Marketing gurus tell us that people buy for emotional reasons, then find facts to support their decision.
I saw a great commercial on TV last night which can clearly show you how to market to people’s emotions. The scene opens with two men at a checkout counter in a supermarket. The first man is buying “good for you” food, like tofu. He looks uncomfortable and embarassed as the clerk continually tries to price-scan the tofu and it won’t pick up the price. He glances to the second man, then down at what the second man is buying: He-Man food, like pork ribs for his barbeque.
Obviously, the first man has had enough of being a wimp! He leaves the supermarket, goes directly to a Hummer dealership, and buys one of the huge trucks.
As the ad closes, the tagline reads, “Restore Your Manhood.”
Can a truck really, really make you feel more like a man??? I guess so, according to Hummer.
Hummer is in a difficult position right now, with gasoline prices rising. It will be fascinating to watch how they play on people’s emotions to “spin” the story of Hummer, desperately trying to sell more of the gas-guzzling vehicles.
For all you small business owners out there, take some time to watch TV commercials, and for each one, ask yourself, “What emotion, what promise, are they really selling?” It gives you something to do while you watching all those annoying ads. After all, advertisers spend millions of dollars to produce those ads; you might as well learn marketing theory from them, eh?
Restore Your Manhood: Buy a Hummer. I saw the commercial and now, what I have long suspected has been confirmed. Hummers are all about compensation for, well, less than a manly self-perception.
Think your penis is too small? Buy a Hummer. Feeling emasculated because you’re not a meat eater? Screw ’em. Getcher self a Hummer, dude and then you’ll show ’em what a REAL man does — he drives a Road Hog Gas Guzzlin’ Tank that says I’m not good enough just like I am — I gotta supplement MY manhood.
I think this is a pretty bad ad that will backfire for GM.
It’s basically saying that all male Hummer owners were such wimps that they had to buy one of these monstrosities to prove their manhood.
What SELF-RESPECTING red-blooded American male is going to buy one now knowing that everyone is going to be thinking as you drive by that you are a wimp compensating for some defficiency in yourself
The ad was for an H3. Calling it a gas-guzzler is a bit unfair since it’s surprisingly very competitive vs. SUV’s of the same size. You must be thinking about the H2, a much, much bigger truck.
“restore your manhood”
Confirmes what I have long thought, that Hummer owners are compensating for their lack of genuine manhood.
Hummers only prove that someone is insecure. Why else would you want such a terrible vehicle?
I think this is advertising at it’s worst, but follows a standard pattern:
* break down people’s feeling of self-worth, and then encourage them to buy your product to restore it.
I’ve done high-school talks on cigarettes, where the cigarette industry would use pictures of women photographically-stretched beyond even anorexic thinness. Make girls feel ashamed of their body, and catch them when they fall… Hummer’s sister-advert to Restore Your Manhood does the same thing, where a woman gets pushed out of line and then runs out and gets a Hummer, and is magically better.
But usually these ads are subtler – I don’t know that openly saying that Hummer owners need their manhood restored
is really a good advertising campaign. Lesson: if you’re going to advertise in a way that pisses off half the country, be sure to register the URL for your motto first!