Why Do Industries Use Persuasion
How Industries Use Persuasion
How do people make decisions that were not originally thought about on their own? Why do people make decisions that were not originally thought about on their own? Where do these implanted thoughts come from? How are they being implanted? Why are these thoughts being brought about? Certain industries try to get people to join their “team”; whether it be by picking products made by their company versus another companies’ or by getting people to become loyal followers of theirs’ in all that they represent. Industries that need the support of others in order to succeed in their endeavors try to find ways in which they can influence people toward making decisions that will boost their chances of success. These industries all have one thing in common. They all have a set goal they are either trying to obtain or surpass. This goal is the reason for trying to influence people to do what the industries need in order to reach it (“The nature of attitudes and persuasion”, n.d.). One of the main ways that industries try to gain support is through the use of persuasion. Persuasion enables industries to get people to do what they want, at times without even noticing. Persuasion happens through the use of different factors and can be done through many different forms of presentation. Persuasion is a process that attempts to change people’s attitudes through the use of different kinds of messages (Baron & Branscombe, 2011, p.155). There are key elements that help with the …show more content…
effect of persuasion. Persuasion starts with a message that aims at influencing the viewer. Studies have shown that attributes such as the credibility of the presenter of the message, the physical attractiveness of the presenter, the messages’ design in relation to its’ persuasive motives, and lastly the negative or positive position the message takes on are all elements that affect the strength of persuasion. Through the use of persuasion, people take new stances that were influenced by another. Persuasion is intertwined in social psychology, as it is a conscious attempt to change the very factors that are studied in social psychology. Social Psychology, being the study of understanding the multitude of factors that make up the behaviors and thoughts of people in relation to social encounters, sets the foundation that persuasion goes off of. Once these social psychological factors are established persuasion then has a purpose for being and uses its’ tactics in order to change these set factors. Social psychology encompasses a large part of all aspects of living, which is another reason it relates to persuasion. Persuasion can be found in a variety of platforms such as, TV, magazines, stores, restaurants, colleges, mail, billboards, and even by word of mouth. Therefore, persuasion is a powerful thing as it is not always easily recognizable at first encounter. Even more so persuasion is used everywhere and therefore affects all aspects of our lives as social beings.
Industries, Their Advertisers and Persuasion
Everyday people are bombarded with persuasive messages through the form of advertisements.
Baumgardner, Greenwald, Leippe & Ronis (1983), emphasize how people who use mass media on a regular basis are affect even more by advertisements on these media platforms. Industries that need consumers to buy their products or services are the ones’ using persuasive messages through the forms of advertisements.
Persuasion in the Fashion
Industry
One of the largest industries that thrives on consumers willingness to buy their products is, the fashion industry. Their overall goal is to get people to want the articles of clothing they are producing in order to gain customers, customers that will keep coming back for more and most importantly make a large profit. Being heavily oriented by visual appeals, the fashion industry resorts mostly to visual advertisements in order to attract people to their products. These visual attempts at persuasion encompass one processing model of persuasion that is used when making decisions (William, n.d). The heuristic processing persuasion model involves processing that uses less cognitive effort through the stimulus of cues, which inhibit thinking through mental short cuts (Baron & Branscombe, 2011, p.158). It is because of the low thought expenditure that the heuristic mode entails that fashion advertisers use messages that ignite this type of processing the most. In order to engage people through the heuristic way of processing, fashion advertisers use visual cues such as, having models that are considered by society, to be what “beautiful” looks like in their ads, and having these models express a mood or feeling that is desired by the viewer. The aim is to have the viewer see these simple cues and having them resonate with what the viewer wants or hopes to have their selves, therefore making the viewer desire the product that is being displayed and in their eyes, “leading” to the desired effect. The fashion industry also uses other simple persuasion tactics like the latter one in order to obtain its’ main goals through their sales. The more the company sales the greater success there is in getting to their goal. This is why fashion companies allow “sales” or discounts to be put on their products. Through the form of “sales” companies are able to cause an influx of purchases from consumers that would not have happened on their own. “Sales”, especially “flash sales” construct a time limit that has an end date, which leads people to be persuaded into buying at a moments notice, without much thought, in order to get a product at a discounted price. The persuasion for this tactic comes into play when the customer never intended to purchase the product to begin with. It is strictly the consumers’ heuristic way of processing that they can obtain an item at a lower price if they act immediately. The time constraint added to the discount factor enhances the cues and desires for the product, therefore having more grounds for persuasion on the consumer. In order to “keep up with the trends”, and have new appealing products, the fashion industry constantly changes or “improves” its’ products. The advertising that goes in hand with theses “new and improved” editions attack the heuristic processing mode as a consumer might think that because it is a new version of the old it is more likely to be better. In order to persuade on this heuristic way of thinking advertisers use statements that contain factual like evidence or wording to increase credibility of the new product as being better. The connection made by associating the new product to evidence based improvements increases that new editions’ credibility. Apparent argument strength increases if the consumer already has positive prior knowledge or associations with the previous product, as the product is already familiar to the consumer (Greenwald & Leavitt, 1984). The new editions’ credibility is also enforced by the way advertisers try to link the improvements to “tests” they have done on the product and stating how it measures up to others’ versions of it or how the product itself measures up to environmental factors. In the fashion industry, where advertising plays a major roll in obtaining its’ goal, heuristic processing is the preferred model to inhibit as it gives simple cues the power to persuade.
Colleges and Persuasion
Attending college is no longer seen as a choice that can be opted out of these days. As the years have passed, the expectation and requirement of having a college degree in order to obtain a structured job have become essential. The increase in desired degrees has put higher learning institutions in competition as they try to obtain the highest prestige and admission desire in comparison to other institutions. Colleges want to be wanted; they want to be the most popular. Every college tries to get, the most admirers, and then the “best of the best” admirers in order to increase their “wanted” appeal and therein increase their prestige as an institution through the use of their followers. An increase in desire, leads to more followers, which leads to having a bigger pool of income, which leads to expanding the institution and having high honors. In order to obtain all those goals colleges have to persuade people into wanting to join their institution. Colleges use the heuristic processing model of persuasion just as the fashion industry does, through advertisements that use essential persuasive cues like beauty, unity, and positive emotions to cause an initial influence toward the institution. But being that attending college is intended for more serious reasons, they also have to approach more thought out models of persuasion. The processing model chosen for persuasion that requires more cognitive effort is done by the systematic processing way. This type of processing uses careful consideration of the message being presented. When college’s send recruiters to talk to prospective attendees, they are calling on systematic processing of persuasion by having to present strong arguments as the situation the recruiter is in requires them to make up for factors that make it harder to persuade being involved in this type of interaction. In this set up the persuaders’ audience is given more time to come up with counterarguments, as well as a forewarning on the messages content and intent. More importantly the relevance and importance the message has in relation to the audience the more they will process it systematically (Chen, Duckworth & Chaiken, 1999). These elements can be detrimental on the effect they have on the strength of the possibility of persuasion.
How do people make decisions that were not originally thought about on their own? Why do people make decisions that were not originally thought about on their own? Where do these implanted thoughts come from? How are they being implanted? Why are these thoughts being brought about? Certain industries try to get people to join their “team”; whether it be by picking products made by their company versus another companies’ or by getting people to become loyal followers of theirs’ in all that they represent. Industries that need the support of others in order to succeed in their endeavors try to find ways in which they can influence people toward making decisions that will boost their chances of success. These industries all have one thing in common. They all have a set goal they are either trying to obtain or surpass. This goal is the reason for trying to influence people to do what the industries need in order to reach it (“The nature of attitudes and persuasion”, n.d.). One of the main ways that industries try to gain support is through the use of persuasion. Persuasion enables industries to get people to do what they want, at times without even noticing. Persuasion happens through the use of different factors and can be done through many different forms of presentation. Persuasion is a process that attempts to change people’s attitudes through the use of different kinds of messages (Baron & Branscombe, 2011, p.155). There are key elements that help with the …show more content…
effect of persuasion. Persuasion starts with a message that aims at influencing the viewer. Studies have shown that attributes such as the credibility of the presenter of the message, the physical attractiveness of the presenter, the messages’ design in relation to its’ persuasive motives, and lastly the negative or positive position the message takes on are all elements that affect the strength of persuasion. Through the use of persuasion, people take new stances that were influenced by another. Persuasion is intertwined in social psychology, as it is a conscious attempt to change the very factors that are studied in social psychology. Social Psychology, being the study of understanding the multitude of factors that make up the behaviors and thoughts of people in relation to social encounters, sets the foundation that persuasion goes off of. Once these social psychological factors are established persuasion then has a purpose for being and uses its’ tactics in order to change these set factors. Social psychology encompasses a large part of all aspects of living, which is another reason it relates to persuasion. Persuasion can be found in a variety of platforms such as, TV, magazines, stores, restaurants, colleges, mail, billboards, and even by word of mouth. Therefore, persuasion is a powerful thing as it is not always easily recognizable at first encounter. Even more so persuasion is used everywhere and therefore affects all aspects of our lives as social beings.
Industries, Their Advertisers and Persuasion
Everyday people are bombarded with persuasive messages through the form of advertisements.
Baumgardner, Greenwald, Leippe & Ronis (1983), emphasize how people who use mass media on a regular basis are affect even more by advertisements on these media platforms. Industries that need consumers to buy their products or services are the ones’ using persuasive messages through the forms of advertisements.
Persuasion in the Fashion
Industry
One of the largest industries that thrives on consumers willingness to buy their products is, the fashion industry. Their overall goal is to get people to want the articles of clothing they are producing in order to gain customers, customers that will keep coming back for more and most importantly make a large profit. Being heavily oriented by visual appeals, the fashion industry resorts mostly to visual advertisements in order to attract people to their products. These visual attempts at persuasion encompass one processing model of persuasion that is used when making decisions (William, n.d). The heuristic processing persuasion model involves processing that uses less cognitive effort through the stimulus of cues, which inhibit thinking through mental short cuts (Baron & Branscombe, 2011, p.158). It is because of the low thought expenditure that the heuristic mode entails that fashion advertisers use messages that ignite this type of processing the most. In order to engage people through the heuristic way of processing, fashion advertisers use visual cues such as, having models that are considered by society, to be what “beautiful” looks like in their ads, and having these models express a mood or feeling that is desired by the viewer. The aim is to have the viewer see these simple cues and having them resonate with what the viewer wants or hopes to have their selves, therefore making the viewer desire the product that is being displayed and in their eyes, “leading” to the desired effect. The fashion industry also uses other simple persuasion tactics like the latter one in order to obtain its’ main goals through their sales. The more the company sales the greater success there is in getting to their goal. This is why fashion companies allow “sales” or discounts to be put on their products. Through the form of “sales” companies are able to cause an influx of purchases from consumers that would not have happened on their own. “Sales”, especially “flash sales” construct a time limit that has an end date, which leads people to be persuaded into buying at a moments notice, without much thought, in order to get a product at a discounted price. The persuasion for this tactic comes into play when the customer never intended to purchase the product to begin with. It is strictly the consumers’ heuristic way of processing that they can obtain an item at a lower price if they act immediately. The time constraint added to the discount factor enhances the cues and desires for the product, therefore having more grounds for persuasion on the consumer. In order to “keep up with the trends”, and have new appealing products, the fashion industry constantly changes or “improves” its’ products. The advertising that goes in hand with theses “new and improved” editions attack the heuristic processing mode as a consumer might think that because it is a new version of the old it is more likely to be better. In order to persuade on this heuristic way of thinking advertisers use statements that contain factual like evidence or wording to increase credibility of the new product as being better. The connection made by associating the new product to evidence based improvements increases that new editions’ credibility. Apparent argument strength increases if the consumer already has positive prior knowledge or associations with the previous product, as the product is already familiar to the consumer (Greenwald & Leavitt, 1984). The new editions’ credibility is also enforced by the way advertisers try to link the improvements to “tests” they have done on the product and stating how it measures up to others’ versions of it or how the product itself measures up to environmental factors. In the fashion industry, where advertising plays a major roll in obtaining its’ goal, heuristic processing is the preferred model to inhibit as it gives simple cues the power to persuade.
Colleges and Persuasion
Attending college is no longer seen as a choice that can be opted out of these days. As the years have passed, the expectation and requirement of having a college degree in order to obtain a structured job have become essential. The increase in desired degrees has put higher learning institutions in competition as they try to obtain the highest prestige and admission desire in comparison to other institutions. Colleges want to be wanted; they want to be the most popular. Every college tries to get, the most admirers, and then the “best of the best” admirers in order to increase their “wanted” appeal and therein increase their prestige as an institution through the use of their followers. An increase in desire, leads to more followers, which leads to having a bigger pool of income, which leads to expanding the institution and having high honors. In order to obtain all those goals colleges have to persuade people into wanting to join their institution. Colleges use the heuristic processing model of persuasion just as the fashion industry does, through advertisements that use essential persuasive cues like beauty, unity, and positive emotions to cause an initial influence toward the institution. But being that attending college is intended for more serious reasons, they also have to approach more thought out models of persuasion. The processing model chosen for persuasion that requires more cognitive effort is done by the systematic processing way. This type of processing uses careful consideration of the message being presented. When college’s send recruiters to talk to prospective attendees, they are calling on systematic processing of persuasion by having to present strong arguments as the situation the recruiter is in requires them to make up for factors that make it harder to persuade being involved in this type of interaction. In this set up the persuaders’ audience is given more time to come up with counterarguments, as well as a forewarning on the messages content and intent. More importantly the relevance and importance the message has in relation to the audience the more they will process it systematically (Chen, Duckworth & Chaiken, 1999). These elements can be detrimental on the effect they have on the strength of the possibility of persuasion.