RRFD2 Positive Psychology

Cherish Kalilikane

DEC1511

RRFD2

Positive Psychology

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. The catchy two-liners and comedy relief show how obvious it is that advertisements 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. MarkBen Paulino talks about how they focus on a bottle of KY in the fire and ice commercial and after having sex they are obviously frazzled. Mark states the obvious fashion of the commercial and how they focused on the bottle to imply its contents create the frazzled after-sex look. Although the KY commercial does imply a lot they also catch your attention and make you think about the possibilities of what KY does. This commercial also reiterates the fact that mainstream society automatically assumes that if Y came after X, X must have caused Y(Paulino).

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. It is true that people can experience ecstasy without the aid of KY 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 sex create the feeling of ecstasy on their own.  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.  I agree with Paulino in 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 they can come off as dramatized but they are really just trying to limelight their product. Another point in this commercial is the fact that even though X doesn’t necessarily cause Y there’s a possibility that it could and that question makes viewers speculate and buy the product.

Dean Kurozumi talks about a Double mint gum commercial that uses the plain folk fallacy, he states, “The entire 30-second commercial was with Chris Brown singing a little jingle about Wrigley Double mint gum based on his "Forever" song“(Kurozumi). Kurozumi’s angle was because Chris Brown was dancing and singing in the double mint commercial everyone who is a fan of Chris Brown automatically assumes double mint to be cool and something to buy. 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. Chris Brown may not even chew double mint gum on the daily basis but when you involve money people put on a show regardless. Kurozumi says, “They are simply using him for his popularity to attract customers to buy their product with no real foundation whatsoever"(Kurozumi). Kurozumi is right on point 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. Using a direct line of media popularity to gain the customer’s attention isn’t negatively advertising it’s just using the hand the company was dealt.

Comments by Carmen Lee try and show advertisements have a negative impact on consumers she states, “While most of us do not notice, many ads deceive us into believing something else rather than what they actually have to present. It is not uncommon for us to bypass the fact that some ads can be misleading"(Lee). I agree with Carmen Lee in that many ads are very convincing but I don’t think they are convincing in a negative way. Some ads are too good to be true and people do waste their money on buying things not worth the cost. However, people need to understand the techniques advertisements use to persuade the consumers. The consumers need to see the product for what it is and buy it on face value rather than what they think it may do for them. Things consumers could do to get away from the dramatized advertisements are look the product up online and get customer ratings. Talking about dramatization Lee says, “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"(Lee).  Lee 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. Perceptions are good but in your case it is only your opinion. Some advertisement may lead you to buying a product you regret purchasing but with a little research you can get what you bargained for and it can make advertisements a positive thing.

Carolyn Rose-Slane is also against advertisements she states, “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”(Slane). People in America spend way more money than they have and debt collectors have been the busiest ever. However, saying America’s debt is solely based on advertisements is faulty. Most people don’t have money to spend let alone money to spend on advertised goods. 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. Not all ads are negative and the economy is down the drain even with bad advertisements.

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. Others before you have been successfully and continually advertised to, not because they are gullible but because they like the product. People need to look at the fact that advertisements provide an efficient and convenient way of informing their consumers of new items. Consumers need to get negative aspects of advertisements out of their minds because there are many positive ones. Companies pay numerous amounts 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. Company’s advertisements do not have a negative impact on our lives. Companies are simply looking to find the most productive way to get your attention to try their product and if that means being very entertaining, so be it. The best advice to give consumers is to tell them that researching the product is key. Others before you have used it and there are many sites online that give feedback forums on many things advertised. Be smarter consumer; look in to the fine lines of the advertisement.

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.