Persuasive Techniques

Ad that WORKS:
When watching TV, there are always commercials regarding children in Africa, and how living in parts of Africa that are still underdeveloped leaves these children starving and dying from lack of food. The Help Unicef foundation advertises kids without clothes, dirty, and crying in these commercials, followed by the phone number or link to donate to help change these children's lives. What stands out is that we live our lives in our "perfect bubble" and then we see the horror of some child's life in these countries (some without parents, food, clean water, or a home), it's shocking and saddening, making the viewer want to help.
The target audience for this commercial would have to be people who are middle to upper-class because the commercial is asking for donations, so someone needs to be affluent enough to be able to donate. More specifically, women who work with children, are mothers, soon to be mothers, or something in that nature are even more targeted. Due to the generic idea that women have more of the nurturing characteristics, these categories of women stated above are especially more susceptible to these commercials and wanting to help if they have children of their own or work with them and see the possibility of a great life, and want to give that life to the sick and dying children in under-developed countries.
As briefly mentioned, there are some specific persuasive techniques this commercial uses to get someone to want to help the cause. They use emotional branding through targeting the type of people mentioned before, the mothers and women who work with kids, who are more likely to feel tied to the children seen in the commercials and want to donate to help them. Another one that's used is the  integrated marketing technique where the whole commercial is seamless and neat, making you unable to turn away or change the channel. First, someone talks about the Help Unicef foundation, then they show the proof of the horrible lives these children have, followed by the donation link to help the foundation help these children. This is a very seamless technique that helps the whole commercial melt together.
These techniques work very well. The viewer can't take their eyes away from the sadness they're seeing, kind of like when you see a car crash and you see how bad it is, but you can't look away from it. In the same situation, if no one was there to help after the car accident, and you were one of the first people there, you would most likely help. This is especially true if you were someone who had been in a car accident yourself, or know a loved one who had. Relating this to the commercial, seeing the children on the commercial, not being able to look away, you would want to help. Especially if you were a mother yourself, nanny for a child you love, or work as a nurse in pediatrics. All of these people are the target audience, and they're all people who would want to help the cause and would most likely donate to it.
Ad that's a DUD:
A different commercial that I have seen, and loved, is the famous "Puppy Monkey Baby" Mountain Dew commercial. I don't love this commercial because of the Mountain Dew, I love it because the puppy monkey baby song and character is really funny. Actually up until this topic of a dud advertisement, I didn't even know what the commercial was actually about. This is why it's a dud, you remember the commercial for something they're not really trying to advertise. In the commercial it's a puppy monkey baby character dancing and bringing a group of guys a Mountain Dew drink, advertising the new flavor they created. I didn't know this until I just watched the commercial to figure out what the advertisement was even about.
Due to the fact that the character of this commercial is a funny looking singing animal, the specific Mountain Dew drink being advertised is a bright purple color, and the guys featured in it are in their early 20's, I would say the commercial is targeting high school to early aged adult males. The drink's color grabs your attention, the character is amusing to watch, and the guys being featured are "cool", relaxed, and hanging out, making the commercial influence another young guy's idea of a fun and relaxing time with friends, while drinking this drink like the guys in the commercial do.
One of the marketing techniques that stood out to me is the use of authority in the commercial. This is through the young adult males that are featured, and how they seem so relaxed in the video all hanging out together. When a younger guy sees this, possibly a high schooler or even middle schooler, they will look at the guys in the video and want to be like them, even if it is subconscious. This is all because the guys in the video are older, making them be what the younger audience looks up to. Another technique they use is repetition. For a while before this commercial was made, Mountain Dew was coming out with several ad campaigns, and a big slogan they had was "Do the Dew". This slogan was in commercials before a YouTube video, posted in one of the cafeterias at my boyfriends college, and very well known. When this commercial came out, everyone already knew the Mountain Dew slogan, and now they all knew the "puppy monkey baby" theme song to one of the drinks that is repeated over and over again in the commercial.
This commercial technique doesn't work, partly because I know from personal experience (granite I don't think I'm part of the target audience), but also because of other reasons. When Mountain Dew came out with "Do the Dew" you knew it was a slogan for the Mountain Dew drink. The commercial with the song "puppy monkey baby" doesn't refer to the brand hardly at all. You remember the song, but not that the commercial is advertising for the Mountain Dew brand. Although it is catchy, it's not going to make people remember the drink itself. Another reason this commercial doesn't work as well as others is because it has too much clutter. The Mountain Dew featured is in a small purple bucket, where the rest of the room is filled with miscellaneous items you're also intrigued to look at, rather than the product being advertised. If it was a large poster, a big bottle of the soda, or all the guys had the brand labeled on their shirts, the viewer might have the Mountain Dew drink in their head a bit more.

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