Question

What are persuasive messages? How will attitudes predict behavior especially in regard to advertising?

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) Persuasive messages in the field of marketing are simply messages designed to persuade the potential consumer or the audience into buying the product/ service and becoming the consumer. The content of these messages is specifically designed to highlight the positive characteristics of the product and keep the negative qualities discrete. Things like, the benefits of ownership, the utility of the product, lucrative pricing etc are the typical qualities that such persuasive messages would contain.

In advertising, attitudes are measured by firstly, categorising the audience into demographic groups. These groups are based on age, gender, lifestyle, geographic location, income groups etc. Once this is done, the “uses” of the product are matched with “who might use the product.” This means that if an advertiser wants to sell a juice box, they might assume that the demograph of 25-30-year-old parents of middle-class families might buy it for their children’s lunch boxes. The message will, therefore, be appealing to such parents by listing a good price, delicious flavour, healthy ingredients and child-friendly packaging. All these qualities will probably attract parents to the product.

Here, the behaviour of the demograph is predicted simply by having the advertisers or marketers put themselves in the consumer’s shoes. Behaviour can be predicted when is vicarious of the needs of the audience. Based on this understanding of the consumer and their needs, attitudes can be predicted.