Psychology to Advertising the Field Essay

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282). Furthermore, research supports that an audience is more likely to be persuaded when the persuasion technique matches their attitude functions. Thus, people in the advertising industry are far more likely to be successful persuaders when they carefully consider the predominant attitude type of their audience and tailor their advertisements to that specific group.

A final example of the contributions of psychology to advertising is a highly significant one. In 1957, Vance Packard wrote a book titled The Hidden Persuasion, which discussed the psychoanalytical techniques used by many advertising companies (Nelson, 2008). The book sold millions of copies, was translated into 12 languages, and remained on the U.S. bestseller list for a year. Nevertheless, it was highly criticized by many academics and people in the advertising industry who wrongfully assumed that it was focused mainly on subliminal messages. However, Packard never actually used the term "subliminal" and focused very little discussion on "subthreshold effects." His main argument, which still holds true today, is that people can be persuaded by supraliminal messages without their awareness. Supraliminal means above the threshold of our conscious awareness and subliminal means below this threshold.
For example, a message which you can hear in a song would be considered a supraliminal message, whereas a message which you cannot hear would be called a subliminal message. Subliminal messages have been found to have little persuasive effects. Supraliminal effects on the other hand have been found to be highly effective. Other examples of supraliminal messages include guerrilla marketing (also referred to as word-of-mouth marketing) and product placement. "Because the persuasion source is not identified and the brand is embedded within content or conversation, consumers may not realize that they are being persuaded by these supraliminal persuasion attempts" (Nelson, 2008, p. 113). Research in the area of conscious and unconscious processing is on the rise and is being used by advertising companies everywhere.

As has been demonstrated, psychology has made many contributions to advertising. In fact, without an understanding of psychological factors, advertising efforts would be far less effective than they are today (Kardes, 2005). That being said, anyone entering the advertising industry would be highly advised to study psychology in-depth to best prepare themselves for a successful career in their field......

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"Psychology To Advertising The Field", 03 December 2009, Accessed.16 May. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/psychology-advertising-field-16778