Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals

A summary of "Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals" by Jib Fowles from ETC 39 #3 (reprinted in Common Culture by M Petracca and M Sorapure, on reserve under my name at limited loan downstairs at McHenry)

In no particular order:

1. Sex. JF argues that what we think is an appeal to sex is frequently really an appeal to one or more of the other appeals, since nudity can offend and reduces brand recall. On avg only 2% of ads appeal to sex.

2. Affiliation with family, firends and mates.

3. Nurture, often but not always pitched at women.

4. Guidance

5. Aggress (probably often confused w/ 1 by those looking at ads).

6. Achieve

7. Dominate (probably often confused w/ 1 by those looking at ads).

8. Prominence (high social status)

9. Need for attention (to be looked at, probably often confused w/ 1 by those looking at ads).

10. Autonomy

11. Escape (often appears w/ 10)

12. Feel Safe

13. Aesthetic sensation (often overlooked, underestimated when studying ads)

14. Satisfy curiousity (in that we look at data but also at pictures, maybe for cues about how to act?)

15. Physiological needs ( e.g., food, drink, rest).