

Advertising acts as a unifying factor which brings people together because they believe in that particular brand (Morairty et al., 2009a). A well promoted brand is able to communicate to the targeted consumers thus creating social identities which hold communities together.

With respect to Apple, the “Switch campaign” was carried in 2002 to create a community of consumers with the same social identities. This was aimed at attracting Microsoft windows users so that they could switch to Mac.

The Apple Switch advert managed to create a community that shared the same social identity. Creation of community has been achieved in the current adverts featuring iPhones which target consumer who like innovative and stylish products.

Advertisements enable organizations to use commodified celebrities in a bid to attract consumers and influence them in joining some sort of a “tribe” (Ilmonen, 2004). This makes the associated goods part of our internal social world. According to (Ilmonen, 2004), consumers have the tendency to get attached to products after getting an instant endowment effect.

The aim of advertisers is to create a specific meaning for a brand. However, consumers interpret the communicated message in diverse and varied ways (Elliot & Wattanasuwan, 1998). Based on personal perceptions, a consumer can create meaning which influences his/her purchasing patterns and trends.

According to the social theory, human beings associate themselves with a particular group, society or culture. Eventually, this becomes a way of life (Wattanasuwan, 2005). In this context, consumers tend to identify themselves with a social group or identity in which they belong. In other words, they develop symbolic consumption which is based on preferences realized through advertising.

Therefore, advertising helps to create imagined communities. As noted by Wattanasuwan (2005) we tend to consume different products “that contribute to the symbolic means of self-identification, through which we align ourselves emotionally with those, sharing our lifestyles” (p.182). This implies that as consumers we tend to identify ourselves with particular produces thus creating self-identification and communities.

For example, through the consumption of brand Apple, consumers are able to identify themselves with elite group and gain a sense of belonging. The advertisements carried on Mac Campaign to promote Macintosh computers influences and motivates consumers to purchase the products and belong to Macintosh tribe. Therefore, common consumption create a group self (Wattanasuwan, 2005).

Advertisements, consumers demand and subject positioning

Advertising helps in the development, sustenance and promotion of consumer demand towards the products of an organization. However, advertisement does not reflect consumer demand. This observation has been expounded by Armstrong and Porter (2007), who opines that advertising usually result in shifted consumer demand in preference for the advertised product.

In this case, advertising distorts the consumer’s decision making process instead of reflecting the true preferences of the consumer captured in the demand prior advertising. Advertisements are used to persuade consumers to purchase a particular commodity not because they like it but because they have been convinced otherwise.

Based on this explanation, it can be noted that advertisements create subject positions through which consumers are invited to purchase a product. For example, Apple used the advertisement “Why You’ll Love Mac” to differentiate itself from other PC computer brands but not to consumer demand for this particular product.

Advertisements enabled Apple to position its Macintosh computers in the market. In addition, advertisements acted as a way of inviting potential consumers to purchase the product. Powell, Hardy, Hawkin and MacRury (2009) add that advertisements are carried out with a view to reaching out to new market segments.

This is aimed at attracting customers. This means that instead of reflecting the demand of customers, advertisements are designed to invite new customers. For example, iTunes and iPods advertisements were intended to attract the young urban population.

Advertising is used to create brand awareness and develop a reputation for a particular brand in a given pool of consumers. According to Morairty et al. (2009), advertisements are used to influence consumer behaviour and attitude. In addition, they assist in positioning an organization, idea, service or a product with the objective of building a strong brand.

In other words, advertising is a mode of communication used in marketing to reach consumers and influence their purchasing behaviours and make informed choices needed for decision making. For example, Apple uses its advertisements while launching products with the aim of influencing consumers’ purchasing patterns and behaviours.

This motivates customers to change their preferences and purchase iPhones instead of buying competitor products like the Samsung Galaxy. By creating brand awareness and brand equity, advertisements help to position a product in the market and invite the targeted groups.

Armstrong and Porter (2007) note that advertisements are persuasive and informative in nature and influence the decision making of a buyer towards the purchase of a product. For instance, when advertisements provide information on the price and quality of a product, this is an opportunity for the customer to compare different brands and make the ultimate choice to purchase a certain product.

Conclusion

Based on the analysis, advertising is a promotional tool used in marketing to create markets, communities, and social identities. Advertising is also used to create brand awareness and persuade consumers to purchase a product or service. Consequently, this creates a market for a specific brand. Through brand differentiation, advertising assist in creating a market share, communities and social identities.

Brand awareness and brand recognitions drive consumers to develop the need to be associated with a particular group or community. People with similar beliefs and norms are persuaded through advertising to buy a given product or service. This helps to mould brand preferences.

By endorsing celebrities or personalities companies develop consumer attachment to a given brand, thereby creating a community or group with shared beliefs. Advertising is a unifying factor which brings like-minded people together through product purchase. For example, the Apple brand has over the years been used to develop the Mac tribe or society.

Owing to advertisements, consumers tend to identify themselves with a certain brand, thus creating a group or community. Advertisements do not reflect consumer demand but are indicative of the positioning of a product in the market.

They are used to persuade and influence consumers’ purchasing behaviour, patterns and decision making process. They are used to develop brand reputation which changes the demands and preferences of customers.

Reference List

Armstrong, M., & Porter, R. (2007). Handbook of industrial organization: Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Elliot, R., & Wattanasuwan, K. (1998). Brands as symbolic resources for the construction of identity. International Journal of Advertising, 17(2), 1-8.

Ilmonen, K. (2004). The use of and commitment to goods. Journal of Consumer Culture, 4(1): 27–50.

Moriarty, S. E., Mitchell, N., & Wells, W. (2009). Brands and advertising contribution. In Moriarty, S. E et al, Advertising: Principles & practice (102-113). New Jersey, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Moriarty, S. E., Mitchell, N., & Wells, W. (2009a). Introduction to advertising. In Moriarty, S. E et al, Advertising: Principles & practice (2-13). New Jersey, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall.

O’Shaughnessy, M., & Stadler, J. (2008). Media and the society: Defining discourse and ideology. Australia and New Zealand, NZ: Oxford University Press.

Powell, H., Hardy, J., Hawkin, S., & MacRury, I. (2009). The advertising handbook. New York, NY: Routledge.

Tellis, G. J. (2005). Advertising’s role in capitalist markets: What do we know and where do we go from here?. Journal of Advertising Research, 45(2), 1-9.

Wattanasuwan, K. (2005). The self and symbolic consumption. The Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge. 179-184.

Zeng, F., Huang, L., & Dou, W. (2009). Social factors in user perceptions and responses to advertising in online social networking communities. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 10(1), 121-130.

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