Guinness
Famously founded in Dublin in 1759 by Arthur Guinness,
Guinness has been a brand synonymous with leading marketing campaigns since
their first ad proclaiming the health benefits of drinking ‘the black stuff’ in
1929. This is the latest offering from the beverage giant, and they use a
number of persuasive techniques to get their message across.
Phones down, please.
In this proclamation, the ad gurus working at Guinness have
picked up on a growing societal sentiment that we spend too much time
interacting with our screens and not with our friends.
Guinness has targeted this phenomenon of Android/Apple
alienation, and implores consumers to put down their phones to pay attention to
those in the immediate vicinity, and to presumably spend more time at the bar
buying pints.
To achieve this aim they have employed the Replacement Version
of the Pictorial Analogy Template, which Goldenburg, Mazursky and Solomon
(1999) found to be a highly successful ad concept. The phones stacked on top of
each other (such that no one can access their own) clearly resemble a pint of
Guinness, and is a clever way of linking modern technological trends with the
iconic pint symbol that is such a valuable asset to Guinness.
But wait, there’s more
Aside from the clever pictorial analogy, there are more
subtle factors at play here that make this an effective ad. Guinness knows that
imaging the desired course of action increases the probability that the desired
course of action is taken (Gregory, Cialdini, & Carpenter, 1982).
Another persuasive technique successfully deployed here is
the use of social proof, or bandwagon effect. The ad aims to achieve its aims
by supplying the consumer with information about how to behave in a social
setting: “if my friends aren’t preoccupied with their phones then I shouldn’t
be either”. There is also the fact that there are 16 phones in this (presumably
rather wobbly) stack. This imagery in itself provides a strong cue for desired
behaviour, and is an example of a normative influence, where the individual
complies in order to avoid exclusion from the group (Williams, 2001).
So whatcha gonna do
This ad is very direct in how it goes about achieving its
aims. Apart from the commanding language used in the tagline, this ad seeks to
embarrass the target of influence in order to make the viewer feel like they
have violated socially acceptable behaviour, and should comply in order to
repair self-image, i.e., get off BBC sport and get another round in (Pratkanis,
2007).
Once the target has been suitably embarrassed, there is an
implicit question to be answered: well, what will I do next time I’m in the
pub? If a self-prediction is made about intention to carry out a certain type
of behaviour, you are more likely to behave in that way. This is believed to
occur via two pathways; cognitive dissonance arousal – where the target seeks
to align what was predicted with their own behaviour, and by providing a
cognitive script – you don’t have to think about what to do because you have
already given yourself the answer (Pratkanis 2007; Spangenberg, Sprott,
Grohmann, & Smith, 2003; Williams, Block, & Fitzgerald, 2006). This is
known as the question behaviour effect.
Guinness the Luddite
By utilizing these persuasive techniques, Guinness has gone
for an unusual message. Being such a huge brand already, they probably aren’t
hugely concerned with directly increasing sales by extolling the qualities of
their product. Rather they have sought to draw cultural battle lines,
establishing itself as a traditional thinking man’s drink, and benefitting from
the publicity surround the smartphone backlash.
References
Goldenberg, J., Mazursky, D., & Solomon, S. (1999).
Creative sparks.Science, 285(5433),
1495-1496.
Gregory, W. L., Cialdini, R. B., & Carpenter, K. M.
(1982). Self-relevant scenarios as mediators of likelihood estimates and
compliance: Does imagining make it so?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43(1), 89.
Pratkanis, A. R. (2007). Social influence analysis: An index
of tactics. The
science of social influence: Advances and future progress, 17-82.
Spangenberg, E. R., Sprott, D. E., Grohmann, B., & Smith,
R. J. (2003). Mass-communicated prediction requests: Practical application and
a cognitive dissonance explanation for self-prophecy. Journal of
Marketing, 47-62.
Williams, K. D. (2001). Ostracism: The Power of Silence: New
York.
Williams, P., Block, L. G., & Fitzgerald, G. J. (2006). Simply
asking questions about health behaviors increases both healthy and unhealthy
behaviors. Social Influence, 1.
Well written!
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