Task 1

Find two print advertisements that depict two different defense mechanisms and discuss their effectiveness.

Instructions

Students should identify the defense mechanism first. Then they should explain how the ad taps that defense mechanism and how effective it is. For example, a slice-of-life commercial may show a young man faced with the problem of convincing a girl he likes to accept a date with him. A friend advises him to change his toothpaste, his shampoo, or whatever, to the advertised product; when he does, he gets the girl, and his problem is solved.

Task 2

Find three print advertisements that illustrate the needs for order, achievement, and affection and discuss their effectiveness. (Each advertisement should depict one of the three needs.)

Instructions

Advertisements promoting order needs might focus on organizing things, putting things in place, setting schedules, or planning. Affection or affiliation is about forming attachments, sharing things, helping friends, and enjoying oneself in large groups. Achievement needs refer to those individuals who regard personal accomplishments as an end. They want to succeed and want to be able to do things better than others. Such individuals are often good prospects for do-it-yourself products and for such advertising appeals as we try harder.

Task 3

Find two examples of ads that are designed to arouse consumer needs and discuss their effectiveness.

Instructions

Latent needs are need a consumer is not aware of. Advertisements are cues designed to arouse needs. Without these cues, the needs might remain dormant. For example, an ad designed to trigger a latent need might show a surprised reaction as a consumer had not considered a solution to a problem.

Task 4

Interview three friends about their favorite leisure-time activities. Do your leisure-time preferences differ from those of your friends? Which personality traits might explain why your preferences are different from or the same as those of other your friends, and how so?

Instructions

This discussion-based exercise should help students reflect on the impact of personality on common consumer choices and the challenges the use of personality-related segmentation criteria presented by marketers. Students should examine the personality traits explored in the Personality and Understanding Consumer Diversity section of the chapter. Consider the following general traits and apply these to the exercise at hand: innovativeness, dogmatism, social character (e.g., inner- and other-directedness), the need for uniqueness, optimum stimulation level (OSL), sensation seeking, variety seeking, and novelty seeking. Students can also explore cognitive personality factors, consumer materialism, consumer compulsive behavior, and ethnocentrism.

Task 5

Find three print examples of the kind of promotional methods that constitute ambush or experiential marketing. Evaluate each example in terms of the effectiveness of the sensory input provided.

Instructions

Factors which students are likely to bring up include size of ads, the position of the ad, the color and shelf position of the package, and the contrast between the stimulus and its physical environment.

Task 6

Find two ads: one targeting the left side of the brain and another targeting the right side. Explain your choices.

Instructions

The left hemisphere is the center of human language; it is the linear side of the brain and primarily responsible for reading, speaking, and reasoning. The right hemisphere of the brain is the home of spatial perception and nonverbal concepts; it is nonlinear and the source of imagination and pleasure. Put another way, the left side of the brain is rational, active, and realistic; the right side is emotional, metaphoric, impulsive, and intuitive.