PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS

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FROM APPEALING TO LOGIC TO APPEALING TO DESIRES

by Andrea Johnson

A possible reason for the decrease in written content and the increased focus on images is that in the past (i.e. 1940s), print advertisements attempted to persuade consumers to purchase products and services through reasoning. In other words, they made an appeal to consumers using logos-driven print advertisments. Thus it was necessary that they used a larger amount of written text in print ads in their attempt to explain and convince consumers that their product/ service was of great quality and that it would benefit the consumer to purchase the specific product/service.

For instance, in Max Factor's Pan-Cake Make-Up print ad we see that in the written text the ad states of the product: "it creates a lovely new complexion"; "it helps conceal tiny complexion faults"; and "it stays on for hours without re-applying".

Contemporary print advertisements attempt to persuade consumers by appealing to their desires, wants and emotions, not through logic or reason. Here we see that instead of being logos-driven, contemporary print ads tend to be pathos-driven as they attempt to persuade consumers to purchase the specified product/ service through appealing to their emotions and desires . Thus large amounts of written text are not used nor are they necessary,as images tend to be more effective.

Contemporary print ads tend to be comprised of a persuasive/appealing image, and in most cases though not all, they tend to include a memorable, short written text such as a jingle. This tendency can be seen by looking at examples contemporary print advertisements.