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How Does Advertisement work?
Have you ever wondered why advertisement exists? Why we see so many ads everywhere? Do you wonder if advertisement actually works?
It seems that everyday we see more and more ads. We get bombarded by the amount of ads we see on the TV, on newspapers and on the Internet. What we need to understand is that advertisement is an approach to change an attitude about a subject or an object.
WHAT ARE ATTITUDES?
In social psychology there are two types of attitudes. Cognitively based attitudes are people’s belief about the properties of an object. 
An example of cognitively based attitudes can be seen when we buy cars. Nowadays we think of cars in terms of miles per gallon, safety or long term value. These are attitudes based on the merits of an object. In this case a car. Affectively based attitudes are people’s beliefs about the nature of an object. If we decided to buy the car based on the color and how it makes you feel, then we consider that decision was made based on an affectively based attitude. It is important to understand that attitudes are built on conditioning (Classical and Operant conditioning). Just look at “Black Friday”. Do we really need to camp three days to buy that TV? Do you really need to shop until you drop?
THREE WAYS ADS CHANGE YOUR MIND
The goal of advertisements is to change your attitude towards a object. Ads aim to persuade your attitude towards a side of an issue. So how do they change your attitudes? Studies have supported a three-prong approach that seems to be the most effective. People tend to change their attitudes about an object when the source of the communication is a credible one or an attractive one. That is why you see athletes or models endorsing products. 
Remember: “Be like Mike?”
The other approach is based on what is being said. We tend to be more influenced by messages that do not seem like advertisement. That is why there is an increase of “commercials” masked as news briefs or medical tips. Usually, these messages only show one side of the argument.
The last approach is by narrowing the audience. Studies have found that people between the ages of 18 and 25 seem to be the most impressionable. After the age of 25, people’s attitudes tend to be more stable. Now you know why credit cards target college students. As a matter of fact, just look at beer or cigarette commercials and see who are they targeting.
HOW DOES ADVERTISEMENT INFLUENCE YOU?
Advertisement works by shifting your attitude of their product towards a favorable one.
For example, have you seen vacuum cleaner advertisements claiming that their product now comes in red or blue? That is an affective approach to make you buy the product regardless of the facts. Ask yourself: Does it matter if the vacuum is of a specific color? Does the red vacuum work better than a grey one?
Advertisement works by changing your attitudes either logically or emotionally. Ultimately, we are the ones who react to that information.
What are your thoughts about ads? Are some ads more influencing on you than others?
Share your thoughts.
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There are some very attractive ads out there. Ones that put people on them are attractive, ones that are red are attractive and so on. Many electronic gadgets and such are sold with good looking women. I am a pretty logical person, I find it interesting to here from people that work from mostly emotion. They buy lots of things they don’t need like blow up holiday decors(lots of it) and give away lots of things too.
I stopped watching tv a few years back and I definitely notice how annoying ads are when I watch tv now. The advertising is usually so bad, I wind up not even watching whatever show is on. And there are some ads out there that are so bad, I refuse to buy that product on principle.
You have a terrific site here, with lots of great material… including a lot of what you’ve included in this article. But there’s one point I’d like to pull out and examine a bit more, which is the one about “the goal of advertising” being to change minds.
That might indeed be the goal of some rather ineffective advertising. But for the most part, it’s not the goal of most ads. And I say that as someone who’s been successfully writing ads for the last 17 years… and writing about advertising and marketing psychology for the last eight years.
Trust, for instance, is extremely important to the success of an advertisement. Without it, no sale. So is the consideration of the prospect’s prior conditioning. You can’t sell well to an audience if you don’t know what they’re thinking or where they’re coming from.
But good marketers know that trying to change minds about a product is more or less a waste of time. Minds are hard to change. Rather, a good ad wants to connect with those who already have a predisposition toward some or all of what your promise and your product represent.
In short, good ads preach to the choir… in a way more memorable than anybody has managed to preach before.
Often, this is best done not with logic — which would appeal tot he cognitive attitudes — but with an emotional appeal, because that’s where decisions happen fast. And you need fast decisions in a world where everyone else is clamoring for the same amount of buyer attention.
P.S. It’s always fascinating how these kinds of observations get comments from readers who are sure they’re not as emotional/more logical than other buyers. Usually, those that believe that are the most emotional buyers of them all. For fascinating insights on why, check out two books: “How We Decide” by Jason Lehrer and “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert Cialdini.
Advertising works because of social conditioning. We are told to think we need all of this stuff and we believe it. It is pushed at us from every angle. Sad, really!