PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL 2

MECHANISM OF

PERSUASION

NAME: LIEW JIN

STUDENT ID: 0318449

COURSE CODE: PSY30203

This is an advertisement of the BMW car. This advertisement was founded in the newspaper,

‘The Edge, Malaysia’. As everyone knows BMW is a very pricey and luxurious car, who

doesn’t want a BMW car?! The aim of this eye-opening advertisement is of course to attract

car lovers all around Malaysia to get one BMW today! All these wouldn’t go with the flow if

it wasn’t because of the power of persuasion. Unless you’re living in a cave, people are

persuading you all the time. So what exactly is persuasion? Persuasion is a process of

convincing other people to change their attitude or behaviour regarding an issue.

In this advertisement, it gives a person to appeal in a social need. For example, because

BMW is a luxurious car, people might want to buy it to be popular, prestigious or maybe

similar with their friends. This advertisement also used loaded words and attractive eye-

catching images.

Besides, this advertisement started off with a big sign, ‘GIFTS COMES EARLY THIS

YEAR’, which means an early Christmas present! Since Christmas is around the corner,

people would probably be looking for cars maybe for their 18 year old kids who just got their

license. Moreover, they’re also using the sentence ‘THE GREAT GIVEAWAY’. Who

wouldn’t be attracted to the word ‘Giveaway’? And also, giveaways are rare and you could

say they’re a once in a blue moon kind of thing. BMW might be using scarcity, which is the

playing hard to get’ techinique.

Secondly, would be the words in the black highlighted bar on top, stating ‘BMW PREMIUM

SELECTION. APPROVED USED CAR’. This is to show honesty and scam-free. By reading

this, people would maybe trust and feel safe when buying this car. Thirdly, would be the

highlighted words in the introduction, saying BMW is giving away attractive offers including

the ‘SPIN THE WHEEL’ challenge which one could win gifts and get promotions. All these

persuading in this BMW advertisement is using reciprocity, which is the ‘that’s-not-all

technique’. BMW is offering additional benefits to target people before they have decided

whether to comply with or reject specific request. They’re still promoting it anyways!

Thirdly, BMW is also using Scarcity again by the fast-approaching-deadline technique.

Notice the tiny sentence below the advertisement saying ‘Valid for a limited time only. While

Stocks Last’. This technique is probably telling the customers to make up their mind fast

before the deadline comes. This would give an excitement or maybe like an adrenaline to

decide as quick as possible before the promotion ends. But honestly, people would somehow

get pretty excited and would really buy it!

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