Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals: Reading Journal

Title: Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals

Author: Jib Fowles

What do you Know about the topic, author or article?

I know a little bit about advertising, and that they usually use elements of ethos, pathos, and logos to make their message stronger.

What do you Want to know (in context of the writing Assignment)?

From the intro I know that Fowles is using psychological research but I’m wondering what his background is. Is he a psychologist? Does he work in advertising?

What did you Learn?

I learned that while there may even be more appeals that advertising uses, there are 15 basic ones, and that each plays a slightly different role. I was surprised that he grouped everything under emotional appeals, because I suppose that even if the message’s intent is authority (ethos) it is intended to make the viewer feel or want to feel as authoritative as the person delivering the message by buying the product.

Summarize the Article:

Fowles begins by explaining the nature of emotional appeals and the research off of which his article is based. He poses a few way to categorize appeals, such as Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, and Murray’s List. Then, he continues to explain each of the fifteen appeals: how that appeal is displayed in an ad, and why that appeal works. The appeals are, need for sex, need for affiliation, need to nurture, need for guidance, need to aggress, need to achieve, need to dominate, need for prominence, need for attention, need for autonomy, need to escape, need to feel safe, need for aesthetic sensations need to satisfy curiosity, and physiological needs. He then discusses briefly the styles in which these needs can be shown in an ad, and how effective they are at swaying our buying habits.

Respond to and Analyze the article (consider the purpose for reading/writing):

I think the purpose of this article is to make clear the techniques in which advertisements attempt to manipulate consumers. I learned about some of the more obscure appeals, such as need for aesthetic sensations, that I hadn’t quite thought of before. I think its interesting how a lot of these appeals either contrast or compliment each other. For example, the needs for guidance and autonomy, the needs to nurture and aggress, seem like opposite needs. This is while needs such as dominance, prominence, and achievement are actually quite similar feelings. I think that the author discussed the appeals in the order of greatest stigma or controversy to least, which is a good way to engage the reader off the bat, however I found myself having to take breaks reading this essay because I wasn’t as involved in it the whole way through.