Jib Fowles 'Fifteen Basic Appeals'

Julian Narvaez
October 27, 2010
Assignment# 3
Doctor Lanka
English 111
Manipulative Advertisements Everyday, we see advertisements all around us. Weather we choose to look at them or not, they are there. Reading from the text, “Advertisings Fifteen Basic Appeals” by Jib Fowles, talks about how advertisements manipulate the public. I have chosen to pick five advertisements of my own and will describe them and see, in my opinion, if these advertisements do manipulate me in any way. But not only will I examine these and give my opinion, I will describe them and tell what need it is targeting to get our attention the most. The first advertisement I have chose came from a fashion magazine. The advertisement is for some jeans that will
supposedly “instantly slim you” as you wear them. In the advertisement, it shows the name of the jeans in big text, two attractive ladies wearing the jeans (one mature and one younger), a mirror reflecting the back of the jeans on one of the ladies, and a quote saying “They fit and flatter.” I suggest this ad fits most with the need for affiliation. I think this because girls buying these jeans want to fit in with the group of girls who are already fit and slim. The ladies wearing these jeans seem happy to have them on and do seem slim already as if the jeans did all the work. In my opinion, it does manipulate the public because girls would buy these jeans because they do want to fit in. Even if these jeans don’t work, girls would still give them a try because the ad brings our attention and sells that they will do exactly what they say. Another advertisement I have chosen is from a fitness magazine.
This advertisement is trying to convince its viewers that if you buy the foods they are selling, you can have a dramatic loss in weight. The ad shows a before and after picture comparing the two and how much skinnier she is now just because of eating these foods. Also, it shows a text of how much weight she has lost, and article of how it changed her life, a quote in big bold letters, samples of the food and at the bottom, and it shows the name of the product that is in big bold letters so it gets every ones attention. The emotional appeal I think this one has is the need for attention because of the face that you want to lose all this weight to look good for other people and is not happy with the way your body is already. In my opinion, this does manipulate the public dramatically because everyone wants that great look you can get by slimming down easy. The third article I have chosen is also from a fitness magazine. Though it is from a fitness magazine, this advertisement talks about an income for life. It shows two old people, a male and female, and a lot of information needed to know what this advertisement offers. I feel this has the emotional appeal of the need to feel safe because it is setting you up for a life goal and feeling secure knowing you prepared for the future. I don’t think this advertisement manipulates the public because I feel everyone needs this for the future once you hit a certain
age. The fourth advertisement I have chose is from a newspaper. It is an advertisement for a grocery store advertising all its sales it has on foods. It shows many foods covering the paper with the discount every food has. It grabs our attention because the food you see automatically right when u look at the paper all looks good and makes you want some. The emotional appeal this one has is the physiological need because it’s the need for food. This does not manipulate the public because of the simple fact that everyone needs food. This advertisement just shows the discount foods and making people aware of the price drops. The fifth and final advertisement I have chosen is from a criminal justice magazine. It is advertising the sale on a specific brand of jeans and what deal you get if you buy three or more of these jeans. The ad shows the deal in bold letters, pictures of the different type of jeans, the savings you will get and a description of the type of jeans it shows. The emotional appeal this has in my opinion is the need for affiliation because the advertisement is showing buying all these different type of jeans to fit into different type of situations. I feel this advertisement does manipulate the public because it mostly shows the deals and saving you will be getting and that’s all the concern the add feels like it is giving out. Overall, advertisements are in our everyday life and whether they do manipulate or not, we need them in our life. Advertisements don’t just try to sell products but give us information and news in what is happening in our everyday life. For example, an add might show statistics in comparing their product to others. This gives us information on what product might be more helpful for us to use. So in my opinion, advertisements do manipulate the public in many ways, but not all those ways are bad for us and may even help us.