An average American spends fifteen hours per week watching television. During that time, viewers are exposed to countless number of advertisements. Although not everyone is affected by all advertisements, each one of us is bound to become a “sucker” to advertisements sometime in our life. Billions of dollars are spent by American business in creating, running, testing, and measuring advertising effectiveness. American businesses utilize various advertising techniques to manipulate consumers to purchase their products.
One essential element of advertising techniques is capturing the viewers’ attention and making them remember the product after watching the commercial. Without accomplishing these tasks, the commercial is useless regardless of the quality of the product. One way of obtaining viewers’ attention is to arouse their curiosity at the beginning of the commercial. For instance, a Powerade commercial had a football player painting his fingernails in a locker room before a game. The scene may seem peculiar to most viewers. The image intrigues viewers and leads them to keep watching the commercial. Slogans in commercials help viewers remember the products. Nike is one such commercial that has generated much success with its slogan: “Just do it.” Consumers worldwide are associating the imperative with Nike shoes. When someone is considering purchasing a pair of sports shoes, he or she will remember the slogan and think of Nike shoes.
When advertising their products, companies keep their potential consumers in mind. After all, the consumers will be the ones to determine the effectiveness of the commercials. Commercials make their products seem potentially useful to their intended audiences. For example, most of Handi-Snacks’ intended audiences are young children. Although Handi-Snacks is not an important part of the children’s diet, the commercial makes the snacks appear to be so...