Advertising and Perception
Nowhere are the basic principles of perception applied more forcefully fully than in advertising. Printed advertisements, regardless of media, involve tile eye exclusively. Radio advertising, in contrasl, depends on the ear, and television involves both the eye and the ear. Let us illu.strate with some studies showing how advertising selling are related to some of the principles of perception.
Two investigators measured the relevance of illustration to copy in thirty-nine advertisements appearing in House Beautiful and House and Garden. The pictures were cut from the copy and mount on a white-cardboard background. College student subjects w asked to indicate whether they had or had not seen each of tl pictures before. They were asked what product was featured in th picture and what caught their attention. The product judged co most often was the conspicuous, and in most cases the centen object; judged correctly next most often was the trademark. product and its trademark stood out and were emembered best there were fewer distracting objects in the picture. Plain, representation of the product was characteristic. Further, these pictures contained within their borders printed words which t spelled out the desirable features of the product. The human subject in the illustrations reflected happiness and contentment in their faces. The investigators concluded that not only must an advert ment be perceived, its message must be understood. Word choic sentence structure are vital to understanding.
In a spot-advertising study, a packaged-drugs firm was int ested in detenniningthe effectiveness of its spots. Key words were taken from sample advertisements, and subjects were asked to free-associate with each. The final question posed was, "What product service does this remind you of?" For example, when male and femal subjects were asked to free-associate with the word "membrane, 42 percent responded with "form of skin or tissue." Also a mil!: emotional attitude was found; 57 percent of the subjects expressed like and 42 percent dislike. The most frequent response to the phrase "shrinks swollen nasal membranes" was "colds." Further, the word had a high brand-associative value for the company.
The research indicated that very favorable feelings existed toward such words and phrases as "penetrating ingredient," "lates," and "gives you a lut." Such words as "antiseptic" and "medicates" .aroused favorable responses, whereas unfavorable reactions were elicited by "bacteria," "congestion," and "inflamed." The researchers noted that when negative emotions are involved, the advertisement should provide a way out. The results of studies of radio spot ads are in effect .similar. The "voice" of the announcer means much with regard to what feelings will be aroused.
In a very real way perception relates to many aspects of consumer behavior. Let us take a look at the role of psychology in this area.
