Why+are+consumers+attracted+to+ambiguous+advertising?+Natalie+Cipolle

http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/crow/topicpersuasion.htm (this is a very helpful webpage full of social psychology and persuasion). http://neurokuz.blogspot.com/2010/06/are-we-conscious-or-unconscious.html (are we conscious or unconscious consumers) http://neurokuz.blogspot.com/2010/03/neuromarketing-subliminal-advertising.html (neuromarketing: subliminal advertising reinvented?)
 * Step 1**. Why are consumers attracted to ambiguous advertising?
 * Step 2**. Online and Library research
 * http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1226 (the appeal of off-beat product names)**

Interviewing and observation I would like to compose a similar study to the one from the "appeal of off-beat product names" article. Basically the experiment consisted of a small group of people and 6 cups of jelly beans. Some jelly beans had typical names (cherry red, lemon-lime, blue raspberry) while others had ambiguous names (friendly green or party yellow). The purpose of the experiment is to see what flavor jelly bean they chose and why. I would also like to observe and interview my younger sister next time she shops for lipstick and/or nail polish because she always reads what color they are.

Content Analysis

Why are consumers attracted to ambiguous advertising? I find this question interesting because it deals with consumer's cognitive responses. For example, a consumer sees a surprising or unusual name for a nail polish color (trailer trash red). They engage in additional elaboration about the name to try and understand why it is used. When a consumer figures out the reason, or even if they attempt to, they feel smart when an obscure or clever name clicks in their mind.
 * 1) Which data are analyzed?
 * 2) How are they defined?
 * 3) What is the population from which they are drawn?
 * 4) What is the context relative to which the data are analyzed?
 * 5) What are the boundaries of the analysis?
 * 6) What is the target of the inferences?
 * Step 3**. Proposal

If you see Gatorade on the shelf you can't really taste it until you have read what flavor it is. But do we really know what Frosted Glacier Freeze tastes like, or are we just attracted to the thirst-quenching name?

In an attempt to figure out why consumers are attracted to atypical advertisements, I will begin the process by gathering information through books and internet resources. I will then compile and outline of the information that is worthy and helpful for the project. I would like to conduct a mini-experiment to further explain why consumer's are intrigued by ambiguous labels. I also plan to be extra aware while I am out shopping and observing others and what they purchase (perhaps ask why).

My only concern is relating this to one specific topic (provided for class). Advertising is everywhere so this can fit into viral marketing, ad apps, and scams. This research could have a strong impact mostly on viral marketing since consumers are often unsure if what they are seeing is real, so the desire to infer more information is increased.

From this project, I hope to answer my question and to dig deeper into the psychology of consumer's reasons to purchase certain products over another due to the product name. I also would like to find out how and why propaganda takes a word with several meanings and cleverly plays with the word to the point where the audience has no idea what the word means anymore (all natural yogurt example).

Other Notes - The ideology behind ambiguous propaganda -Patterns and repitition -Perceptual familiarity or subconscious? -Neuromarketing/ Neuroimaging technology -Cognitive fluency -Conversational implicature (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/implicature/) -Incongruency theory

Wow-- you're ready to go here-- you get the green light! Keep in mind that this project has to work for the theme "21st Century Propaganda" which means you'll have to explore the gray areas between advertising and propaganda. I think there's a lot of potential to focus on the hope and hype associated with neuromarketing because this topic has itself been distorted by extreme and unrealistic claims. You can pull back the curtain to reveal what people don't know about these strategies.