There are two traditional advertising tactics for promoting a product, event,
candidate, or point of view. One is to provide reasons; the other is to bypass reasons
altogether and appeal strictly to emotion. Considered in isolation, emotional appeals are
far more effective. But many of the most influential ads combine slim reasons with
powerful appeals to emotion.
To appreciate the power of emotional appeals we need only consider the
promotion of sodas, beer, cigarettes, cosmetics and so on. This advertising is the most
successful in the industry; and it trades almost exclusively on the manipulation of our
desires, fears and senses of humor. In fact, it wouldnt make sense to offer up arguments,
because there really arent any good reasons for consuming such products.
Even so, some of these products are advertised with at least superficial reasoning.
For instance, in the promotion of facial moisturizers it has become popular to use the
image of a youthful woman with fresh, unlined skin along with the claim that the
product car reduce the signs of aging. This is indeed a reason, but a carefully couched
one that never really states that product users will look younger. Still, countless middle-
aged women will pay twice as much for products that add this claim to the expected
image of youthfulness that trades on their fears of growing old.
One of the most clever and ironic combined uses of reason and emotion is seen in
the old Volvo slogan, Volvo, the car for people who think. The suggested reason for
buying the car is obvious: it is the intelligent choice. But the emotional snare is equally
clear; the ad appeals to ones desire to be included in the group of intelligent, thoughtful
people.
In conclusion. I agree that appeals to emotion are more powerful tools than
arguments or reasoning for promoting products. It is no coincidence that advertising
agencies hire professional psychologists, but not logicians. Still, in my view the most
influential advertisements mix in a bit of reasoning as well.