Psychological persuasion? Bring it.

Cherish Kalilikane

17OCT11

FD2

Psychological Persuasion? Bring It.

American families use all types of media as a means to be entertained. Advertisements feed off of consumer’s needs and wants to be entertained and produce creative and informative commercials that appeal to families. Anyone can see how obvious it is regarding companies who are trying to appeal to families. People tend to question the motives of companies because of the commercial’s appeal. People need to understand that companies are constantly competing with other companies and their entertaining ads aren’t there to lie to you but more to limelight their business. [THESIS] Advertisements do not have negative impacts on our lives. [THESIS]

Advertisements have their logical fallacies but it’s up to you to understand the fallacy and look past it to understanding what the product can offer. I found MarkBen Paulino’s commercial fallacy report as he talks about the KY fire and ice commercials. Paulino states, “Trojan Condom and Lubricant (KY jelly) manufacturer is promoting their Fire and Ice brand of condom and lubricant. There is a male and female - a couple - present in the ad. The product a tube of lube is shown in the middle of the screen with the couple in the background before coitus. The screen then blanks and shows the couple with frizzled hair and an expression of ecstasy, which I assume is suppose to portray the cloud nine feeling that the couple had experienced during coitus with the aid of Trojan's Fire and Ice brand.”

As Mark goes through the visualizing of the commercial the logical fallacy understood in this advertisement was Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc. This fallacy states that because Y follows event X, event X causes event Y. Thus far I have heard stories of people having sexual intercourse and having the feeling of ecstasy without the aid of Fire and Ice. In the end, one can feel ecstasy due to many reasons and not just because of Trojan's Fire and Ice.  Paulino states a good point that just because Y follows X doesn’t mean that X caused Y. The KY commercial slightly dramatized the effects of their product, however they are competing with various other lubricants and need to appeal to the audience. By using creative commercials other companies could have used, KY comes off as dramatized. KY is simply trying to limelight their product in the most effective way possible. No one ever heard of lubricants having a negative effect on society, in fact, they could actually help things run smoother.

Dean Kurozumi talks about a Double mint gum commercial that uses the plain folk fallacy, he states, “An ad that I stumbled upon on YouTube was an ad that was advertising Wrigley Double mint gum. The entire 30-second commercial was with Chris Brown singing a little jingle about Wrigley Double mint gum based on his "Forever" song. It's clear that the ad is appealing to those that admire/look up to Chris Brown, and if Chris Brown chew's Double mint gum, they should too. 

The Double mint ad is a good example of Plain Folk because Chris Brown's specialty is in music, more namely the R&B type and he has little to no knowledge of why a certain brand of gum would be better than others.  They are simply using him for his popularity to attract customers to buy their product with no real foundation whatsoever.” I agree with Dean in his theories of why the company chose to use Chris Brown in the double mint ad. Double mint gum is using Chris Brown to put their product in the limelight but I see no negative aspects to this advertisement. At the time Chris Brown had a positive persona and since he was advertising gum and not tobacco I see no reason for the persuasion of the ad to be a bad one. I agree that plain folk fallacies were used although I don’t think that this advertisement had a negative impact on consumers.

Comments by Carmen Lee saying advertisements have a negative impact on consumers by stating, “While most of us do not notice, many ads deceive us into believing what they have to present. It is not uncommon for us to bypass the fact that some ads can be misleading. It is common to see an ad that makes you think that it is too good to be true. Many of us share the same experience that we go out and purchase a product we saw on an ad, thinking it would work the way it advertises and you turned out disappointed. Not only the product does not improve or enhance our life in any way, it is also a waste of our time and hard earned money.” Carmen has a good point that ads can be exaggerated as to get the viewer enthralled into the product. However, saying a product does not improve or enhance our lives in any way is a bold statement that I find faulty. Products having great advertisements are primarily because the companies have been able to make enough money to make a great commercial. The product has some kind of sense of worth that makes people keep buying it. The logical fallacy you seem to be entailed with is Reification. Your statement that products do not improve or enhance is simply an idea of yours rather than a true statement.    

Carolyn Rose-Slane is also against advertisements she states, “Yes, Ads have a negative impact on our lives: I believe ads have a negative impact because they employ psychological research to make people believe they need the “new” or “better” products. This has a negative impact on our lives because some people are able to make planned purchases and avoid debt, but many people, more now than ever in our history, accrue debt while succumbing to the struggle to maintain the appearance of keeping up with the latest “cool” trend.” I agree that advertisers spend time to understand the psychological reasoning of their consumers and come up with commercials based on that reasoning.  However, I don’t think that using psychological research negatively impacts our lives. I believe that companies take time to research products as well as how they can best advertise it so that people will pay attention to the qualities of the product. Saying “companies are only out to get you with their advertisements” is biased as well as pessimistic.   

Companies may use appealing things in their advertisements to get people’s attention. However, the underlying reasoning to ads is the fact that these companies have great amounts of money to make advertisements for a reason their product sells! People before you have been successfully advertised to and are continually advertised to, not because they are gullible but because they liked the product the first time they bought it. People need to look at the fact that advertisements provide an efficient and convenient way of informing their consumers of new items. Companies pay a lot of money to advertise their product they wouldn’t waste their money on a bad product in fear of losing their business. If a person bought a bad product the first time it wouldn’t matter how appealing the advertisement was, they wouldn’t buy it again.

Works Cited

Kurozumi, Dean. "Laulima." 29 Aug. 2011. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/399262.page>.

Lee, Carmen. "Laulima." 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/395910.page>.

Paulino, MarkBen. "Laulima." 01 Oct. 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/400422.page>.

Rose-Slane, Carolyn. "Laulima." 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/396305.page>.

Log of Completed Activities

_x__ Sep. 19- Intro to Paper #2. Read the Guidelines for Paper #2.

_x__ Sep. 23- Laulima Discussion: Ad Pros and Cons

_x__ Sep. 26- Complete readings for paper #2.

_x__ Sep. 30- Laulima Discussion: Logical Fallacies Exercise

_x__ Oct. 3- Submit RD2 [50 pts]. Review the guidelines.

_x__ Oct. 7- Submit three RD2 evaluations [50 pts]. Review the guidelines.

_x__ Oct. 12- Submit FD2 [125 pts]. Review the guidelines.

Psychological persuasion? Bring it.

Cherish Kalilikane

03OCT11

RD2

Psychological persuasion? Bring it.

American families use all types of media as a means to be entertained. Advertisements feed off of consumer’s needs and wants to be entertained and produce creative and informative commercials that appeal to families. Anyone can see how it is so obvious companies are trying to appeal to families and people tend to question the motives of companies because of the commercials appeal. People need to understand that companies are constantly competing with other companies and their entertaining ads aren’t there to lie to you but more to limelight their business. [THESIS] Advertisements do not have negative impacts on our lives. [THESIS]

Advertisements have their logical fallacies but it’s up to you to understand the fallacy and look past it to understanding what the product can offer. I found MarkBen Paulino’s commercial fallacy report as he talks about the KY fire and ice commercials. MarkBen Paulino states, “Trojan a Condom and Lubricant (KY jelly) manufacturer is promoting their Fire and Ice brand of condom and lubricant. There is a male and female - a couple - present in the ad. The product a tube of lube is shown in the middle of the screen with the couple in the background before coitus. The screen then blanks and shows the couple with frizzled hair and an expression of ecstasy, which I assume is suppose to portray the cloud nine feeling that the couple had experienced during coitus with the aid of Trojan's Fire and Ice brand.”

As Mark goes through the visualizing of the commercial the logical fallacy understood in this advertisement was Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc. This fallacy states that because Y follows event X, event X causes event Y. Thus far I have heard stories of people having sexual intercourse and having the feeling of ecstasy without the aid of Fire and Ice. There are too many variables, as people may be having a better day when they are using the Fire and Ice or people who are naturally good at coitus and always feel great during their exercise.  Those who have learned the art of Kama Sutra are supposed to know the sexual behavior (physical and mental) of the human body and have the ability to heighten the desirable feeling of sex and thus feeling euphoria. In the end, one can feel ecstasy due to many reasons and not just because of Trojan's Fire and Ice.

Dean Kurozumi talks about a Double mint gum commercial that uses the plain fold fallacy, he states, “An ad that I stumbled upon on YouTube was an ad that was advertising Wrigley Double mint gum. The entire 30-second commercial was with Chris Brown singing a little jingle about Wrigley Double mint gum based on his "Forever" song. It's clear that the ad is appealing to those that admire/look up to Chris Brown, and if Chris Brown chew's Double mint gum, they should too.

I say this ad is a good example of Plain Folk because Chris Brown's specialty is in music, more namely the R&B type and he has little to no knowledge of why a certain brand of gum would be better than others.  They are simply using him for his popularity to attract customers to buy their product with no real foundation whatsoever.”

Comments by Carmen Lee saying advertisements have a negative impact on consumers by stating, “While most of us do not notice, many ads deceive us into believing what they have to present. It is not uncommon for us to bypass the fact that some ads can be misleading. Ads often exaggerate in order to impress their viewers. It is common to see an ad that makes you think that it is too good to be true. Well, if it seems this way, it probably is. Many of us share the same experience that we go out and purchase a product we saw on an ad, thinking it would work the way it advertises and you turned out disappointed. Not only the product does not improve or enhance our life in any way, it is also a waste of our time and hard earned money.” Carmen has a good point that ads can be exaggerated as to get the viewer enthralled into the product. However, saying a product does not improve or enhance our lives in any way is a bold statement that I find faulty. Products having great advertisements are primarily because the companies have been able to make enough money to make a great commercial. The product has some kind of sense of worth that makes people keep buying it. The logical fallacy you seem to be entailed with is Reification. Your statement that products do not improve or enhance is simply an idea of yours rather than a true statement.    

Carolyn Rose-Slane is also against advertisements she states, “Yes, Ads have a negative impact on our lives: I believe ads have a negative impact on our lives because they employ psychological research to make people believe they need the “new” or “better” products. This has a negative impact on our lives because some people are able to make planned purchases and avoid debt, but many people, more now than ever in our history, accrue debt while succumbing to the struggle to maintain the appearance of keeping up with the latest “cool” trend.” I agree that advertisers spend time to understand the psychological reasoning of their consumers and come up with commercials based on that reasoning.  However, I don’t think that using psychological research negatively impacts our lives.  I believe that companies take time to research products as well as how they can best advertise it so that people can pay attention to the qualities of the product. 

Advertisements may use appealing things in their advertisements to get people to look at them but the underlying reasoning to advertisements is the fact that have money to make advertisements for a reason, their product works! People before you have been successfully advertised to and continue to be advertised to not because they are gullible but because they liked the product the first time they bought it. People need to look at the fact that advertisements provide an efficient and convenient way of informing their consumers of new items. Companies pay a lot of money to advertise their product they wouldn’t waste their money on a bad product in fear of losing their business.

Works Cited

Kurozumi, Dean. "Laulima." 29 Aug. 2011. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/399262.page>.

Lee, Carmen. "Laulima." 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/395910.page>.

Paulino, MarkBen. "Laulima." 01 Oct. 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/400422.page>.

Rose-Slane, Carolyn. "Laulima." 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/396305.page>.