[Box on page 6]

What Sells the Ad?

MODERN advertising is expensive. Television commercials may cost tens of thousands of dollars, as may extensive newspaper and magazine spreads. Will people read them? Will they remember them? Will they act upon them? To ensure that they do, science now plays an increasingly important role in advertisement preparation. Eye-tracking equipment, monitoring viewers’ eyes by means of infrared beams, quickly reveals which part of the prepared layout is catching the most attention. But even then, sales must rest on stimulating the desire to buy. Psychophysiologists say they have the answer as they check the brain’s reaction. But the simple fact remains: “The more likable a TV commercial is, the more persuasive it will be,” reports the Ogilvy Center for Research & Development.

The “Hard Sell”

“Hard sell,” according to Britain’s Advertising Association, is “punchy, persuasive, high-pressure advertising.” But the American definition, “aggressive high-pressure salesmanship,” may be more pointed. It is the complete antithesis of the “gentle persuasion” of the “soft sell.” What is involved, and how does it affect us?

When a market nears the saturation point, aggressive salesmanship takes over as manufacturers fight to keep or extend their share of it. In many Western countries, cars, television sets, and like commodities are now experiencing the hard sell in the face of overcapacity.

An interesting medical situation exists in the United States that illustrates the motive behind high-pressure advertising. “Hospitals Learn the Hard Sell,” headlined Time magazine. Faced as hospitals are with an increase in the number of empty beds and in competition between hospitals and clinics, aggressive advertising is taking over. One California medical center advertisement asks: “Kidney Stones? Who Ya Gotta Call . . . Stonebusters!”

One of the problems with the hard sell, however, is that it is often difficult to fight against it. The power of persuasion may become so great that we may be coerced into buying something we do not need or into doing something not in our best interests.