Advertising`s Fifteen Basic Appeals

72
Chapter 2 • Advertising
Statistics reports that in 1995, more people died on the job in advertis­
ing than in car factories, electrical rep air companies, an d petroleum
refining operations (Advertising Age, Au gust 19, 1996). Becaus e adver­
tisin g has such free rein in America, it's become on e of our most domi­
nating vo ices, if not the most d ominating voice.
Examining the Text
1. Which parts of Pepsi's story ("A Day in the Life") are ba sed on fact,
according to Fox? Which parts of the story are "extensions or exaggera­
tions of what already occur s in everyday life"? Do you find any of
these "extensions or exaggerations" unrealistic or difficult to believe?
2. According to Fox, what's wrong with naming a person or a place
after a product? Do you think th ere are qualitative differences between
giving a prod u ct's name to a p ers on , to a baseball stad ium, or to a
school?
3. What is a euphemism? List some of the euphemisms that Fox
mentions in this reading. What problems does Fox see with these
euphemisms?
4. Thinking rhetorically: In this article, Fox juxtaposes the fiction al,
futuristic, and seemingly outrageous story of the girl Pepsi with para­
graphs of exposition and argument ba sed on research . Do you find one
of these strategies more persuasive than the other? How do the y work
together to prove his points?
For Group Discussion
In this article, Fox sh ow s that he is particularly concerned with Sales­
peak in educational settings. In your d iscussion group, make a list of all
the examples Fox gives to show where Salespeak is found in schools.
Add examples to this lis t based on your own exp erience with Sales­
peak in yo ur grade school, high school, and college experience. As a
group, discuss whether your experiences tend to conf irm or contradict
Fox's claims that Salespeak exerts an undue influ ence in ed ucation .
Writing Suggestion
The article ends w ith a list of statistics about ad vertising. Use some of
these statistics as evidence in an essay in which you give your opinion
of the influ ence of advertising on our society. Consider using quotations
from the article. You can use thes e statistics and quotations to support a
position in which you agree with Fox's argument, or you can construct
your essay by arguing against Fox, reinterpreting the statistics he offers
and taking issue with statemen ts that you quote from the article.
Fowles / Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals
73
Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals
Jib Fowles
In thefollowing essay, Jib Fowleslooks at how advertisements workby examin­
ing the emotional, subrational appeals that they employ. We are confronted
daily by hundreds of ads, only a few of which actually attract our attention.
Thesefew do so, according to Fowles, through "something primary and primi­
tive, an emotional appeal, that in effect is the thin edge of the wedge, trying to
find its way into a mind." Drawing on research done by the psychologist Henry
A. Murray, Fowles describes fifteen emotional appeals or wedges that adver­
tisements exploit.
Underlying Fowles's psychological analysis of advertising is the
assumption that advertisers try to circumvent the logical, cautious, skeptical
powers we develop as consumers, to reach, instead, the "unfulfilled urges and
motives swirling in the bottom half of [ou r] minds." In Fowles's view, con­
sumers are well advised to pay attention to these underlying appeals in order
to avoid responding unthinkingly.
As you read, note which of Fowles'sfifteen appeals seem most familiar
to you. Do you recognize these appeals in ads you can recall? How have you
responded?
EMOTIONAL APPEALS
The nature of effective advertisements was recognized full well by the
late media philosopher Marshall McLuhan. In his Understanding Media,
the first sentence of the section on advertisin g reads, "The continuous
pre ssure is to create ads more and more in the image of audience
motives and de sires."
By giv ing form to people's deep-lying desires, and picturing
states of being that indiv id uals privately yearn for, ad ve rtisers have the
best chance of arresting attention and affecting communication. And
that is the immediate goal of advertising: to tug at our psychological
shirt sleeves and slow us down long eno u gh for a w ord or two about
whatever is being sold. We glance at a picture of a solitary rancher at
work, and "Marlboro" slip s into our minds.
Advertisers (I'm using the term as a shorth and for both the prod­
ucts' manufacturers, who bring the ambition and money to the process,
and th e advertising agencies, who supply the know-how) are ever
more compelled to invoke consumers' drives and longings; this is the
1
2
3
74
Chapter 2 • Advertising
"contin uo us pressure" McLuhan refers to. Over the p ast century, th e
American m arketplace has grown increasin gly congested as more and
more products have entere d in to th e fren zied competition after th e
public's dollars. The econo mies of other nations are qui eter than ours
since the volume of goods bein g haw ked doe s not so grea tly exceed
de mand . In some economi es, consumer wares are scarce eno ug h th at
no ad vertising at all is necessar y. But in the United Sta tes, we go to the
other extrem e. In order to stay in bu siness, an advertiser must strive
to cu t th rough the consid erable commercial h ub-bub by an y mean s
available-includ ing the emo tiona l appeals that some obse rvers have
held to be abhorrent and underhanded .
The use of subconscious appea ls is a com ment n ot only on condi­
tions am ong sellers. As time ha s gone by, buyers have becom e stoutly
resistant to ad vertisements. We live in a blizzard of th ese messages and
h ave learned to turn up our collars and wa rd off m ost of them . A stu dy
done a few yea rs ago at Harvard Uni versity's Graduate School of Busi­
ness Administration ventured that the ave rage Ame rican is exposed to
some 500 ads da ily from television, newspapers, magazines, radio, bill­
boards, direct mail, and so on . If for no othe r reason than to p reserve
one 's sanity, a filter mu st be develop ed in every min d to low er the
number of ads a person is actually aw are of- a number this particular
stu dy estima ted at about seve nty-five ads per d ay. (Of these, only
twelve typ ically produced a reaction-nine po sitive an d thr ee nega­
tive, on the average.) To be among th e few me ssa ges tha t do man age to
ga in access to minds, advertisers must be stra teg ic, pe rha ps eve n a lit­
tle underh anded at times.
There are assump tions about person ality underl ying ad vertisers'
efforts to communicate via emo tional appeals, and while these assump­
tions have stood the test of time, they still des erve to be aired. Human
bein gs, it is p resumed , wa lk around with a variety of unfulfilled urges
and motives sw irling in the bott om half of thei r minds. Lus ts, ambi­
tions , tendernesses, vulnerabilities- they are constantly bubbling up,
see king reso lution . These mental forces ene rgize peopl e, but th ey are
too crude and irregular to be given excess ive play in the real world .
The y must be capped wi th the competent, sensible beh avior that p er­
mits individuals to get along well in society. Ho wever, this upper layer
of mental activity, shot throu gh w ith caution an d ra tionality, is not
receptive to advertising's p itches. Advertisers want to circumv en t this
shell of consciousness if they can, and latch on to one of the lurching,
subconscious drives.
In effect, advertisers ove r the years have blindly felt thei r way
around the underside of the American ps yche, and by trial and err or
ha ve discovered the softes t points of entree, the pl aces where thei r mes­
sages have the greatest likelihood of getting by consumers' defenses. As
Fowle s / Advertising 's Fifteen Basic Appea ls
4
5
6
75
McLuhan says elsewhere, "Gouging aw ay at th e surface of public sales
resistance, the ad men are con stantly breaking throu gh into the Alice in
Wonderland territory behind th e looking glass, which is the world of
subrationa l impulses and appetites ."
An advertisemen t communicates by making use of a specially
select ed image (of a supine fem ale, say, or a cur ly-ha ired child, or a
celebrity) which is design ed to stimulate "subrationa l impulses and
de sires" eve n when they are at ebb, even if th ey are unacknowledged
by th eir p ossessor. Some few ad s have their emo tion al appeal in the
text, but for the grea ter number by far the appeal is contained in the art­
work. Th is ma kes sense , since vis ual comm unication better suits more
primal levels of the br ain . If the viewer of an advertisement actua lly
has th e impo rtune d motive, and if the appeal is sufficiently we ll fash­
ioned to call it up, then the person can be hooked. The product in the
ad may the n appear to take on the semblan ce of gra tification for the
summoned moti ve. Many ads seem to be sayin g, " If you have this
need , th en this p rodu ct will he lp sa tisfy it." It is a primitive equa tion,
but not an ine ffective one for selling.
Thu s, most advertisements appearin g in national media can be
understood as havin g two orde rs of content. The first is the appea l to
deeprunning driv es in the minds of cons umers. The second is inform a­
tion regard ing the good[s] or service being sold : its name, its manufac­
turer, its pictu re, its packag ing, its objective attributes, its functions.
For example, the read er of a brassiere advertisement sees a partially
undraped but blandly unperturbed wo man standing in an oth erwise
comm onplace public setting, and may experience certain sensations; the
reader also sees the name "Maidenform," a particular bra ssiere style, and,
in tiny print, words abou t the material, colors, price. Or, the viewer of a
television commercial sees a dem onstration with four small boxes labeled
650, 650, 650, and 800; some thing in the viewer 's mind catches hold of
this, as trivial as thou ghtful consideration might revea l it to be. The
viewer is also exposed to th e name "Anacin," its bottle, and its p urpose.
Some times there is an apparently logical link between an ad 's
emotion al appe al and its p roduct info rma tion . It does not violate common sen se that Cadill ac au tomo biles be ph otographed at country
clubs, or that Jap an Air Lines be assoc iated w ith Ori entalia . But there is
no real nee d for th e link age to have a bit of reason behind it. Is th ere
anything inherent to th e connection between Salem cigarett es and
mountains, Coke and a smile, Miller Beer and comradeship? The link
being forge d in minds between product and appeal is a pre -logical one.
People involv ed in the advertising industry do not nece ssarily talk
in the terms being used here. They are statione d at the sending en d of
this communications channel, and may think they are up to an y number
of things-Unique Selling Propositions, expl osive copywriting, the
7
8
9
10
76
Chapter 2 • Advertising
op tima l use of demographi cs or psychographies, ide al med ia bu ys,
hi gh recall ra ting s, or w ha tev er. But w he n attention shifts to the receiv­
ing end of the cha nnel, and focuses on the instant of recep tion, th en
commen tary becomes much more elemen tal: an advertising message
con tains some thing p rimary and primitive, an emo tiona l appeal, that
in effect is the thin end of th e wedge, tryin g to find its way int o a mind .
Sho uld th is occur, the product inform ation comes along behind .
Wh en eno ugh advertisemen ts are examined in this light, it becomes
clear that th e emotiona l appeals fall in to several di stinguish able cate­
go ries, an d th at every ad is a variation on one of a limited number
of basic appeals. Whil e the re m ay be several ways of classifyin g
these appeals, one particu lar list of fifteen ha s proven to be especially
valua ble.
Advertisemen ts can ap peal to:
Fowles / Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals
1],
1. The need for sex
2. The need for affiliation
3. The need to nurture
4. The need for guidance
5. The need to aggress
6. The need to achi eve
7. The need to dominate
8. The need for prominence
9. The need for attention
10. The need for autonom y
11. The need to escap e
12. The need to feel safe
13. The need for aes the tic sensa tions
14. The need to satisfy cur iosity
15. Physiological need s: food, drink, sleep, etc.
MURRAY'S LIST
Wh ere d oes th is list of adver tising 's fifteen basic ap peals come from?
Several years ago , I was involved in a research p roject which was to
have as one segme nt an objective ana lysis of th e chan gin g ap peals
mad e in p ost- Worl d War II American advertising . A sam ple of
maga zin e ad s would have the ir appeals coded into the categories of
psych ological needs they seemed aime d at. For this conten t ana lysis to
h appen, a complete ros ter of human motives w ould have to be found .
The first thing that came to mind was Abr ah am Maslow's fam ous
four-part hierarchy of need s. But the briefest look at the range of
12
77
appeals made in adv ertising was enough to reveal tha t the y are more
varied, and more profane, than Maslow had cared to account for. The
sea rch led on to the work of ps ychol ogist Henry A. Murray, who
together with his collea gu es at the Harvard Psych ological Clinic h as
constructed a full taxon om y of need s. As d escribed in Explorations in
Personality, Murray's team had cond ucted a len gthy series of in-depth
interviews w ith a number of subjects in orde r to derive from scratch
w ha t they felt to be the esse ntia l variables of person ality. Fort y-four
va riables were distingui sh ed by the Harv ard gro up, of w hich twenty
we re motives. The need for achievemen t ("to ove rcome obstacles an d
obtain a high standa rd ") was one, for instanc e; the need to d efer w as
another; the need to agg ress was a third; and so forth .
Mu rr ay's list ha d serve d as th e gro undwork for a number of
subsequent projects. Perh ap s th e best-known of these was David
C. McClelland's extens ive study of the need for ach ieve men t, rep orted
in his The Achieving Societe. In the process of dem on str ating th at a peo­
ple 's high need for achieve ment is pred ictive of later economic grow th,
McClelland coded achievement imagery and references out of a nati on 's
folklore, songs, legends, and children's tales.
Following McClelland , I too wanted to cull the motivational
ap peals from a culture's imaginati ve product-in this case, advertising.
To develop categories expressly for this purpose, I took Murray's twenty
motives and add ed to them others he had mentioned in passing in Explor­
ations in Personality but not includ ed on the final list. The extended list
was tried ou t on a sample of advertisements, and motives which never
seemed to be invoked we re dropped. I ende d up with eighteen of
Murray's motives, into which 770 p rint ad s were coded. The resultin g dis­
tribution is included in the 1976 book Mass Advertis ing as Social Fo recast.
Since that time, the list of appe als has und ergon e refinements as a
resu lt of using it to analyze television commercials. A few mo re adjust­
ments stem med from the efforts of stu den ts in my ad vertisin g classes
to decode appeals; tens of term pap ers su rvey ing thou sands of ad ver­
tisem ents have cau sed some incon sistencies in th e list to be hammered
ou t. Fund amentally, th ou gh, the list rem ains the crea tion of Henry
Murray. In developi ng a comp rehensive, parsim oni ou s inventory of
human motives, he pin pointed the subsurface mental forces that are
the leas t quiescent and m ost susce p tible to advertising's entreati es.
14
15
16
FIFTEEN APPEALS
13
1. Need for sex. Let's start with sex, because this is th e appeal
which seems to pop up first whenever th e topi c of advertising is raised .
Wh ole books ha ve been wri tten abo ut this one alone, to find a large
17
78
Chapter 2 • Advertising
au dience of mildly titill ated readers. Lately, due to campaigns to sell
blu e jeans, concern with sex in ads has red oubled.
The fascina ting thin g is not how much sex there is in advertising,
but how littl e. Contrary to impressions, unambi gu ous sex is rare in
these messages. Some of this surprising observ ation may be a matter of
definition : the [ordache ads with the lithe , blou se-less fema le astride a
similarly clad male is clearly an appeal to the audience's sexua l drives,
bu t the same cannot be said about Brooke Shield s in the Calvin Klein
commercials. Directed at young w omen and their credit-card carrying
mothers, the image of Miss Shields ins tead invokes th e need to be
looked at. Buy Cal vins and you' ll be the center of m uch atte nt ion, just
as Brooke is, the ads imply; the y do not pr im arily inve igle their target
aud ience's need for sexual inte rcourse.
In th e content an alys is rep orted in Mass Advertising as Social Fore­
cast only two percent of ads were found to pander to this motive. Even
Playboy ads shy aw ay from sexual appeals: a recent issu e contained
eighty -three full-p age ads, and just four of them (or less than five per­
cent) could be said to have sex on their minds.
The reason this appeal is so little used is th at it is too blarin g and
tend s to obliterate the product information . Nudity in ad vertisin g has
the effect of reducing brand recall. The people who d o remember the
product may do so because they ha ve been made ind ignant by the ad ;
this is not the response most advertisers seek.
To th e exte nt that sexual imagery is used , it conventiona lly
works better on men than wome n; typically a female figure is offered
up to the male reader. A Black Velvet liquor advertiseme nt di splays
an a ttrac tive woman wearing a tight bla ck outfit, recumbent under
th e legend , "Fe el the Velvet." The figure do es not h ave to be horiz on­
tal, how ever, for the appeal to be present as N ati on al Airlines
revealed in its "Fly me" campaign. Indeed , th ere d oes n ot even h ave
to be a fema le in the ad; "Flick my Bie" wa s sufficien t to convey th e
id ea to man y.
As a rul e, th ou gh , advertisers ha ve found sex to be a tricky
appeal, to be used sparingly. Less controversial and equa lly fetching
are the ap pea ls to ou r need for affectionate human con tact.
2. Need for affiliation. American mythology uphold s au ton omo us
individuals, and social statistics suggest that people are eve r more
going it alone in the ir lives, yet the high frequ ency of affiliative ap peals
in ads belies this. Or ma ybe it does not: ma ybe all the images of com­
panionsh ip are compensation for what American s privately lack. In
any case, the need to associate with others is widely invok ed in adver­
tising and is p rob ably the most prevalent appeal. All sorts of goo ds and
services are sold by linking them to our unfulfilled desires to be in
goo d company.
Fowles I Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals
18
19
20
21
22
23
79
Accord ing to Henry Murra y, the need for affiliation consists of
desires "to dr aw near and enjoyably coopera te or reciprocate w ith
ano ther; to pl ease an d win affection of anothe r; to adhe re and remain
loyal to a friend ." The ma nifestations of this moti ve can be segmented
into several di fferent types of affiliation, beginning w ith romance.
Courtship may be sw ifter now ad ays, but the de sire for pairbond­
ing is far from satiated . Ads reaching for this need commonly depict a
youngish male and fem ale engrossed in each othe r. The head of the
ma le is usually high er th an the fema le's, eve n at this late date; she ma y
be sitting or leaning while he is standing. They are no t touching in the
Smirnoff vod ka ad s, but obvi ous ly there is an in timacy, sometimes frol­
icsome, between them . The coup le does tou ch for Martell Cognac when
"The moment was Martell." For Wind Son g perfume they have
touch ed , and "Your Wind Song stays on his mind. "
Depending on the audience, the pair does not absolutely hav e to
be young-just together. He gives he r a DeBeers diamond, and there is
a tear in he r lau gh lines. She takes Geritol and preserves herself for
him. And numbers of cons ume rs, wa nting affection too, follow suit.
Warm family feelings are fanned in ads w hen another genera tion
is added to the pair. Hallmark Ca rds brings gra ndpa rents in to the p ic­
ture, and Johnson and Johnson Baby Powder has Dad , Mom, and bab y,
all fresh from the bath, encir cled in arm s and emblazoned with "Share
the Feeling." A talc ha s been fused to familial love.
Friendship is yet ano ther form of affiliation pursued by adv ertisers.
Two women confide and drink Maxwell Hou se coffee together; two
men walk thr ough the wood s smo king Salem cigarettes. Miller Beer
promises that afternoon "Miller Time" w ill be staffed with thre e or four
good buddies. Drink Dr. Pep per, as Mickey Roon ey is coaxed to do,
and join in wi th all the other Peppers. Coca-Col a d oes no t even need to
portray the friend liness; it has reduced this appeal to "a Coke and
a smile."
The wa rm th can be ton ed do wn and disgu ised, bu t it is th e same
affiliati ve need that is bein g fishe d for. The blonde has a direct gaz e and
her friends are firm busin essmen in appe arance, but with a glass of Old
Bushmill you can sit down an d fit right in . Or, for something more
upbeat, sin g along with the Pontiac choirboys.
As well as presenting p ositiv e images, ad vertisers can play to the
need for affiliation in ne gati ve ways, by invoking the fear of rejection.
If we don't use Scop e, we 'll have the "Ugh ! Morning Breath" that
causes the male and female mod els to avert their faces . Un less we
apply Ultra Brite or Close-Up to our teeth, it's good-bye romance. Ou r
fam ily will be cu rsed with "House-a-tosis" if we don't take care . With ­
ou t Dr. Scholl's antiperspirant foot spray, th e bowling team will keel
over. There go all the guests when the sup ply of Dorito's nacho cheese
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
80
Chapter 2 • Advertising
chips is exhausted. Still more rejection if our shirts have ring-around­
the-collar, if our car needs to be Midasized. But make a few purchases,
and we are back in the bosom of human contact.
As self-directed as Americans pretend to be, in the last analysis
we remain social animals, hungering for the positive, endorsing feel­
ings that only those around us can supply. Advertisers respond, urging
us to "Reach out and touch someone," in the hopes our monthly bills
will rise.
3. Need to nurture. Akin to affiliative needs is the need to take care
of small, defenseless creatures-children and pets, largely. Reciprocity
is of less consequence here, though; it is the giving that counts. Murray
uses synonyms like "to feed, help, support, console, protect, comfort,
nurse, heal." A strong need it is, woven deep into our genetic fabric, for
if it did not exist we could not successfully raise up our replacements.
When advertisers put forth the image of something diminutive and
furry, something that elicits the word "cute" or "precious," then they
are trying to trigger this motive. We listen to the childish voice singing
the Oscar Mayer weiner song, and our next hotdog purchase is pre­
scribed. Aren't those darling kittens something, and how did this
Meow Mix get into our shopping cart?
This pitch is often directed at women, as Mother Nature's chief
nurturers. "Make me some Kraft macaroni and cheese, please," says
the elfin preschooler just in from the snowstorm, and mothers' hearts
go out, and Kraft's sales go up. "We're cold, wet, and hungry," whine
the husband and kids, and the little woman gets the Manwiches ready.
A facsimile of this need can be hit without children or pets: the hus­
band is ill and sleepless in the television commercial, and the wife
grudgingly fetches the NyQuil.
But it is not women alone who can be touched by this appeal. The
father nurses his son Eddie through adolescence while the John Deere
lawn tractor survives the years. Another father counts pennies with his
young son as the subject of New York Life Insurance comes up. And all
over America are businessmen who don't know why they dial Qantas
Airlines when they have to take a trans-Pacific trip; the koala bear knows.
4. Need for guidance. The opposite of the need to nurture is the
need to be nurtured: to be protected, shielded, guided. We may be loath
to admit it, but the child lingers on inside every adult-and a good
thing it does, or we would not be instructable in our advancing years.
Who wants a nation of nothing but flinty personalities?
Parent-like figures can successfully call up this need. Robert
Young recommends Sanka coffee, and since we have experienced him
for twenty-five years as television father and doctor, we take his word
for it. Florence Henderson as the expert mom knows a lot about the
advantages of Wesson oil.
Fowles / Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals
31
32
33
34
35
36
81
The parent-ness of the spokesperson need not be so salient; some­
times pure authoritativeness is better. When Orson Welles scowls and
intones, "Paul Masson will sell no wine before its time," we may not
know exactly what he means, but we still take direction from him.
There is little maternal about Brenda Vaccaro when she speaks up for
Tampax, but there is a certainty to her that many accept.
A celebrity is not a necessity in making a pitch to the need for guid­
ance, since a fantasy figure can serve just as well. People accede to the
Green Giant, or Betty Crocker, or Mr. Goodwrench. Some advertisers can
get by with no figure at all: "When E.P. Hutton talks, people listen."
Often it is tradition or custom that advertisers point to and con­
sumers take guidance from. Bits and pieces of American history are used
to sell whiskeys like Old Crow, Southern Comfort, Jack Daniel's. We con­
form to traditional male/female roles and age-old social norms when we
purchase Barclay cigarettes, which infonns us "The pleasure is back."
The product itself, if it has been around for a long time, can con­
stitute a tradition. All those old labels in the ad for Morton salt con­
vince us that we should continue to buy it. Kool-Aid says "You loved it
as a kid. You trust it as a mother," hoping to get yet more consumers to
go along.
Even when the product has no history at all, our need to conform
to tradition and to be guided are strong enough that they can be
invoked through bogus nostalgia and older actors. Country-Time
lemonade sells because consumers want to believe it has a past they
can defer to.
So far the needs and the ways they can be invoked which have
been looked at are largely warm and affiliative; they stand in contrast
to the next set of needs, which are much more egoistic and assertive.
5. Need to aggress . The pressures of the real world create strong
retaliatory feelings in every functioning human being. Since these
impulses can come forth as bursts of anger and violence, their display
is normally tabooed. Existing as harbored energy, aggressive drives
present a large, tempting target for advertisers. It is not a target to be
aimed at thoughtlessly, though, for few manufacturers want their
products associated with destructive motives. There is always the dan­
ger that, as in the case of sex, if the appeal is too blatant, public opinion
will turn against what is being sold.
Jack-in-the-Box sought to abruptly alter its marketing by going
after older customers and forgetting the younger ones. Their television
commercials had a seventy-ish lady command, "Waste him," and the
Jack-in-the-Box clown exploded before our eyes. So did public reaction
until the commercials were toned down. Print ads for Club cocktails
carried the faces of octogenarians under the headline, "Hit me with a
Club"; response was contrary en ou gh to bring the campaign to a stop.
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
82
Fowles I Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals
Chapter 2 • Advertising
Better disguised aggressive appeals are less likely to backfire :
Triumph cigarettes has models making a lewd gesture with their uplifted
cigarettes, but the individuals are often laughing and usually in close
company of others. When Exxon said, "There's a Tiger in your tank," the
implausibility of it concealed the invocation of aggressive feelings.
Depicted arguments are a common way for advertisers to tap the
audience's needs to aggress. Don Rickles and Lynda Carter trade gibes,
and consumers take sides as the name of Seven-Up is stitched on
minds; The Parkay tub has a difference of opinion with the user; who
can forget it, or who (or what) got the last word in?
6. Need to achieve. This is the drive that energizes people, causing
them to strive in their lives and careers. According to Murray, the need
for achievement is signalled by the desires "to accomplish something
difficult. To overcome obstacles and attain a high standard . To excel
one's self. To rival and surpass others." A prominent American trait, it
is one that advertisers like to hook on to because it identifies their prod­
uct with winning and success.
The Cutty Sark ad does not disclose tha t Ted Turner failed at his
latest attempt at yachtin g' s America Cup; here he is represented as a
champion on the water as well as off in his television enterp rises. If we
drink this whiskey, we will be victorious alongside Turner. We can also
succeed with OJ Simpson by renting Hertz cars, or with Reggie Jack­
son by bringing home some Panasonic equipment. Cathy Rigby and
Stayfree Maxipads will put people out front.
Sports heroes are the most convenient means to snare consumers'
needs to achieve, but they are not the only one. Role models can be
established, ones which invite emulation, as with the profiles put forth
by Dewar's scotch. Succes sfu l, tweedy individuals relate they have
"graduated to the flavor of Myers rum." Or the advertiser can estab­
lish a prize: two neighbors play one-an-one basketball for a Michelob
beer in a television commercial, whi le in a print ad a bottle of Johnnie
Walker Black Label has been gilded like a trophy.
Any product that advertises itself in superlatives-the best, the
first , the finest-is trying to make contact with our needs to succeed.
For many consumers, sales and bargains belong in this category of
appeals, too; th e person who manages to buy something at fifty percent
off is seizing an opportunity and coming out ahead of others.
7. Need to dominate. This fundamental need is the craving to be
powerful-perhaps omnipotent, as in the Xerox ad where Brother
Dominic exhibits heavenly powers and creates miraculous copies.
Most of us will settle for being just a regular potentate, though. We
drink Budweiser because it is the King of Beers, and here comes the
powerful Clydesdales to prove it. A taste of Wolfschmidt vodka and
"The spirit of the Czar lives on. "
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
83
The need to dominate and control one's environment is often
thought of as being masculine, but as close students of human nature
advertisers know, it is not so circumscribed. Women's aspirations for
control are suggested in the campaign theme,"1 like my men in English
Leather, or nothing at all." The females in the Chanel No. 19 ads are
"outspoken" and wrestle their men around .
Male and female, what we long for is clout; what we get in its
place is Mastercard.
8. Need for prominence. Here comes the need to be admired and
respected, to enjoy prestige and high social status. These times, it
appears, are not so egalitarian after all. Many ads picture the trappings
of high position; the Oldsmobile stands before a manorial doorway, the
Volvo is parked beside a steeplechase. A book-lined study is the setting
for Dewar's 12, and Lenox China is displayed in a dining room chock
full of antiques.
Beefeater gin represents itself as "The Crown Jewel of England"
and uses no illustrations of jewels or things British, for the words are
sufficient indicators of distinction. Buy that gin and you will rise up the
prestige hierarchy, or achieve the same effect on yourself with Sea­
gram's 7 Crown, which ambiguously describes itself as "classy."
Being respected does not have to entail the usual accoutrements
of wealth: "Do you know who I am?" the commercials ask, and we
learn that the prominent person is not so prominent without his Amer­
ican Express card.
9. Needfor attention. The previous need involved being looked up
to, while this is the need to be looked at. The desire to exhibit ourselves
in such a wa y as to make others look at us is a primitive, insuppressible
instinct. The clothing and cosmetic industries exist just to serve this
need, and this is the way they pitch their wares. Some of this effort is
aimed at males, as the ads for Hathaway shirts and Jockey under­
clothes. But the greater bulk of such appeals is targeted singlemindedly
at women.
To come back to Brooke Shields: this is where she fits into Ameri­
can marketing. If I buy Calvin Klein jeans, consumers infer, I'll be the
object of fascination. The desire for exhibition has been most strikingly
played to in a print campaign of many years' duration, that of Maiden­
form lingerie. The woman exposes herself, and sales surge. "Gentle­
men prefer Hanes" the ads dissemble, and women who want eyes
upon them know what they should do. Peggy Fleming flutters her legs
for L'eggs, encouraging females who want to be the star in their own
lives to purchase this product.
The same appeal works for cosmetics and lotions. For years, the
little girl with the exposed backside sold gobs of Coppertone, but now
the company has picked up the pace a little: as a female, you are
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
84
Fowles / Advertising 's Fifteen Basic Appeals
Chapter 2 • Advertising
supp osed to "Flash 'em a Copperton e tan ." Food can be sold the same
w ay, especially to th e diet-con sciou s; Angie Dickin son p oses for
California avocad os and says, "Would this bod y lie to you?" Our eyes
are too fixed on her for us to think to ask if she go t that way by eating
mounds of guac amole.
10. Need for autonomy. There are severa l w ays to sell cred it car d
se rv ices, as has been n oted : Mastercard app eals to the need to domi­
nate, and American Express to th e need for prominen ce. Wh en Visa
claims, "You can have it th e way yo u wan t it," ye t ano the r primar y
motive is bein g beck on ed forward-the need to endo rse th e self. The
focus here is upon th e independen ce and integrity of the individual;
this need is the antithesis of the need for guida nce and is unlike any of
the socia l need s. " If ru nning with the herd isn 't yo ur sty le, try ours,"
say s Rotan-Mosie, an d man y Ame ricans feel they have finally found
the right brok era ge firm .
The phot o is of a red-coated Mountie on his horse, p osed on a
sn ow- covered led ge; the copy read s, "Windsor-Dne Canadian stands
alone ." This epitome of the solita ry and p roud ind ivid ua l may work
best wi th ma le custom ers, as ma y Winston's man in the red cap . But
one-fi gure advertiseme n ts also strike the strong need for autonom y
among American w om en . As Shelly Hack strides for Ch arlie p erfume,
females resp ond to her obvious pride and flair ; she is her own p erson .
The Virgini a Slims tale is of people w ho ha ve come a lon g wa y fro m
subser vien ce to ind ep endence. Cachet p erfume feels it does not need a
solo figure to work this ap p eal, and uses three different faces in its ads;
it insists, though, "It's different on every woman who w ears it."
Like m any psychological need s, this one can also be appealed to
in a negati ve fashion, by invoking the loss of ind ep enden ce or self­
regard. Guilt and regrets can be stim ulated: "Gee, I could have had a
V-S." Nex t time, get one an d be goo d to your self.
11. Need to escape. An appeal to the need for autonomy often co­
occurs with one for the need to esca pe, since th e desire to duck out of
our social obligations, to see k rest or adventure, freq ue n tly tak es the
form of one-person fligh t. The d ash ing image of a p ilot, in fact, is a
standard way of qui ckening this need to get away from it all.
Freedom is the pitch here, the freedom that ev ery ind ividual
yearns for whenever life becomes too opp ressive. Many ad ver tise rs
like appealin g to the need for escap e becau se the sensation of p leas ure
often accom panies esca pe, and what nicer emo tional nimbus cou ld
there be for a product? "You de serv e a break today," says McDon ald 's,
and Stouffer's froz en foods chime in, "Set yourse lf free."
For decades men have ima ginatively bonded themselves to the
Marlboro cowboy who dwells untarnished and unencumbered in
Marlboro Country some distance from modern life; sm okers ' achin g
60
61
62
63
64
65
85
need s for au tono my and escape are personified by th at cowpoke. Man y
w om en can id entify with th e lad y ambling th rou gh the woods behind
the words, "Benson an d Hedges and mornings and me."
But escap e does not have to be solitary. Other Benson an d Hedges
ad s, p art of the sa me camp aign, con tain two strolling figures. In Salem
cigarett e adver tiseme nts, it can be several pe opl e who escap e together
into the mountaintop s. A commercial for Levi's pictured a cloudbank
above a city through which ran a w hole chain of young p eopl e.
There are varieties of esca pe , som e wi stful like the Boeing
"Some day" campaign of dream vaca tions, some kinetic like the pl ay
and parties in so ft drink ad s. But in every ins tance, th e cons umer
exp osed to the advertisemen t is inv ited to mom entarily dep art his
eve ry da y life for a more care free expe rience , p refe rably with the prod­
uct in hand.
12. Need tofeel safe. Nobod y in their righ t mind wants to be intimi­
da ted, menaced, battered, poi soned . We naturally want to do whatever it
takes to stave off threats to our well-being, and to our families'. It is the
instin ct of self-preserva tion that makes us resp onsive to the ad of the
St. Bern ard w ith the keg of Chivas Regal. We pay attention to the stem talk
of Karl Malden an d the plight of the vacationing couples who have lost all
their funds in the Ame rican Express travelers cheques commercials. We
want the omnipresent stag from Hartford Insurance to wa tch over us too.
In the in terest of keeping failu re and calami ty from our lives , we
like to see the durability of products dem on strated . Can we ever forget
that Timex tak es a licking and keep s on ticking? When the Ame rican
Tourister suitcase bounces all over the highway an d the egg inside
do esn 't break , the need to feel safe has been ad roitl y plucked .
We tak e precautions to diminish future thr eat s. We bu y Volksw a­
gen Rabbits for the extraordinary mil eage, and MONY insuran ce poli­
cies to av oid the tragedies dep icted in their black-and-white ads of
widows and orphan s.
We are careful abo ut our health. We con sume Mazola mar garine
because it has "com goo d ness" backed by the natural food trad ition s of
the American Indian s. In the me dicine cabinet is AIka-Seltzer, the
"h ome reme dy"; having it, w e ar e snug in our little cottage .
We w an t to be sa fe an d secure; buy these p roducts, ad vertisers are
sayin g, and you'll be safer th an yo u are w ithout them.
13. Need for aesthetic sensations. The re is an undeniable aes thetic
compon ent to virtua lly every ad run in the national media : the photog­
raphy or filming or d rawing is near-perfect, the type sty le is we ll cho­
sen, the layout could scarcely be improved up on. Advertisers know
there is little chan ce of good communication occurring if an ad is not
visually pleasing. Consumers may not be aw are of the extent of their
own sensi tivity to artwork, but it is undeniably large.
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
86
Chapter 2 • Advertising
Sometimes the aesthetic elemen t is expande d and mad e into an
ad 's p rimary appeal. Charles Jordan shoes may or may not appe ar in the
accompanying avant- grad e photographs; Kohler plumbing fixtures
catch attention throu gh the high style of their desert settings. Beneath the
slightly out of focus photograph, lan guid and sensuo us in tone, General
Electric feels called upon to exp lain, "This is an ad for the hair dryer."
This app eal is not limited to fem ale consumers: J&B scotch says
"It whisp ers" and shows a bucolic scene of lake and castle.
14. Need to sa tisfij curiosity. It may seem odd to list a need for infor­
mation among basic motives, but this need can be as pr imal an d
compelling as an y of the othe rs. Human beings are curious by nature,
interested in the world around them , and intr igu ed by tidbits of knowl­
edge an d new de velopments. Trivia, pe rcentages, observa tions counter
to conve nti onal wisdo m­ thes e items all help sell products. Any adv er­
tisement in a question-and-answe r format is strumming this need .
A dog groomer has a question abo ut lon g distance rates, and Bell
Telephone has a chart with all the figures. An ad for Porsche 911 is
replete with dia grams and sch ema tics, numbers and ar row s. Lo and
behold, Anacin pill s have 150 more milli grams than its compe titors;
sho uld we wonder if this is better or worse for us?
15. Physiological needs. To th e extent that sex is solely a biological
need, w e are now coming aroun d fu ll circle, back toward the start of
the list. In this final category are clustered appeals to sleeping, ea ting,
drinking. The art of ph otographing food and drink is so advance d,
sometimes these temptations are wo n drous ly caug h t in the cam era 's
len s: the crab meat in the Red Lobster restaurant ads can start us sali­
vating, the Quarterpounder can almost be smell ed , the liquor in the
glass glows invit ingly. Im bibe, these ad s scream .
Fowles / Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals
74
75
76
77
78
STYLES
I.'I
'I
Some common ingredi ents of ad vertis em ents were not sing led ou t for
sepa rate mention in the list of fifteen becau se they are not ap peals in
and of th emselves. They are stylistic features, influencing the way a
basic appeal is p resented . The use of humor is one, and the use of
celebrities is another. A third is tim e ima gery, past an d fu ture, which
goes to several purp oses.
For all of its emp loymen t in advertising, humor can be treacher­
ous, because it can get out of hand and smo ther th e product informa­
tion. Supposedly, this is what Alka-Seltzer dis covered with its comic
com mercials of the late sixties; "I can't believe I ate the w hole thing,"
the sad-faced husband lam ented, and the audience cackled so much it
forgo t the an tacid. Or, did not tak e it serio usly.
I
79
80
87
But used carefully, humor can punctuate some of the softer
ap peals and soften some of the harsh er ones. Wh en Emma say s to the
Fru it-of-th e-Loom fru its, "Hi, cuties. Wh atcha doing in my laundry
basket?" we smile as our curiosity is assuaged along with hers. Bill
Cosby get s cons umers tickled about the chil dren in his [ell-O commer­
cials, and strokes the need to nurture.
An insu ran ce compa ny wants to in voke the need to feel safe, but
d oes not want to leave readers with an unpleasant aftertaste; cartooni st
Rowland Wilson crea tes an avalanche about to crush a gentleman who
is saying to ano the r, "My insurance company? New England Life, of
course. Wh y?" The same tactic of humor undercutting threat is used in
the car toon commercials for Safeco when the Pink Panther wanders
from one disaster to ano the r. Often humor masks aggression: com ed ian
Bob Hope in the outfit of a boxer promises to kn ock out the kn ock­
kno cks with Texaco; Rodn ey Dangerfield, w ho "can' t get no resp ect,"
invites aggression as the comic relief in Miller Lite commercials.
Roughl y fifteen p ercent of all ad vertisement s incorporate a
celebrity, alm ost always from the field s of en tertainment or sp orts. The
approach can also prove troublesome for advertisers, for celeb rities are
human bein gs too, an d full y capable of th e most rem arkable behavior.
If anything dista steful about them emerges, it is likely to reflect on the
product. The advertisers making use of Anita Bryant and Billy Jean
King suffered seve ra l anxiou s moments. An untimely death can also
react poorly on a product. Bu t advertisers are willing to take risks
becau se celebrities can be such a good link between producers an d
consumers, performing the social role of introducer.
There are seve ral ps ychological need s these middlem en can play
up on . Let's take th e product class of cameras and see how different
celebr ities can hit differ ent needs. The need for guidance can be
invoked by Micha el Landon, w ho plays such a wonderful dad on "lit­
tle House on the Prairie"; when he says to buy Kod ak equipment,
many people listen . Jame s Garner for Polaroid cam eras is put in a sim­
ilar au th oritative role, so defined by a mocking spo use . The ne ed to
achi eve is summone d up by Tracy Austin an d other tennis stars for
Can on AE-l; the adv ertiser first m akes sure w e see these athletes pl ay­
ing to win . Wh en Cheryl Tiegs sp eaks up for Olympus cameras, it is the
ne ed for attention that is being targeted .
The past and future, being outsid e our grasp, are expl oited by
ad vertisers as locales for the proje ction of needs. History can offer up
heroes (and call up the need to achieve) or tradition s (need for gui dance) as well as art objects (need for aesthe tic sensa tions ). Nostalgia is.a
kindly version of p ersonal histo ry and is deployed by ad vertisers to
rouse needs for affiliation and for guida nce; the need to escape can
come in here, too. The same need to escape is sometimes the point of
81
82
83
84
85
88
Chapter 2 • Advertising
Fowles / Advertising 's Fifteen Basic Appeals
futuristic appeals but p icturing the avan t-garde can also be a wa y to
get at th e need to achieve.
89
Finally, analyzing ads does not have to be a solo activity and prob­
ably should not be. The greater number of peopl e there are involv ed , the
better chance there is of transcending indi vidual biases and discerning
the essenti al emotional lure built into an ad vertisement.
91
ANALYZING ADV ERTISEMENTS
When ana lyzing ads yours elf for their emo tiona l appeals, it takes a bit
of practice to learn to ign ore the product information (as well as one's
own experience an d feelin gs about the product). But that skill comes
soo n enough, as do es the ab ility to quickly sort out from all the non­
prod uct asp ects of an ad the chief element which is the most striking,
the mos t likely to snag atten tion first and penetrate brains farthest. The
key to the appea l, this element usually presents itself cen trally and for­
wardly to the reade r or viewer.
Ano ther clue: the viewing angle which the audience has on the
ad's subjects is info rm ative. If the subj ects are photographed or filmed
from below and thus a re looking down at you much as the Green Giant
does, then the need to be gui ded is a good can did ate for the ad 's emo­
tional appeal. If, on the other hand, the subjects are shot from above
and appear deferential, as is often the case with children or femal e
mo de ls, then oth er need s are bein g appealed to.
To figure ou t an ad's emotiona l appeal, it is wis e to know (or hav e
a goo d hunch abo u t) w ho the targeted con sumers are; thi s can often be
inferred from the maga zine or television show it appears in. This pie ce
of information is a grea t help in determining th e appeal and in decid­
ing between two different interpretations. For examp le, if an ad fea­
tures a partially undressed fema le, this w ould typically signal one
appeal for read ers of Penthouse (need for sex) an d another for readers of
Cosmopolitan (need for atten tion).
It would be conve nient if every ad mad e just one appeal, were
aimed at just one need . Unfortunately, thin gs are often not that simple. A
cigare tte ad with a couple at the edge of a polo field is trying to hit both
the need for affiliation and the need for prominence; depending on the
attitude of the male, dominance could also be an ingredient in this . An ad
for Chimere perfume incorporates two photos: in the top one the lad y is
being commanding at a business luncheon (need to dominate), but in the
lower one she is bein g bu ssed (need for affiliation) . Better ads , how ever,
seem to avoid bein g too diffus ed; in the study of post-World War II
advertising described earlier, appeals grew more focused as the decades
passed. As a rul e of thumb, about sixty percent hav e two conspicuou s
appea ls; the last twenty percent ha ve thr ee or more. Rather than lookin g
for the grea test number of appeals, decoding ads is most productive
when the loud est one or two appeals are discerned, since those are the
appeals with the best chance of grabbing people's attention.
86
87
88
89
DO THEY OR DO~'T ~HEY?
Do the emotiona l ap peals made in ad vertisements add up to the sinis­
ter manipulation of consumers?
It is clear that th ese ads work. Attention is cau ght, commun ica­
tion occu rs between producers and consumers, and sales result. It
turns out to be difficult to detail th e exact relationship between a
specific ad and a specific purchase, or even between a campaign and
subsequent sales figures, because ad vertising is onl y one of a h ost of
influ ences upon consumption . Yet no one is fooled by this lack of per­
fect proof; everyone knows th at ad verti sin g sells. If this were not the
case, then tight-fisted American bu sinesses w ould not spend a total of
fifty billion dollars ann ua lly on these messa ges.
But before an yone despairs that ad vertiser s have our number to
the extent that they can marsha l us at will and march us like au toma­
ton s to the check-ou t counters, we sho uld recall the resiliency and
obduracy of the Am erican consumer. Ad vertisers ma y have un covered
the softest spo ts in minds, bu t that do es not mean the y have found
truly gaping ap ertures. There is no evidence that advertising can get
p eople to do things contrary to their self-interests. Despite all the
finesse of adv ertisements, and all th e subtle emotional tu gs, the public
resists the vast majority of the petition s. According to the marketing
division of the A C. Nielsen Compan y, a whopping seventy-five per­
cent of all new products die within a yea r in the marketplace, the vic­
tims of cons ume r di sin terest which no amount of advertising could
overcome. The appeals in advertising ma y be the mo st captivating
there are to be had , but they are not enough to en trap the wile y
consumer.
The key to understa nding the di screpancy between, on the one
hand, the fact th at advertising tru ly works, and, on the other, the fact
that it hardly works, is to take into account the enormous n umbers of
peop le expo sed to an ad. Modern-da y communications permit an ad to
be displayed to milli ons upon millions of individuals; if th e smallest
frac tion of that audience can be mo ved to buy th e product, th en the ad
has been successfu l. When one percent of the people exp osed to a tele­
vision advertising campaign reach for their wall ets, that could be one
million sales, which may be enough to keep the product in production
and the advertisemen ts coming.
92
93
94
90
Chapter 2 • Advertising
In arriving at an evenhanded judgment about advertisements
and their emotional appeals, it is good to keep in mind that many of the
purchases which might be credited to these ads are experienced as gen­
uinely gratifying to the consumer. We sincerely like the goods or ser­
vice we have bought, and we may even like some of the emotional
drapery that an ad suggests comes with it. It has sometimes been noted
that the most avid students of advertisements are the people who have
just bought the product; they want to steep themselves in the associ­
ated imagery. This may be the reason that Americans, when polled, are
not negative about advertising and do not disclose any sense of being
misused. The volume of advertising may be an irritant, but the product
information as well as the imaginative material in ads are partial
compensation.
A productive understanding is that advertising messages involve
costs and benefits at both ends of the communications channel. For
those few ads which do make contact, the consumer surrenders a
moment of time, has the lower brain curried, and receives notice of a
product; the advertiser has given up money and has increased the
chance of sales. In this sort of communications activity, neither party
can be said to be the loser.
Examining the Text
1. Fowles's claim in this essay is that advertisers try to tap into basic
human needs and emotions, rather than consumers' intellect. How
does he go about proving this claim? What examples or other proof
strike you as particularly persuasive? Where do you see weaknesses in
Fowles's argument?
2. What do advertisers assume about the personality of the consumer,
according to Fowles? How do these assumptions contribute to the way
they sell products? Do you think that these assumptions about person­
ality are correct? Why or why not?
3. Fowles's list of advertising's fifteen basic appeals is, as he explains,
derived from Henry Murray's inventory of human motives. Which of
these motives strike you as the most significant or powerful? What
other motives would you add to the list?
4. Thinking rhetorically: What do you think is Fowles's ultimate purpose
in writing this article? Who is he targeting as the audience for his argu­
ments, and what do you think he intends this audience to do or to think
after reading the article? What, if any, real world effects do you imagine
Fowles wants to achieve by writing this article?
For Group Discussion
In his discussion of the way advertising uses "the need for sex" and
"the need to aggress," Fowles debunks the persistent complaints about
Calfee / How Advertising Informs to Our Benefit
95
91
the use of sex and violence in the mass media. What current examples
support Fowles's point? Discuss your responses to his explanations.
Writing Suggestion
Working with Fowles's list of the fifteen appeals of advertising, survey
a recent magazine, looking at all the ads and categorizing them based
on their predominant appeal. In an essay, describe what your results
tell you about the magazine and its readership. Based on your survey,
would you amend Fowles's list? What additions or deletions would
you make?
96
How Advertising Informs
to Our Benefit
John E. Calfee
This article, adapted from John E. Calfee's book Fear of Persuasion: A New
Perspective on Advertising and Regulation, provides a different view of
the effect of advertising on our socieiu. Calfee, a former Federal Trade Com­
mission economist anda resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute,
argues that advertising actually provides many benefits to consumers. Calfee
relates several specific cases in which advertisements spread important health
information to people who might not have learned aboutit otherwise. Because
advertisers have huge budgets and can reach into virtually every home
through television, newspapers, billboards, and radio campaigns, advertise­
ments have the potential to spread information in a way that government­
sponsored public service initiatives cannot.
Calfee also diverges from previous articles in this chapter by suggesting
that regulations on advertising are unnecessary and counterproductive.
Indeed, Calfee argues that advertising is, to a large extent, self-regulating.
Free-market competition compels companies to be truthful, or else competitors
will challenge theirclaims, resultingin negative publicity.
As you read this article, consider your own feelings about advertis­
ing: do you think it's a destructive force in our society or a valuable tool for
disseminating information? Given the power and reach of advertising, how
can it beusedas a positive information resource?