Advertising

Companies all over the world have been looking for ways to bring their products to the attention of the public. Throughout history advertising has played lots of rolls in society and has even changed history like the "We Can Do It" WWII posters which sparked on women to work the laborious jobs the men used to have which helped us win that war. Lots of their tactics include: subliminal messages, logic, celebrities, certain colors, and even sex.

Subliminal messages fist started way back in 1957 when James M. Vicary made an "invisible commercial" for a movie theatre. During the film there would be frames with words like "Drink Coca-Cola" and "Eat Popcorn". Unconsciously people would then feel the effects of the hidden messages and have an "urge" to get some Coke or popcorn. Unfortunately these kinds of methods are now illegal. The FCC in America outlaws it by simply saying subliminal advertising is designed to deceive.

Companies also believe that telling the facts will be good enough to sell the product. In other words, the product will sell itself. You see these strategies a lot in car ads, often during the commercial or in the ads they list the safety features, horsepower, speed, or how much room the car has to show the buyer why they should by the car. (Example A) And to enforce that, they use certain types of people to show what kind of a person would buy it, or to what audience would this car fit. In lots of mini-van commercials, they often show a fully loaded family with lots of kids getting into the vehicle (Example B). Or if it's more of a sporty car, they'll show a young, sleek, and handsome man driving it as if you could become like him if you bought it.

If they are willing to pay the price, companies will hire celebrities to help sell they're products. They will hire athletes, actors, singers, bands (Example C), and even porn stars. They make the star act as if the product has gotten them to where they are now, or how much they love that product (Example D). Even simpler, to just have the person take a picture with the product can catch a buyers eye, and possibly give another reason why they should buy that product (Example E). Even if they don't have a famous actor or athlete sponsoring their product, they can still have someone to portray an image, just like that young, sleek, and handsome man driving that fast car. It makes you think that you can be just like him, that you can get all the ladies. Like the Camel for Camel cigarettes. He's usually portrayed as a cool, slick, and dare I say "hot", which makes one think that if I smoke these cigarettes, I can be just like that camel (Example F).

Believe it or not, even colors can change our views or make us feel something. What does the color red make feel? Some may say hot,