In Response to Nichole's Post...

Nichole asked: What other strategies do you think are most affective within marketing campaigns?

I never notices how successful using animals in commercials was until Nichole pointed it out. Now I realize that every time a commercial with an animal on it comes on the television, at least one person in the room comments on how "cute" the animal is, drawing everyone's attention. This is a very strategic tactic for marketers to use, it draws in customer attention and therefore they remember the product.

I think that children have always been used in this way to bring in business as well. I have seen commercials for some car dealerships where the owner will have their son or daughter on the commercial with them explaining how great the service is. It is hard to believe that a small child really knows about the service of their families dealership compared to others, but it is still a good marketing gimmick. The innocence of the child makes it seem like more reliable information because we would like to believe that parents would not make their child lie to market a product.

Another strategy that I think has been affective in marketing campaigns is, using the ideal body type to market diet products and certain food. They make it seem like if consumers buy this product, they will look like the people in the advertisement do. However with air brushing these people probably don't really look the way they are portrayed on television or on a billboard. These people do not have average body types, they are making people think that they can look that way just by buying a diet pill or a reduced calorie diet shake. This however is false. It would be more difficult for most people to lose weight and look like the people on billboards than simply taking a pill, but those are the things they do not tell you in the advertisements.

Do you think having models and celebrities with "the perfect bodies" selling diet pills is false advertising?