BEC中级真题阅读精讲:第2辑T3P2 Sell,Sell,Sell

《SELL,SELL,SELL》

Last year over 13bn was spent on advertising in the UK and research indicates that most people will have seen 2m sales messages by the time they are 30. Advertising is big business and often acts as the interface between commerce and culture. While there are many adverts that just irritate, there are some that are miniature works of art. (0)... .The advertisers themselves believe they are delivering an important message because they are protecting and promoting a clients brand and extending greater choice to the consumer. (8).........Instead of being free, many TV channels would only be available on subscription packages of about 500 per month and newspapers might cost six times more than their present cover price.

There are many different models of advertising practice, but no one is precisely sure what makes a good advert. (9).........While some try to get you to buy a product, others, such as anti-smoking campaigns, aim to get you not to do something. Some adverts are not aimed at consumers at all, but at retailers, shareholders or employees. For example, manufacturers often advertise their products in trade magazines to reassure retailers that a new brand will be widely promoted. Petrol companies often choose to emphasise how environmentally friendly they are; this is to offset any negative public perceptions of the industry rather than to persuade consumers tobuy anindividualbrand of petrol.(10).........This isbecause petrol is regarded, in advertising terms, as a distress purchase. We get it because we cant do without it, not because we really want it. In general, however, the main aim of advertising is to attribute emotional qualities to a product in order to create an individual brand that the consumer can associate with.

Working out whether an advert has been successful is extremely difficult.(11).........For example,whatpersuadedthem to buy a car? You cannot be sure whether it was the advertising, the price, the oppositions distribution, changes in the law or changes in consumer attitudes that was the determining factor. What advertising cant do is make consumers buy something they dont want. It can perhaps persuade you to try something once, butif you dont like what you get, you wont try it again.(12).........In other words, where there is noemotional engagement, such as a consumers feelings about a bag of peas,beliefs are much harder toshift.