Advertising Persuasion

Advertising is a form of persuasive communication, which plays a major role in marketing communication. In the past two decades, the concept of advertising persuasion has been undergoing significant modifications. Cognitive, socio-cultural, and symbolic approaches of persuasion gradually start to converge for broadening the horizons in which the construction of effective advertising messages is planned and implemented. Besides, scholars and practitioners work more closely, finding multiple research methods to explore the mind and heart of the target audiences in order to create advertisements that holistically appeal to the experiences in sensory, emotional, social and intellectual dimensions. For familiarizing the students with the up-to-date theories and practice of advertising persuasion, this course integrates and applies paradigms of cognitive psychology, social psychology, and semiotics to discussing the following topics: 1. The impact advertising may have on consumer behavior; 2. Strategic planning of advertising message construction; 3. How to evaluate the effectiveness of advertising; 4. Socio-cultural implications of advertising persuasion; 5. Advertising in relation to other types of marketing communication tools.