PSYCHOLOGY

AND
ADVERTISING
Emma Chacar
How do you think psychology is involved in advertising?

How do you think advertising affects you as a consumer?

Some examples…
■ Impacts the thoughts, emotions, and actions of consumers
■ Seduces consumers to buy wanted and unwanted products and services,
donating to charities, voting for political candidates, and changing lifestyles for
better or worse
■ Psychology has had a huge impact on the effectiveness of advertisements. 
■ Once people become consciously aware of a particular advertisement, they need
to store the message in their memories long enough to provoke a purchase. 
■ The advertisement needs to convince or show a target audience that they need or
want the item, which may lead to a potential purchase or impulse buy. 
■ Consumer psychologists and basic scientists are behind ever more effective
advertising campaigns to promote both products and causes.
History

■ Harlow Stearns Gale (1862-1945), American psychology student, was an influential

thinker about the psychology of advertising in the midst of the advertising era called the
"Modern Period”
■ Gale was the first to undertake advertising surveys and experiments concerning the
effects of advertising on attention and memory.
■ Daniel Starch: Advertising research pioneer. He reported for instance that the number
of newspapers and magazines in the United States doubled from 10,000 to 20,000
between 1880 and 1890. He also found the growth rate for amount
of advertising to be even more dramatic
Cont’d
■ In 1903, Walter Dill Scott wrote The Theory and Practice of Advertising,
where he asserted that people were highly suggestible and obedient.  He
believed in two advertising techniques, which involved commands and
coupons: 1) stating a direct command such as “use such and such product” and
2) asking consumers to complete a coupon and mail it into the company.

■ Harry Hollingworth was a psychologist who worked to understand what was

behind the use of effective advertising.  He believed that advertising needed to
accomplish four things in order to be successful: 1) attract a consumer’s
attention, 2) focus the attention onto the message, 3) make the consumer
remember the message and 4) cause the consumer to take the desired action.
■ The design of print advertising also changed dramatically during this time.
■ Combined words and visuals in ways that would attract attention, demonstrate product
features, and project product related imagery.
Propaganda
■ More or less systematic effort to manipulate other people’s beliefs,
attitudes, or actions by means of symbols (words, gestures, banners,
monuments, music, clothing, insignia, hairstyles, designs on coins and
postage stamps, and so forth).
■ Propagandists have a specified goal or set of goals. To achieve these, they
deliberately select facts, arguments, and displays of symbols and present
them in ways they think will have the most effect.
■ Another term related to propaganda is psychological warfare (sometimes
abbreviated to psychwar), which is the prewar or wartime use of
propaganda directed primarily at confusing or demoralizing enemy
populations or troops, putting them off guard in the face of coming attacks,
or inducing them to surrender.
Do you think propaganda still exists?
Cont’d
■ Contemporary propagandists with money and imagination can use a very wide range of
signs, symbols, and media to convey their messages. Signs are simply stimuli
—“information bits” capable of stimulating, in some way, the human organism. These
include sounds, such as words, music, gestures (a military salute);

■ Another related word, advertising, has mainly commercial connotations, though it need not
be restricted to this; political candidates, party programs, and positions on political issues
may be “packaged” and “marketed” by advertising firms.

■ Media are the means—the channels—used to convey signs and symbols to the intended
reactor or reactors.
Persuading the American public
became a wartime industry,
almost as important as the
manufacturing of bullets and
planes.
The Government launched an
aggressive propaganda campaign
with clearly articulated goals and
strategies to galvanize public
support, and it recruited some of
the nation's foremost
intellectuals, artists, and
filmmakers to wage the war on
that front.
Poster and film images glorified and glamorized
the roles of working women and suggested that a
woman's femininity need not be sacrificed.

These jobs will have to be glorified as a patriotic

war service if American women are to be
persuaded to take them and stick to them. Their
importance to a nation engaged in total war must
be convincingly presented.
Public relations specialists advised the
U.S. Government that the most effective
war posters were the ones that appealed
to the emotions.

The posters shown here played on the

public's fear of the enemy.

The images depict Americans in

imminent danger-their backs against the
wall, living in the shadow of Axis
domination.
EMOTIONS
■ The use of emotions, persuasion and authority, memories, and colors are a few of the
common ways in consumer psychology.
■ EMOTIONS: Fear, love, pleasure or vanity can be powerful drivers of consumer desires
and response.
– Fear is a very powerful emotion and can be a robust motivator. Fear is a primal
instinct, and nothing makes people more uncomfortable than fear. Advertising can use
fear tactics to create an uncomfortable position or situation, then provide a solution
manifested through a given product or service.
– One approach where fear is used is “the fear of missing out.” This approach can be
identified by phrases such as “one day only,” “limited time only,” “only a few left.”
These “calls to action” emphasize that time is critical, and consumers need to act fast
or they won’t get to participate.
– Fear is also commonly used in medical and health advertisements,
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cyCA4nRXNQ
 Bandwagon pressuring

■ This technique relies heavily on

the psychological tactic called
FOMO, or fear of missing out.
The art of persuasion is a common
creative technique for bandwagon
pressuring. Craftily carved
slogans are very successful tactics
for this technique.
■ Every associate will try and
convince a new client that they
are missing out on the product,
that their life will be better, that
their neighbor is already using it. 
Fear Appeal
■ Pratkanis and Aronson wrote a study called The Age of Propaganda theorized that fear-based
advertising is most effective when it meets all three of these criteria:
– When the ad evokes fear or concern
– When it offers specific ways for overcoming the fear
– When the recommended method for overcoming the fear is easy to achieve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riDypP1KfOU

■ (One of the most famous advertisements for this was the Daisy Girl campaign. In the 1964 American Presidential
election, Republican candidate Barry Goldwater campaigned on a right-wing message and talked of making large cuts
to social programs and about using aggressive military action.
■ His campaign even suggested a willingness to use nuclear weapons. So, Lyndon B. Johnson, the Democratic
candidate, capitalized on this in his ad by implying Goldwater would willingly wage a nuclear war, which would cause
the worst impact of them all. Death.)
EMOTIONS CONT’D

■ Advertisements utilizing fun and pleasure show consumers having a good time and
enjoying themselves, all made possible by a given product or service. Fun and pleasure
are often used in advertising for beer, theme parks, cigarettes and specific types of
automobiles.

■ Ads that feature love target consumers who want to provide for and take care of loved
ones. Like fear, love is a very powerful and primal emotion that can drive strong
consumer behavior. Subjects of these ads are typically families, pets, newborns and
mothers, or happy couples. Pampers, Johnson and Johnson, jewelry stores and pet stores
are just a few brands and industries that use love.
■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj4Z-dhZ2Z4
■ Advertisements focused on vanity appeal to the consumer’s sense of well-being, pride,
importance and relevance. Themes such as “the latest and greatest,” “you deserve,” new
fashion trends and luxury drive this advertising.

■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6DHRFuCEwA
PERSUASION AND AUTHORITY

■ One of the best ways to persuade someone to action is to gain their trust or provide
irrefutable logic. One of the most common ways advertising uses persuasion is through
celebrity endorsement. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTp-GTPoxHo
■ Irrefutable logic from the power of an authority or even a “trusted” peer. “Experts” in a
given field, or representations of a given consumer group, will be cited as a reason a
consumer should trust or buy a product.
■ Ads will use phrases like “9-out-of-10 doctors recommend”, “4 out of 5 dentists
suggest”, or even “3 out of 4 moms trust” to drive consumer purchase behavior.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ULR68LTmbw
Associations

■ Some advertising techniques rely mostly on psychology. Such is the case with the
association technique, also called “association marketing.” 
■ The premise is that the visuals in the graphic will create associations for the viewer.
These associations can be feelings, ideas, places, or nostalgia.
■ For association marketing to be successful, a good bit of research must be done
beforehand so that there is a deep knowledge of who the consumer is before deciding on
what the association will be. 
Association examples

■ For example, antibacterial hand soap might use scenes of kids playing outside in the
mud and getting dirty, but having tons of fun. This creates an association that it’s okay
for kids to get dirty – as long as they can wash their hands with soap afterward.
■ Another common use of the association technique is with luxury products. Consumers
are led to believe that with a fancy wristwatch, their life will be glamorous and full of
luxury, traveling on private jets and drinking champagne. 
MEMORIES / NOSTALGIA

■ Every time a consumer recalls an ad it is an opportunity for a brand or product to create

a new, happy or positive memory.

■ To illustrate the malleability of memories, Disney conducted an ad test with people who
had visited one of their theme parks but did not actively recall meeting a character
during the visit. After showing a test-group various commercials of the sites and sounds
or the Disney Parks, including meeting Mickey, a staggering 90% of respondents
recalled that they either remembered meeting Mickey or were confident that it might
have happened.
COLORS
■ Colors have meaning through associations
■ Color is present in the background, photography, fonts, visual accents and branding
elements.
■ Sometimes one color in a brand is so important that it becomes its own entity, like Coca-
Cola Red or Tiffany Blue.
■ The color red becomes associated with firetrucks early on, the same as how the color
yellow becomes associated with the sun and green with the leaves of the trees. These early
color associations form the basis for everything color psychology is about.
■ In fact, these first perceptions of color are inherent in every culture. In the US, pink is
associated with princesses and ballet dancers, while in Japan pink is the color of the
cherry blossom and is perceived a bit differently. 
COMPOSITION
■ Composition is how all the elements are placed in a visual space. 
■ The goal of a good visual design is to orient viewers' eyes in a specific direction.
■ A composition can have many different purposes, from pulling the viewer’s eye to one
specific point or creating a visual flow from top to bottom. 
■ As human beings, one of the first things our eyes notice is difference, whether this be a
difference in color, shape, texture, size or position, among other things.
■ By nature, we tend to group similar objects together and differentiate between those that are
dissimilar.
– The basic rules for a great composition are called Gestalt principles. These include
visual rules like simplicity, synchrony and association.
– Rule of Thirds
– Golden Ratio
Cont’d
■ The rule of thirds
separates the canvas
into six equal
rectangles – two rows
and three columns. By
placing important
elements at the
crosspoints of the
rectangles, they’re
given visual
importance while
maintaining a visual
balance.
■ The golden mean is a
visual tool which
follows the ratio of the
Fibonacci sequence.
■ Similar to the rule of
thirds, the golden mean
tool is used to direct the
placement of the
elements in a
harmonious way. 
 Visual path
■ When someone looks at any kind of visual graphic, be it an ad, a page in a magazine, a website or a
landing page, they will follow a visual path. 
■ There are two notable shapes. The first is a Z shape, in which the gaze starts at the top left, moves
towards the right, then returns left and down diagonally before moving across to the right again. 
■ The second visual shape is an F. The F is similar to the Z, but instead of returning to the left on a
diagonal down, it follows a line resembling how you would read a block of text.
Messaging

■ Storytelling: A brand can tell a story in many different ways. It can use their own origin
history or take inspiration from real customer interactions. A brand can also tell a story
without any words, only with music and the right images.
■ An ad campaign needs to evoke not only a feeling of need for the product, but also tell a
story that consumers can relate to.
■ Storytelling has been used in traditional media for generations and is one you've likely
seen time and time again.
■ https://visme.co/blog/visual-advertising-techniques/#storytelling
Nonverbal Behavior / body language

■ In both video and static graphics, the body language of the person – or people – is very
important. 
■ Confidence, knowledgeability, success and various other sentiments can be visualized
through a person’s body language. 
■ Creative directors work with the client to determine the correct messaging. 
■ The next step is to put out a casting call to find the person who best transmits the body
language they’re looking for. During the shoot, the actor or model is given directions
until the desired effect is reached.
Direct Gaze and ¾ Gaze

■ Continuing from body language, another advertising technique we see a lot has to do
with the eyes. Direct gaze is when someone looks you straight in the eye without
looking away. 
■ This technique is borrowed from hypnosis practices. Its official name is “gaze induction
technique,” and it’s meant to make people feel things just by being looked at intensely.
■ Another character related technique is the three-quarter gaze. The gaze can be used in
any direction, inwards or outwards. The direction depends on what the message needs to
be. 
 DIGITAL
ADVERTISING
Digital and web psychology as a whole, and the science of online persuasion, what hidden psychological influences do you think
your company uses on clients?

How do you get people to click on something? And what should you be doing?
■ Digital psychologists look into online behaviors, to give an explanation as
to why customers behave the way that they do.
■ Digital technology and media influence almost every aspect of daily life.
Yet, there is still a lot we don’t know about how the digital world affects
human psychology—from the choices we make, to the ways we behave, to
how we learn and interact with others.
■ The relatively new discipline combines psychology fundamentals with
principles from general psychology, social psychology, media psychology,
and other psychology areas.
■ Digital psychology explores the bidirectional relationship between human
psychology and digital technology and media that have tremendous
influences on each other.
Customer Journey Mapping

■ A customer journey map is a visual narrative of every engagement that your customer
has with your service, brand, or product.
■ The creation of a customer journey map puts you directly in the mind of the consumer,
so that you are able to see where you may be missing the mark, what you are doing
right as well as where you are able to make improvements across the customer life-
cycle.
■ Target particular customer personas with marketing campaigns that are relevant to their
identity.
■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bdjeBDHdrM
Benefits of customer journey mapping

■ Target particular customer personas with marketing campaigns that are relevant to their
identity.
■ Move from a company to a customer-focused perspective.
■ Increase customer engagement through channel optimization.
■ Destroy silos between departments as well as close interdepartmental gaps.
Customer journey mapping
The 5 Rules for Advanced Journey Mapping

■ Embrace that the journey is rational, emotional, subconscious, and psychological.

– how is the customer feeling going into that experience 
■ Look for the hidden aspects of a customer journey
■ Define strategically what specific emotions drive most value across the market
■ Build deliberate memory points.
■ Identify how to nudge customer decision-making.

■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en-pGBbQXmI
How to use consumer psychology in marketing online

■ Social proof: to build trust

■ Emotionally appealing digital presence
■ Cognitive load: with the overwhelming content available –
need to understand how to stand out
■ Appealing to scarcity – can be linked to the traditional forms –
“only one day left…”
Customer analysis

■ Understanding the individual nature of customers is fundamental to marketing practice

and planning.
■ Demographic Variables: gender, income, education, race, age, lifestyle, cultural and
social make-up
■ Psychographic and Behavioral Variables: Any aspect of a consumer’s perceptions,
beliefs and attitudes that might influence online behavior: knowledge, attitude,
innovativeness and risk aversion,
Personas
■ “Personas identify similar patterns of behavior that result in commonly held goals.”
■ Digital marketers craft personas by analyzing primary and secondary sources, including
ethnographic insight arising from direct observation of people and from data on their behavioral
patterns.
■ A persona is a fictional character created as a proxy for a target audience.
■ Derived from a combination of five research modalities:
– Demographic: basic structure of population
– Psychographic: values, opinions, interests, aspirations, attitudes and lifestyles.
– Ethnographic: participatory observation where insights are gleaned by watching subjects in
their daily routines
– Transactional: a historical customer relationship, including first- and third-party purchase
histories and post-sale service records
– Behavioral: Captures data passively through engagement with websites, mobile devices and
other media, content and channels that reveal how audiences engage over the course of a
relationship.
Some negative implications…
Personal image
■ More than ever, teens today are saturated with a constant stream of media and societal
pressures related to body image.
■ Their mental perception of what they look like can become distorted, leading them to engage in
risk behaviors when they feel they don’t measure up to the impossible goal set in front of them.
■ Media’s effect on body image can cause self-image issues
■ A 2017 study in the journal Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications found that subjects
only correctly identified manipulated images 60% to 65% of the time3. The pervasiveness of
digitally-altered images is now having a profound impact on girls’ expectations and
understanding of societal beauty standards and how they see themselves. 
■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2T-Rh838GA
Security and privacy issues

■ Data and privacy breaches

■ Selling personal data to third-party companies
■ Using data to skew campaigns and achieve business goals
■ Invasive tracking and ads

■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84gTofMPz1k
■ https://visme.co/blog/visual-advertising-techniques/
■ https://exponea.com/blog/consumer-behavior-marketing-psychology/
■ https://www.chilliprinting.com/Online-Printing-Blog/use-color-psychology-emotions-po
ster/
■ https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/powers-of-persuasion
Videos

■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84gTofMPz1k

■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is5OXLQDJME

■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en-pGBbQXmI