Advertisement and Sciences
Advertisement and Sciences –
Five diverse views
Being primarily consumers, our view on advertisement is extremely biased. We consider most of it as excessively annoying and censure the advertising industry while at the same time we are highly receptive to their efforts, and as if that was not enough we take part in collegiate neurological studies on consumer behaviour. The advertising industry uses our behaviour as a tool and the better they become the less we are annoyed by all the banners, TV ads and product placements. But why do they keep on becoming better and better? The answer lies within a network of different sciences that constantly works on finding new ways to reach our mind. Since art is not a science I am going to leave it out although it clearly adds up to today’s advertisement. My essay will focus on the five sciences that have the biggest impact on the content of advertising: Psychology and neuroscience, business economics, sociology and political science. Starting with short definitions I am going to explore their different approaches to the topic and the way they contribute to the success of the advertising industry.
Psychology is “the science or study of the mind and how it functions”. (Oxford English Dictionary, 1995) The border between psychology and neuroscience, which rather focuses on the effects on the nervous system, is very vague. Both look at the effects of advertisement on consumers’ minds, yet neuroscience does this from a slightly more scientific angle. "Advertisements are sometimes spoken of as the nervous system of the business world […] Since our nervous system is constructed to give us all the possible sensations from objects, so the advertisement which is comparable to the nervous system must awaken […] as many different kinds of images as the object itself can excite." (Walter D. Scott, 1904) Thus the most important element of advertisement is not information but suggestion which tries to avoid our conscious perception.
Five diverse views
Being primarily consumers, our view on advertisement is extremely biased. We consider most of it as excessively annoying and censure the advertising industry while at the same time we are highly receptive to their efforts, and as if that was not enough we take part in collegiate neurological studies on consumer behaviour. The advertising industry uses our behaviour as a tool and the better they become the less we are annoyed by all the banners, TV ads and product placements. But why do they keep on becoming better and better? The answer lies within a network of different sciences that constantly works on finding new ways to reach our mind. Since art is not a science I am going to leave it out although it clearly adds up to today’s advertisement. My essay will focus on the five sciences that have the biggest impact on the content of advertising: Psychology and neuroscience, business economics, sociology and political science. Starting with short definitions I am going to explore their different approaches to the topic and the way they contribute to the success of the advertising industry.
Psychology is “the science or study of the mind and how it functions”. (Oxford English Dictionary, 1995) The border between psychology and neuroscience, which rather focuses on the effects on the nervous system, is very vague. Both look at the effects of advertisement on consumers’ minds, yet neuroscience does this from a slightly more scientific angle. "Advertisements are sometimes spoken of as the nervous system of the business world […] Since our nervous system is constructed to give us all the possible sensations from objects, so the advertisement which is comparable to the nervous system must awaken […] as many different kinds of images as the object itself can excite." (Walter D. Scott, 1904) Thus the most important element of advertisement is not information but suggestion which tries to avoid our conscious perception.
References: Oxford University Press (1995). Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press Walter D. Scott (1904). The Psychology of Advertising. The Atlantic. Retrieved March 20 2011 from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1969/12/the-psychology-of-advertising/3465/ Rüeger, B.; Hannich, F. (2010). (As cited in the Wiener Zeitung (November 11, 2010): Emotion in der Kundenbeziehung). Retrieved March 20 2011 from http://www.wienerzeitung.at/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3948&Alias=wzo&cob=525322&Page12014=2 McChesney, R. (2008). The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas. New York: Monthly Review Press Goffman, D. (1979). (As cited in Stereotyping of Women in the Media: Gender Roles, Personal Dissatisfaction and Issues of Patriarchy). Retrieved March 22 2011 from http://www.docshare.com/doc/154091/Sociology-of-Advertising-and-The-Stereotyping