Conceptual Models of How Advertising Works to Persuade Individuals

Advertising has existed in various forms for centuries now, however the intellectual theory and foundations of how advertising works and why it works are still debatable issues. The Darden Business Publishing article on “Conceptual Models of How Advertising Works to Persuade Individuals” reviews five models that identify how advertising is used to persuade individuals. All five of these models incorporate some combination of understanding the product (learning), arriving at a mental conviction or interest around the product (feeling), and purchasing the product (doing).

The first model introduced in the article was: The Hierarchy of Effects: Learn, Feel, Do. This hierarchy framework asserts that consumers respond to advertising messages in an ordered way and that the principal functions of advertising are to attract attention to create interest and to persuade a purchase decision. Some of the evolutions of this model included: AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) and DAGMAR (defining advertising goals for measured advertising results: awareness, comprehension, conviction, action). Both models essentially show that the process begins with cognition, which leads into a feeling and is followed by a behavior. In today’s landscape, I don’t think this model is complex or evolved enough to answer the question of why or how advertising works. Many things have changed from strategy development, media convergence, creativity, information technology developments, etc. All of these changes have impacted the way people process information and make purchasing decisions. In addition, many people don’t follow this sequence of steps when buying something, especially now that many advertisements are targeted for impulse buys where the learning or thinking phases from the model may be skipped all together.

The Cognitive Dissonance Model: Do, Feel, Learn primarily relates to expensive or high commitment products or services and the anxiety or conflicting beliefs that a consumer experiences afterward. It can also be used to influence brand switching. To reduce cognitive dissonance which can often result in a return or refund of the product or service, companies can provide research and testimonials that will help the customer rationalize their purchase decision. While this model has some valid material, it really only helps explains behavior after the purchase has already been made and is narrow in the types of products or services it may relate to.

The Low Involvement Processing Model: Feel, Do, Learn asserts that information from media and advertisements is processed passively and often subconsciously to evoke a feeling or interest in the product to eventually lead the consumer to making a purchasing decision. This model primarily only relates to products belonging to a company that have strong brand presence in the public or media. Nike, and Budweiser were mentioned, however beauty product companies such as L’Oreal and car companies such