Patterns in Medicinal Advertising
Uploaded by LisaGrise on Mar 31, 1999
One of the most innovative trends in print advertising is medicine advertisement. The content of these particular advertisements (ads) are intriguing to me. I intend to analyze five medicinal ads to find the tools used by advertisers and to explore the positive and negative aspects of advertising medicine through print ads for the public.
The people who develop ads to market prescription medicine products must have an inkling of what the reader wants to see. For instance, the ads in a parenting magazine most often target mothers. The ads in a sports magazine predominately target athletes. How do the advertisers know what the reader will respond to?
Patterns are tools that help us to narrow our thinking down and put thoughts into categories that we identify with. Patterns allow us to store information in blocks so that we do not have to relearn information that has already been learned. Some patterns are universal and most people have some categories or patterns that other people have. An example of a universal human pattern is using language to communicate. Other patterns that we have, may be derived from our own experience and unlike those of others. Patterns are useful in advertising because advertisers can target their reader by tapping into specific categories.
Perception is a person's understanding of the information they receive. Depending on their experience or their understanding they will categorize their perception and in turn it will become a thought pattern. For instance when a person talks to a priest their perception of him may be that he is perfect or does not sin. They may categorize all priests this way and not judge them in the way that they would any person who is not a priest. I feel that patterns and perception work hand in hand. Sometimes patterns are formed based on perception, sometimes perception is based on a pattern. What came first the chicken or the egg? I'm not quite sure, but I do know they affect each other. Ads are designed by using patterns that target a specific audience. The reader's perception of the product may form exclusively based on the ad.
The patterns that I noticed specifically amongst the five medicine ads that I've chosen to analyze is the break through effect. In one ad there was a woman with her child and they were breaking through glass. Another ad featured a woman and her child with clear...