Evaluation of Advertising Theory: Models and Criticisms

This essay evaluates advertising theory, highlighting its relevance and effectiveness in the contemporary consumer market. It discusses various models and criticisms of advertising, including the hierarchy of effects and AIDA models.

Essay

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Main Body..................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

Introduction
Advertisements that are linked with some other content and situations in which they
are entirely submerged are more effective. It is said that it is not the substance of the
advertisement that makes it convincing, but rather the use of media to combine actions and
fictions. By increasing and reinforcing neutral reactions, the media defines exhilaration and
addiction. The provided report essay is an evaluation of advertisement theory that will be
backed up with the findings of a recently published article. The provided essay is subjected to
highlight theoretical aspects presented in the article and will explore variety of missing
theories and models of advertisement (Altstiel, Grow and Jennings, 2018).
Main Body
According to Jonty Bloom, (2020), ITV's advertising revenue fell by 42% in April in
the UK, while Fox's revenue has halved in the US. In other marketplaces, the situation is
similar, since many things are simply not retailing at the current. As a result, it may appear
self-evident that vehicle advertising is a waste of time and money. However, automobiles
continue to be promoted. This is due to the fact that the marketing and advertising sectors
have long memory and are concerned that potential consumer do not. Companies that have
been established for decades and have billion-dollar brands don't let them die in a downturn.
That is not enough to put out a statement and then wait for a response for advertisement to be
successful. Customers are being exposed to more commercials every day, which may be
irritating. Customers now have a more unfavourable attitude about advertising, making it
more difficult for businesses to reach their target demographic. As a result of all of this,
advertising strategy is becoming increasingly important, and it is critical for businesses to
have a well-defined strategy to follow (Coronavirus: How the advertising industry is
changing, 2020).
Ads have a tendency to influence the minds of potential customers. Some theorists
have noted that people often wish to be like others, particularly when the other person is
famous, gorgeous, or powerful. However, it is impossible for one person to become identical
to another. This impossibility, on the other hand, keeps the want alive in everyone. The heart
of the ritual is that participants collaborate in groups by projecting their imaginations upon
others. A customer's purchase process normally begins with the processing of information
given out as mass communications by many organisations, such as television advertisements
or outdoor advertisements (Belk and Sobh, 2019). They subsequently develop brand

awareness, which increases demand for the product in issue. When the consumer
subsequently feels the need for further information, they contact the company, often a sales
representative, to learn more about the offer. The company then has the opportunity to
persuade the consumer through relationship communications.
Several different models have been proposed by authors in the literature on advertising over a
long period of time. These concepts and approaches are currently taught at advertising
colleges all around the world, and they might be regarded vital in the business. A substantial
number of colleges now use literature that contains these ideas as core textbooks. The
hierarchy of effects is a theory that looks at how advertising affects people's decisions to buy
various products and brands. The concept entails a series of actions that advertising should
take, from boosting customer awareness to final buy behaviour. The chain of impacts theory
describes how marketing impacts customer behaviour, leading to a transition from not
knowing about a product or brand to like it and eventually purchasing it. The effect hierarchy
is based on a behaviourist perspective. The cognitive, emotional, and behavioural stages of
the human thought process may be separated into three categories. Thinking is a term used to
describe the cognitive stage, which comprises the awareness and knowledge stages.
Customers' feelings are influenced by the emotional stage, which contains the sub-stages of
like, preference, and conviction. The final step, which leads to the ultimate goal of purchase,
is the behavioural stage (Bell and Applequist, 2021).
The approach's initial phase is to raise consumer awareness. For instance, if a
consumer decides to purchase a smartphone, the phone company's promotional people must
employ advertising to make the client aware of the brand's presence. The client observes the
product but has little understanding of it at the initial moment. A customer will examine
whether or not the goods but under brand will satisfy his or her demands after knowing more
about it, as well as how it relates to other products and brands. After learning about the
company, it's critical to ensure that clients have enough information to go on to the next level.
Consumers associate a brand with psychological ease, and as a result, they generate
favourable perceptions of it. The phone user, for example, may like a phone's attractive
appearance or find the phone's HD camera to be really helpful. Consumers may prefer
specific aspects of one brand, and they may also enjoy the traits of other brands (Boczkowski,
Mitchelstein and Matassi, 2018). The brand must separate itself from other items and acquire
customer preference over its competition during the preferred stage. The point in the purchase
process when a customer's good views of a brand now become certainty is called
commitment. Consumers' concerns have been addressed, and they are not changing brands at

this moment. The purchasing level of the hierarchy is where customers make their purchasing
decisions. It's vital to give customers a positive purchasing experience, such as pre-order
options, usage instructions, or a guarantee of after-sales support. If such efforts are
undertaken, consumers may be more likely to buy in larger amounts or stick with the same
brand for their next purchase.
As previously said, the hierarchy of effects model is a behavioural psychology study
that focuses on behaviour reaction. Cognitive psychology, which investigates how our brains
process information, has challenged the paradigm for its usefulness. Advertising's impact on
consumer purchasing behavior is divided into phases by the hierarchy of effects. According
to cognitive psychology scholars, consumers are exposed to a wide range of information in
the real world, which may impact their final purchase decisions. Advertisers find it virtually
impossible to understand how advertising material is processed in the minds of consumers at
each level due to the significant background noise (Escobar, 2018). Another criticism is that
the theory assumes that all kinds of advertising go through the same six stages, ignoring
product diversity and advertising strategies. Instead of repeating the same steps, advertising
with diverse objectives should develop distinct selling concepts that set their items apart from
the competition (Jung and Childs, 2020).
AIDA is a behavioural model created by Strong in 1925 with the purpose of
guaranteeing that advertising creates awareness, stimulates interest, and leads to desire and,
ultimately, action. To be effective, advertising must be designed in such a manner that the
customer experiences all four stages, each of which is equally important. Advertising,
according to the strategy, should feature memorable and believable statements that encourage
people to take a certain action. AIDA appears to be a system that is currently in use for
contemporary business. Even if it doesn't realise it at the time, the interviewee believes AIDA
is at the back of his mind when planning a marketing campaign for the group. According to
the interviewee, it is critical to understand where the organization's advertising fits into this
model for what to do with it (Srivastava, 2020). Buyers do not believe that advertisement is
responsible for guiding them through all of the processes in the AIDA model. They believe
that commercials can generate interest and attention for a company or its products, but that it
is excessive to claim that advertisements are the ones that inspire customers to make a
purchase. This, nevertheless, is a viewpoint that varies depending on the age group. The
younger audience appears to believe that advertising has an impact on them, but the older
audience claims that it does not. The process is completed when the procedure is combined
with other communication techniques (Tsetsura, 2020).

Even though it, like others, has been criticized by various factions of the advertising
profession, many believe the model to be the most potent advertising theory. They contend
that there is no evidence that consumers act in such a logical, linear fashion. They argue that
mainstream media advertising in general fails to evoke desire or action. The method ignores
the role of context, environment, and mediation on advertisement effectiveness. As a result,
the advertising industry has recently focused on two essential behavioural responses:
knowledge and interest. They say that all four phases are not equally significant, and that in
order to be effective, an advertising must delve deeper into the psychological levels. Another
criticism of the methodology is that it only accounts for high-risk purchases. According to
AIDA, customers always go through this rational process when buying products, however
many individuals argue that purchases are more typically spontaneous (Zotos, Grau and
Taylor, 2018).
Advertising is an infinitely flexible instrument that can serve the revolution in the
same way that a company can. It's critical that the client not only understands the message of
an advertisement, but also the medium and surroundings in which it's delivered. The
hierarchy of effects hypothesis, which has served as the foundation for many advertising
approaches, appears to be less relevant in today's market. Although it is evident that the
organisation continues to employ this method when developing advertising campaigns, the
interviews also reveal that clients do not complete all of these processes. Although the phases
are important to the market, they are not useful as steps in an advertising model. It is obvious
that advertising that walks the buyer through the entire process is not advertising, and this
should be included in the model.
Conclusion
From the analysis of report essay, it can be concluded that there were several
literature drawn in respect to recent trends in contemporary consumer market. In the provided
essay, concept of advertisement was being highlighted in accordance to its relevancy and
most effectiveness in business market. In addition to this, revolution in the industry by
outbreak of COVID-19 was also brought to light. Moreover, several models and theories of
advertisement were being discussed and most suitable form of model was being briefed along
with some criticism for potential improvements. Thus, provided evaluation covers bright side
of advertisement to provide necessary information to relative products or services consumer
and lead to a developed economy of region.

References
Books and Journals
Altstiel, T., Grow, J. and Jennings, M., 2018. Advertising creative: strategy, copy, and
design. Sage Publications.
Belk, R. and Sobh, R., 2019. No assemblage required: On pursuing original consumer culture
theory. Marketing Theory, 19(4), pp.489-507.
Bell, T.R. and Applequist, J., 2021. “Do the Things You’re Gonna Do on Game Day, Just
Don’t Get Hurt”: A Narrative Analysis of the NFL’s “Future of Football”
Advertising Campaign. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, pp.1-19.
Boczkowski, P.J., Mitchelstein, E. and Matassi, M., 2018. “News comes across when I’m in a
moment of leisure”: Understanding the practices of incidental news consumption on
social media. New media & society, 20(10), pp.3523-3539.
Escobar, A., 2018. Culture, economics, and politics in Latin American social movements
theory and research. In The making of social movements in Latin America (pp. 62-
86). Routledge.
Jung, E. and Childs, M., 2020. Destination as Product Placement: An Advertising Strategy to
Impact Beliefs and Behavioral Intentions. Journal of International Consumer
Marketing, 32(3), pp.178-193.
Srivastava, R.K., 2020. Will direct comparative advertising works for a leading brand? A
study of the honey market. International Journal of Comparative Management, 3(1-
2), pp.125-141.
Tsetsura, K., 2020. What is next for strategic. Strategic Communications in Russia: Public
Relations and Advertising, p.29.
Zotos, Y., Grau, S. and Taylor, C.R. eds., 2018. Current research on gender issues in
advertising.
Online
Coronavirus: How the advertising industry is changing, 2020. [Online]. Available at:
<https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52806115>