• What is Product Advertising and How Does it Work?
  • The Impact of Advertising on Consumer Behavior
  • The Benefits of Standardized and Engagement Advertising
  • A Journey Through Time: The History of Advertising
  • The Mind Games of Advertising: How Marketers Manipulate Psychology

Why Advertising is a Mind Game

Advertising is a powerful tool that can sell more products or services by playing with people's emotions. It is also a mind game that easily manipulates psychology.

Some experts believe that advertising promotes consumerism, stereotypes and discrimination, and unsustainable consumption patterns. It can also influence children's values, attitudes and behaviors.

Advertisement Types

There are a plethora of ways to advertise your business, from television commercials to billboards to social media. However, the best way to stand out from your competitors is to use a multi-pronged marketing approach that blends traditional with modern methods.

One of the most important parts of any successful advertising campaign is choosing the right ad strategy to fit your product, your budget and your target market. A well-executed ad will not only attract new customers but also encourage repeat purchases from existing ones. Using a multi-channel approach to ad buys will help you maximize your ROI by boosting your brand awareness across the board.

The best way to find out which type of ad is right for your company is to conduct an extensive market analysis. The most efficient method for determining which advertisements are best is to conduct a comprehensive customer segmentation analysis and compare their demographics, preferences and purchasing habits.

A good ad must be visually captivating, informative and relevant to your target audience. It must also be able to convince the reader that you are worthy of their attention and trust. The best ad should be the one that is most likely to win their business and earn you their loyalty in the process. This is why the most effective advertisements are the ones that combine the most relevant marketing tactics into one well-designed ad package.

Target Audiences

When it comes to marketing, it's important to target audiences that are interested in your product or service. This will help you save money and time that would otherwise be spent on ads to people who aren't likely to buy from you.

The first step in determining your target audience is to learn about them. This can be done by conducting a survey or asking customers for their feedback on your products and services. You can also ask them about their interests, pain points and needs.

It's also a good idea to research your competitors and find out how they target their customers. You can use this information to determine how you can improve your own marketing strategy.

For example, you could try to partner with other businesses that your target market visits often and see if they have any ideas for advertising, joint promotions or discounts that will benefit both of you. This will allow you to increase your traffic and marketing reach, and it will be easier to get potential customers to engage with your business.

You can also make a list of the benefits that your product or service provides. For example, if you're a shoe store, your target audience might be elite runners who are looking for a new pair of shoes to help them complete the Boston Marathon.

Another way to find your audience is to look at what they're already buying. If you have an existing customer base, it's easy to figure out what they like and don't like.

Once you've found out their interests and pain points, you can start to map these traits into personas. This will allow you to customize your marketing messages and tailor them to each persona group.

The goal is to connect with your potential customers in a relevant and helpful way. This will encourage them to become loyal followers and keep coming back for more.

Identifying your target audience is one of the most important things you can do for your business. Not only will this save you money and time, but it will also help your company grow in a big way.

Convincing Audiences

Advertisements are a mind game that can be hard to win. You have to create a message that appeals to your target audience, and then you have to find a way to get them to take action.

The best way to do that is to understand your target audience. This means obtaining as much information as possible about the demographics and buying habits of your potential customers. You can do this through customer data analytics tools and a dedicated audience dashboard, which can help you make better decisions about your advertising strategy.

One of the most important things you can do to gain this information is to ask questions. Your answers can tell you the biggest pain points your customers have, and what kinds of messages they respond to most.

You can also use the power of suggestion. The idea behind this is that people are more likely to follow a suggestion that is made by someone they know and trust. This is why the best advertisements feature a personal touch.

The best advertisement is the one that uses the most effective combination of words and images to convey a message that resonates with your audience. There are many strategies to achieve this, including incorporating the latest marketing technology like AI and machine learning into your campaigns. The key is to be clever enough to find the right mix of information, imagery, and emotion to make your campaign a success.

Influencing Audiences

If you've ever tried to convince a person to do something, you know how difficult it can be. It takes time and effort to find them, get their attention, present your message, ask questions, and then follow up with them later.

It's also important to remember that not everyone will be influenced by your message, no matter how well you work it. For example, a person who is an expert on a certain topic may be resistant to your message. In those cases, you'll need to seek other people who have more influence with the audience and ask them to try to persuade them.

Another way to get your point across is to provide the audience with enough information to help them understand their own needs and motivate them to act. By doing so, you'll have a much easier time convincing them to take action.

To do this, it's best to provide a combination of facts and emotion. This will appeal to a variety of people and allow you to connect with the largest number of them possible.

For example, if you're trying to encourage people to eat more fruit, you might want to say that "A lot of people are doing this," and "If you do, you'll be healthier." That way, people will realize they can do it, too, and they'll feel more encouraged to do it.

The same holds true for trying to convince a person to do something that is particularly controversial. They'll likely hear arguments against it and you'll need to counter those, too. By pointing out their weaknesses and showing that it's not what they want, you'll make it easier to convince them to listen to your point of view.

Finally, if you've had success with the audience, don't be afraid to thank them for their support. It's a way to build trust and give them a reason to continue to support your work. If you're able to do this, it'll make them more likely to listen to your next message and act on it.

  • advertising
  • brain games
  • psychological marketing
  • gender performance

Patti Goldenman

Patti Goldenman

General bacon lover. Hipster-friendly travel guru. Proud bacon ninja. Incurable zombie trailblazer. Professional bacon fanatic.

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The Advertising Standards Authority thinks it is about time we did and is drawing up tough guidelines to ban inappropriate commercials.

Not that this is the first time stereotypical ads have been subject to public debate. Last year saw a furore over a protein drink advert featuring a bikini-clad woman asking: "Are you beach body ready?"

Nearly 400 complaints were made, with many saying the advert shamed women who did not conform to a supposed "ideal" and could exacerbate body image issues. Around 70,000 signed a petition calling for the campaign to be removed.

Campaigners claim advertising reinforces gender stereotypes and exploits insecurities about appearance and behaviour. But do they really twist the way we see ourselves - and the rest of the world?

The Oxo mum

A 2014 study from advertising giant Saatchi & Saatchi found mothers had strong feelings about the way they are depicted in adverts.

Only one in five could recall relating to any advertising they’d viewed. Idealised depictions of domestic life, overseen by a calm and competent maternal figure - exemplified by Lynda Bellingham in the popular Oxo adverts in the 1980s and 1990s - failed to resonate.

However, there were also concerns about adverts portraying stressed-out mums on the verge of a breakdown.

"Most mums have clutter, but not chaos; tidiness but not perfection," one told researchers. "We are all second-guessing ourselves all of the time so making it more difficult doesn’t help."

"Dumb dad" adverts portraying incompetent men failing to perform domestic tasks such as cleaning or childcare have also been the target of anger .

Noticeably absent are depictions of men as "stupid about serious subjects, or incompetent at running anything outside the domestic sphere", says Daily Kos .

By portraying men as inherently unsuited to domestic tasks, these "dumb dad" adverts actually "affirm, rather than challenge sexist notions of women's work and women's place".

Woman's work

Feminists have long identified advertising as one of the subtle cultural influences that continue to push women towards traditional life choices - not only marriage and motherhood, but also career paths historically seen as "feminine".

Baby formula brand Aptamil was criticised for an advert showing little girls growing up to be ballerinas, while little boys were future mathematicians and mountain climbers.

While the precise influence of the media on life choices is difficult to quantify, a correlation has been found between advertising and gender performance, although the most up-to-date research suggests women are becoming more resistant to such messages.

A 1984 study found women who watched a compilation of adverts portraying traditional gender roles were more likely to de-emphasise professional aspirations when asked about their ambitions.

However, when researchers repeated the study in 2008 , they discovered "women's achievement scripts now appear more similar to men's, as well as more resistant to sexist exposure".

Advertising has also been proven to affect the way men think about women and treat them in the professional world.

Men who watched a compilation of advertising that sexualised women were more likely to ask a female candidate personal questions in a job interview task, according to a 1995 study . The also rated her as less competent than interviewers from a control group.

Researchers concluded that sexualised ads may create "a cultural climate in which treating women as sex objects is viewed as appropriate".

Mirror, mirror on the wall

Probably the most well-documented social side effect of gendered advertising is the negative impact on body image, with dozens of studies indicating they enforce the idea of a "perfect" body - often making us miserable in the process.

Girlguiding UK found body image issues were rampant among girls and young women, with 38 per cent of seven to 21-year-olds saying they were unhappy with the way they looked.

In response, Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, said girls were being " bombarded with images in the media " which exacerbated insecurities about their appearance.

In a 2007 study , women asked to look at magazine ads portraying thin models subsequently "reported greater state self-objectification, weight-related appearance anxiety, negative mood, and body dissatisfaction".

A growing body of research also argues that physical ideals harm men and boys as week.

Men and boys are now thought to make up a quarter of those suffering eating disorders, while The Atlantic reports a rise in the use of muscle-enhancing supplements and steroids among teenage boys keen to emulate male bodies seen in the media.

"The media has become more of an equal opportunity discriminator," Dr Raymond Lemberg, an expert on male eating disorders, said. "Men’s bodies are not good enough anymore either."

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The Psychology of Advertising

"Advertisements are sometimes spoken of as the nervous system of the business world ... As our nervous system is constructed to give us all the possible sensations from objects, so the advertisenent which is comparable to the nervous system must awaken in the reader as many different kinds of images as the object itself can excite"

[This article, the first of a series of studies of Modern Advertising, has been written by Walter D. Scott, Assistant Professor of Psychology in Northwestern University.—THE EDITORS.]

The only method of advertising known to the ancients was the word of mouth. The merchant who had wares to offer brought them to the gate of a city and there cried aloud, making the worth of his goods known to those who were entering the city, and who might be induced to turn aside and purchase them. We are not more amused by the simplicity of the ancients than we are amazed at the magnitude of the modern systems of advertising. From the day when Boaz took his stand by the gate to advertise Naomi's parcel of land by crying, "Ho, ... turn aside," to the day when Barnum billed the towns for his three-ringed circus, the evolution in advertising had been gradual, but it had been as great as that from the anthropoid ape to P. T. Barnum himself.

As soon as printed symbols were invented the advertising man made use of them to give publicity to his merchandise. We find advertisements engraved on walls and tombs, written on parchment and papyrus, and printed by the first printing presses. Although these various forms of advertising were employed, but little thought and care seem to have been expended upon them. Postells, painted signs, street-car placards, booklets, calendars, almanacs, handbills, magazine and newspaper advertising have now become forms of advertising so well established that we look upon them as a necessity, and are surprised to learn that most of them are modern innovations.

The first advertisement printed in English appeared in the Imperial Intelligencer in March, 1648. Advertising in magazines was not begun until comparatively recent times. For instance, the first advertisement appeared in Harper's Magazine in 1864. In this magazine more space has been devoted to advertising during the past year than the sum total of space for the twenty-four years from 1864 to 1887, inclusive. Indeed, advertising may be said to have been in its swaddling clothes until about the year 1887. The most rapid development has taken place during the last fifteen years. The change has been so great that the leading advertisers say that in comparison with to-day there was in existence fifteen years ago no advertising worthy of the name.

The gain in the quantity of advertising can be seen by observing the increase in the number of pages devoted to advertisements in any of our publications. The month of October is regarded as the typical month, therefore we present the number of pages devoted to advertisements for the month of October in Harper's Magazine for each year from the first appearance of advertisements in that magazine to the present time,—1864, 3 ¼; '65. 2; '66, 3 ; '67, 6; '68, 7 1/3; '69, 5 1/3; '70, 4 ½; '71, 3 ½; '72, 2; '73, 1; '74. 0; '75, 0; '76, 0; '77, 0; '78, 0; '79, 0; '80, 0; '81, 0; '82, 1 ¼; '83, 8 ½; '84, 8; '85, 11 ½; '86, 20; '87, 37; '88, 54; '89, 48: '90, 73; '91 80 ½; '92, 87; '93, 77 ½; '94, 75 ¾; '95, 78 ¼; '96, 73; '97, 80 ¾; '98, 81 ¾; '99, 106 ¾; 1900, 97 ½; '01, 93 ½; '02, 128; '03, 141.

It will be noticed in the data as given above that during the years of special prosperity there was a very great increase in the volume of advertising while there was but a slight falling off following a financial depression. The increase was not pronounced until about 1887, but from that time on it has been very marked, not only in Harper's, but in almost all of our publications.

There has not only been an increase in the number of advertising pages in the individual publications, but the number of publications has increased enormously of recent years. The increase of population in the United States has been rapid during the last fifty years, but the increase in the total number of copies of the different publications has been many fold greater. Thus the distribution of the copies of these periodicals to each individual was as follows:— In 1850 each individual received on the average 18 copies from one or more of these periodicals: in 1860, 29; in 1870, 39; in 1880, 41; in 1890, 74; in 1900, 107.

A significant cause of this increase is the reduction in the subscription price which is made possible because of the profit accruing to such publications from their advertisements. The total income secured from subscriptions for all these publications last year was less than the amount paid for the advertising pages. We have this current year about 20,000 periodicals carrying advertisements, each with a constantly increasing number of pages devoted to them, and with a rapidly advancing rate secured for each advertisement. In addition to this, the increase is phenomenal in the use of booklets, posters. painted signs, street-car placards, almanacs, and many other forms of advertising. One firm is supposed to have distributed 25,000,000 almanacs in a single year.

The expense connected with these various forms of printed advertising reaches far into the millions. One authority puts the total annual expense of printed forms of advertising at six hundred million dollars. This sum does not seem to be an exaggeration. Mr. Post spends as much as six hundred thousand dollars annually in advertising his food products. One million dollars was spent last year in advertising Force. Over six hundred thousand dollars is spent annually in advertising Ayer's remedies; and over one million dollars in advertising Peruna.

The advertising rate has been advanced repeatedly in many magazines during the last few years. Firms which formerly paid but one hundred dollars for a full-page advertisement in the Century Magazine now pay two hundred and fifty dollars for the same amount of space. The Ladies' Home Journal has increased its advertising rate to six dollars for a single agate line (there are fourteen agate lines to the inch), the width of one column, for a single insertion. The cost of a full page for a single issue is four thousand dollars. The Procter & Gamble Co. have made a three years' contract for a single page in each issue, to he devoted to the advertisement of Ivory Soap. For this space they pay four thousand dollars a mouth, forty-eight thousand dollars a year, and one hundred and forty-four thousand dollars for the term of three years. Think of the risk a firm runs in investing four thousand dollars in a single page advertisement! How can they expect to get back the equivalent of such a sum of money from a single advertisement?

There are very many advertisements that do not pay. One man has roughly estimated that seventy-five per cent of all advertisements do not pay; yet the other twenty-five per cent pay so well that there is scarcely a business man who is willing to stand idly by and allow his competitors to do the advertising. The expense connected with advertising has increased; the competition between rival firms has become keener; and consequently the demand for good advertising has become imperative. The number of unsuccessful advertisements are many, and yet the loss incurred in an unsuccessful advertising campaign is so great that many firms stand aghast at the thought of such an undertaking. Many merchants see the necessity of advertising their business, but feel unable to enter the arena and compete with successful rivals.

The day of reckless, sporadic, haphazard advertising is rapidly coming to an end so far as magazine advertising is concerned. Although the number of pages devoted to advertising in our best magazines has increased during the last ten years, the number of firms advertising in these same magazines has decreased. The struggle has been too fierce for any but the strongest. The inefficient advertisers are gradually being eliminated, and the survival of the fittest seems to be a law of advertising as it is of everything else that develops.

The leaders of the profession feel that their work has grown till it is beyond their control and comprehension. They have been successful, and hardly know how it has all come about. The men who have been the most successful are often the ones who feel most deeply their inability to meet new emergencies. They believe that there should be some underlying principles which could help them in analyzing what they have already accomplished, and assist them in their further efforts. As their entire object is to produce certain effects on the minds of possible customers, it is not strange that they have turned to psychology in search of such principles. Traditionally the practical business man scouts at theory. Psychology, to the popular mind, is something devoid of all practical application, related to metaphysics, and suited only to the recluse and the hermit. If ever there was ground to expect sarcastic and pessimistic prophecies from the hardheaded business man, it was when it was proposed to establish advertising on a theoretical basis deduced from psychology. Such adverse criticism has, however, been the exception. The American business man is not afraid of theories. He wants them, and the more the better.

The best thought of the advertising world finds expression in the advertising journals and in the addresses delivered by various experts at gatherings of professional advertisers. In 1895 in one of the leading advertising journals appeared the following editorial: "Probably when we are a little more enlightened, the advertisement writer, like the teacher, will study psychology. For, however diverse their occupations may at first sight appear, the advertisement writer and the teacher have one great object in common—to influence the human mind. The teacher has a scientific foundation for his work in that direction, but the advertisement writer is really also a psychologist. Human nature is a great factor in advertising success; and he who writes advertisements without reference to it is apt to find that he has reckoned without his host." The man who penned this editorial was a practical advertiser, but he admitted of no incongruity between the practical and the theoretical.

In Publicity, for March, 1901, appeared a leading article on psychology and advertising. The following is a quotation from it:—

"The time is not far away when the advertising writer will find out the inestimable benefits of a knowledge of psychology. The preparation of copy has usually followed the instincts rather than the analytical functions. An advertisement has been written to describe the articles which it was wished to place before the reader; a bit of cleverness, an attractive cut, or some other catchy device has been used, with the hope that the hit or miss ratio could be made as favorable as possible. But the future must needs be full of better methods than these to make advertising advance with the same rapidity as it has during the latter part of the last century. And this will come through a closer knowledge of the psychological composition of the mind. The so-called 'students of human nature' will then be called successful psychologists, and the successful advertisers will be likewise termed psychological advertisers. The mere mention of psychological terms, habit, self, conception, discrimination, association, memory, imagination and perception, reason, emotion, instinct and will, should create a flood of new thought that should appeal to every advanced consumer of advertising space."

In in address before the Agate Club of Chicago the speaker said: "As advertisers, all your efforts have been to produce certain effects on the minds of possible customers. Psychology is, broadly speaking, the science of the mind. Art is the doing and science is the understanding how to do, or the explanation of what has been done. If we are able to find and to express the psychological laws upon which the art of advertising is based, we shall have made a distinct advance, for we shall have added the science to the art of advertising."

In a recent address before the Atlas Club of Chicago the speaker said: "In passing to the psychological aspect of our subject, advertising might properly be defined as the art of determining the will of possible customers. . . . Our acts are the resultants of our motives, and it is your function in commercial life to create the motives that will effect the sale of the producer's wares."

In response to this felt need on the part of the advertiser, several students of psychology have tried to select those principles of psychology which might be of benefit to the advertiser, and to present them to the advertising world through pamphlets, 1 magazine articles, 2 public addresses, 3 and, in one case at least, by means of a book. 4

The method employed by the psychologist in attempting to give advertising a theoretical basis has been quite uniform. He has first analyzed the human mind into its various activities, then analyzed advertisements to discover what there is in them that may or may not awaken the activity desired. This method can best be understood from an example. For an illustration we shall consider Mental Imagery as understood by the psychologist and in its application to advertising.

The man who is born blind is not only unable to see objects, but he is equally unable to imagine how they look. After we have looked at objects we can see them in our mind's eye with more or less distinctness, even if our eyes are closed or the object is far removed from us. When we imagine how an absent object looks we are said to have a visual image of it. We cannot imagine how a thing looks unless we have actually seen it in our previous experience. The imagination can take the data of former experience and unite them into new forms, but all the details of the new formation must be taken from the former experience of the individual.

The man who is born deaf can neither hear nor imagine what sounds are like. Whatever we have heard, we can live over again in imagination,—we can form auditory images of it. We cannot imagine any sound which we have not actually heard, although we can unite into new combinations the sounds and tones which we have experienced.

I can imagine how beefsteak tastes, but I cannot imagine the taste of hashish, for in all my past experience I never have tasted it, and do not even know which one of my former experiences it is like. If I knew that it tasted like pepper, or like pepper and vinegar mixed, I could form some sort of an image of its taste; but as it is I am perfectly helpless when I try to imagine it. I can, with more or less success, imagine how everything tastes which I have eaten, but I cannot imagine the taste of a thing which I have not touched to my tongue. Analogous descriptions could be given of images of movements, of smell, of touch, of heat, of cold, of pressure, and of pain.

We have no direct knowledge of the minds of our neighbors; we assume that their thinking is very much like ours, for their actions—outward expressions of thought—are so similar to ours. It was formerly assumed that, given any particular object of thought, all normal minds would reach the same conclusion concerning it, and, furthermore, the different stages in the line of thought and the "mind stuff" would be the same throughout. Such a conception is wholly false. Normal minds reach different conclusions under apparently identical outward circumstances, but there is a greater difference in the terms of thought, or the mind stuff with which the thinking is done. One man thinks in terms of sight. He is said to be "eye-minded." His thinking is a rapid succession of pictures. When he thinks of a violin he thinks rather how it looks than how it sounds.

Another man thinks in terms of sound. He is "ear-minded." His thinking is a succession of sounds. When he thinks of his friends he hears their voices, but cannot possibly imagine how they look. He does not know that there are other possible forms of thought, and so assumes that all people think in terms of sound as he does. If he should describe a battle his description would be full of the roar and tumult of the strife. Another man is "motor-minded." He thinks in terms of movements. Even when he looks at a painting he whispers inaudibly to himself a description of the painting. Later when he describes the picture to a friend he may do it in the terms which he whispered to himself when he was looking at the picture.

Thus it has been found that there are great personal differences in normal individuals in their ability to form certain classes of mental images.

All persons seem to be able to form at least unclear and indistinct visual images; most persons seem to have some ability in forming auditory images; very many can imagine movements with some degree of satisfaction. There are many who cannot imagine how pickles taste; others cannot imagine the odor of a flower. There are persons who have a limited ability to form all sorts of images, but most persons have a very decided ability for one class and a corresponding weakness for others. This difference in the ease with which certain classes of images can be formed, as well as the difference in individuals in imagining different classes of sensations, is followed with practical consequences.

In a former age the seller, the buyer, and the commodity were brought together. The seller described and exhibited his wares. The buyer saw the goods, heard of them, tasted them, smelt them, felt, and lifted them. He tested them by means of every sense organ to which they could appeal. In this way the buyer became acquainted with the goods. His perception of them was as complete as it could be made. In these latter days the market-place has given way to the office. The consequent separation of buyer, seller, and commodity made the commercial traveler with his sample case seem a necessity. But, with the glowing volume of business, and with the increased need for more economical forms of transacting business, the printed page, as a form of advertisement, has superseded the market-place, and is, in many cases, displacing the commercial traveler. In this transition from the market-place and the commercial traveler to the printed page, the advertiser must be on his guard to preserve as many as possible of the good features of the older institutions. In the two older forms of barter all the senses of the purchaser were appealed to, if possible, and in addition to this the word of mouth of the seller was added to increase the impressions, and to call special attention to the strong features of the commodity. In the printed page the word of mouth is the only feature which is of necessity entirely absent. Indeed, the printed page cannot appeal directly to any of the senses except the eye, but the argument may be of such a nature that the reader's senses are appealed to indirectly through his imagination.

The function of our nervous system is to make us aware of the sights, sounds, feelings, tastes, etc, of the objects in our environment, and the more sensations we receive from an object the better we know it. The nervous system which does not respond to sound or to any other of the sensible qualities is a defective nervous system. Advertisements are sometimes spoken of as the nervous system of the business world. That advertisement of musical instruments which contains nothing to awaken images of sound is a defective adverthement. That advertisement of foods which contains nothing to awaken images of taste is a defective advertisenient. As our nervous system is constructed to give us all the possible sensations from objects, so the advertisenent which is comparable to the nervous system must awaken in the reader as many different kinds of images as the object itself can excite.

A person can he appealed to most easily and most effectively through his dominating imagery. Thus one who has visual images that are very clear and distinct appreciates descriptions of scenes. The one who has strong auditory imagery delights in having auditory images awakened. It is in general best to awaken as many different classes of images as possible, for in this way variety is given, and each reader is appealed to in the sort of imagery which is the most pleasing to him, in which he thinks most readily, and by means of which he is most easily influenced.

One of the great weaknesses of the present day advertising is found in the fact that the writer of the advertisement fails to appeal thus indirectly to the senses. How many advertisers describe a piano so vividly that the reader can hear it? How many food products are so described that the reader can taste the food? How many advertisements describe a perfume so that the reader can smell it? How many describe an undergarment so that the reader can feel the pleasant contact with his body? Many advertisers seem never to have thought of this, and make no attempt at such descriptions.

The cause of this deficiency is twofold. In the first place, it is not easy in type to appeal to any other sense than that of sight. Other than visual images are difficult to awaken when the means employed is the printed page. In the second place, the individual writers are deficient in certain forms of mental imagery, and therefore are not adepts in describing articles in terms which to themselves are not significant. This second ground for failure in writing effective advertisemerits will be made clear by the examples taken from current advertisements which are quoted below.

A piano is primarily not a thing to look at or an object for profitable investment, but it is a musical instrument. It might be beautiful and cheap, but still be very undesirable. The chief thing about a piano is the quality of its tone. Many advertisers of pianos do not seem to have the slightest appreciation of this fact.

When they attempt to describe a piano they seem as men groping in the dark. Their statements are general and meaningless. As an example of such a failure the advertisement of the Knabe Piano is typical:—

The KNABE Its successful growth and experience of nearly seventy years guarantees to new friends the greatest degree to tried and tested excellence , judged from any standpoint of criticism or comparison . WM. KNABE & CO. NEW YORK BALTIMORE WASHINGTON

This is a half-page advertisement, but it contains no illustration, makes no reference to tone or to any other quality of music, and does not even suggest that the Knabe is a musical instrument at all. Many advertisers describe the appearance and durability of the case or the cost of the entire instrument, but ordinarily their statements are so general that the advertisement could be applied equally well to perfumes, fountain pens, bicycles, automobiles, snuff, or sausages, but would be equally inefficient if used to advertise any of them. They do not describe or refer in any way to the essential characteristics of a piano. They awaken no images of sound; they do not make us hear a piano in our imagination.

The following is a quotation in full of an advertisement of the Vose Piano, but with the words "sewing machine" substituted for "piano." This advertisement, like the one quoted above, contains no illustration, and it will be noted that there is nothing in the text which does not apply equally well to a sewing machine.

VOSE SEWING MACHINES Have been Established over 51 Years They are perfect examples of sewing machine strength. The Construction of the Vose is the result of fifty years of development and the application of the highest mechanical skill to the production of each separate part. By our easy payment plan, every family in moderate circumstances can own a fine sewing machine. We allow a liberal price for old instruments in exchange, and deliver the sewing machine in your house free of expense. You can deal with us at a distant point the same as in Boston. Send for our descriptive catalogue H, which gives full information. VOSE &amp SONS SEWING MACHINE CO. 161 Bovzsro STREET, BOSTON, MASS.

Many of the advertisements of the Emerson, Weber, Everett, and of a few other piano firms are equally poor attempts to present the desirable features of pianos.

In recent advertisements of the Blasius piano an attempt is made to present a piano as a musical instrument. A music score is used as the background of the advertisement; there is a cut of a young lady playing the piano; and in the text appear these expressions: "Excellent tone," "the sweetest tone I ever heard," "sweet and melodious in tone," "like a grand church organ for power and volume: and a brilliant, sweet-tuned piano in one." Thus the background, the illustration, and the text all unite to awaken images of sound, and to suggest that about a piano which is the real ground for desiring such an instrument.

In determining which foods I shall eat it is a matter of some importance to know how the goods are manufactured, what the prices are, how they are prepared for the table, and whether they are nourishing or harmful to my system. The one essential element, however, is the taste. When I look over a bill of fare I choose what I think will taste good. When I order groceries I order what pleases and tickles my palate. I want the food that makes me smack my lips, that makes my mouth water. Under these circumstances all other considerations are minimized to the extreme.

In advertisements of food products it is surprising to note that many foods are advertised as if they had no taste at all. One would suppose that the food was to be taken by means of a hypodermic injection, and not by the ordinary process of taking the food into the mouth and hence into contact with the organ of taste. The advertisers seem to be at a loss to know what to say about their foods, and so have, in many cases, expressed themselves in such general terms that their advertisements could be applied to any product whatever.

The following is the complete text of a full-page advertisement which appeared in recent magazines. The only change is that here we have substituted "scouring soap" for the name of the commodity:

"The grocer's smile. The smile that won't come off. More scouring soap the grocer said, No other brand will do instead; And o'er his kindly features spread The smile that won't come off. Look for the coupon in the package."

The illustration was that of a grocer looking at a package which might as well have been scouring soap as Quaker Oats. There is nothing to suggest taste.

Some advertisers of food are evidently chronic dyspeptics, and take it for granted that all others are in the same condition. They have nothing to say about their foods except that they have wonderful medicinal properties. To me a food which is only healthful savors of hospitals and sickrooms, and is something which a well man would not want.

There are other advertisers who appreciate the epicurean tendency of the ordinary man and woman. They describe food in such a way that we immediately want what they describe. The man who wrote the following advertisement belongs to this class:

"That very old proverb about reaching the heart of a man is best exemplified with Nabisco sugar wafers. A fairy sandwich with an upper and a lower crust of indescribable delicacy, separated with a creamy flavor of lemon, orange, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, raspberry, or mint. Ask for your favorite flavor."

The picture represents a beautiful young lady presenting a gentleman with the commodity described.

This advertisement has character and individuality. Its statements could not be applied to anything but foods, and, indeed, to nothing but Nabisco. They do not say that Nabisco is healthy, but when I read them I feel sure that Nabisco would agree with me.

This illustration of the way in which one chapter of psychology (Mental Imagery) can be applied to advertising is but one of a score of illustrations which could be given. Psychology has come to be one of the most fascinating of all the sciences, and bids fair to become of as great practical benefit as physics and chemistry. As these latter form the theoretical basis for all forms of industry which have to do with matter, so psychology must form the theoretical basis for all forms of endeavor which deal with mind.

The householder in glancing through his morning paper has his attention caugnt by the more attractive advertisements. The mechanic in going to and from his place of employment whiles away his time in looking at the display cards in the trolley or the elevated cars. The business man can scarcely pass a day without being forced to look at the advertisements which stare at him from the bill boards. The members of the family turn over the advertising pages in their favorite magazine, not because they are forced to, but because they find the advertisements so interesting and instructive. These persons are oblivious to the enormous expense which the merchant has incurred in securing these results. They are unconscious of the fact that the results secured are the ones sought for, and that in planning the advertising campaign the merchant has made a study of the minds of these same householders, mechanics, business men, and members of the family. Advertising is an essential factor in modern business methods, and to advertise wisely the business man must understand the workings of the minds of his customers, and must know how to influence them effectively,—he must know how to apply psychology to advertising.

1 On the Psychology of Advertising . Professor HARLOW GALE, author and publisher: Minneapolis, Minn. 1900.

2 Mahin's Magazine , Chicago. This magazine contains monthly articles on The Psychology of Advertising.

3 Found in the published proceedings of the various advertising clubs.

4 The Theory of Advertising . By WALTER DILL SCOTT. Boston: Small, Maynard & Co. 1903.

Free Advertising Essay Examples & Topics

The advertising industry plays a critical role in modern society. We can see ads everywhere. They make us create opinions about all that we see, from food to politics. It is also the main source of income for most of the media, from newspapers to Facebook.

What can you write in an essay on advertisement?

In essence, your task is to compose an advertisement review. You have to analyze an ad or a few and explain how it promotes the product. Who does it appeal to? Tell about its aim and target audience. Then describe the main points and how it impacts people, providing your opinion. Write about the influence of advertising and your own impression.

To make it easier for you to decide on a topic for your advertising essay, our team has created a list of ideas for you. We also analyzed the structure of this type of academic paper and prepared some advertising essay examples.

When you’re writing a standard academic piece, your essay on advertising should be five paragraphs long. In the table below, we will analyze what you should describe and how to do so in detail.

  • Introduction: Describe the product and provide some background information about it. You should state what exactly you will analyze. Include your personal opinion in this part. Explain why the company needs a commercial for the product. Summarize the content of the ad.
  • Thesis Statement: Mention the main descriptive points that will appear in the body of your essay. There is no need to introduce your personal opinion in the thesis . Focus only on the vital aspects. Don’t write more than two sentences — preferably stick to one.
  • Body Paragraphs: Here, you should describe the target audience of the commercial in any essay on ads. Besides, in the paragraphs, write about the concept of the brand and advertised product. Provide a visual analysis of the ad: colors, lighting, actors, and props and their meaning. Then switch your focus to the pros and cons of the ad.
  • Conclusion: Try to keep it short and logical, covering the most significant points. Summarize the information about the targeted audience, the aim of the ad, and if they achieved it.

The structure above can serve as an outline for your argumentative essay on any chosen topic. But that’s not all. To write a successful essay, you need to take a few steps before writing:

  • Select a topic . Try to remember some ads that you have recently seen. Think of your reaction to them and choose the one that strikes you the most. You can also use one of the topics from this article instead.
  • Carry out research . Make a semiotic analysis of the ad. Search for the psychological techniques, values, and tricks used in the ad. Also, focus on the purpose of the advertisement.
  • Determine the audience. Your essay should be interesting to your readers. Make sure you highlight the aspects that are valuable for them. Avoid mentioning unsuitable details or using a wrong writing tone.

Don’t hurry.

Spend some time planning your essay and create an outline. Try to understand what the creator of the commercial is aiming to say. Think of the advertisement is successful or not and make your analysis simple and involving. Of course, highlight the positive and the negative aspects of the ad.

As we mentioned above, choosing the right advertisement essay topic is a vital part of the job. In this section, we will provide a few ideas, among which you can find a suitable one for your assignment.

Try one of the following advertising topics:

  • Should alcohol advertisements be banned entirely?
  • Nike feminist commercials and their significance to women.
  • How Coca-Cola commercials became a symbol of Christmas.
  • The advantages and disadvantages of Internet ads.
  • What is wrong with shampoo ads?
  • Advertising strategies on social media.
  • The adverse effects of violence in the media.
  • How does advertising affect children?
  • The ethical side of the advertising industry.
  • Marketing strategies in the political advertisement.
  • How does advertising affect the economy?
  • What are the main media and advertisement techniques of Netflix?
  • Unethical aspects of using women objectification in ads.
  • Hybrid marketing model as a way of reducing costs for a company.

Thank you for reading this article! You can also find some useful advertising essay examples below. They will help you to see how to use all these tips.

416 Best Essay Examples on Advertising

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7Up Advertisement Campaign

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McDonald’s ”I’m Lovin’ It”: The Illustration

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Survey Carried Out at Tim Hortons

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Persuasion Techniques in Dwayne Johnson’s “Got Milk?” Advertisement

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Mango Juice Advertising in Mexico

International advertising and its aspects.

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Social Media and the Hospitality Industry

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TV Advertisements Aimed at Children in Australian should be banned

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Ban on All Advertising of Alcohol

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Commercial Advertisements in Television

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Emotional Appeal in the Insurance Advertising

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advertising is a mind game essay

  • June 8, 2015

Is Advertising A Mind Game?

You may only hear it once or twice in your 30 minute commute, but hearing that tune Monday thru Friday once or twice a day, will give you a case of déjà vu, so every time you hear it, makes you think it’s the millionth time. On your way to work, how many times would you say you hear the Walgreens commercial, you know the one with the iconic tagline that says, ” At the corner of happy and healthy.”

You may only hear it once or twice in your 30 minute commute, but hearing that tune Monday thru Friday once or twice a day, will give you a case of déjà vu, so every time you hear it, makes you think it’s the millionth time.

I bet you will start hearing the Walgreens commercial much more often; just proof that advertising works! Saying advertising is a mind game is like saying life is.

Let’s say you have been checking out the new Accords, all of the sudden you see them EVERYWHERE! Or if my friend and I are talking about having more kids, guess what, we see pregnant women everywhere. If you are in the market for something, you will pay attention to those ads, and you will remember them.

Advertising is definitely not a mind game nor a waste of time. Having the right agency can help you target the perfect audience that will mind your ads.

Miller Ad Agency

Miller core, miller extras.

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advertising is a mind game essay

Marketing to Your Brain

Experts from Brain Games explain how advertising and marketing tactics take advantage of how your brain works.

National Geographic Channel

Priming is a phenomenon that works as a simple persuasion technique. Primes are subtle cues that influence peoples' subconscious attitudes and responses. As a result, primes influence decision-making. By directly influencing peoples' subconscious thoughts, priming influences peoples' decisions without their even realizing.

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  • Corpus ID: 142395248

ETHICS OF IN-GAME ADVERTISEMENT

  • Abdulaziz Majid , Mani Pashaei Rad
  • Published 11 September 2012
  • Business, Psychology

44 References

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Making Sense of Mind-Game Films: Narrative Complexity, Embodiment, and the Senses , by Simin Nina Littschwager. Bloomsbury Academic, 2019, 241 pp. Luis Antunes   [PDF]   Simin Nina Littschwager’s Making Sense of Mind-Game Films: Narrative Complexity, Embodiment, and the Senses offers a phenomenological approach to the concept of complexity in film. Littschwager develops her arguments and analysis around a set of six films, namely, The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan, 1999), The Others (Alejandro Amenábar, 2000), Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000), Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999), Possible Worlds (Robert Lepage, 2000), and Source Code (Duncan Jones, 2011). Littschwager’s main thesis asserts that mind-game films—a term introduced by Thomas Elsaesser in his 2009 essay “The Mind-Game Film”—need to be understood from the perspective of embodied experience, and beyond the predominantly visual and cognitive approaches that have so far been used to address the topic in film scholarship. Littschwager believes that complexity in film has been understood mainly as a brain-teaser effect where “the body and the senses play only a marginal role” (3). Mind-game films are part of a wider group of complex-narrative films and display “multiple and non-linear timelines, ontological and epistemological twists, parallel worlds, temporal loops, subjective plots, unreliable narrators, mentally deviant characters, and often ambiguous endings” (4). The complexity of mind-game films at the levels of narrative, themes and space representation has led scholars and critics to approach these films as “narrative puzzles whose main appeal lies in putting the pieces into the correct causal and linear order” (199). Instead of mere pieces of a puzzle that viewers put together and make sense of using purely their brainpower and intellect, Littschwager argues that mind-game films are always a matter of “embodied activity, informed by the body and the senses as much as by the mental faculty” (199). For the purpose of describing the ways in which the six mind-game films in the book offer forms of embodied and sensory experience, Littschwager draws from so-called textural analysis, an approach derived from Jennifer Barker’s The Tactile Eye: Touch and the Cinematic Experience . According to Barker, textural analysis seeks to unveil meanings at deeper levels in the materiality of a film hidden by a focus on “visual, aural, and narrative aspects” of a film (25). Textural analysis follows a line of thought that goes back to Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s work ( Film ; “Eye”; Visible ; Phenomenology ), and connects the phenomenological approach of Vivian Sobchack to the phenomenologically informed work of Laura Marks. For film phenomenologists, seeing cannot be separated from the body and from a personal, private experience of film that is unique to each viewer, and, although the essential nature of the film medium is primarily made of images, the images of a film should not be conflated exclusively with the spectators’ modes of visual perception but with other realms of sensory experience. In her analysis of the six mind-game films in her book, Littschwager describes how the body and the senses are key, not only for viewers to understand different levels complexity related to narrative, themes and character identity, but also for the characters themselves in those films to be who they perceive themselves to be. In The Sixth Sense and The Others , the materiality of the characters’ bodies give them an illusion of reality and existence in the world of the living and tricks them, as well as the viewers, into perceiving themselves as beings that exist in the world of the living. Despite the materiality of their existence, the characters’ experiences are dominated by their senses of touch and hearing. In that way, touch and hearing, rather than vision, become the prevailing epistemological senses in those films, the gateways to reality and meaning-making. In Memento and Fight Club , the elusiveness of memory ( Memento ) and the unreliability of narration ( Fight Club ) cannot be solved solely by putting together the complex web of facts laid out by those films, but by using the body as a site of memory and using haptic experience and pain as ways to remember and know reality. Viewers can make sense of a mind-game film like Memento , which plays with contradiction and ambiguity, by engaging with the film in a haptic manner much like the main character in the film, Leonard (Guy Pearce), does when he tries to make sense of reality without being able to recollect his memories. In that context, Littschwager argues that touch can be more reliable than vision both for the characters and for the viewers alike. Finally, in Possible Worlds and Source Code , complexity is created and experienced through a sense of bodily, proprioceptive disorientation and being lost that results in the creation of multiple spatial layers that assign complexity to the two films. The originality of Littschwager’s approach lies at her intersecting complexity in film and phenomenology with a focus on sensory experience and a rich stylistic analysis of the six films in the book. Littschwager traces a solid overview of previous approaches to complexity in film which will prove useful for anyone exploring related subjects. Littschwager describes how the complexity and mind tricks posed by mind-game films have been explained predominantly as an activity of and for the mind and intellect of spectators, as in Miklós Kiss and Steven Willemsen’s book Impossible Puzzles or in Elsaesser and Malte Hagener’s Film Theory Theory: An Introduction Through the Senses . Littschwager’s thorough and in-depth review of the scholarship produced on the subject of complexity in film is not only valuable for readers to assess the critical approaches to the subject but also helps to contextualise and position Littschwager’s approach and its originality. Similarly helpful is Littschwager’s definition of the concept of complexity in film, and the variety of film examples that fall into different categories of complexity offering a solid lineage of mind-game films. Littschwager’s analysis of the six films has a formal nature, almost appearing to be more of a neoformalist approach in the likes of David Bordwell than a more personal, direct description of experience that is often found in the work of film phenomenologists. That fact makes Littschwager’s approach even more unique and, in my view, more interdisciplinary and rich for the reader. Nonetheless, Littschwager delineates a solid connecting line to Sobchack’s, Marks’s and Barker’s phenomenological approaches, distancing herself from cognitive film theory, with which Bordwell is associated. Cognitive film theory has been strongly connected to Bordwell’s idea of film comprehension based on human narrative as a matter of cognition and mental decoding in a way that can be considered somewhat dualistic (mind vs. body) and disembodied by not always weighing in the role of the senses in the experience of a film. Although Littschwager’s distantiation from cognitive film theory is relevant to a certain point, it becomes a permanent, and somewhat distracting effort throughout the book. Littschwager’s attempt to delineate the territory of her own approach may be perceived by readers as a detour from her argument. Instead, Littschwager could have been predominately phenomenological and still benefitted from arguments made by cognitive film theory when appropriate, such as in Daniel Barratt’s helpful analysis of The Sixth Sense . Littschwager’s approach to issues of cinematic complexity through film phenomenology and formal analysis makes this book an original and valuable study of the subject. Nonetheless, while making her point about the role of the senses and embodiment in the experience of complexity in film, Littschwager tends to consider visuality and sight as somewhat disembodied levels of experience. Littschwager often connects vision to disembodiment given that vision is considered a distal sense that does not require the involvement of the viewer’s body as much as a proximal sense as touch does. Drawing on Marks’ notion of haptic visuality and referring to The Sixth Sense , Littschwager discusses a Cartesian notion of vision and knowledge where vision offers a detached and observational knowledge of film rather than a proximal and multisensory experience that touch offers. However, vision is as embodied as any other sense and is a gateway to embodied experience and to other senses. Spectators can perceive textures in a film primarily through visual and aural sensory information. Certainly, textures are not just a matter of touch but are intricately connected to multiple senses. Sight also modulates embodied startle responses to film, and shapes the viewers’ awareness of space, movement, or even pain, as Littschwager points out (134). Although an author like Stanley Cavell will refer to a primarily ocular mode of access to a filmic world, that does not necessarily represent a detraction from the experiential and embodied dimensions of a film. Cavell is not so much denying the experiential nature of film by referring to film’s visual nature, but is, in fact, pointing out that access to a film’s experiential world is primarily through visual and aural sensory information. Experiential access can be visual and the cumulative filmic experience can still be multisensory and belong to different realms of sensory experience. On that point, Cavell’s idea of sensory access does not, contrary to Littschwager’s assertion, seem inaccurate. Neither does it appear necessary for Littschwager to consider vision to be disembodied nor vision to be oppositional to other senses in order for one to find validity in her main ideas. On the contrary, the opposition of sight with the other senses throughout the book feels more like a distraction from Littschwager’s main ideas rather than a useful artefact. Despite her conception of sight as disembodied and sight as not offering a haptic mode of knowledge of a film’s world, Littschwager’s book is an undeniably valuable addition to the scholarship on the subject of complexity in film, and is, moreover, an original contribution to film phenomenology for its detailed formal analysis of film’s sensory appeal based on a stylistic analysis of camera movement, framing and other audiovisual elements that are not usually as closely explored by film phenomenologists. Littschwager delineates important layers of the mind-game film that go beyond narrative complexity and shows us that knowing and experiencing a film exceeds intellectual and mental activities. Sensory experience is not just a coating layer of film but an essential way to understand film’s materiality and human experience. Littschwager’s book shows that film cannot be understood by mere textual or even cultural analysis and, ultimately, the role of sensory experience should not be only an alternative component of film scholarship but a core component traversing the field of film studies.   References 1. Barker, Jennifer. The Tactile Eye: Touch and the Cinematic Experience . U of California P, 2009. 2. Barratt, Daniel. “‘Twist Blindness’: The Role of Primacy, Priming, Schemas, and Reconstructive Memory in a First-Time Viewing of The Sixth Sense .” Puzzle Films: Complex Storytelling in Contemporary Cinema , edited by Warren Buckland, Wiley Blackwell, 2009, pp. 62–86. 3. Cavell, Stanley. The World Viewed. Reflections on the Ontology of Film . 1971. Harvard UP, 1979. 4. Elsaesser, Thomas. “The Mind-Game Film.” Puzzle Films: Complex Storytelling in Contemporary Cinema , edited by Warren Buckland, Wiley Blackwell, 2009, pp. 13–41. 5. Elsaesser, Thomas, and Malte Hagener. Film Theory: An Introduction through the Senses . Routledge, 2010. 6. Fight Club . Directed by David Fincher, Fox 2000 Pictures, 1999. 7. Kiss, Miklós, and Steven Willemsen. Impossible Puzzle Films: A Cognitive Approach to Contemporary Complex Cinema . Edinburgh UP, 2016. 8. Marks, Laura. The Skin of the Film: Intercultural Cinema, Embodiment, and the Senses . Duke UP, 2000. 9. Memento . Directed by Christopher Nolan, Newmarket Capital Group, 2000. 10. Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. “The Film and the Psychology.” 1948. Sense and Non-Sense , translated by Hubert Dreyfus and Patricia Dreyfus, Northwestern UP, 1964, pp. 48–59. 11. ---. “Eye and the Mind.” The Primacy of Perception: And Other Essays on Phenomenological Psychology, the Philosophy of Art, History and Politics , edited by James M. Edie, translated by William Cobb, Northwestern UP, 1964, pp. 159–90. 12. ---. Phenomenology of Perception . 1945. Translated by Colin Smith, Routledge, 2002. 13. ---. The Visible and the Invisible .Followed by Working Notes. Translated by Alphonso Lingus, Northwestern UP, 1968. 14 . Directed by Alejandro Amenábar, Cruise/Wagner Productions Sogecine, 2000. 15. Possible Worlds . Directed by Robert Lepage, East Side Film Company, 2000. The Sixth Sense . Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 1999. 16. Sobchack, Vivian. The Address of the Eye: A Phenomenology of the Film Experience . Princeton UP, 1991. 17. Source Code . Directed by Duncan Jones, The Mark Gordon Company, 2011.   Suggested Citation Antunes, Luis. “ Making Sense of Mind-Game Films: Narrative Complexity, Embodiment, and the Senses , by Simin Nina Littschwager.” Book review. Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media , no. 19, 2020, pp. 276–280, https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.19.29.   Luis Antunes is passionate about topics of experientiality, nonverbal communication and the perceptual engagement created through the relationship among sensory modalities and audiovisual style manifested in media history. These interests have been translated into a book entitled The Multisensory Film Experience: A Cognitive Model of Experiential Film Aesthetics , as well as numerous journal essays, book chapters and conference papers. His most recent publications explore issues of identity and aesthetics in televised series such as Fleabag , as well as television and radio history related to CBS and Edward Murrow.  

https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha

Issn 2009-4078, this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license.

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Video Games and the Mind. Essays on Cognition, Affect and Emotion (edited volume)

Profile image of Felix Schröter

2016, Video Games and the Mind. Essays on Cognition, Affect and Emotion

Can a video game make you cry? Why do you relate to the characters and how do you engage with the storyworlds they inhabit? How is your body engaged in play? How are your actions guided by sociocultural norms and experiences? Questions like these address a core aspect of digital gaming—the video game experience itself—and are of interest to many game scholars and designers. With psychological theories of cognition, affect and emotion as reference points, this collection of new essays offers various perspectives on how players think and feel about video games and how game design and analysis can build on these processes.

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advertising is a mind game essay

Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds

Jens Kjeldgaard-Christiansen , Mathias Clasen

Why would anyone want to play a game designed to scare them? We argue that an alliance between evolutionary theory and game studies can shed light on the forms and psychological functions of horror video games. Horror games invite players to simulate prototypical fear scenarios of uncertainty and danger. These scenarios challenge players to adaptively assess and negotiate their dangers. While horror games thereby instil negative emotion, they also entice players with stimulating challenges of fearful coping. Players who brave these challenges expand their emotional and behavioural repertoire and experience a sense of mastery, explaining the genre’s paradoxical appeal. We end by illustrating our evolutionary approach through an in-depth analysis of Playdead’s puzzle-horror game Limbo.

International Journal of Communication

Nicholas Bowman

The growth of the video game medium as an economic force (Shaw, 2011) and a source of cultural scrutiny (Anderson & Bushman, 2001; NPR, 2011) has made the study of gaming anything but trite in academic circles. Likewise, the study of video games has proven to be increasingly complicated as the medium finds itself—as Judd Ruggill (Arizona State University) and Ken McAllister (University of Arizona) astutely point out in Gaming Matters: Art,

Alicante Journal of English Studies 31 (2018): 185-193

Iro Filippaki

This essay performs a narratological reading of 2014 video games Valiant Hearts and Super Trench Attack and the ways through which they memorialize the Great War. By close-reading the narrative techniques of these games, I argue that through their storytelling elements they memorialize the Great War by countering the narrative trope of the adynaton, often employed to manage the traumatic articulation of war narratives. Bathetic, pathetic, and chronotopic representations contribute to the affective economy on which these video games rely to memorialize the war, and hint at what posthumanist memorialization could mean for the remembrance of Great War.

Recent years have seen important advances in the study of video games, with many scholars examining how video games impact emotional experiences of players. While this research borrows heavily from traditional media effects paradigms, it has proceeded without effectively integrating developments in emotion and emotion regulation. Therefore, this paper first reviews the nature of emotion and emotion regulation, and then reviews the extant video game literature. We next draw on theoretical accounts of emotion to frame three broad research questions that may advance future work on video games and emotions: (1) What is the nature of video game-evoked emotional experiences? (2) What are the processes through which video games produce emotions? (3) How are video games used to regulate emotions?

Dooley Murphy

It is already a truism that consumer virtual reality (VR) systems offer sensorially immersive first-person experiences that differ markedly from those begat by traditional screen displays. But what are the implications of this for player experience? It is well-documented that VR can induce illusions of non-mediation; of spatial presence; of embodiment in avatars. This paper asks—and reports on—what common features of digital games are liable to be experienced as stressors (that is, as beyond optimally affective or intense) when the player perceives her avatar–self egocentrically as a 'life-sized', spatially present, and potentially vulnerable entity within the gameworld. The present paper describes and discusses findings from a qualitative content analysis of immersive virtual environments (IVEs) experienced via head-mounted display-based VR systems akin to those now commercially available. A purposive sample comprising video, photographic, and written documentation of IVEs (n = 124) from historical clinical VR and telepresence research is interrogated through the lens of cognitive media theory. Effecting a novel approach inspired by systematic review, the present study's observations and inferences regarding players' subjective experience of IVEs are presented alongside relevant findings from the research literature sampled. This produces a preliminary formal framework for discussing VR player experience as significantly structured by patiency (cf. agency), with VR experiences eliciting self-directed affect, and thereby somewhat unintentionally engaging the player's body as a site for feedback.

Pragmatism Today, VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2

W. P. Malecki

Ralph Vacca

There is a growing understanding of key skills that can help individuals better manage emotions to improve well-being, such as emotional understanding, executive functioning, and emotion regulation skills. In promoting emotional health, games can operate at the low-order brain training level (e.g., drill-and-skill), as well as the higher order meaning-making level. Emotional health is broad, and efficacious approaches to skills development in emotional health are highly contextual, taking into account expected outcomes, environmental context, and individual psychometric conditions.

Tom A Garner

The central concern of this thesis is upon the processes by which human beings perceive sound and experience emotions within a computer video gameplay context. The potential of quantitative sound parameters to evoke and modulate emotional experience is explored, working towards the development of structured hypothetical frameworks of auditory processing and emotional experience. Research relevant to computer game theory, embodied cognition, psychophysiology, emotion studies, fear processing and acoustics/psychoacoustics are reviewed in detail and several primary experimental trials are presented that provide additional support of the hypothetical frameworks: an ecological process of fear, a fear-related model of virtual and real acoustic ecologies, and an embodied virtual acoustic ecology framework. It is intended that this thesis will clearly support more effective and efficient sound design practices and also improve awareness of the capacity of sound to generate significant emotional experiences during computer video gameplay. It is further hoped that this thesis will elucidate the potential of biometrics/psychophysiology to allow game designers to better understand the player and to move closer towards the development of an automated computer system that is capable of interpreting player-emotion and adapting the game environment in response, to create a continuously evolving and unique, player-centred game experience.

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How is advertising a mind game

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  • 1.1K people helped

Advertising uses a variety of techniques to influence audience behavior. It may have a celebrity endorse a product or make fun of a competitor. It could evoke a sense of urgency to make you buy a product before it runs out. It could also play on your emotions by showing you a sad story with a happy ending.

Explanation:

  • 1.8M people helped

Final answer:

Advertising is a mind game that plays with people's perceptions, emotions, and behaviors by using techniques like associative learning and brand recognition. It taps into the attention economy and aims to differentiate products to influence purchasing decisions.

Advertising is a mind game because it plays with people's perceptions, emotions, and behaviors to influence their decision-making. Techniques like associative learning and brand recognition are used to create positive associations with a product or brand in the minds of consumers. For example, car commercials often feature attractive models to associate the model with the car being advertised, making the car seem more desirable.

Advertising also taps into the attention economy, using various platforms and sources to reach consumers and create a consistent message. By exposing individuals to the same message repeatedly, advertising aims to influence their preferences and choices. Synergistic advertising practices ensure that consumers receive the same message from different sources and platforms, increasing the chances of brand recognition and influencing their purchasing decisions.

Furthermore, advertising works within the framework of monopolistic competition, where firms aim to differentiate their products from competitors. Advertising can make a firm's perceived demand curve more inelastic or increase demand for their product, potentially allowing them to sell a greater quantity or charge a higher price, ultimately increasing their profits.

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