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3. DESIRE-STIMULATING |
The content of advertising claims (the ideas said or suggested) can be divided into two major kinds depending whether the emphasis is product-centered or audience-centered.
Product-Centered
The older, more traditional view of advertising stressed the concept of praising the product: "the product as hero." Car makers, for example, might emphasize the "Quality" or "Utility" or "Efficiency" or "Beauty" of their cars.
At best, such ads inform the public about the product's merits. At
worst, such ads can make false claims.
But, most commonly, product-centered advertising is usually "puffery,"
that is, the kind of "sellers talk" which uses superlatives,
vague generalities, and one-sided praise.
Laws usually allow such puffery because reasonable buyers should expect
it from sellers.
For more about the 12 common categories of product-centered claims:
Product-Centered.
Audience-Centered
During the 1950s, the emphasis in advertising shifted focus away from the product to gave more attention to the needs and wants, the hopes and fears, of the target audience.
The benefits promised to the buyers were often the intangibles -- of prestige or popularity or sex appeal -- associated with the product. Such psychic benefits resided not in the product, but in the attitudes and emotional feelings, in the dreams and fantasies, of the audience.
Thus, the first thing advertisers needed was research (using interviews,
surveys, polls, focus groups) to find out what various "goods"
-- the various needs and wants -- people already desired.
From ancient philosophers (e.g. Aristotle) to modern psychologists (e.g.
Maslow), many "academic" lists of human needs and wants had
already existed. But, modern persuaders were interested in the practical
applications of how they could identify the desires of various
audiences in order to motivate them to buy a commercial product,
or a political policy.
For more about 24 common categories of human needs and wants: Audience-Centered.
Scan these two major divisions (above) to get an overview of the most common categories of claims in ads. Then:
Click here for scare-and-sell ads
-- the negative counterparts of these categories.
Click here for a brief list of the 15 most
common words used in ads.
Click here for standard phrasings
in ads.
Political claims may also be described in these two categories: some emphasize inherent qualities of the person or party (Efficiency -"can do the job"; Reliability - "someone experienced"; Novelty -"time for a change"); others emphasize audience-centered benefits, often targeting various specific subgroups (homeowners, college students, retirees, church-goers).
When I asked students what advice they would give to younger students about DESIRE-STIMULATING, here are some of the responses, in their own words.