The Ultimate Question: Facts or Details?

"the issue is much more fundamental than the usual myopic media one about where the ads appear: it's about recognising women [and men]'s different approach"

- Financial Times, June 29th, 2001

Recognising the way different people interpret and perceive information is fundamental to being able to create branding, advertising, products etc, that is effective. One of the main, and often most obvious, differences is between the Genders. After being shown a series of different magazine adverts, it was very interesting to see the differences between not only which adverts the guys and gals of the class remembered, but why. The differences in why people remembered the adverts was incredible. It is nothing new to say that there are scores of adverts that are aimed towards either sex, and it is immediately obvious which sex they target, even before you know what the product is.

Katherine Frith states that there are three different levels of understanding an advert. Firstly there is the surface meaning, the first impression of an advert from simply glancing over the picture. Secondly, the advertiser's intended meaning. This is the strategy behind the advert, the meaning the marketeers would prefer you to walk away with. The last level is the cultural or ideological meaning, which is how the viewer relates to the advert; using culture, social groups and immediate relationships as a reference point for the picture.

A recent article, The Effectiveness of Comparative and Noncomparative Advertising, in The Journal of Advertising, a very interesting and useful article that I would recommend to anyone interested in gender differences or advertising to read, states that studies show that while women will see a puzzle as engaging and challenging, and will immediately start to recall memory to solve the problem; a man will be more likely to try and use clues in him immediate surroundings to solve the puzzle, and will give up quickly if he feels that solving the puzzle will not be constructive for him at that moment in time. Essentially, unless it is urgent and significant, men will look for the basic facts where women will usually look for details, whatever the situation, as is illustrated by the cast of Friends in the video below.

Men weren’t really the enemy —
they were fellow victims suffering from an outmoded masculine mystique that made
them feel unnecessarily inadequate when there were no bears to
kill.

Betty Friedan, 1963

The differences between the genders is not something to be seen as an issue, a big problem that must be solved- it is something that should be celebrated. After all the fabulous campaigning of the suffragettes in the 20s and the bra burning of the feminists in the 60s the 80s saw the conformist era starting- and this is where it all started to go wrong. As with race, colour, age, sex- all people are NOT equal. If people were all equal, they would probably be the same. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Women in the 80s shouldn't have had to wear pinstripe suits to work in business.

The fact is that men and women are different, and that everybody should work to their strengths, although this might be a very idealistic hope. As people have assorted talents, likes, dislikes, shortfall, experiences etc. these are all things that can be marketed to, picked up on and, said crudely, manipulated.

A great, simple, funny video, partially in Italian- http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jlFsnlmLmyg it is very sweet.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Ideal Self Concept- The knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions people have about the self they would be like if they were perfect or ideal.
Real Self Image- The knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions people have about themselves as they actually are.

Self Esteem- Belief and confidence in your own ability and value.

The difference between how a person thinks they should be and how they view themselves in reality results in the confidence they have in their abilities. So, in a basic and crude form;

Ideal Self - Self Image = Self Esteem

Newcomb's Self Concept Theory states that an individual creates a view of themselves based on how they think they think they fit in comparison to a 'socially determined frame of reference'. So two people, for example, Franki and Sallie, are both loud. But because Sallie's housemates are also very loud, and Franki's aren't, Sallie doesn't view herself as being as loud as Franki. But they are both still loud.

Goffman goes one step further than this saying that self concept is defined not only by a social frame of reference, but by the different roles which the individual play throughout life. He uses the same analogy as Shakespeare 'all the world's a stage'.

'Goffman uses the theater and its three settings--onstage, backstage, and offstage--to define the Dramaturgical Perspective. Each stage provides a setting that ultimately shapes the manner in which actors present themselves and how that presentation is received.'

- Jaiyanne Chen and Greg Boothroyd, Ervine Goffman's Dramaturgical Perspective

This view claims that people might have different needs, wants and desires when they play different roles in life, and show the good, the bad and the ugly facets of their characters. The consumer may be satisfied by different products and services depending on what role they are in. Each role that a person plays affects his/her self-esteem. I asked a few people how they think their various roles affect their self-esteem, and came out with some very interesting answers. My father said that in his work 'being seen as a mentor, an innovator, a leader brings [him] a sense of satisfaction', boosting his self- esteem. On person commented that as a Daughter, she had always been told that she could do anything she wanted, but never the sense that she particularly deserved it. This led to a very mixed and conflicted self-esteem.
Fashionable items are often purchased raise self-esteem, to make the consumer feel like they are nearer to their Ideal Self Image. This idea is the basis for most modern advertising campaigns- especially those targeted at teenagers and young adults.


Personality- the totality of somebody's attitudes, interests, behavioral patterns, emotional responses, social roles, and other individual traits that endure over long periods of time.

It was concluded in class today that it is not feasible to base a marketing concept on Personality. This is because it is so varied, and people fall into many different categories. This is also true of both the Ideal Self Concept and the Real Self Concept, but the difference is that the latter two can be manipulated and change, relatively easily. Individuals may change depending on who they are with and the roles that they are playing, but their core Personality is constant.


Brand Personality- This is the psychological nature of a particular brand as intended by its sellers, though persons in the marketplace may see the brand otherwise (called brand image). These two perspectives compare to the personalities of individual humans: what we intend or desire, and what others see or believe.

People can use the personality of a brand to publicly portray those traits as their own. The picture at the top of the page shows one way to break down the various human qualities given to brands. Personification of a brand will make it more likely for the consumer to have an emotive reaction to the product, which in turn not only makes the product stick in their mind, but opens a relationship with that consumer. Apple Mac has done this very successfully with the iMac. They have started with a great product, it's a product that someone may buy to boost their self-esteem, to gain membership into a group by conforming to their ideas and ideals. This was followed by a series of 'Get a Mac' adverts, such as the one bellow.
In these adverts, not only did they give the brand an "Exciting" character, but gave it a human embodiment, in the form of comedian Robert Webb. My immediate, emotive response was to find it funny, I was able to relate to the character more than the product. It almost makes you think to yourself,"Yes, I'd prefer to sit around all day making home movies and photo albums, than have to worry about spreadsheets and graphs." Therefor I'll buy a Mac. Not that I can't do those things on my PC...