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What is Consumer Advertising?

G. Wiesen
G. Wiesen

Consumer advertising is advertising that is directed and intended for domestic markets such as individuals and families. This is in contrast to industrial advertising, which is specifically directed and marketed toward businesses. The goal of consumer advertising is to introduce, or sometimes re-introduce, products and services to families and private individuals for daily use and consumption. These can be automobiles for family use, household appliances, home electronic devices, clothes, books, movies, and just about anything else commonly found in an individual or family household.

Advertising is, generally, the practice of creating print, audio, and video messages intended to reveal or display a product or service and to show features meant to entice a customer into purchasing that product or service. Consumer advertising is a specific field of advertising, which focuses on the needs and desires of households rather than businesses. These types of advertisements are often focused even more narrowly on a specific demographic or target audience to increase effectiveness and message penetration among that audience.

Consumer advertising describes features and specials relevant to the public or users of products.
Consumer advertising describes features and specials relevant to the public or users of products.

A demographic is a specific portion of the population and is based on particular common features, beliefs, practices, or ideologies. These can be separated according to age groups, gender, religious beliefs, income ranges, education, profession, and a number of other specifically targetable aspects of modern life. Consumer advertising often seeks to find ways to relate to either the entire population or more commonly a specific demographic and appeal to people’s sense of consumer desire.

Scantily clad women in suggestive poses commonly appear in advertisements.
Scantily clad women in suggestive poses commonly appear in advertisements.

Advertising is often meant to be manipulative. As people view an advertisement, the intention is for the audience to be manipulated into wanting a product they may have previously not cared for or wanted. By targeting a specific demographic, consumer advertising is able to connect with the common hopes, fears, dreams, and desires of that target group and use that connection to create product desire. This is often seen through the use of sexuality and provocative images directed at certain genders, language and images appealing to a specific age range, highlighted beliefs and values intended to be held in common between manufacturers, businesses, and consumers, and a number of other methods of consumer advertising.

Images of sex are often used in advertisements.
Images of sex are often used in advertisements.

Somewhat surprisingly, however, many forms of consumer advertising do not actually advertise the features of the product. Instead, many products are advertised as appealing to or creating a certain lifestyle for someone who purchases the product. An effort is made to appeal to a consumer’s sense of self-image and desire to appear a certain way to other people, regardless of whether the product actually does what the advertising claims. Though this may be somewhat deceptive advertising, these methods are often quite effective.

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Discussion Comments

Moldova

Bhutan-I have participated in studies like that. They are actually fun. They really look at the consumer buying patterns and ask you for feedback after you have tried the product. This is how advertising strategys often originate from.

Bhutan

Cafe41-I know that when a new product is coming out on the market they will use a market research firm to conduct surveys and invite a select few that meet the target demographics of the product in order to offer their opinion of it.

They will show a sample ad and then after the viewer has read it ask them to explain the product.

This exercise is to ensure that the consumer advertisement is easy to understand and the message of the product is delivered.

They will also ask where you see the product displayed in a grocery store which helps the company determine the best placement of the product.

In some cases a company might hire a market research firm to select a few individuals that fit the target demographics to try the new product before it comes out on the market.

The feedback given will allow the company to refine its product to appeal to the mass public.

cafe41

Crispety- Effective advertising also reaches the highest amount of potential consumers with the largest return on investment.

There is an advertising ratio that every company has that allows them to determine what the maximum point of profitability is and what is the economic point of diminishing returns. They know that for every dollar of advertising they can expect a certain percentage of that in revenue.

Crispety

Advertising and the mind of the consumer are inseparable. Effective advertising has to first understand its target market and design a consumer advertisement that will be enticing and memorable.

This could be as simple as using primary colors for a cereal box and containing a prize on the inside of the box while running an ad during children’s programming.

Although adults eat the cereal, the mother’s of the children will most likely buy the cereal that their child wants.

It is estimated that mothers have a buying power of about one trillion dollars, so direct consumer advertising here places the emphasis on the children because they will relay the buying message to their parents.

If the advertising were directed to the parents, the parents would not be influenced by the packaging or the toys inside, but they would want to know the nutritional value of the cereal and many of these cereals fall short in this category which is why the advertisers focus on the children instead.

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    • Consumer advertising describes features and specials relevant to the public or users of products.
      By: Johanna Mühlbauer
      Consumer advertising describes features and specials relevant to the public or users of products.
    • Scantily clad women in suggestive poses commonly appear in advertisements.
      By: matusciac
      Scantily clad women in suggestive poses commonly appear in advertisements.
    • Images of sex are often used in advertisements.
      By: bonninturina
      Images of sex are often used in advertisements.
    • Consumer advertisements may be found in magazines and other publications.
      By: matka_Wariatka
      Consumer advertisements may be found in magazines and other publications.
    • Action shots are common in consumer advertising.
      By: Alejandro Catalan
      Action shots are common in consumer advertising.
    • Consumer advertising is often geared toward specific demographics.
      By: Monkey Business
      Consumer advertising is often geared toward specific demographics.