HW 5: The Persuaders

Question 1: Rapaille's method of exploring 'why do people do what they do' seems to hint at deeper reasons for why we purchase the things we do. Contemplate this by looking at the things you buy and the decisions you make. Do you see instances that might go along with this line of thinking. Or do you feel he is just a con man trying to make some money of clueless corporations.


I'm not sure If I completely agree with Rapaille methods. It seems that the concepts that he discusses in the video are concepts that anyone can figure out with the correct information on target markets. The focus group method can be misleading because people may not say what they really think rather they say what they think is "right". The concept of "consumers are driven by unconsious decisions" is really boguish to me. Most consumers know when they buy a product,why they bought it.Whether its for fashion reasons, security reasons, or status reasons, most consumers know what they want out of a certain products. For me, I can tell you most of things I've bought and why I bought them. Overall, I believe that "Rapaille the Guru" is not a Guru at all. Like I said before, with enough research on a certain target audience, anyone can figure out how to best sell a product.

Question 2: What about our friend from Fox News, Frank Luntz? He says he can give you the exact words that will sway people to vote one way or the other? Will this help us derive pinpoint and directed communication initiatives? And more generally how does political advertising affect you while voting?

Unlike Rapaille's method, I think that the words an advertiser or a politican uses can sway an indiviual to buy a product or vote a certain way (Unless your a conserative Republican or Democratic and maybe even then for example this pass election). I believe this will help us derive pinpoint and directed communication initiatives because usually, especially with political advertising and campaigns, sometimes people get uninterested of the same tired language used about policies discussed. I think one of the main reason why President Obama won this election is because his language and diction was clearly understood. For example, the words "hope" and "change" and "Yes We Can" where used a lot in his campaign. People started to feel empowered about a new change and they immediately put their trust in Obama because his language spoke TO the American people not at them. This past election was my first voting experience, but the political advertising didn't have an effect on me, but it was interesting to see each candidates advertising strategy to see what image they were trying to portray and how effective or defective it was for them.

Question 3: What is narrowcasting? Why is this the future? Cite some examples of narrow casting.

Narrowcasting is reaching individuals with small messagees on a one to one basis. This is the future because most advertisements for products are targeting certain demographic groups.
For example, in the video ACT going door to door with videos that pertains to their ethnic group like the African-American woman looking at a video about less jobs for african americans in ohio. Another example is Acxiom.