The Way We Percieve The World...

OK, so week 2 the topic was Perception, now moving on to week 3 the topic is... Perception?  Yep that's right Perception again.  So how much more on this subject could there be?  After the lecture it was easy to discover that the answer to that question is ALOT.  But that is not actually a bad thing. 

The only way people can perceive or gather a perception of something is through the use of their five senses.  This concept has been shown by many different theorists and is how many of them define perception.

During this lecture we discussed how advertisements try to appeal to the consumers five senses; sight, smell, sound, taste and touch.  So that people perceive them in a certain way and hopefully in the best possible way.  The sight receptor includes things such as; colours used in the advertisements and packaging and the visual images.  People associate different colours with different factors such as; blue can symbolise coldness or purity, whilst red can symbolise lust or anger.  Marketers use this as people usually perceive an object by the colours used on advertisements.  Examples of this is shown below:

During the lecture we discussed how this advertisement uses the blue colour, to show the purity of the drink.  Blue is also considered both a unisex colour so it appeals to both sexes.  We also discussed as a class how the colour also is bright and bold to capture attention and how it is also has a calming factor about it.  We also said the visual images of this advertisement such as the slender glass and a bold strong bottle symbolises both male and female characteristics.  By including these factors helps people perceive the object as being multi-gender.

 

However, even though this advertisement also uses the colour blue this is perceived in a very different way.  As a group we discussed that by using a dark blue colour within the mans suit, tie and the bed sheets makes it more masculine, it also relates the colour to the packaging of the product.  By using this colour only on the male character also makes it seem as though the advert is aimed for men, putting the male in the foreground and the women in the background shows clearly who it is aiming at and perceives the object to the audience as being only for men.

A website I discovered which shows in depth colour association is:

http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html

Music and sound of an advertisement is important to marketers. This is due to the fact that advertisement jingles create brand awareness to consumers and background music is used to create a desired mood.  A good example of an advert which uses sound is the 'Go Compare' advert.  This includes a song sang by a main character, this makes people remember the product and service.  Smell is addressed through the use of certain imagery on advertisements such as; flowers and chocolate, an example of this is the Lynx chocolate advert.  The characters within this advert are attracted to the male because of the chocolate scent.   This is done so that people are familiar with a smell and are more likely to buy the product if they like the smell.

Advertisements can appeal to the taste receptors through showing people eating the products and their emotions towards it, an advertisement that does this is 'Danepak.' Their current advert shows a man making a bacon sandwich and taking a bite, it shows him enjoying it.  This again is done as people already have personal experience of flavours therefore people who like the taste of a product are more likely to buy it. Touch is emphasised in advertisements by showing characters feeling and touching the products and their feelings towards that touch.  A great example of this is the 'Bold 2 in 1' me time add.  It shows a women wrapped in a dressing gown and shows her touching with her feet and hands, it perceives the object as being soft and comfortable.  Finally marketers do this so that a product texture is shown clearly to the consumers.  People have different opinions on textures therefore will be drawn to their individual likes.

Video Links:
Go compare - http://www.tellyads.com/show_movie.php?filename=TA10250
Lynx:Chocolate - http://www.tellyads.com/show_movie.php?filename=TA5906
Bold 2 in 1 - http://www.tellyads.com/show_movie.php?filename=TA3978

I think that this lecture was very interesting.  It showed a huge range of examples so that the class could understand how the five senses relate to marketing and also it let us explore the individual senses and different advertisements.  All I can say now is...

Senses Are Amazing!