Psychological Impact in Advertisement

According to  Kotler (2003), there are four key psychological processes — motivation, perception, learning, and memory - fundamentally influencing the customer responses to marketing stimuli. Jokubauskas (2007) also attributes the cognitive aspects, i.e. senses, reasoning, language and perception, to the psychological impact of advertising, although the author does not present the hierarchy of these aspects. Therefore, based on the other authors’ hierarchical division, the cognitive aspects could be divided as follows: firstly, the customer’s attention is concentrated, then perception, cognition though the customer’s emotions and different senses, reasoning take place and then follows the advert assimilation.

 

The application of these psychological concepts to advertising began in the late 19th century and early 20th century (Benjamin, 2004) The relationship between advertising and psychology developed because advertisers were also searching for credibility. They wanted to add more science to their work to prove its effectiveness and to understand the motives influencing consumer behaviour (Benjamin, 2007). There are many psychological techniques implemented in advertising to persuade consumers (O’Shaughnessy & O’Shaughnessy, 2004). These include the use of colour to elicit. Furthermore, sometimes image ,colour, situation in advertisement seems to be more successful or attract consumers. The use of colour in advertising is beneficial in eliciting emotional responses from potential consumers (Lee & Barnes, 1989). Colours can influence the emotional behaviour of consumers by attracting attention to advertisements or highlighting certain elements of advertisements. Each colour has characteristics and emotional responses that consumers are believed to associate with it (Schindler, 1986). For example, red is thought to be associated with feelings such as happiness and excitement, while green is calming and interpreted as being healthy and natural. Advertisers rarely confirm the use of subliminal messages in advertising because of ethical opposition (Moore, 1982). Research has supported the idea that behavior, cognition, and attitudes can be influenced by subliminal stimuli such as images or words (Vargas, 2008).Also, Such an emotional involvement helps to create positive opinions about the product or service being advertised. By inducing empathy, advertising effectiveness can be increased (Abrams, 1988).   However, there is little to no support for the ability of subliminal stimuli to be persuasive. These stimuli are still used in advertising, but are considered a “very weak force” when it comes to being persuasive (Vargas, 2008). The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proclaimed that advertisements that make use of subliminal messages in attempts to influence the unconscious decision making of consumers are deceptive and unfair (Lindstrom, 2008).On the other hand, Consumers’ attitudes towards advertising can also impact the effectiveness of persuasion attempts. Mehta (2000) found that persuasion attempts in advertisements were more likely to work when the advertising attitude was positive. This positive attitude also led to higher recall of advertisements. In another study, skeptical attitudes towards advertising were also related to persuasion knowledge. Adolescents’ skepticism regarding advertisements was positively related to their knowledge of persuasive advertising tactics (Boush, Friestad, & Rose, 2004).Also, Wei, Fischer, and Main (2008) found that activating consumers’ persuasion knowledge and making them aware of persuasive advertising alone did not cause them to have a negative attitude toward the advertisement