Persuasion and Advertising
Shibu Oommen

Psychology 2302

Cognitively based attitudes can be classified as attitudes that we believe are facts about that particular object. For example, when buying a smartphone we like to know the details about battery life, cellular reception, and applications that are provided that can beneficial to us at school or at work. Alternatively, we view affectively based attitudes that are based on emotions, and certain feelings that come in to play when evaluating a smart phone. An example of affectively based attitude is purchasing a smart phone even though reviews has said it has poor battery life, decrease in available applications compared to those that are available on other phones, but the excitement is overwhelming to have the latest gadget around. Elaboration Likelihood Model is a “dual process theory of how attitudes are formed and changed” (Petty R.E. (1986). Elaboration Likelihood Model. Wikipedia.com, Retrieved July 22, 2013, from www.wikipedia.com). This model has two different routes of persuasion, central and peripheral. Central routes of persuasion that are listened to carefully and to think about the argument (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2010). Whereas, peripheral route to persuasion “do not pay attention to the argument but are instead swayed by surface characteristics” (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2010). We can see some similarities to cognitive based attitudes, a type of attitude that is similar to central route of persuasion, where emotions do not get involved in the decision making. Using a central route persuasion leads to an extended attitude change about a product. In the ad that I found online, where most of my consumer research is done, I have found that there is overwhelming excitement in buying fuel efficient vehicles. Since oil prices has gone up substantially in the last 5 years, people are choosing to get rid of their clunkers and look into purchasing a vehicle that is more cost effective and fuel efficient in the long run. Many United States manufactures has met the demand of this and trying to appeal to the mass population by advertising using central route persuasion technique. Central route persuasion advertisement is described as getting the facts out there, and let the consumer understand this information without letting other factors influence a buyer. Motortrend.com is a consumer friendly car evaluator website that uses central route persuasion about vehicles. In this advertisement it shows which hybrid vehicles that has best fuel economy mileage and different intervals of miles per hour. A topic like this interest me, because I did a year worth of research to see if an expensive vehicle like this will be beneficial to my pocketbook. In ad number one, it is shown that the Cruze vehicle can obtain 70 miles per gallon while going 35 miles per hour. The details found in this ad is relevant for people living in the city that commute shorter distances, whereas the Cruze only gets 41 miles per gallon when driving 75 miles an hour. Not only are these vehicles fuel efficient, there are some that are built to be twin turbo, to get more power just like gas powered engines. Advertisement number one shows a great deal of pertinent information that is used in the central route persuasion technique in advertisement. Many advertisers try to target their audience with peripheral route of persuasion. Peripheral route of persuasion is targeting an audience that is not focused on the core knowledge of the product because they lack the ability to listen to the issue due to fatigue, lack of motivation, or other causes listed in the text. The second ad that I found emphasized Gillett razor blades with three of world’s prominent athletes Tiger Woods, Rafael Federer, and Derek Jeter. These athletes are the best in their respective sports and they target men to use what they would use. The product emphasizes how using this product can