The Ingenuity Of Television Advertisements

With the popularity of television today, more companies than ever are paying more money than ever to get their commercials put on TV. I'd like to think that at this point I can tune out such commercials and that they only really work on small children and others who are easily swayed by such marketing, but last week I think I finally began to understand the true genius behind the commercial.

First off, we have the most basic of commercial tactics: making it memorable. The best examples for this are the world-famous Super Bowl Commercials, in which companies shell out millions of dollars per minute to get their zaniest stuff on the screen in the hope that even one percent of the viewers will find it funny. It has worked too, as some who are uninterested or don't even like football will tune in just to see the commercials. This along with repetition ensures that you are at least familiar with the product.

The second tactic is more of an assumption: we assume that television-viewing is a family event. If you watch TV as a family, you are more likely to remember a product as a family. Also, if you see a commercial that you find amusing, you may just mention it to your family members. While you may not mention the product, it creates interest and causes them to want to see the commercial for themselves, thus creating interest and eventually another view for the commercial.

Finally, we have the combination of the above: association. In my opinion, the biggest thing commercials try to exploit is how we tend to remember things when we are surrounded by similar stimuli to when we first saw them, which could also be called "retracing our steps," although it isn't a perfect analogy. Basically, the commercial-makers want us to associate as many stimuli as they possibly can with their product so that we remember it, want it, and ultimately buy it. Assuming you watch television at home with your family, it means that subconsciously you are making very subtle connections between that commercial/product and your television, the room you saw it in, whoever you watched it with, whatever song they set the commercial to, whoever was in the commercial, how you were feeling, what you were wearing, and hundreds of other situational aspects.

The irony here is that the only way I figured this out was to experience it myself. I will forever have a commercial stuck in my head featuring beer glasses clinking together to the tune of "Let it snow." It has succeeded in creating an examplar in my mind. While I don't remember what beer it was for (and I doubt I will ever drink beer, or any alcohol for that matter), the commercial was a resounding success.