Appealing to Emotion in Advertising

Appealing to Emotion in Advertising

Marketing and advertising play a major role in the promotion of companies and products in the United States. Consumers are constantly surrounded by advertisements by means of television and radio commercials, billboards, magazines, and even social media. But how exactly do companies appeal to their consumers? My topic explores the different strategies used to persuade everyday people to use a certain product or service. One of the biggest effective strategies used in advertising is by appealing to the audience’s emotions. I chose to analyze two different sources for my research. The first source is called Emotional Moneymaker: Why Advertisers Need to Appeal to Emotions, and it talks about emotion-based advertising and how it appeals to the public. The second source, The End Of Rational Vs. Emotional: How Both Logic And Feeling Play Key Roles In Marketing And Decision Making talks about the connection between emotional and rational appeal in advertising and why it is effective.

Jay Osterholm, founder and CEO of the ODM Group, a communications agency, discusses the effects of emotional advertising in his article, Emotional Moneymaker: Why Advertisers Need to Appeal to Emotions. Osterholm emphasizes the fact that humans are oblivious to how much their decisions are influenced by emotion. Advertisers, as Osterholm explains, use this to their advantages when promoting their product. The concept is simple: when an advertisement triggers a positive feeling to the audience, they are more likely to associate that feeling with the brand being advertised. The sources focuses mostly on how advertisements tend to use emotion rather than logic when appealing to the audience. For example, Osterholm alludes...

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... emotional and rational appeal are important. I agree mostly with the second source because although the advertisements that trigger my feelings are effective, I am also a rational person and want evidence showing the benefits of purchasing the product or service. I would like to dig deeper into this topic for my final paper to find out more strategies and how they are effectively used by marketing companies.

Works Cited

Osterholm, Jay. "Emotional Moneymaker: Why Advertisers Need to Appeal to

Emotions." The ODM Blog Emotional Moneymaker Why Advertisers Need to

Appeal to Emotions Comments. ODM Group, 20 Dec. 2012. Web. 08 Feb. 2014.

Van Praet, Douglas. "The End Of Rational Vs. Emotional: How Both Logic And Feeling

Play Key Roles In Marketing And Decision Making | Co.Create | Creativity +

Culture + Commerce." Co.Create. Fast Company, 16 May 2013. Web. 08 Feb.

2014.