Week 1 Prompt 4.

 "Why Good Advertising Works (Even When You Think It Doesn't" by Nigel Hollis (The Atlantic)

The central argument for this post is that advertisements  alters our chain of thought unconsciously.

Advertisements are mood changers, and they are good at what they do. An ad is all about imaginary people with imaginary lives. Everyday, while watching TV, when an advertisement starts playing I always switch to another channel. Consciously doing so, I make a choice and stick with it, that, that particular advertisement will not change about the way I feel or think about the objects the advertising company is showcasing. Day after day, this is the routine for every ad that is showcased. Once, actually a few times when I went out to buy toothpaste, I bought Close up. The image that came to my mind was of the advertisement. Brushing with give Close up would give me long lasting fresh breath. Unconsciously I bought it, only to realize later, that when I left home I had another toothpaste in mind. The author who is a marketer tells us that the advertising agency of USA spends up to 70 billion dollars a year. 70 billion dollars is a big sum, and I believe that this money actually changes are decisions. At the moment I am chewing on chewing gum, Orbit's sugar free gum. I bought it because the ads I have seen promote the fact that this gum I good for your teeth, before Orbit was always Big Babbool. The reason being that bubble's could now be blown bigger.

         Nigel Hollis says that “perfect advertising” does not exist anymore since there is no “argument” or “call to action”, present. I have never seen a perfect ad that uses these terms, I have watched ads that use Pathos. Pathos means emotion, it was a term used by Aristotle, to describe rhetorical strategies and used in arguments. However, advertisements of this day and age have mastered the art of pathos. Advertisements send positive messages across to mess with our feeble minds, and we always give in. In Hollis’s article, he mentions two ways of persuasion are used and they are “raw persuasion” and the “power of engagement.” Raw persuasion meaning that an advertisement will give the consumer an idea to work on, and then will encourage them to buy the product. However, the power of engagement creates a positive effect that will stay in our memories. I side with the power of engagement, and know that only when I am fully engaged in a conversation between someone and something, makes the argument believable, and worth trusting. The memory also sticks for a long time.

Nigel Hollis, in his article " Why good advertising works( Even when you think it doesn't)"   argues that the fact is true because advertisement’s do change our perspective unconsciously, through the power of engagement. Good advertising does influence our thoughts and decisions, and years of data proves the point.

Source:

• Hollis, Nigel. "Why Good Advertising Works (Even When You Think It Doesn't)." The Atlantic. The Atlantic, 31 Aug. 2011. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/08/why-good-advertising-works-even-when-you-think-it-doesnt/244252/>.