Lesson 13 — Activity 3: More Advertising Techniques


How does advertising appeal to our values, beliefs, and opinions? Ads are created to appeal to our emotions and feelings. Some of these ads try to persuade you to think that you will find happiness if you buy their particular product.

In some ways, ads are much like stories, songs, or poems that we might read or listen to. Just as a writer likes it when a reader gets involved in the plot of a story, advertisers want you to be involved in their advertisements. To accomplish this, ads often try one or all of the following approaches:


  • "Feel Good" ads — Use emotional stories to sell products that are trying to make us associate good feelings with that product. For example, an ad might show a close, loving family having a meal together or a child holding hands with a grandparent to make us think that having a certain product will help us to have good relationships with the people we care about.

  • "Look Good" ads — Usually present their products in the most positive way possible by using techniques to encourage us to want to purchase the product. For example, some ads use very attractive models or celebrities to sell products or perhaps use a cute animated character to make us think favourably about the product. Other ads will show the product being used in an almost unrealistic way, such as when children's toys are advertised doing things children most likely will not be able to do themselves. Ads for food products use various techniques to enhance the look of the food.

  • "Sound Good" ads — Use music and other sound effects to make the product appear more interesting or exciting. Just as music is used in movies and TV shows to create a mood, advertisers use the same concept. Ads often use "jingles" — catchy tunes that include the product's name — to attract a listener's or viewer's attention. Advertisers often increase the volume (sound) of the ads on TV to catch your attention as well.


We might enjoy watching some ads and we might buy something because we like the ad, but we need to keep in mind that the advertisements that surround us are not as simple as they might seem. A great deal of money is spent on research to see how advertisements can be created to make us think products can do more for us than the actual physical purpose they serve.

For more examples of how products can change the way you think and feel, view the following website.



Do you recognize this popular jingle?







"Sound Good" Ad

Advertisers use music and other sound effects to make the product appear more interesting or exciting.




Self-check!

Click on the Play button below to watch the Dove "Real Beauty" commercial. As you watch, think about how the advertisers are using "feel good," "look good," and "sound good" methods in the Dove campaign.