D. Discussion

1. Comment on the quality of the business decisions.

2. Advertising can be an enormously powerful business tool. It is also very costly. In the case of Perdue Farms, advertising was used not only to create a company image but also to transform an industry.

3. The investment in advertising paid for itself many times over.

E. Fieldwork

Report to the class on advertising strategies used in newspapers and magazines in your area.

– Find several examples of ads for food or other products.

– Discuss the ads in terms of achievement, affiliation, power, fear, sex, and any other strategies used.

– Compare the cultural values expressed in these ads to those expressed in the Perdue Farms chicken TV ads described in the unit.

WRITING

Part I

Below you’ll read about some techniques used in adverstising. Decide which appeal to you and which don’t.

1. Repetition. The simplest kind of advertising. A slogan is repeated so often that we begin to associate a brand name with a particular product or service.

2. Endorsement. A popular personality is used in the advertisement.

3. Economical appeal. Advertising often appeals to basics such as motherlove, sex, manliness, femininity.

4. Scientific authority. Sometimes the adverts show a person in a white coat i.e. a scientist telling us about a product. More often it mentions “miracle ingredients” or “scientific testing” to persuade us.

5. “Keeping up with the Jones’s.” An appeal to pure snob value. You want to appear to be richer or more successful than yor neighbors.

6. Comparison. The advert lists the qualities of a product in direct comparison with rival products.

7. An appeal to fear or anxiety. This type is similar to 3, but works on our fear.

8. Association of ideas. Cigarette advertising, for example, should be attractive: healthy people smoking in beautiful rural situations (Usually it is accompanied by the words “Smoking is harmful for your health”)

9. Information. If a product is new, it may be enough to show it and explain what it does.

10. Special offers/free gifts. This is a very simple and direct appeal – it’s half price!

11. Anti-advertising. This is a modern version which appeals to the British sense of humour. It makes fun of techniques of advertising.