Sex and The Lynx Effect

It has become clear how advertising today, focuses on narratives, experiences and emotions. Its as though the ethic of hard work has been replaced by hedonism as the fun ethic of modern day society, with advertisers exploiting this trend by focusing on selling through emotive words and images instead of product substance.

Hedonism primarily concerns itself with choices, freedom, pleasure and pain. Then again, it is more than just pleasure and pain because such choices are judged and ultimately socially constructed. It is  regarded as the least desirable feature of western society. This is because such formations as ‘doing one’s own thing’ or ‘dumbing down’ associate with the idea of an egotistic, individualistic culture that is  degraded by materialism and self-obsession.

Therefore, through such materialistic consumption, hedonism attempts to identify the good life with the pleasurable life. It is not the case of choosing to be happy, but that you choose ‘things’ that make you happy. People are increasingly attracted to the things that make them feel good.

Such enriching enjoyments are ultimately tied to activites and relationships valued for their own sake and not purely for the pleasures they fabricate. They produce pleasures because we first must desire them, and find them desirable on a broader basis than merely their pleasure-producing aspect. However, advertising itself does not create wants; there must be an underlying desire to want to seek the product or experience in the first place….

The pleasures we get from seeking and consuming commodities and experiences maybe short-lived. Pleasure-seeking  aims for a quality of experience arising from certain patterns of sensation.  Such pleasures of consumption could reside in the imagination. In other words, consumers imaginativly anticpate the pleasure that a new product or experience might bring. Yet in reality it never lives up to what they anticipate…

While no great pleasure can be derived from just imagined sensations, it is easy to imagine situations. For example the idea of ‘sex’ can potentially stimulate an emotional experience. Consequently then, when consumers feel something to be true, even if  they know it to be false, that feeling may be all that is needed to determine a brand perference.

Sexual imagery in particular, had been widely used to sell commodities. Sex is used to attract consumer’s attention to products and to render specific brands more attractive.  However, it is not the idea of sex in advertising that is the issue; it is the context in which it is portrayed and sold to an audience.

Unilever’s Lynx range in particular is a well-known, recognisable and popular brand that is associated ‘with maleness and sexual potency’ (Lynx 2009). In other words if you buy this you WILL get laid.

Lynx has aired a number of television adverts for their deodorants, anti-perspirants and shower gels. The brand continues to exploit an image of masculinity that is far from the hegemonic ideal. The men used in the adverts, although not unattractive are presented as your ‘average Joe’ and thus attainable figures of ‘youthful post-pubescent masculinity.’

The idea of course is that if a Lynx product can turn the ‘normal’ male into a magnet for the opposite sex in the adverts, then it can do the same for the young man in the audience. Thus, it is essential for the advert to get consumers to transfer positive associations of the imagined desire onto the commodity, so that Lynx products equal sexual magnetism in the mind of the viewer.

Yet, as previously mentioned without a motive or desire, there is no action. Even though we speak of a motive for doing something, in reality there may be several motives at work. Therefore, when a young man sprays Lynx, he is not simply using a deodorant to smell pleasant, but is rather spraying better looks, success, love, respect and social approval or in this case, sexual attraction.

However, consumers can be selective in what they perceive to be true and false within advertising.  To believe that by spraying Lynx, the opposite sex will be physically incapable of resisting the urge to mount the wearer is extremely doubtful….

Nevertheless, through their messages, Lynx have evolved to understand more hedonistic and youth- centered worries.

After all,young men are most anxious about sexual performance, most self-conscious about finding a partner and perhaps most insecure about their developing physiques. Lynx (2009) advocates how ‘British men worry about their self image, personal freshness, bad breath and body odour.’  Thus, this message of sexual success is not simply a passing reference, but rather, the driving force of the marketing campaign behind the Lynx brand.

The adverts tend to play out the man as the dominant sex and gender stereotypes for comedic effect, as if to reassure rather than alienate a young male viewer about his own social role, sexual performance and physicality. However, by positioning a male and the product in this way, Lynx are reiterating an ideological idea that female attention and the promise of sexual satisfaction is more important than career progression or in improving one’s mind or body.

Marketing communications consequently stand accused of generating strong social pressure to consume in this way.  Advertising in particular, is said to able to exploit this freedom to attach images of romance, exotica, fulfilment, or the good life to mundane consumer goods such as soap. These images fix the ways material objects are able to act as carriers of meaning in social interactions. Therefore, the claim made that the aggregate outcome of mass consumer messaging on larger scale has pressed consumers in a hedonistic direction cannot be ignored.

The Rise of the Videogame

There is a growing popularity to consume in online spaces whether it is through online virtual worlds, videogames or interactive functions on online retailers.  More recently, digital virtual spaces such as websites, virtual worlds and videogames have emerged that may allow for an actualisation of consumer imagination beyond what material goods and experiences can propose.

Given that they lack any use-value in terms of physical needs, digital virtual goods still appear to be compelling commodities. It has become apparent that the conventional use-value is no longer a characteristic that must be present for goods to be consumed.

Within the market, there is an array of goods available for consumers to consider and subsequently desire, as well as opportunities to interact with simulations of alluring commodities. For example a video game may allow a player to own a farm as Farmville offers. Virtual world and videogames may even incite the consumption of fantasy goods such as virtual chickens.  Such consumption sits between the imagination and the material  and  these practises are labelled as digital virtual consumption (DVC).

As previously mentioned even though such virtual goods lack use-value they are becoming increasingly popular because through their symbolic application, these commodities can meet less immediately material but equally imperative needs such as belonging and individuality. Providing that these needs exist with the absence of use-value,  the exchange-value maybe determined in the context of  the social values that are given to commodities. This means that the symbolic-value of an object comes into play and works to value commodities within their social context. For example within the virtual world ‘Second life’ the exchange values linked with virtual goods can be perceived as a product of what they signify for individuals as well as what they represent for the larger community. Thus, it appears advertising attaches to brands, culturally symbolic images in the hope that it enhances a brands desirability.

It seems that over time, consumers have learnt to place more emphasis on the imaginary aspects of the consumption experience whereby function utility and the use-value of commodities is either taken for granted or seen as irrelevant. A prime example within the video gaming industry is the ‘World of Warcraft.’ With an estimated 10.3 million subscribers  it is one of the biggest online digital virtual gaming environments. Even though the object of consumption lacks material substance and thus cannot be used in material reality, for example a digital virtual sword cannot cut. ‘World of Warcraft’ illustrates how the desire for ownership and a form of actualisation may be possible. Within this DVC space, the performance of buying and owning a sword may actually happen…

Through DVC, such economic worlds as World of Warcraft and Second Life have presented how wealth and status can differ significantly from embodied, material being, whereby the sustained virtual life is not reflective of one’s offline identity. Overall, it could thus be suggested that videogames with their high technology production and continuous innovation are being heavily promoted through the media as “ideal” commodity forms of our time  because such desires can continually be renewed through these online experiences.

Spot the ‘P’

Product placement is now allowed on UK television but is it just a way for brands to push their message home?

In a nutshell, means that we could soon see ‘Simon Cowell on The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent draped in more logos than your average Formula One driver,’ according to Andy Dawson (2010).

It is feared that broadcasters will cram our television programmes with products that are there for no reason at all. Yet, surely brands are not dim-witted enough to waste thousands of pounds, placing products in programmes and films whereby it has no relevance? A prime example of this,  is the  moment in the film Twilight ‘New Moon’ when Bella and Alice take off for Italy to save Edward. There was a 5 second clip of a Virgin Atlantic plane randomly flying across the screen. This didn’t seem to fit in with the context of the film indicating that even the big brands get it wrong, in my opinion.

Ofcom, however has put in place strict guidelines on the practice, insinuating that product placements ‘must not impair broadcasters’ editorial independence and must always be editorially justified’. In other words, programmes cannot be altered so that their solitary purpose becomes product placement. This means the product placement must be coincidental to the story line. For example if a couple are just about to sit down for breakfast it would be perfectly normal to see a tub of Countrylife and a bottle of Innocent Smoothie on the tab.  It is however prohibited to use products such as tobacco, alcohol, gambling, medicine, baby milk and food or drink that is high in fat, salt or sugar.

You should all now get used to seeing the above ‘P’ on your screens as well. Following the new rules for product placement on TV, viewers will see a new product placement logo. This is because it theoretically prevents surreptitious advertising, and therefore consumers must be informed at the start of a programme that product placement is in use. Is this a step too far? The first show to introduce the new rules was Monday’s edition of This Morning, whereby a Nescafe coffee machine appeared on the ITV programme, after the company paid a £100,000 fee. Hardly noticeable is it?

Meanwhile, according to new research from YouGov, half of viewers think the procedure is neither good nor bad, while 23% believe it’s a negative thing and only 14% regard it as positive.  Even more interestingly, 70% of respondents believe that by seeing a brand in a TV show or film will not change their perceptions of it. Yet subconsciously are consumers being affected? It is hard to tell that by buying an a bottle of Coca Cola soon after watching Buddy with one in the film Elf did not trigger some sort of purchase intention from the use of product placement in the film.

 However is product placement on UK television really such a bad thing? To a certain extent they provide this sense of realism, because after all we come into contact with brands everyday; from what we wear right down to what food we consume. So isn’t it a little strange when someone on TV starts eating from a suspiciously plain bag of crisps?

Several would disagree and implicate that product placement is a subtler and less intrusive form of advertising. You can quite easily ignore a box of cereal on a shelf. But with a full-screen 30 second advert, bombarding the audience with brands images and over enthusiastic brand messages are a little more complicated to ignore.

RIP Simon Cowell’s Blurry Coca Cola cup.

Is targeting your ‘Life Devise’ the next BIG thing?

Obsession is somewhat great thing.  Without being ashamed to say it, I am in that generation ‘obsessed’ with the mobile device. Looking back over this blog, I think it is time I actually laid out why I and many others are  so fanatical about this small piece of technology.  Furthermore, why advertisers should  be worming their way in and taking advantage, of this new means of advertising. I have briefly discussed the importance of mobile advertising in a post further down.

So let me begin with the core element; mobiles phones are not only highly interactive, but they can improve the users’ experience due to the personal nature of these contraptions.  As I previously noted, mobiles have become a somewhat ‘life device.’ It is interesting how advertisers are beginning to recognise that mobiles are more than just about connecting people, it has become something people are significantly dependent on. It is always on, always with the user and highly personal.  Goggin (2006) contends that ‘the mobile phone has become a central cultural technology in its own right.’ This implies it plays a somewhat indispensable role in peoples everyday lives given that it facilitates a range of uses.

 The mobile phone enables consumers to stay in contact, allows them to gather information, entertain themselves and engage in transactions. Therefore, this could implicate it serves as an important element of identity construction and expression for many individuals. This means mobile operators can easily mine usage data, profile their users, and determine which users would be good targets for advertisers. (Ana Teixeira 2008)

 So why are advertisers opting or should be opting for a more mobile way?

 Although very much in its infancy, the IAB calculated that in 2010 there were 23.3m mobile users in the UK – of course this number is growing rapidly. With mobile ad spend accounting for 83 million a growth of nearly 166% in 2010.  The video below breaks down the ad formats of the mobile expenditure.

This growth is fuelled by a number of factors. Firstly according to the IAB, there is a 58% increase in the number of smart phones. This has changed consumers’ use of mobile internet. For example 43% of consumers used mobile for research for purchasing and 35% used mobile for enhancing a purchasing experience, with 27% of users actually paying for a product via their mobile. (IAB 2010)

Secondly, brands are beginning to grow in their understanding of mobile advertising and how it can be used within their strategy to enhance accurate B2C targeting. This is because content can be personalised and ubiquitously assessable where ever whenever. This allows advertisers to be more interactive with consumers in conjunction with their location for example. The consumer can receive the right offer at the right moment when they are where they are. Therefore, this could make it easier for brands to reach their audience when and where they may be willing to execute the desire to acquire a product or service, or go through a brand experience.

A more recent way to target consumers using their location is through Facebook check ins. Facebook in November 2010 announced that it had 200 million users accessing the site via mobile devices. That gives the company a huge base to target advertising at one of the biggest collective cross-border mobile communities in the whole of the industry. (Ingrid Lunden 2011) Using social media can allow advertisers to potentially build marketing profiles of their consumers, for example their recent activity. Starbucks offer promotional discounts through your mobile phone based on your identity and your location using Facebook check ins. This therefore, may have the ability to develop customer loyalty by being able to interact with consumers in real time. This is important if brands wish to stick in consumers’ minds by acting on the ‘here and now.’

However, advertisers seem to increasingly target the couch potatoes with mobile advertising which then may lead them to go to a particular location.  A prime example is Peugeot. They used SMS as a way to target potential consumers. SMS is the most dominant format used by mobile advertisers with a 39% share of the market. (IAB 2010) The brand wanted to create a buzz around their new car launch, allowing people to interact with the car in innovative ways. From the television ad consumers had to text ‘easy.’ The call to action however did not even say why viewers should text in. A menu would be texted back with a variety of options.  

The results showed that 80% of people did 2+things having entered the WAP site. Those who ordered the brochure were more likely to book a test drive, encouraging the consumer to go to a particular location, not only try out the product but to experience the brand. Overall from just the television advert, they had 30,000 responses, leading to a 10x higher brand recall than non users. This demonstrates that when the consumer is interested in the advertising message and requests to find out more, it is highly successful.

 Conversely, when consumers do not have a choice on whether they are targeted through mobile advertising, it can be invasive. Seth Godin, author of the bestselling book, Permission Marketing commented, ‘that there is too much advertising nowadays, that advertising interrupts are daily lives.’ Consumers have already learned how to ignore advertising and become resilient to it. However, if you were to give permission to receive advertising and encourage advertisers to sell their products, this is usually because you are really interested in it. This makes permission marketing particularly valuable because it can generate positive associations towards brands who encourage two-way communication.

Bringing this all to a close, mobile marketing like any other medium has its benefits and weakness. It depends on how it is implemented and integrated into a campaign, the mobile adoption rates of your target audience and how well it respects the consumer in terms of the experience it delivers.  The everyday concern is to find the best way to attend to the needs and desires of consumers, when looking to deliver a product or enhance the brand experience. Therefore, looking for innovative approaches to target consumers is becoming the norm, as consumers have the power to avoid advertising. Hence  why I believe targeting, anytime, anywhere mobility allows more accurate targeting, which brings a clear benefit to advertisers.

Ethical Branding

In today’s society, there’s little doubt that ethical considerations are a potentially powerful influence on consumer purchasing decisions. Whether its specific issues concerning the environment or a more general pressure to support or ‘give something back’ to society through a charitable means. Brands need to begin to take a conscious decision as to what sort of ethical stance to take.

However ethics is a very complex subject. Ying Fan (2005) mentioned how the principles for deciding right and wrong are not always easy to define. In particular ethical values vary between individuals, organisations and even cultures. But one thing is for certain, an ethical brand enhances the firm’s reputation. While, any unethical behaviour can damage or even destroy the total intangible asset of a brand.

With many brands using social media much to their advantage to interact with their consumers, is social media becoming the new frontier for brands to promote their ethical practices?  

The shoe brand, Toms for example is committed to give a pair of shoes to a child in need when you purchase a pair of Toms. The campaign is formally known as ‘one for one.’ A key medium Toms use to communicate and interact with their consumers is through social media. Facebook is the dominant platform for Toms, who use it to primary engage regularly with their 828,207 fans, actively uploading comments and content. They visually convey the brands ethical activity increasing its transparency and include direct links to purchase to drive sales.  After recently celebrating the brands forth birthday they set up a campaign to encourage people to wear no shoes for one day.   

Over 1000 events were held worldwide with over 25 countries participating. It was very much the topic of conversation, being the forth most Googled ethical campaign. It appears the aim was build consumer curiosity and initiate and develop conversation both face-to-face and through social media. Where people could upload and discuss their experience with other people. This would hopefully provoke action and lead to change. The below video shoes the campaign in action:

I personally believe this campaign clearly shows how a brand with rooted ethical values and practices can sustain trust in its consumers using social media. Over 1400 companies joined in the barefoot challenge indicating how important it is for other brands to get involved with such events, showing their support and appreciation for such causes. This may increase a brands reputation of corporate social responsibility with potential consumers, as the brand is supporting, sharing the same values and concerns as the consumers. However, to its critics CSR is all about cover up and spin. Many companies use CSR as a form of corporate PR rather than as authentic attempt to change the way they interact with society. (WARC, 2003).

Another similar campaign by Divine Chocolate (fair trade chocolate brand) uses digital means to promote their ethical practices. Although the brand is in its infancy, Divine Chocolate is a good example of a cohesive digital strategy that supports offline activity. For example through social media the brand promotes their legitimate efforts to empower the Ghana’s women via the Divine YouTube channel and supports this across other social media sites i.e. Facebook, Twitter and their homepage, increasing the reach in a shorter amount of time.

I strongly believe by doing this it increases the brands transparency and connects with consumers emotionally to build trust and respect. This is important as the brand is built around this ethical issue of ‘fair trade’ and many consumers who purchase this brand of chocolate tend to because of unethical practices surrounding chocolate production. Ying Fan (2005) finally noted that ‘ethical branding could provide the company with a differential advantage as a growing number of consumers become more ethically conscious.’

Clicktivism – false sence of activism?

We have a digital communications medium that is creating an opportunity to re event the world. Opportunities, to communicate to more people faster and further than ever before with social tools like Twitter, Facebook and thousands of sites devoted to issues and causes. Like minded individuals are increasingly uniting about everything from Global Warming to saving their local pub and its revolutionising how activists organise.

‘If activism is the activation of groups of individuals to achieve a collective aim, then activism in a fundamental sense relies on engaging the underlying forces of community at work in a particular media or space.’ (Tim Hwang 2010 ) This may generate a collective identity through a shared awareness which is an ultimate goal for activists, using digital communications. As Shirky (2010) implies this is ‘the ability of each member of a group to not only understand the situation but also understand that everyone else does to’ which further contributes to collective identity.  

Even the X-Factor’s dominance over the Christmas number one slot has been confronted by digital activism. Through the use of Facebook a short term movement campaign was set up to stop the X Factor, who for 4 years in a row have produced the Christmas number 1, and get Rage Against The Machine to top the charts – and it worked. Users collectively united as they used their increasing buying powers to overcome what had, in previous years by both the public and bookies as predictable. The campaign started out as a ‘joke’ but is perceived as a ‘seismic cultural shift’  mobilising the movement. It brought a sense of power to the people, due to the emergent dominance of social media and allowing for more than just one-way conversation. This is because Facebook is a tool for building networks, which are the reverse, in construction and character, of hierarchies. ‘Unlike hierarchies, with their rules and procedures, networks aren’t controlled by a single central authority.’ (Malcolm Gladwell 2010) It is this ‘collective awareness’ and identity which ended what was perceived as the status quo.  

Rage Against The Machine sold 502,672 copies, beating the X Factor winner by approximately 50,000 sales. There is a clear element of ‘clicktivism’ taking place. Over 600,000 people ‘joined’ the Facebook group ‘rage against the X Factor.’ But that was all they did, implicating this sense of ‘slack participation.’ As Tim Hwang (2010) implies, ‘while a rapidly spreading discussion online might foster awareness, creating easy access to relevant information play a key role in sustaining attention.’ However not everyone who joined and supported the campaign were willing to take action, and download the song. This may be because as Malcolm Gladwell (2010) articulates, ‘social networks are effective at increasing participation—by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires.’ So is it a case, people feel like they are participating and doing enough by clicking the ‘like’ button on Facebook? Activists may effectively mobilize participants through social media but do not reach the campaign goal. As Mary Joyce, leading digital activist and founder of the Meta-Activism Project suggests.

However now, the latest clicktivists are clever, highly engaged with social media and becoming largely accessible. (Ben Bryant 2011) As the X Factor example shows, the status quo is easier than ever before to mobilise and change, giving more power to the people. Brands should therefore try to understand and learn how these movements operate and whether they are an effective way to reach and engage with consumers in relation to the subject matter concerned.

Invading Ones Private Parts

In today’s technological world, millions are subject to privacy threats. At present, companies are hired not only to watch what you visit online, but to access the information and send advertising based on your browsing history.

Even when we are offline, we are being tracked through CCTV, telephone calls and credit card transactions to name a few. It has become apparent we leave an electronic trail behind us, which can be constructed into a detailed record of our lives. It has therefore become hard to see what remains as private beyond non trackable face-to-face conversations.

Internet advertising is now big business, worth around £3.5 billion annually in the UK, therefore powering the internet’s rapid growth. This is primarily because without online advertising many websites such as YouTube, Facebook and Google would not exist due to the dependency on advertising to support their products and services.

Websites gain more value from online advertising by providing more relevant adverts. If Google for example did not ensure we only receive targeted adverts rather than useless information we did not wish to seek, this implication of personalisation maybe beneficial to consumers. Therefore advertisers are willing to pay more to reach their target audience directly.

However targeted adverts are based on information about a user which has lead to great debate about imposing data privacy regulations, that would limit advertisers to tailor ads to users based on their interests.

Internet cookies in particular started receiving vast media attention back in 2000 because of internet privacy concerns. A cookie is a piece of information a web-server sends and the browser stores it as a user ID. The browser then returns the cookie to the server the next time the page is opened. The European Union is concerned that these little bits of data collected by a Web browser, which inform advertisers of all online users, could be a violation of privacy.  However, surely cookies provide capabilities that make the web much easier to navigate? Major sites such as Amazon use them because they provide an enhanced user experience and make it much easier to gather accurate information about the sites visitors.

This process is formally known as behavioural targeting and is one of key advantages of internet advertising over traditional mediums such as TV and print.

A good example of behavioural targeting gone wrong is Facebook’s ‘Beacon’ strategy, launched in 2007. According to Mintel (2009) it was conceived as a way of allowing advertisers to send highly targeted ads to users, depending on their site activities. They brought in a social element to the buying process by allowing friends to see your purchases and encourage discussion of a purchase. Therefore, potentially encouraging further sales. This ultimately ended in a class action law suit by privacy activists in the US, negative publicity and extensive disapproval from users.

But speaking generally is this tracking process really an invasion of your privacy? According to the UK’s Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) “Any data used is done so anonymously. When personal data is used, it’s done so when you register for a website or service and you will be told beforehand.”   This statement is true to some extent,  as when you register to a site you are given the option to not pass any personal details onto 3^rd parties, allowing the user to protect their privacy. Yet behavioral privacy on what sites you go on is very much open to tracking. There is a solution to this however. The IAB has set up a site called YourOnlineChoices.com whereby consumers can deal with concerns about targeted advertising. You can find links to major ad networks and opt out of the system. Although not all ad networks are present, it is portrayed as a step in the right direction to protecting ones privacy online.

Your Online Choice Website

There is no doubt the privacy debate will continue. Many, including myself are on the fence on whether marketers take it too far with targeted ads, tapping into personal details we did not wish for them to seek. Therefore, advertisers need to respect and treat consumers with care rather than merely something to push products upon. Yet internet users ought to stop taking free content for granted. There will always be a price to pay as we cannot always expect high quality content for free.