Surdu Cristiana Elena

Analyze a contemporary advertising campaign showing how it uses psychological

techniques to sell into contemporary consumer culture

People are constantly in contact with advertising, whether while watching television,

listening radio, reading a newspaper, walking in a supermarket or driving home from

work. These adverts seek to gain people's attention, to create awareness about a product

or idea, to stimulate in order to change attitudes or behaviour.

Because advertising is a very powerful communication tool, its form and content

carries a great significance for shaping the contemporary international and multicultural

societies, providing direct employment to a large number of people, improving people's

standards towards living by promoting variety and quality in consumption, educating

people about new uses of products and providing information encouraging the

development of better ways of life. It also plays a very significant role in sustaining the

press, providing important revenue to newspapers, magazines, radio and television. In the

consequence, people get news at lower rates and circulation of newspaper and magazines

increases. By subsidizing the press, advertising is serving as a 'bright symbol' of freedom

of choice (Gazu Lakhotia, 2011). Another significance advertising plays into

contemporary international society is stimulating research and development by promoting

it, helping in the same time at the process of rapid industrialization. Advertising can often

play as motivation to progress where people, are induced to hard work and earn more

money to buy new products they saw in advertising.

Surdu Cristiana Elena

According to O'Shaughnessy (2004:25), the primary aim of advertising is to change

attitudes through persuasion, to motivate people into taking action by influencing desires

and beliefs. All the same, Sean Brierley (2002:5) strongly sustains that modern

advertising changed from its traditional form into a 'much wider' definition that includes

'all paid-for publicity'. The reasons of this change lays in the need of modern companies

to 'stimulate demand'. In both cases, advertisers are using certain 'appeals' to gain over

attention and to persuade their target, including the use of product specifications/ features

to psychological Freudian techniques.

This essay is going to analyze the psychological techniques used by 'Ogilvy' London,

UK based advertising agency, in order to promote Dove (Unilever) firming range,

through a campaign for 'Real Beauty', aiming to a globally, starting from Europe and later

extending in USA. The campaign used multiples phycological techniques to appeal its

target featuring ordinary women, forming the basis of a wider campaign that challenged

media conventions.

Unlike the period before 1950, when advertisements were focused on the product's

merits and features, the twenty century advertisers tried to explain the consumer

behaviour with the help of psychological theory, seeking to 'unlock' the advertising

effectiveness through the persuasion of individual motivations and desires (Brierley,

2002:30). Hence, the strategies modern advertisers use are based on psychological

motivations of consumers, using Freudian psychoanalysis, as examining the hidden

repressed desires of the subconscious, especially relating to sex or fears, within the
Surdu Cristiana Elena

psyche (O’Shaughnessy, 2004:165).

According to Brierley (2001:30), the primary advertising strategy is to explore

people's motivation driven by 'biological, psychological and social needs'. Modern

advertising has gone beyond this by actually 'creating' a desire, need or motivation in the

consumer's mind (that perhaps was either missing or not overtly prominent), that will be

fulfilled by the acquisition of the product. In this way, advertisers changed the critical

focus from the product to the people (Corrigan, 1997:68), marketing their products by

promising or implying to consumers that buying and consuming that product will fulfill a

value or desire, promising success, love or social acceptance (Haug, 1971 cited in

Vestergaard & Schroder, 1988:9).

A research conducted by the psychoanalyst Ernest Dichter suggested that the 'real'

motives of consumer lay in 'the untapped subconscious', that people don't know the real

reasons they purchase things and so they invent reasons, that fit with their world-view, for

doing it (Colwell 1990: 15). Reinforcing this idea, Brierley (2002:31) argues that

consumers are more interested in the form of advertising than the content, the emotional

sell rather than the rational 'reason-why' of advertising. He also sustains that consumers

could be persuaded using images that hook into their psyche, into their self-perception

(anxieties, fears, frustrations), by 'revealing their anxieties through brand values and

brand images' (Brierley, 2002:30).

Through the logical theories of understanding consumer needs and therefore their

motivations, advertisers looked at the one expressed by Abraham Maslow's, 'Hierarchy of

Surdu Cristiana Elena

Needs' (Fig.1), in order to appeal to a consumer. It suggests that humans have a rational

basis of needs that motivates them, starting with the basics like sleep, food, warmth, thirst,

that must be satisfied before progressing to the next level of need (safety, security, love,

etc.) and so forth (Brierley, 2002:30). According to Brierley (2001:27), this theory is also

used by advertisers to target their market according to their needs, discovering in this way

also the areas that are not satisfied by other products/competitors.

Figure 1: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

(Solomon, 2004:191)

There is need for special consideration for the fact that no need is ever fully satisfied,

as they are ongoing, one product can often be temporary or not satisfying a need on its

own (Solomon, 2004:111).

Using a Freudian approach, Ernest Dichter's research on consumer motives founded a

Surdu Cristiana Elena

new method of motivational research, which advertisers use in order to analyze the

consumer psyche. He sustained that the motives laying in consumers are: eroticism,

power-masculinity-virility, security, moral purity-cleanliness, individuality, acceptance,

social acceptance, status, femininity, master over environment, reward, dis-alienation and

magic-mystery .

"Adverts construct an imaginary world in which the reader is able to make come true

those desires which remain unsatisfied in his or her own everyday life "(Vestergaard &

Schroder, 1985:117).

When a brand sells a product that is little different from others on the market, it often

uses emotional appeal and brand associations/ image to attract the consumer, rather than

rational appeal, which tends to be used where specifications and the uses of the product

are highly important, such as technological products or banks. Consumers are more

attracted now of the form (emotional) rather than the content (rational) and because of

this it is not enough for the product to demonstrate rational appeal when it has little

difference to competitors (Brierley, 2001:31). These two different methods can be used in

conjunction as well, 'Campaign for Real Beauty' advert (see Fig.2) illustrates this using a

rational appeal, by informing its consumers that their new body lotion 'is good for your

skin', and an emotional appeal that entices its target by promising that this product is

'great for your look', hence it will make them look better and be more happy if they use it.

Elinder (1965) sustained that certain universal appeals and desires can be applied

anywhere, as they are international. Among these appeals, he highlights the desire of
Surdu Cristiana Elena

being beautiful and socially accepted, maintaining well being and nurturing appeal of

mother and child (Clark, 1988:44).

Figure 2: Dove Body Lotion Print Advert

The campaign 'For Real Beauty', often being described as a 'manifesto campaign',

was based on the idea that promotional campaigns for cosmetics products are often

accused for delivering the wrong ideals for women, so their approach offered a more

fundamental attitude towards beauty, challenging the fashion and beauty and deliberately

provoking a debate on body shapes (Springer, 2007:269). The campaign 'For Real Beauty'

uses more strategies in order to appeal its consumers, including the use of fear, in terms

of social fear and anxieties. 'The fear of damage to social image', of being rejected,

loneliness, anxieties over physical appearance and so forth, are constructing the

emotional appeal 'Dove' uses in order to empower women, who might not feel confident

or beauty, given to the fact that they compare themselves with the models they see in

everyday advertising. Because social status and being accepted are important to people,

'Dove' offers a solution to its target, making them believe that their product is going to

help women rediscover their confidence, look good and be 'real'.

Surdu Cristiana Elena

O'Shaughnessy (2004:8) sustains the fact that social acceptance is so important for

people that these social motivations of being accepted can come over psychological needs,

for example, eating disorder in order to maintain thin, thus 'attractive' and socially

accepted.

Figure 3 illustrates fear appeal used by 'Dove' in the 'Campaign for Real Beauty', this

successful approach that strengthened the brand image within its target , casting 'real'

women who were more representatives for their consumers, stating 'Don't manipulate our

perception of real beauty', encouraging women to stand 'out from the crowd' and give up

to these fears of being less attractive than what is usually displayed as beauty in

contemporary culture, sustaining that those models are playing 'fake' and that they have

distorted visions of beauty, manipulating people with wrong concepts.

Figure 3: 'Campaign for Real Beauty' online advert

According to Brierley (2001:165), advertisements that focus on anxieties through

fear and guilt, demonstrates the anxiety perhaps by a dramatic situation, use of a model or

through direct explanation (the beauty perceptions are wrongly manipulated and women
Surdu Cristiana Elena

have low self-esteem because of this), and then will introduce the product as a resolution

for the problem (women choose 'Dove' because this brand is showing what they want, the

fact that everybody is beauty as they are, it only takes some attention aka the usage of

'Dove' products the thing that will make the difference of rediscovering their confidence).

Figure 3 (see above) is very effective in arousing emotional appeal and illustrates the

usage of social rejection and anxieties over the physical aspect and the idea of 'being

judged'.

Another appeal 'Dove' uses in 'Campaign for Real Beauty' to play on anxieties is guilt,

illustrated in their TV video advert 'Beauty Pressure' (see Figure 4), where the guilt is

used in terms of 'failure to fulfill a role or value', not providing as a mother and failing to

teach her children the 'good and bad', thing that could dramatically lead into bad decisions

taken by youngs in order to fulfill distorted perceptions, like appealing to dangerous diets

or even cosmetic surgery in order to maintain thin and be 'attractive'.

The most common technique used in 'Campaign for Real Beauty' by 'Dove' was

questioning the consumers, a technique that is usually used by advertisers to gather more

information, through elaboration and explanation (Exforsys 2009). Figures 5, 6 and 7

illustrates a few examples of this questioning approach used by 'Dove' in their 'Campaign

for Beauty', through questions that stimulate 'why do you think' type answers, as "Will

society ever accept 'old' can be beautiful?" or "Does sexiness depend on how full your

cups are?", proposing to all women from the world to join debates on these topics that

cause them anxieties, in order to get them think and debate further, increasing in this way

"Dove's" products and campaign trust and awareness within its target audience.
Surdu Cristiana Elena

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

10 11 12

Figure 4: Dove 'Beauty Pressure' video advert

YouTube:2007

Another reason 'Dove' used questioning technique within its campaign advertising

was to arouse consumer's curiosity, appeal that created a guaranteed impact within its

target because humans, by nature, are always drawn to the unknown or, in this case, to the

opportunity of discovering something new, like new opinions and 'truths' about what they

taught to be normal or not. The first question that comes in a customer's mind when

seeing the print adverts illustrated above is 'why' this problem, that causes so many
Surdu Cristiana Elena

contrarieties, is advertised, leading further to more research on this, taken by the

consumer, carried by the curiosity level these adverts raised in his mind.

Figure 5: 'Campaign for Beauty' Figure 6: 'Campaign for Beauty' Figure 7: 'Campaign for Beauty'
print advert (2006) print advert (2006) print advert (2006)

After arousing curiosity appeal, 'Dove' uses another technique in order to make the

information believable, the response of 'why' question, the objectives of this campaign.

With slogans like ''No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted', 'Dove' revealed the

reason they started this campaign basing on the cruel truth and reality of contemporary

fashion industries, where personalities that people consider role models transmit a fake

image, going through dangerous processes in order to create a distorted model for people

to follow. This aspect will further cause them anxieties because they end on failing to

achieve the results they saw in their 'role model'. Figure 8 illustrates a TV commercial

'Dove' created for the 'Campaign for Real Beauty', casting a woman that goes through

radical transformations before being exposed on a banner, a 'fascinating truth' that

brought to this brand more respect and appreciation from its consumers because,
Surdu Cristiana Elena

according to David Ogilvy, in the end 'clients are grateful to advertising agents who tell

them the truth' (Ogilvy, 2004:96).

1 2 3

4 5 6

Figure 8: 'Dove evolution' TV advert

David Ogilvy sustains also that the key to success in advertising is to promise the

consumer a benefit, 'like better flavor, whiter wash, more miles per gallon, a better

complexion' (Ogilvy, 2004:25). Casting ordinary women in their advertising and

promoting 'real' models (see Figure 9), 'Dove' promises to its consumers a major and

important society change regarding contemporary beauty perceptions, helping women

affected by this distorted beauty perspective move beyond advertising, regain their
Surdu Cristiana Elena

confidence, empowering 'Dove' to 'challenge the status quo of beauty product promotions'

( Springer, 2007:271) .

Figure 9: Dove 'Campaign for Real Beauty' print advert

Because 'the function of most advertising is not to persuade people to try your

product, but to persuade them to use it more often than other brands in they repertoire

(Ogilvy, 2004:25), 'Dove' appeals to commitment, a psychological selling trick that is

meant to get the prospective consumers to take a stept towards the goals 'Dove' prepared

for them. They do this by giving free information through their website and their social

networks pages, requesting potential targets to fill out surveys and inviting them to talk

free on debates proposed by 'Dove' through their 'Campaign for Real Beauty'. Through

commitment, consumers are more likely to stay loyal to the brand they identify with,

because it creates a trusted relationship.

The second most used persuasion technique by 'Dove' within the 'Campaign for Real

Beauty', was making people believe that 'everybody is doing it', consensus. 'Dove'
Surdu Cristiana Elena

combined in its 'Campaign for Real Beauty', headlines like 'A ten millions of you inspires

us every day' with images illustrating different groups of women, visibly dissimilar by

culture (see Figure 11), in order to make a powerful global consensus message, that

further leaded into attracting consumers worldwide to purchase the product. Testimonials

are also an important technique, used to increase a brand's credibility and trust within its

target audience. 'Dove' made available many testimonials, mainly through their TV

commercials, website and social networks (see Figure 12 and 13), casting 'real' ordinary

women speaking about the benefits 'Dove' products have, leading to a huge impact and

successful responses as their consumers filmed themselves talking about the benefits of

'Dove' products, and further posting the videos on YouTube .

.
Figure 11: Dove 'Campaign for Real Beauty' online banner

Despite the fact that celebrity endorsement is used at an international and national

level and it usually creates huge impact within the market, 'Dove' does not want to focus

on celebrities, stating that 'real' girls are more culturally relevant and therefore, a better

way to increase the credentials of the campaign (The NY Times: 2011). The using

celebrities technique was also debated by O'Shaughnessy (2004:148), who argues that

'although advertises use of celebrity endorsement seems rather blatant' it ' has little effect
Surdu Cristiana Elena

due its often obvious unconvincing acting'.

The adverts 'Dove' used in 'Campaign for Real Beauty' have direct or high relevance

to women needs and desires, and therefore women will be more involved and perhaps

more persuaded ['involved' referring to 'the level of perceived personal importance and/or

interest evoked by a stimulus (or stimuli) within a specific situation' (Solomon,

2004:111)]. According to Solomon, a high involvement advertisement leads to 'the central

route to of persuasion and low involvement leads to the peripheral route of persuasion'

(Solomon, 2004:256).

Figure 12: Dove 'Campaign for Real Beauty' Figure 13: Dove 'Campaign for Real Beauty' testimonial
testimonial

"Dove's" campaign 'for Real Beauty' aimed to an international exposure and

awareness, using the same psychological persuading techniques, because the issue

constructing the campaign's objective is regarding all women, at a global level, as

majority of women suffer from anxieties, fears and low self-esteem, caused by the

contemporary culture advertising and, as David Ogilvy sustains, 'what works in one
Surdu Cristiana Elena

country almost always works in other countries' (Ogilvy, 2004:25). Figures 14, 15 and 16

are a few examples where 'Dove' uses one of these techniques (more specific, the

questioning technique) to appeal internationally.

Figure 14: 'Campaign for Real Beauty' Figure 14: 'Campaign for Real Beauty' Figure 14: 'Campaign for Real Beauty'
Print Advert, France Print Advert, Japan Print Advert, Romania

Two neighbor countries may find themselves being very different one from each

other, due to the different cultures, despite the fact that the development of cross-border

communications, global media and advanced telecommunications have reduced the

significance of geographical borders, the effect on psychological or perceived boarders

being less well marked. Mooij (1994:198) sustains that human needs or wants are more or

less universal, 'but the way to address these wants and needs is not. The reasons cultural

differences dominate communications are: difference in circumstances, difference in

language, traditions, difference in values and life-styles, belief, in music.

The global 'Campaign for Real Beauty' turned up successful because the core

proposition went to be universally convincing, based on a concept that is regarded as an

international matter, enduring a long period of time. When it comes to devising

international or worldwide advertising campaigns, Mooij (1994:199) affirms that the

factors that should be considered are: the relative advantages/ disadvantages of

Surdu Cristiana Elena

standardization and differentiation, and the advantages/disadvantages of centralized/

decentralized decision-making and implementation.

In conclusion, through the 'Campaign for Real Beauty' promoting 'Dove'(Unilever)

firm products, Ogilvy UK achieved the objectives given to set, the ones of empowering

women to realize their own beauty rather than aiming at an unattainable ideal. The key

laid in the usage of different psychological persuasion techniques that brought successful

results registering high level of consumer involvement. The campaign received multiples

awards and according to Springer (2007:269), PR firm Edleman estimated that 'Dove' was

the most talk-about campaign in the world between 2004 and 2007.
Surdu Cristiana Elena

Bibliography:

Brierley, Sean (2001) The Advertising Handbook. London: Routledge

Clark, Eric (1988) The Wantmakers. London: Hodder & Stoughton

Cook, Guy (1992) The Discourse of Advertising. London: Routledge

Corrigan, Peter (1997) The Sociology of Consumption. London: Sage

Dyer, Gillian (1982) Advertising as Communication. London: Methuen

Elinder, Erik (1965) ‘How international can European advertising be?’, Journal of
Marketing, April in Clark, Eric (1988) The Wantmakers. London: Hodder &
Stoughton

Haug, W.F (1971), Kritik der Warenästhetik, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp in

Vestergaard, Torben & Kim Schrøder (1985) The Language of Advertising. Oxford:
Basil Blackwell

O’Shaughnessy, John & Nicholas Jackson O'Shaughnessy (2004) Persuasion in

Advertising. London: Routledge

Ogilvy, David in O’Shaughnessy, John & Nicholas Jackson O'Shaughnessy (2004)

Persuasion in Advertising. London: Routledge

Solomon, Michael R. (2004) Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having and Being (6th
edn.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education International

Spence, Homer E. & Moinpour, Reza (1972) ‘Fears and Appeals in Marketing – A
Social Perspective’, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 36, July

Stuteville, R (1970) ‘Psychic defenses against high fear appeals: A key marketing
variable’, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 34

Vestergaard, Torben & Kim Schrøder (1985) The Language of Advertising. Oxford:
Basil Blackwell

Wheatley, John J. & Oshikawa, Sadaomi (1970) ‘The Relationship between Anxiety
and Positive and Negative Advertising Appeals’, Journal of Marketing Research

Ogilvy, David (2004), Confessions of an Advertising Man, Southbank Publishing,

London
Surdu Cristiana Elena

L.G.Schiffman, L.L.Kanuk (2007) Consumer Behaviour, vol 9, Pearson Prentice Hall,

USA

G. Myers (1999), Ad Worlds, Oxford University Press, USA

D. Mooij (1994), Advertising worldwide (2nd edition), Prentice Hall Int.,UK

S. Kemper (2001), Buying and believing, The University of Chicago, USA

W. F. Arens, M.F. Weigold, C. Arens, Contemporary Advertising & Integrated

Marketing Communications, McGraw-Hill, 2013

W. Wells, J. Burnett, S. Moriarty. Advertising principles and practice,

Prentice-Hall, 1998

Springer, Paul (2007) How Advertising Succeeds in a Multimedia Age. UK Whales:

Cambrian Printers

Closed ended questions (2009) [online] available from

<http://www.exforsys.com/career-center/questioning-skills/closed-ended-questions.html>

Psychological tricks in selling (2011) [online] available from

<http://ebookbrowse.com/psychological-tricks-in-selling-ebook-pdf-d250271517>

She Hopes to Help a Dove Campaign Become a Hit (2011) [online] available from
<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/business/media/dove-campaign-includes-women-d
js.html?_r=1&>