ethics in advertising and types of instincts
TRANSCRIPT
Ethics in Advertising and Types of Instincts
Developed by Dinesh Poorun
© 2013 UWS College. This work is copyright and cannot be used without the
permission of UWS College
Advertising
• Advertisers have come under attack for influencing people to spend money to chase an often unrealistic aspiration.
• In fact advertisers have increasingly turned to psychologists to find out how to hit the right buttons in people in order to make them buy products and services.
• Is this right? Are audiences vulnerable or discerning?
Appeals to instincts and emotions
• Television commercials and magazine advertisements aim to create the feeling that an instinct can be satisfied or an emotion soothed through the use of a sponsor’s product.
Acquisitive Instinct
• The acquisitive instinct causes us to save, collect and hoard all kinds of possessions.
• From this instinct we get a satisfying feeling of ownership.
Sexual Instinct
• The sexual instinct is most strongly catered to in television advertisements. Sex appeal is used to sell almost any product.
Herd Instinct
• The herd instinct draws people together and makes them want to be part of a group or crowd.
• Eg McDonalds stress the family aspect of togetherness while Coke and Pepsi stress peer togetherness and acceptance.
Love Instinct
• Love is the most important human emotion. Lover’s shown using a product, associates the feeling of love with the product.
Maternal Love
• Maternal love is another important emotion. According to some advertisements a mother can only show true love by using these products.
• In a sense you are making a parent guilty if they don’t use the product. Infant formula is an example of this. How ethical is this?
Fear
• Fears are also exploited in advertising. People are frightened of loneliness and rejection.
Fear
• Sometimes Advertisers make us believe that if we don’t use a product our lives will be immeasurably worse.
The demographics of social class.
• Women are the most sought after group by advertisers, even more important is the spending power across genders.
• Advertisers have devised a scale according to spending power.
Quintile Groups
• A households are successful upper professionals like doctor and lawyers. Only 2 percent of the population are in this category.
• B households are below the top but are still well off. University lecturers, pharmacists and directors of small companies are included here. These households comprise 11 percent of population
Quintile Groups
• C households are lower middle class and make up 23 percent of the population. Tradespeople, and various white collar workers are included in this group.
• D households are general clerical staff, apprentices and semi skilled workers
Quintile Groups
• E households are manual workers, labourers, factory workers, truck drivers etc.
• FG households are people receiving welfare payments, including unemployed and retired pensioners.
Attitudes and beliefs
• The Stanford Research Institute’s Values and Lifestyles Programme (VALS) has organised peoples attitudes and beliefs into five groupings. (Stewart and Kowaltzke, p159, 1997)
5 groupings
• 1. Belongers are traditional, conservative and conformist, Advertisers may show family values.
• 2. Emulators are young people searching for identity. Advertisers may show aspirational images, heroes and heroines.
5 groupings
• 3. Emulator-achievers are successful, enjoy acquiring things and buy brand names. Advertisers focus on success and taste.
• 4. Socially conscious achievers believe inner peace and the environment are more important than financial success.
• 5. Needs directed are survivors on incomes that allow only needs and not wants to be fulfilled.