Effectiveness of Persuasion Tactics in Advertising

The main goal of any advertising is to transmit information, accompanying it with emotional design as well as using verbal, non-verbal, and visual language to meet the interests and attitudes of the consumers. This allows creating motivations that trigger after interacting with the semantic and semiotic advertisement code. The main motive of advertising that attracts attention is the presence of the genes of the founding fathers or great historical personalities in each person, that is, salience. Ancestry (2017) advertising focuses on a broad audience and, therefore, involves a very strong method of influence as an emotional appeal to national identity as well as to the symbolic code of the founding fathers. It is also connected to the motive of similarity based on the imposition of thoughts on the greatness of ancestors and reference to the common American background. Thus, the Ancestry advertisement appeals to emotion and similarity through the visual and verbal code of the moment of the founding of the American state as well as salience as key intrinsic motives that draw attention to this product.

Features

Emotional Appeal

Persuasion is the artificial vaccination of a person with the right mood, a motivation for action, an intervention to the consumer’s psyche for the creation of an artificial need. The mechanism of persuasion through emotional appeal is an effective tool in the Ancestry advertising. It implies a perception of information containing ready-made conclusions, which lead to the formation of motives and attitudes of a certain behavior on its basis (Roozen, 2013). Emotional appeal refers to the different parts of the brain, keeping analytic-synthesizing activity deactivated or significantly weakened in the process of suggestion. Perception of information, moods, feelings, and patterns of behavior is based on the mechanisms of infection and imitation.

Roozen (2013) explores the problems of the contextual and conceptual significance of the emotional message of advertising, focusing on the study of the emotional reaction of consumers. The author argues that the most common emotional appeals affect the perceptions of the product, depending on the positive or negative context of the message. Influence on emotions is often the best step toward influencing attitudes to a brand or product, because, ultimately, behavior changes through emotions (Roozen, 2013). The author used the experimental method and tested the impact of sad and positive advertising production on four different groups. Their results revealed a better perception of the sad advertisement of non-profit organizations, while positive advertising was not so responsive. In addition, the authors of the study explain that the quality and intensity of a person’s actual need and an assessment of the probability of satisfying it determine emotional state of the consumer. This aspect of the research emphasizes that the Ancestry ad expands the basic need for recognition, so feelings and emotions correspond to the ties established between a sense of pride, unity, and the product itself. This study proves the effectiveness of appealing to one of the greatest emotions of a person as recognition and its connection to the topic of the declaration of independence.

Ancestry (2017) advertising appeals to the sense of American identity. Authors of advertising use the effective recall of the meeting of the founding fathers, which creates a certain psychological image of the dignity of every American citizen and their complicity. In addition, the emotional subtext manifests itself through a different ethnic and racial labor history, which makes it possible to create an image of a common past as well as a common future based on social agreements between different groups of population (Ng, Kulik, & Bordia, 2015). This emotional message also reflects the desire for freedom for all people who live in this country, which binds everyone together. This allows creating a solid message of the personal glorious history and the integrity of the emotional appeal through a clear visual language. The words about freedom and equality are important for every American because this is the basis of the American state and the key value of democracy. In addition, it also creates an emotional message of responsibility for the nation’s future displayed in the credits and the final group picture. As a conclusion, the emotional appeal works perfectly because it effectively addresses the psychological needs of a motivation to be free. At the same time, biological reasons like self-esteem predominate over social ones, which will be discussed further.           

Similarity

The second effective feature is the feeling of community and similarity. Many images and people connected by one vocation are perceived as one object or image. One of the main methods used in this advertising is the use of values of the American family united by the concepts and emotionally colored words like freedom, equality, and rights related to the basic values of the society. All these objects are associated with the basic needs, intrinsic motivations, and well-established concepts as home, family, heirs, ancestors, freedom, democracy, peace, and happiness. Similarity is used in this advertisement as an element of creating a mission of discovering the hidden family history that should provoke a further purchase. In addition, the similarity is effective because it implies a stable association with positive emotions like the unity and a sense of equality. For example, the authors use a strong image when brothers sit together and read the Declaration of Independence. There are representatives of different races, which emphasize the commonality of interests and values. Ng, Kulik, and Bordia (2015) shed light on the use of the representatives of national minorities in the advertising of dominant communities. The study also aimed to establish the attractiveness of advertising with the presence of various racial groups. The authors of the studies selected groups of Malaysian-Chinese people who were looking for work in China, Malaysia and Australia. The study found that the presence of various races on advertising increased the interest of job seekers, and created a more positive image of the employer (Ng, Kulik, & Bordia, 2015). This has a direct bearing on advertising of genealogical service because this fact underlines the successful decision to place representatives of different races. This increases the trust in the product itself as it creates the impression that business owners do not have prejudices, which can lead to a higher level of conversions. In addition, it emphasizes the multinational component of America and the importance of each person in the struggle for democracy.

A positive image of the concept of freedom is used as an integral element of every person’s life and Carvalho and Luna (2014) transfer it to the advertised product.   The authors create a positive image of the multinational community who are still defending the same interests as their ancestors. The method of unity is effective because it reflects the desire to seek the group origins and awakens the same interest in the target audience. The consumers will perceive the advertised product more positively if people in the advertisement are perceived closer to them. Thus, the ad directors use the basic historical and heroic moment to unite the audience with the notion of independence, the freedom of expression, and liberty. Another effective feature is the overcoming of a natural mistrust towards advertising. In that case, the use of familiar associations as the moment of signing the Declaration of Independence and speech directed on the core values of American society expand subconscious bond largely.

Salience

The product itself is secondary in comparison with the satisfaction of the need for a sense of one’s own worth, belonging to the creators of the American nation. The objects and images considered in the first section correlate with a sense of salience. However, there are significant differences because the sense of one’s own worth is connected to a person’s desire to express themselves and satisfy their needs. A sense of significance manifests itself in advertising through a special way of influence, in a certain way of integrating large masses of people through a sense of connection with the great past. Carvalho and Luna (2014) covered the problem of national identity, patriotism, and media consumption in their research. The key point was the statement about the relationship between patriotic feelings in advertising and the activation of a sense of national identity and self-worth. The researchers selected groups of Brazilian students to whom they showed the advertisements and news with different combinations of national symbols (Carvalho & Luna, 2014). The result of the study was a confirmation of the positive relationship between the activation of the sense of national identity and the presence of national symbols or patriotic rhetoric.

This proves the effective use of the scene itself with the process of signing the Declaration of Independence as well as the reference to freedom, equality, and democracy. Advertising used the very essence of national identity to emphasize the feeling of national pride. A sense of salience arises from the comparison of one’s own connection with the heroic past, which allows one to increase self-esteem and to feel solidarity with other inhabitants, which also have a connection with the great historical events of the past (Carvalho & Luna, 2014). The musical accompaniment and the visuals complement the verbal component oriented towards a conscious reaction of a sense of unity as well as an unconscious sense of security and pride. Advertising used the very essence of national identity to emphasize the feeling of national pride. Reference to the founding fathers also allows activating a sense of national pride, which positively affects the interest in the product. Therefore, advertising skillfully manipulates the theme of salience and makes it clear that a product will solve the problem of a person’s identity.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the use of the motives of similarity, emotional appeal, and salience formed the key triangle of values that made this advertisement successful. This advertisement contains a reference to the key historic events that Americans are proud of, it includes representatives of different races, which improves its positive perception and appeals to a sense of own importance that manifests itself through the biological need for recognition. This advertising will have the greatest impact on well-educated middle-class citizens who have a long history on the continent. It can be assumed that the appeal to national pride and sense of one’s own importance is the most important for all the national minorities of America as a lot of residents do not know their own arrogance as a result of race-mixing. Residents from the lower strata will not be significantly interested in the topic of origin because they need to satisfy the basic needs. The Ancestry ad focuses on the higher needs for recognition and self-identification.