Types of Message Appeals

Todays post I am going to talk about all of the different types of message appeals there are. "A persuasive message can tug at the heartstrings or scare you, make you laugh, make you cry, or leave you yearning to lean more" (Solomon, pg. 277).

The first type of message appeal is the emotional versus rational appeals. Emotional appeals are commercials that are soft and appeal to the heart. Rational appeals talk about how good a product is and appeal to your head more than heart.

***An example of an emotional appeal would be this commercial made by cheerios. This commercial is an example of emotional appeal because it shows the importance of family especially between grandmas and babies.

***An example of a rational appeal would be this commercial made by Toyota Camry. This commercial is an example of rational appeal because the message is about the car being so awesome with the technology and it gets to the consumers head more so than the heart.

The next type of message appeal is sex appeals. This type of appeal lets consumers believe they will be sexy if they buy this particular product. Consumers are also believed to like sexual ads causing them to buy the product.

***An example of sex appeal would be this commercial by Axe. This commercial says that since girls are getting hotter guys will not be able to keep their cool without buying the new Axe cool metal gel.

The next type of message appeal is humorous appeals. This type of appeal gets peoples attention, but "humor is more likely to be effective when the ad clearly identifies the brand and the funny material does not "swamp" the message" (Solomon, pg. 280).

***An example of humor appeal is this commercial by Doritos. Funny commercials will get consumers to share it with their friends, causing the brand name to spread like wildfire.

Fear appeals are another type of message appeal. "Fear appeals emphasize the negative consequences that can occur unless the consumer changes a behavior or an attitude" (Solomon, pg. 280).

***An example of fear appeal is this commercial with the message to quite smoking. This commercial says smoking kills...is it really worth it??