A Critique On Jib Fowles

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A Critique of “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals” by Jib Fowles Have you ever just been relaxing watching your favorite show and then you are suddenly bombarded by loads of advertisements? Do you ever wonder how an advertisement could pursue you to buy a certain shirt or influence you to buy a certain alcoholic beverage or even maybe convince you to donate money to a local charity? Although advertising has been around for decades it seems to be growing and becoming more dominant in today’s society. Having read “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals,” by Jib Fowles originally published in the Etc. 39:3 (1982), I believe his article is very effective and is considered a good source of information, because it’s organized, detailed, and relevant still today. Fowles begins his article by discussing “Emotional Appeals”, when you think about emotion you think about how emotions are perhaps defined as a physical change, be it that you’re happy, sad, mad, etc. When you’re expressing some kind of emotion you’re influencing one’s decisions on how to react to something. So by using an emotional appeal in advertisement you can influence buyers to buy a certain product. He then moves on to discuss the Murrays’s list and how he credited others work to develop the fifteen appeals. Fowles explains, “In developing a comprehensive, parsimonious inventory of human motives, he pinpointed the subsurface mental forces that are the least quiescent and most susceptible to advertising’s entreaties” (Fowles 543). He also explains each need of the fifteen appeals in depth. Then moves on to states how each appeal has its own stylistic feature. He concludes his article by explaining the correct way to analyze an advertisement by using the do’s and don’ts. “By giving form to peoples deep-lying desires, and picturing states of being that individuals privately yearn for, advertisers have the
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