Just Buy It: Nike Advertisement Analysis

Advertisements have been used for years to sell products. As long as there have been consumers there have been ads, although in many different media. Different companies or groups release ads to promote a certain product, idea, or brand. Nike is no exception. Nike has been a leading brand in sports for 46 years. They are most known for their athletic shoes, but Nike manufactures all sorts of athletic apparel as well as equipment. Nike publishes many printed advertisements every day. Their ad campaign has been an iconic one, using repetition, a textbook marketing strategy, to create recognition of the brand.

An exapmle of Nike advertisement.

Nike ads are very commonly featured with the same basic elements in all of the printed advertisements they publish. These conventions that are constantly repeated are what help consumers to recognize the advertisement as belonging to Nike very quickly. The conventions that remain present in every Nike ad that help to create brand recognition are the consistent graphic elements, the indelible Nike swoosh and the slogan “Just Do It. ” Nike is an iconic brand. They have made a name for themselves in the world of sports as well marketing.

Order custom essay Just Buy It: Nike Advertisement Analysis with free plagiarism report

450+ experts on 30 subjects Starting from 3 hours delivery

Get Essay Help

Nike has been one of the few brands whom continue to grow explosively even in the currently upturned market (Kapner). They have achieved this through superior brand management. Consumers will pay more money for a product they think is manufactured well. Nike has done a wonderful job at portraying themselves as a superior sports apparel brand. The “Just Do It” ad campaign is one that has been known for its detached, determined and unsentimental advertisements (Center for Applied Research). Nike seems above the world, having advertisements that do not focus on current events.

They rarely focus on the product, as much as the people showcasing them. They are heroic, noble, fierce looking people (Gould). These ads focus on the intense inward focus of a supreme athlete. This superiority that comes through in the ads is what makes us pay attention to Nike in both in regards to marketing as well as sports products. Graphics are a big part of printed advertisements. Many printed advertisements rely on pictures to get the intended message across. Sometimes, very little words are necessary when a good picture is present.

Nike frequently uses pictures of individual athletes or an entire team of athletes, usually wearing Nike products, to promote their brand. One ad, for example, shows a shirtless LeBron James against a black background holding a basketball. The Nike swoosh is present followed by words that say, “Prepare for combat. ” Nike is using LeBron, as a star athlete to sell their product. Nike has also always used, and continues to use guilt to sell products. They print ads that show athletes with the intensity that everyone wishes they possess in regards to their sport (Center for Applied Research).

For example, one Nike ad, entitled Inner Drive, shows a woman in brightly colored running gear stretching in front of her house before she runs. The house and the car both look neglected. The consumer gets a feeling that this is an intense and dedicated athlete. She ignores her car because she is so dedicated to running. This is the kind of dedication that people respect and want to emulate. Consumers may feel like they are not serious about their sport, or aren’t giving their best effort if they aren’t wearing Nike. Another approach Nike has used for years is to show only a picture of the product they are trying to sell.

This is done primarily with athletic shoe advertisements. For years Nike has taken the route of very plain ads, making the shoe the most exciting thing on the page. In the 90s, for example, Nike published a series of ads promoting the new air max line. These ads depicted various kinds of shoes, whether they are running shoes, tennis shoes, or basketball shoes, and that was it. Only the shoes were present on the page, with a sentence or two of text, and a logo coupled with the slogan in the corner. Another more recent ad that has this same format is one that advertises for LeBron James’ sixth pair of basketball shoes.

The ad shows a picture of these shoes, and only the words “ The Six. ” These two types of graphics elements are some of the key elements that help consumers recognize the Nike brand. Another common theme of the Nike advertisement campaign is their logo, the swoosh. Logos, also called logotypes, are a graphic representation or symbol of a company name, trademark or abbreviation, often uniquely designed for ready recognition (Dictionary. com). Nike uses the swoosh to help consumers associate things like hard work, commitment, and tenacity with their brand (Center for Applied Research). The swoosh can be used just like a signature.

This logo appears on products themselves, as well as the advertisements for those products. This way consumers know that a swoosh, and everything it is shown with, means Nike. Every shoe Nike makes and every ad they publish displays a swoosh prominently for everyone to see. It is this consistency that makes the swoosh effective. If the swoosh were only present some of the time it would not be as synonymous with Nike as it is today. Slogans are a key element in brand identity. A slogan is a phrase that a company uses for consumers to easily associate something with that particular brand (Dictionary. om).

Nike uses the slogan “Just Do It” to link advertisements and ideas to their company. This slogan is found on many products and almost all pieces of advertisement. When someone hears “Just do it” they think of Nike. We have been conditioned to think this way. Some ads depict a blank page showing only the Nike swoosh and the slogan. These simple advertisements are an effective way to advertise the products and link the slogan with the logo for further brand recognition. Nike has been a force in the sports universe for 46 years. The 80s and 90s marked the birth of the “Just Do It” ad campaign.

Since then Nike has become a staple of American culture. The products Nike manufactures have changed. They have expanded and grown as a company. However one thing has remained constant over the years. Although Nike has made so many different products, and most people couldn’t recall what was the popular shoe in 1985, most everyone knows The Nike swoosh and the phrase “Just Do It. ” The marketing genius that went into creating the consistent graphics, the swoosh logo, and the popular slogan, “Just Do It” is the reason why America knows and respects the Nike brand and their products, and will continue to do so for many more years to come.

• Center for Applied Research. "Mini-case Study: Nike’s “Just Do It” Advertising Campaign." Print. Gould, Thomas. "Advertising Campaigns: Great Campaigns." (2006).
• Web. Kapner, Suzanne. "With Sneaker Glut at Stores Easing, Nike Is Slowly Getting Back on Its Feet." Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles] 4 July 1998. Print. Nike. Advertisement. 1st Round Athletics.
• Nike, 2009. Web <http://www.firstroundathletics.com/blog/content/nike-does-it-again-imaginative-ads-conjure-motivation>.
• Nike. Advertisement. GenXXL. Web. <http://genxxl.com/sports/lebron-jamess-nike-commercial-shoe-pushers-and-pr-geniuses/>.
• Nike. Advertisement. The Future of Ads. Web. <http://thefutureofads.com/channel-six-lets-lebron-james-speak-directly-to-customers>.
• Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 3 Dec. 2010. <http://dictionary.reference.com/>.

Advertisement Analysis essay example

Advertisement Analysis On average, people today strive to look the best that they can. With this influence, consumers prefer to buy products that will give them the results they wish to achieve. Your advertisement has successfully portrayed many positive aspects of the Garnier Fructis product Sleek and Shine. By including detailed information about your product it educates a large number of consumers through the Sleek and Shine advertisement.

Along with educating your consumers, as a corporation you also persuade your clients with evidence to back up your claims made about Sleek and Shine. Although your company exposes many valid points, when it comes to the ad itself it falls short with aspects like reassurance. If you take a look at the Pantene advertisement it is clearly backed by a credible source. The Pantene advertisement can also appeal more to viewers because its layout is crisp and easy to read, instead of one that is pushed to the side and jumbled like your Sleek and Shine advertisement.

Although your an ecofriendly company which bases their products with mainly elements of nature (which explains the backdrop of a sky and a green bottle), the Pantene ad features an Olympian with a gold theme that conveys a thought to consumers that their product is the best and it will give the consumer what they want to look their best. What gives Pantene such a strong hold with this advertisement is the ethos that is set up behind it. The credibility of this ad is what brings it home for consumers; this is because it gives them reassurance that they are using the best product available to them.

Having partners like P&G or the Olympics shows that this Pantene product is one of the best because it is back by major successful enterprises. Another huge aspect of the credibility of this ad is the quote “ … I always come out shining” by an Olympic gold medalist confirming that if you are one of the best you would only use the best products. Featuring major enterprises and Olympians gives the consumer trust and reassures them that by using this Pantene product they are getting what the best use. Along with the use of ethos the Pantene advertisement persuades its cliental by manipulating their emotions.

As you can see there is a wide use of gold tied into this ad: from the water, to Natalie Coughlin’s bathing suit and hair, as well as the tops of the Pantene shampoo and conditioner bottles. The reasoning behind the wide use of gold is because how the color itself makes one feel. Gold conveys a feeling of joy for people it is also the color of the first place medal that one can receive at the Olympics. Just by the use of color Pantene has been able successfully apply pathos to evoke happy emotions towards using their product, which also make them believe that it is the first place product when it comes to hair care.

One of the last key rhetorical devices that Pantene uses to convey their consumers to buy is the use of logos. Although there is not much of it used in this advertisement it still helps validate points for the product. Pantene makes a claim at the bottom of the advertisement that consumers will receive “healthier hair in less than seven days”. The placement of this statement also plays a role in the use of logos, by placing it at the very end it shows the consumer that on top of being a gold medal worthy product it also is effective almost immediately.

The only thing that discredits this claim is that the Pantene product, which is a moister renewal, is compared to a non-conditioning shampoo. Aside from what the product was compared to, the claim still adds logic on to reason to use this product. When it comes to comparing your advertisement for Sleek and Shine to the Pantene advertisement it seems that Sleek and Shine has its positives, but there are things that could defiantly be improved on. One of the major differences from your advertisement compared to Pantene is Garnier’s use of logos.

The Sleek and Shine formula shows scientific evidence to back your claim of a three-day seal of sleekness. Also by including showing an actual picture of the raw materials used to make your new formula it makes it seem more logical that the product really works. Unfortunately one of the biggest down falls to your strongest rhetorical devices is the size of the text as well as layout. The fact that everything is so small these great details about the product can easily be over looked, resulting in less of a response than you should obtain.

In addition to the use of logos in the Sleek and Shine hair care we see a use of pathos. This use of emotional appeal those who want a product that works, but is also eco-friendly. By using a deep blue sky with bright white clouds and a bright green bottle it conveys the idea for the consumer that this product is natural and pure, resulting in a positive effect on your hair. This pure outlook may also result in a happy reaction from clients because there are not unknown products being put into use on their body.

Once again although this thought of purity can be illustrated to consumers, the layout still creates problems in the advertisement. A simple correction that could be applied to solve this problem would be to include information made about its natural recourses in a bigger and bolder text. One last place that your product may need to be overlooked to be revised has to do with the use of ethos. Although there is lots of scientific evidence to convey some sort of credibility, there is no direct evidence like testimonials or a quote from a credible source giving feed back on how well your product works.

However one good thing that does work for this advertisement is that by not having a credible source like an Olympian it makes the product seem more relatable and that it is a product for the everyday woman. Over all as an advertisement the Sleek and Shine product seems to be portrayed as a top product, but only if you look closely into the ad. Although the good news is that with a few slight revisions and rearranging this conclusion that this is a top product will jump right off the page and into a consumers head to influence them to buy your product.

Analysis of Printed Advertisement

Analysis of Printed Advertisement In the printed advertisement by Maybelline New York, the makeup product advertised is targeted towards women. The advertised product, known as “The Eraser”, is to ensconce facial blemishes and wrinkles. Throughout the ad, one can find many target words and images that grasp the reader’s attention. These specific words, phrases, and images allow the reader to become conscious of their own flaws, therefore, attracting them to this product. The main attention grabbing word throughout this ad is “Eraser” the word eraser shows up numerous amounts of times within this ad.

The word eraser is paired with many other words, for example, “Erase fine lines” or “Erase age spots”. These words target the needs of different individuals at once, although it may not even be beneficial to one, it still attracts the viewer in a well effective manner. The actual image itself plays a large role as well; the main image is of an attractive young-looking female. The female in this image has a beautiful complexion; there are no flaws on her face whatsoever. This image is obviously used to manipulate the minds of the audience into thinking that this is what they will look like after using this product.

Another key phrase also used within this ad is “Instant Age Rewind”. Alone, these words are meaningless, but when placed together, it can create a deeper meaning. The interpretation of this “meaning” can differ for each individual, but most women take that phrase and interpret it as a product that will; make them look a lot younger INSTANTLY. When the fine print in this ad is read, which states, “Visual is a dramatization of actual product results”, one can truly realize that the ad is a hoax to manipulate individuals into purchasing this product.

Unfortunately, no one really knows whether this advertisement is accurate before the purchase of the actual item. In the printed advertisement by L’Oreal Paris, the makeup product advertised is targeted towards women. The advertised product, known as “Visible Lift”, is to ensconce facial blemishes and flaws. Throughout the ad, one can find many target words and images that grasp the reader’s attention. These specific words, phrases, and images allow the reader to become conscious of their own flaws, therefore, attracting them to this product. The main attention-grabbing phrase throughout this ad is “Anti-Aging” the phrase nti-aging or any other term used to relate to age repeats numerous amounts of times within this ad. In this ad, there is a large image of a model known as “Andie MacDowell”. Andie’s face in this image has no age spots, wrinkles, or any flaws on her face. This image is once again, the ideal image most women desire, a face with no flaws or blemishes. The strategies the creator’s of this ad use is very manipulative, besides images, the ad also contains “5 Proven Benefits” this truly is the pinnacle of the ad which allows the viewer to believe that this product is the ultimate product.

Although no one really has guaranteed that this product will definitely work, it still instills the image in one’s mind that this product will work miracles. Without any consideration or thought, one can easily determine that this product was “made for them”, correcting all of their facial problems. Which one cannot forget, this is all in “1 Luminous Makeup”. The parameters within this article do not really extend very far in trickery, but more manipulation of the mind. This ad makes itself look much more idealistic than what it really is.

The celebrity endorsement also adds a little more to the manipulation by allowing one to think, “If a celebrity says its good, then it must be good”. This ad is well crafted to fool the audience into thinking this makeup product is suitable for the targeted audience, consisting of mostly mid-aged females. Within the two printed newspaper advertisements, both of the makeup product ads used wording and images to sell their products to the consumer minds. Although both of the advertisements used images and wording to attract customers, the strategies used within the wording and imaging drastically differs from one another.

In the first advertisement from the Maybelline Company, the image and the words style differ form that of the L’Oreal Company. In the Maybelline ad, the word “eraser” is repeated many times on various parts of the ad. Whereas, on the L’Oreal ad, there are no repeating words or phrases. Both ads do contain an image of a woman with no facial blemishes or flaws, but the Maybelline image casts a woman whom looks much younger than the image of the L’Oreal ad. The Maybelline ad also strategically placed the words “Erase” on the parts of the face that wrinkle, have crow’s feet, and age spots.

Directing the attention of the audience to those targeted areas. Lastly, the L’Oreal ad has a celebrity endorsement where model “Andie MacDowell” claims that this product “Take Years Off”. Whereas, in the Maybelline ad there id a disclaimer on the bottom stating that the actual results may vary from the ones on the photo of the visual. Overall, both ads use similar and varying techniques to convey to the audience that the product they are selling is worthwhile.

Both ads to contain trickery, but the L’Oreal ad seems to have more trickery for not having any disclaimers in the fine print. The Maybelline ad has a better attention-grabbing style, when asked by random individuals, all of the individuals thought that the Maybelline product would be better for them. The marketing behind the Maybelline “Eraser” encompasses a much stronger attraction than L’Oreal’s “visible lift”. Revealing that portrayal has a large impact on the way individuals view a certain product.

Banner Advertisement

The constant development of product in the market and the continuous innovation of technology have required or opened a new opportunity for the marketers to advertise their products to the target consumers. Today, the convenience of technology is being used not only for learning and entertainment, but also for selling products in the market. Today, banner advertisement or sometimes called as ‘web banner’ is one of the most effective ways of reaching the customers anywhere in the world.

Just like other forms of marketing channels, banner ad has the ability to influence the consumers’ behavior and persuade them to buy the products that the society can see on the internet. However, the sudden decision of the customers to buy the product after seeing it on screen makes banner ad most effective among other marketing communications. Unquestionably, E-commerce is one of the products of technology. The evolution of technology has influenced the marketers as well as the consumers to find other ways of selling and purchasing.

Nowadays, online marketing has been the most efficient way for the marketers in reaching their consumers and even the potential customers of the products that are being offered in the market. Effective E-Marketing Campaign Effective online marketing does not depend on the appearance of the banner ad on the internet. Although e-commerce is efficient because it has the capability of reaching the market at any given time does not mean that the marketers should disregard the other important factors of marketing.

Proper evaluation and marketing research are also done in order to have a successful business and appropriate profit at the same time. Thousands of products are already advertised online and many of them have succeeded in gaining customers awareness and loyalty and are even able to expand the business by targeting more markets and penetrating more countries. However, the convenience of using the internet for marketing requires good concepts with appealing and persuading effects to the buyers.

In other words, functionality and design are both important in online marketing, but the strategies should still be present in order to reach the expectation of the company. Even though banner ads have been accepted in the society today, the company should still consider other factors that may affect the products, the consumers’ behavior, and the company itself. Some people prefer online shopping, some rarely browse the net to search for the product that could be bought in the market, and some are just being influenced by the appearance of the web banner.

Consumers’ behaviors are not being considered only by the large manufacturers; in fact, online marketing can also be risky because the business firms may not be able to reach the expectation of other segments in the market. Creativity in making web banners is important in getting the attention of the online shoppers. Some of the banner ads are too colorful and filled with animation while some appeared to be very simple. The design of the banner ads may be based on the product category or company’s technique in attracting the potential buyers.

As marketers, observing the banner ads of other products online may give them an idea on how are they going to execute the web banner of their products. It does not mean imitating the concepts of other companies, rather getting an idea on which banner ads have the most effective online campaign and which ads did not attract their attention while browsing the net. It is also necessary that the company knows what message they would like to convey to the online shoppers. The banner ads should contain not only the image of the product but also the significance and the brand’s unique selling proposition to get the attention of the market.

Controlling the file size should also be considered by the online marketers in creating the web banners. Online campaign should consider the functionality of technology in advertising their products. Some banner ads do not reach the anticipation of the marketers because they fail in the market. In other words, the web banners are often ineffective regardless of its good colors and animation. Huge banner ad does not guarantee a successful business for the company. Sometimes bigger ads have the bigger problems in appearing online because of its file size and loaded graphics and design (King, 2009). Efficiency of Banner Ads

Many companies have already reached a high level of success in the marketplace with the help of e-commerce. While some companies were able to expand their businesses, some on the other hand have failed despite the excellent promises of online marketing. Undeniably, marketing is another great opportunity for the companies in the market. Aside from having the opportunity to gain an appropriate market share, they are able to work with technology and conform to societal changes at the same time. This new technique of advertising is now considered as most efficient and least costly marketing communication.

The accessibility of computer has created a positive impact to both marketers and consumers. With each click, the marketers are able to gain profit and the consumers are able to shop without taking up too much time and effort. The flexibility of internet is an advantage for business transactions making the cycle of marketing easier and faster. Aside from having the order in just few clicks, the company is also able to measure the effectiveness of their online campaign. Through this technique, marketers may improve the banner ads or replace them if the company noticed that it is no longer effective (Superpages.

com). The images of banner ad on the net help the company in gaining brand recognition from the consumers. The web banner has the ability to leave a trademark on the consumers’ minds and even encourage the customers to buy the product that is being advertised. Although banner ads can give the customers only limited information, many marketers and consumers are still relying on its efficiency (Warren, 2009). On the other hand, a web banner still promises great opportunities of product growth and business expansion. References King, J. (2009). 10 Tips for Creating an Effective Banner Ad Campaign.

Microsoft Small Business Centre. Retrieved February 17, 2009, from http://www. microsoft. com/australia/smallbusiness/themes/sales-and-marketing/10_tips_for_creating_an_effective_banner_ad_campaign. mspx Superpages. com. (2007). Advantages of Online Marketing. Retrieved February 17, 2009, from http://advertising. superpages. com/learning/advantages-of-online-marketing. shtml Warren, S. (2009). Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet Marketing. Ezine Articles. Retrieved February 17, 2009, from http://ezinearticles. com/? Advantages-Disadvantages-Of-Inte

How Does Advertisement Influence People's Behaviour?

In the modern world, advertisement is everywhere. In every abundance walk of life, there are huge competitions. As a result, advertisement has become more important. If you can be more noticeable, it means you would have chances to market. Therefore, advertising has great impact on different people. Advertising, is mainly used in market, refer to marketing message, which is presented by an identified sponsor in extinctive media such as the television, newspapers, radio, magazines and Internet. The term may be used to refer to message presentation in the marketplace.

The term may also be extended to show a product in a television program or movie, which in order to target audience. This research paper focus on how does advertisement influence children and women on the society? Nowadays, advertisements can be found everywhere in our daily life.

When you are walking on the street, you can see the advertisements in the shops or markets. When you are watching TV, advertisements appear between programs. When you are reading newspapers, there are advertisements in the newspapers.

Since advertisements are so popular in our daily life, they have great impact on the society and people’s behaviors. The influence can be in positive and negative ways. First of all, since advertisements are what we use to provide information for the customers, through advertisements, customers can get a lot of useful information like the functions of a product, the price of it and where they can buy it. In a manner of speaking, advertisements give us suggestions on what to buy and how to improve our life quality. Secondly, good advertisements can always stimulate consumer’s purchase desire.

Such advertisements can usually help increase the sales of a kind of product. Therefore, advertisements can boot the profit of a company and stimulate the economy of a district. And they may create new fashion trends. Thirdly, good advertisements are usually great works of art, too.

They are beautiful and creative. So they have positive impacts on both the society and the people. Through advertisements, social aesthetic level can be raised, and people will be encouraged to appreciate beauty and to be creative. However, advertisements are not all good.

They have bad impacts on the society and people’s behavior as well. As we all know, advertising is the most commonly used way by the companies to increase the sales. As a result, companies will try their best to attract audience even some times neglect bad impacts.

Advertising is routinely being targeted to children in all over the world. “ Media’s influence on children is mainly due to two dimensions-advertising and editorial/programming contended(O’ Guinn and Shrum,1997) –with advertising specifically intended to inform young consumers about products and encourage their purchase.

”1 Because advertising makes effect on children, the media must impact the children, in other words, the children must reach the media, and then, interact with them. Children play passive role in the learning process, and they are good at imitating. When they are growing, they are trying to find a person such as their parents as models.

Some of them will study on magazines; watch movies and TV shows to find out how to be a successful boy or girl. From the most fashionable hairstyle, the most popular music and dance, to the views to different kind of things.

There are two ways that children can obtain about products. One is from parents, and the other one is from peers. Parents as consumer socialization agents. In western nations, it has been shown that parents teach children how to choose products, which are satisfied in the marketplace.

Meanwhile, teaching them understand how to compare products in price and quality. Evidence shows that the more often that parents take young people shopping, the more aware the young people turn to purchasing information. Moreover, the communications among family members may also impact young people’s interactions.

Another significant evidence suggests that advertisement in television effect children a lot. Media influences most children’s requests for advertised products. Another important way young people can be affected is peers. At school, children spend long time studying or playing together.

They can learn from each other what clothing styles are popular right now or how to wear can get more attention from others. In addition, peers influence a lot in children’s interaction for products. For example, they learn from their friends which stores are cheaper, which brands of selected products are much better.

It is logical that if child A and child B are good friends, they always paly together, and if child A likes a brand of products, then child B will be influenced by child A, and start loving this brand of products. Also, there is an increasing evidence show that the more children affect each other, the more products will be purchased by children.

Thus, children are the huge consumer group in the world. The effect of advertisements on women in society. In the history, there is a standard of “beauty” during every period of time.

But never like today, all kinds of media, especially television media, trying to teach us what is beauty should look like. In order to satisfy the needs males, advertisements are trying to define female beauty. Try to make women be seen as the aesthetic object and use this kind of “ copy beauty” to attract consumers.

Meanwhile, as a target group of consumer, women are apparently influenced by advertisements during watching process. The images in the advertising become emulating the target. In these pictures, the models are wearing pretty clothes, and they are having perfect bodies, long hair.

They look sexy and attractive. In the society, this kind of advertising images are seen everywhere. Also, it influences women how they should look like and dress. For example, when several graceful air hostess who are dressing in a suit, having the long hair floats walking row tidy out from the plane.

And telling others the reason why they have beautiful hair it is because they use “LOREAL” shampoo. After that, do you think women can just wait or ignore? All above, the unreal “female beauty” standard misled the female consumption. According to the stereotype image, there is few woman can achieve “ young” and “beauty”.

So, women start to re-create themselves. They use cosmetics, beauty, breast augmentation surgery and even cosmetic surgery to make themselves follow advertising images’ beautiful figures. As a result, women fall into the trap that shops made. Women accept advertising values, aesthetics propaganda and at the same time, they will act.

Eventually, advertisement leads them to consume. It can be said that the whole industry are describing the “ perfect female” in advertising, meanwhile, using women’s fear and upset feeling which is they are not as good as the models in the advertising to sell products to promote consumption.

Therefore, because of stereotyped advertisement, the consumption from women becomes modeled. "One study of a sample of Stanford graduates and undergraduates found that sixty-eight percent of students felt worse about their own appearances after reading women's magazines" (Crafting a Perfect Body).

For example, “Allure” magazines, in 30 advertisements, 90% of them are thin Caucasian women who have long golden hair and blue eyes. Even the African American women, they changed hair to make it light and straight and try to look like Caucasian women.

Targeted Advertisement

Targeted advertisement through data mining and privacy issue. Introduction A computer user sits in front of a screen and starts browsing their favourite website while their child similarly does the same. While this peaceful pastime activity is being enjoyed, however, they are unaware of the hidden pathways through which every detail about them is being disclosed. Because of these pathways, there are people that can get hold of the users’ names, phone numbers, IP addresses of the computers and their households.

They have access to information about any users’ income, medical history, gender and age, not to mention what they searched on search-engines and which websites the users visited. They can even learn which online shopping purchases were performed by the users on any recent website. They, who know every detail of users, are not the Big Brothers of “1984” nor are they hackers; they are online advertisers who deliver advertisement on the Internet. The computer user is vulnerable to online advertising companies that value that specific personal data.

The focus of this paper is to convince advertising companies that they should enforce regulation by providing an opt-out mechanism and practice permission based data mining in order to protect consumer’s privacy. Moreover, notifying and protecting users before distributing and taking advantage of their personal information is significant to company’s accountability and furthermore allow establishing a long term relationship with customers. I will explore the issue from consumer and also an advertiser’s perspective. As a design student who has been designed companies’ logos, it is significant to gain valuable insight from this topic.

By gaining the necessary information in this issue, I can navigate the internet in a more safe and secure manner as a consumer. Background of Data Mining Online advertising is a growing industry that is based upon the traffic from online views. “Fifty-six of the top hundred websites based on page views in February 2008 presented advertising” (Evan, 2009, p37). For every activity a consumer performs on the internet such as making a purchase, visiting a website or searching on search engines is collected (Charters, 2002).

This information is processed and stored automatically through data mining practices and becomes a significant source of revenue for online advertisers without the granted permission or any notification to the customer. Data mining is an “overall process of preparing data, discovering patterns in data, and analyzing that data into useful knowledge” (Tavani, 1999, p137). According to Murphy, “the right to privacy involves the ability of individuals to decide for themselves, how much they are willing to share about their lives, thoughts, and feelings” (Murphy et al. , 2009).

As personal and behavioural data are collected, stored and sold for more effective advertisement, “loss of control” and “loss of identity” become issues (Drumwright et al. , 2009). Moreover, all the information we expect to be remained confidential, such as health insurance numbers and medical records, also become commodities for sale. Internet users have been paying for the “free” online services with their private and personal information (Goldfarb et al. , 2011). Effects of Data Mining Firstly, data mining is based on the Internet and affects the uninformed users by the loss of control over their personal information and right to privacy.

Individuals are unaware that the data about them are collected and that they “have no say in how the information about them is used” (Tavani, 1999, p141). For example, search-engine providers summarize and store the entire search history categorically that “enables them to identify the individual IP address” (Evans, 2008, p55). While there is no warning to the consumers prior to collection and storage of their data, users are unaware of the fact that data mining is being conducted every time they click something on the websites.

Although, Google has reduced the storing data period from two years to nine months (BBC News, 2008), the sale of data collection to online advertisers is still in progress. The transaction of information causes the loss of control over their right to privacy. Moreover, advertisers have an access to the “cookies”, which track the websites visited and every activity an individual does on the internet. Again, this becomes a privacy issue as advertising companies’ access this information without any granted permission. The privacy issue associates with the unawareness of this invisible phenomenon of data mining.

Granting more control over their personal information to the users is critical. Thus, the usage of data mining without the consent of the user is an invasion of privacy. The user needs to have more authority over their information and prevent unwanted usage of their personal information. Secondly, data mining is more than just a personal and behavioural analysis. Every time the Internet client provides private information, such as medical records, all the information is being collected and saved (Buchholz & Rosenthal, 2002).

The information we expect to remain confidential and anonymous becomes a source of profit to advertisers. There is a difference of scale between revealing one’s favourite color and revealing one’s social insurance number to the advertisers. For example, Google Gmail, which provides 7GB of free space, scans and records the content of emails while displaying targeted advertisements on the side that result from Google’s ability to examine the content of the emails (Evans, 2008). The vast amount of the provided space was not really “free” and users been paying it with their private information.

Revealing personally identifiable data or private information such as social insurance number through these services has potential risk of misuse. Consumers may concern more if they know “search engine provider is selling the data to another vendor that has figured out a way to associate the user’s IP with other personal information including name, address, and telephone number” (Evans, 2008, p57). Google’s company’s goal is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”(Google, 2011).

Yet, our information also counts toward world’s information. We should be concerned if these companies with these types of mission statements can protect the users’ privacy; users should not be blindsided to the potential risks of misuse of our private information. Targeted Advertising and Consumer Relationships Regardless of the privacy concern associated with data mining and targeted advertisement, the reason why online advertising is still on the rise and is central to the e-commerce economy is because of its effectiveness on consumers (U.

S. Department of Commerce, 2008). Detailed individual data can create more efficient advertisements, compared to traditional newspaper advertisements or old banners on the websites. For example, European Union practices privacy regulation on advertisers. The responses of “3. 3 million survey takers who had been randomly exposed to 9,596 online display banner advertising campaigns,” reveal that this government restriction reduces the effectiveness of advertising by 65% on average (Figure 1. ) in terms of changing stated purchasing intent (Goldfarb et al. , 2011), Therefore, regulation means a “trade-off between the benefits of consumer privacy and the benefits to consumers of a potentially broader, less obtrusive advertising-supported Internet” (Goldfarb et al. , 2011, p50). In addition, advertisers argue that “unauthorized secondary use of data” is found to be insignificant and consumers are used to this way of business in terms of traditional forms of advertising (Brown & Muchira, 2004).

Although targeted advertising is an effective way to advertise to consumers, reflecting too much knowledge about consumers in their advertisements may offend the users (Evan, 2009). Often, the users may use internet to search or purchase what they do not wish to share or talk about with others. Online advertisements may do what is opposite of this wish. For instance, purchasing a self-help book online to treat depression does not mean you wish to sign up for an advertisement that shows lists of other books about depression.

Moreover, since computers are shared online with other users, this purchase may be unintentionally revealed to the public. Advertisers should be advised of the precautions of data mining, which tracks every piece of information about consumers for effective and smart advertisement, could drive potential consumers away instead. Targeted advertisements are only effective if they respect the consumer’s privacy and use their information only when users are aware of the situation and give their permission. The foundation of strong relationships with consumers requires trust of both the website and usage of personal information.

Lack of trust leads to privacy concerns and the users unaware what websites are legitimate. Resolving such privacy dilemma is, therefore, crucial to “creating stable and ultimately profitable customer relationships” (Brown & Muchira, 2004). The major factor that can weaken the relationship is “invasion” of the privacy (Attaran, 2000). It involves “contacting consumers who have not requested such contact and is often done repeatedly” (Brown & Muchira, 2004). Also, receiving unwanted junk mail and promotions from advertisers could irritate consumers (Korgaonkar & Wolin, 1999).

The result of a survey that Brown and Muchira conducted indicates that consumers who have experienced online invasion of privacy are less likely to purchase products via the Internet. In other words, the ability to handle personal information is significant to advertisers to maintain a strong relationship with consumers. Advertisers should view the protecting privacy as an opportunity to establish long term relationships with consumers. Conclusion Government regulation is practiced in some European countries to resolve the privacy issues in online advertising.

Nevertheless, government regulations that may be proposed to protect right to privacy, may end up violating “the principle of respect for individual” and create another invasion of privacy (Charters, 2002). Instead of government intervention to deal with privacy issue, online advertising companies should enforce regulation by providing opt-out mechanisms, and practice permission based data mining in order to protect consumer’s privacy. Advertising businesses need to store and sell consumer’s private information with their permission of consent and a notification.

Consumers may agree with giving their information about them if they can trust whom they are providing it to. That way, advertisers do not lose the opportunity to provide targeted advertisement to consumers, which is much more effective than providing non-targeted ones. Consumers also will benefit from receiving relevant advertisements against the cost of losing privacy. The balance between advertisers and consumers can be achieved through permission based practice. The computer user sits in front of a computer and starts browsing again.

This time, the website asks for permission to collect the user’s information for online marketing and advertising business. The user has the ability to opt-out, and considers that this website is indeed secure. This website creates a transparency between by the Advertising contacts and the consumers. The user is informed, given options, and protected. Figure 1. 1 – Before and after the regulation by EU References Attaran, M. (2000), “Managing Legal Liability of the Net: a Ten Step Guide for IT Managers”, Information Management and Computer Security, 8(2)2.

Brown, M. & Muchira, R. (2004). Investigating the Relationship between Internet Privacy Concerns and Online Purchase Behavior. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research 5(1),62- 71 Buchholz A. , and Rosenthal B. S. (2002), Internet Privacy: Individual Rights and the Common Good. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 67 (Winter), 34–40. Charters, D. (2002). Electronic Monitoring and Privacy Issues in Business-Marketing: The Ethics of the DoubleClick Experience. Journal of Business Ethics, 35 (February), 243– 254. Drumwright, E. M. , Murphy, P. E. , (2009).

The current state of advertising ethics: industry and academic perspectives. Journal of Advertising. 38(1), 83-108 Evans, S. D. (2009). The Online Advertising Industry: Economics, Evolution, and Privacy. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 23(3), 37-60. Goldfarb, A. & Tucker C. E. (2011). Privacy regulation and online advertising. Management Science, 57(1). Korgaonkar, P & Wolin, L. (1999), “A Multivariate Analysis of Web Usage”, Journal of Advertising Research, 39(2), 53-70. Tavani, H. T. (1999) Informational privacy, data mining, and the Internet. Ethics and Information Technology. 1: 137–145.

Truth in Advertising

Consumers need to be protected from false advertising other questionable marketing tactics. Advertisements are Information provided by a seller or manufacturer. These advertisements can be in the form of ads on the television, radio, internet, newspapers, and magazines. It can also come in the form of information from a sales person as they attempt to sell a consumer a product. Advertisements generally are truthful in nature. However they can be false and misleading. It is these false or misleading ads that cause ethical questions to be raised in regards to marketing.

False advertisement is untrue or misleading information that is presented by a seller in order to entice the consumer to buy their product. Each state has its own set of consumer protection laws that protect consumers against unfair competition and deceptive advertising practices. These laws apply to print, radio, or television ads that are seen in that state. Some common state laws include protection against various types of false advertising. One area that is not highly regulated in regards to truth in advertising is the Internet.

Because the Internet ps all boundaries the coal advertising laws are difficult to apply to ads that are posed or seen online. There are several types of false advertising practices that are commonly used. One of these is known as the bait and switch technique. The bait and switch occurs when a company advertises a product but has every intention of selling you a product that Is deferent than the one advertised. The bait tactic is an enticing ad that makes the product seem appealing and lures the consumer into the store.

Once the consumer Is on site, the seller makes every attempt to upsets a different more expensive reduce by discrediting the quality or value of the original product. Another method of false advertisement involves the amount of product that Is kept In stock by a store. Stores are required to have enough of an advertised Item In stock to meet a reasonable customer demand unless the ad states that quantities are Limited. This keeps stores from using a small quantity of a good to lure customers Into the store. Store limits are another tactic that can be used by sellers to misrepresent advertisements.

Store limits are only valid If the Limit Is clearly defined In the ad. It Is unethical and unlawful to Impose a non-advertised Limit once the consumer Is In the store. Pictures are a common addition to advertisements. Companies are often an advertisement must provide a reasonable representation of the product if a picture is used in the advertisement. Advertisements must be truthful in other areas as well. If a company is selling an item that is refurbished it cannot be sold as a new item. Companies cannot arbitrarily advertise an item as being on sale.

Any item that is listed as being on sale must have been sold at a higher price at some time during the previous three months. Another area that can be tempting to advertising departments is related to environmentally friendly products. Because of the environmental movement that is underway many products are marked as environmentally friendly, green, or biodegradable. Ethically and in some areas legally, companies are required to provide environmental information on the product when it is requested for all products that are marketed as being green, environmentally friendly, or biodegradable.

Stretching the truth in marketing is a common tactic and some marketers believe that it is within their rights to stretch the truth. These marketers sometimes cite the idea of utilitarianism in marketing. This idea states that they are making ethical choices that provide the greatest amount of good to the greatest number of people at the expense of other people (Chillier). Some marketers believe that stretching the truth is an ethically sound decision if the falsification helps consumers. Ethically, utilitarianism is a bad approach to advertising regardless of the results that are achieved (Chillier).

A company should instead focus on the strength of their product or services in order to generate sales. Negative marketing is another tactic that is seed to stretch the ethical boundaries in marketing. Negative marketing is used in all types of advertisements including political ads. In the midst off highly publicized election, many of the advertisements that have been issued by the political parties are negative in nature. Many of the people on the receiving end do not agree with the idea of negative marketing.

People would rather see ads that are focused on the positive aspects of a product or a person rather than ads that attack or shed negative light on a product. However, negative ads are effective at changing the opinion off nonuser and because of this effectiveness; they will continue to be used despite the ethical objectives. There are rules that apply to marketing and ethics. These rules establish guidelines to help guide marketing decisions to be ethically sound. One of these rules is the idea of universal ethics. Universal ethics are actions and choices that are made based purely on a moral idea.

These universal principles are generally believed to apply to all people at all times in all situations (Chillier). The challenge for marketing departments is that they need to find a way to ethically market their reduce in order to sell more products to consumers without compromising the integrity of the product or coercing customers to purchase a product that they do not need. There is a code of ethics that exists for marketing that has been created by the American Marketing Association. This code of ethics has been created to promote honesty, fairness, responsibility, respect, and openness in areas of marketing.

There are several guidelines that can be followed to help ensure ethical decisions are made while marketing a product. One of those guidelines is to simply have a great product. A great product will go many things to sell itself. A product that can be sold based on the greatness of the product and the advertising does not have to embellish the product to make it look more appealing. Another guideline to ethical marketing is to use the Internet to market the product. Using the internet will allow the product to gain more recognition quickly because of mass reach.

Gaining high visibility for a product will help keep the marketers honest and bound to follow the ethical code. Studying marketing results will also help to follow ethical guidelines. These results can help a marketer understand what types of ads are best representing and selling the product. This analysis can allow pinpoint marketing to take place and solid marketing decisions can be based on the past results. It is also important for the marketers to study the competition. Understanding how the competition products are marketed can help direct the focus of the marketing program.

These guidelines can be used to help make good solid marketing decisions that are ethical and successful. Unethical decisions are made in marketing that are not related to truthfulness or product representation. There are also decisions that are made by companies relating to the different types of consumers that they are erecting their marketing towards. Marketing toward children is a tactic that is growing in popularity in marketing circles. McDonald's and other fast food companies have increased marketing campaigns that are directed towards children.

Fifteen billion dollars is spent marketing towards children every year and twenty-five percent of that comes from fast food companies. McDonald's has even created a separate version of the Happy Meal called the Mighty Kids Meal that includes larger sized portions. The creation of this larger meal that is marketed towards children with larger appetites is unethical on two levels. The meal is targeted towards a rowing obese child population. It is also part of the campaign that is geared toward children as a tool to manipulate parents to spend more money. This marketing style is a marketing grey area.

Marketing in a grey area can have undesired consequences. One of these consequences is a lack of trust in the product and the company. As companies operate repeatedly in this grey area, they run the risk of losing customers because of issues related to trust. Handy is an example of a company that is walking this line of pattern misrepresentation. Handy was discovered in 2001 of overstating the horsepower achieved by some of heir models. Korea discovered that Handy was misrepresenting the horsepower in several of their cars by as much as 9. 6 percent according to Grabbiest. Mom. Uncovering this false advertising claim led to a class action lawsuit against Handy because they were able to sell their cars for a higher price based on the false horsepower claims. Recently Handy has been caught misrepresenting the facts related to some of their cars once again. According to the Wall Street Journal, The Environmental Protection Agency discovered that Handy has overstated the gas mileage on several models by as much five miles per gallon since 2010. This misrepresentation has caused many to begin to lose faith in Handy as a brand.

Their unethical choices in marketing have started to affect the Handy brand and the trust that people have in the brand. Marketing and ethics are two topics that are closely intertwined. Because of the reward that can be gained by companies due to their marketing strategies, there is not ethically sound. Marketing departments wield power over consumer markets and should be bound by ethical principles in order to keep the best interests of the consumers in mind instead of the focusing on profits at the expense of the consumer.

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Run a free check or have your essay done for you

Check my essay Hire Writer