Sunday, February 3, 2008

Media Tools for Analysis

Our group believes that the two most widely-used techniques of persuasion are the testimonial method, as well as the bandwagon method.

The testimonial method is widely used in advertisements of slimming and beauty products, whereby advertisers hope to make use of the appeal of celebrities to attract women to purchase their beauty and/or slimming products. Examples of such advertisers include SK II products and Mary Chia Slimming Centre. When the audience see the success that the celebrities have in using the product, they are more or less assured that the product has a guarantee on it, and hence they would be more willing to use the product.

For the bandwagon method, advertisers such as Colgate and Sensodyne frequently claim their product to be the brand that most dentists are using. This method results in the target audience having a misconception that since many people are using the product, the product must be suitable for them as well. As such, they also start to use the product.

Between the two, we feel that the testimonial method would be more effective, compared to the bandwagon method, where dubious statistics are sometimes shown to try to catch the attention of audiences. Testimonials from celebrities on the other hand, show proof of success in the product, as well as being able to reach out to a wider group of people, due to the fact that they usually have a large group of fans that idolise them. Hence, these celebrity endorsements would probably be able to persuade more people when compared to the bandwagon, which usually relies on statistics to attract would-be consumers.

Done by Marvin, Xiaodi, Charmaine, Genevieve and Nicole 09S03K

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