THE IMPACT OF TESTIMONIAL USE ON ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS. A RESEARCH PROJECT MATERIAL ON MASS COMMUNICATION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Advertising is a powerful and persuasive machine. It is an exciting, dynamic and fully challenging enterprise. It is a subject that cannot be ignored in our day to day life; infact “a world without advertisement is a bleak world” Awake 1988 Pg 1-6. Advertising is always ahead of us to greet us, Infact it has almost become a thorn in the flesh that the average individual cannot do without. He or she is exposed to several kinds of advertising messages right from the moment he wakes up in the morning until he goes back to bed.
Advertising is a form of mass communication that puts businesses in touch with consumers though paid, controlled, identifiable massages that try to persuade the receiver to make a specific decision towards buying a product.
Advertising has proved to be the cheapest and most successful means of making known goods and services in order to sell them effectively. It is capable of influencing human behaviour towards the purchase of a particular product.
One of the main purpose of advertisement is the imparting and extracting the materialistic virtues of consumption by exploiting achievement derived and emulative anxieties, employing tactics of hidden manipulation, playing on information, etc.
The primary concern with the content of advertising is the question of the degree to which the advertisement is able to convey the selling message; bearing in mind that people buy a particular product to satisfy the needs and wants of the consumers. The advertiser achieves this though a will designed, produced and properly placed advert cope.
The aim of the advertiser in most cases is to induce and create awareness of the values of the advertised products. It also helps to make consumers have the urge to want to possess the product. In essence the advertisers finds out what crates the urge to want to possess a particular product. The aim of every advertisement is to create awareness and sell product and services; it is also used to attract consumers where such product and services could be got.
Owing to this reason, Bernstein (1974: Pg 2) saw advertising as “the originator and communication of ideas about products in order to motivate consumers towards purchase”.
Advertising can also be said to be controversial, it has been praised and yet lambasted. Advocates see advertising as a boost to the economy. “For there to be more jobs in the society, there must be an increase in demand for goods and services, advertising contributes to the accomplishment of this goal. (wright et al,1982 Pg. 6) Advertising can generate and stimulate an economy and create a market where non exist.
The detectors of advertising on the other hand feel, it is a wasteful enterprise. According to them, advertising consist of exploiting human weakness though the use of punchy, persuasive high pressure and aggressive words known as the “hard sell” concept coin by the British advertising association Advertising according to them force people to buy product they had had no intention of buying or something not in their best interest.
Advertisers on the other hand, should always bear in mind that whatever they put in an advertisement affects the consumer’s buying habit as they should be careful about the advert message.
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