Advertisement: Strong & Weak Theory Part 1

Advertising definition: ‘Mass media communication where space is bought. Can be corporate, brand or product based’

(Source: Innovative Marketing Communications by Masterman & Wood, 2006, pg 76)

What is advertising and what contributions does it make to society? ‘It influences the individual manufacturer’s sales to some degree. Advertising lubricated the competitive system by telling consumers about the differences between competing brands’.

The study of the strong and weak forces of advertising are studied by many academics, Professor John Philip Jones goes into detail on both theories but mainly on the strong theory whilst Andrew Ehrenberg of the London Business School sees advertising as a weak force.

Strong theory – ‘sees advertising as a dynamic force operating as an engine for brand innovation and other types of change in the market-place’

The strong theory is basically in the interests of the capitalists society, advertising in terms of the strong theory is able to increase sales and can manipulate the consumer by using phychological techniques in its advertising. Thus persuading people to buy the items without them really needing the product or service. Sees’ its audience as stupid and easily manipulated.

Weak theory – ‘cannot act as a prime mover in the capitalist system, used defensively by most advertisers as a means of protecting the status quo’

Unlike the strong theory it does not believe adverising is strong enough to persuades a person’s original perceptions. Instead of using advertising to attract new customers, the use of it is to retain exisiting customers. See’s its audience as intelligent and not easily manipulated.

                                                (Source: ‘Advertising: strong force or weak force? Two views an ocean apart by Prof John Jones’, International Journal of Advertising)

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – Strong Theory

Whilst I was unsure of which theory to use when looking at the advertising technique of Sherlock Holmes i believe that the strong theory is more applicable rather than the weak theory. The movie business has always been a shakey territory as there are many alternatives like pirate dvds, illegal downloads and online viewing from illegal recordings. So Sherlock Holmes in my opinion would use the strong theory to get people to spend money to watch it in the cinema and spend money, even if they have the opportunity to watch it for free without the need to waste money.

Trailers are a prime example of advertisers using psychological techniques to manipulate the person to watching the movie in general, using cliffhangers to intrigue people to find out ‘what happens?’

Another technique used is the sex appeal of the autors chosen to be in the movie. Women and men both like to watch people they deem to be attractive in the movies they watch, for example Robert Downey Jr has had a previous bad boy appeal can continues to give a mysterious effect on the viewers whereas Jude Law can attract women with his sex appeal
AND the accent that comes with being british (which I don’t personally understand, are british accents sexy? Maybe I don’t find it as attractive because I actually live in England and hear it regularly *shrugs*)

Within the 2 months of its release almost everywhere i looked i would see a promotional poster of the movie.

Movies aren’t something you generally HAVE to watch, it’s not like you have to watch a movie to survive, like food and water is to human and animals to survive. By using continuous reminders of the movie wherever you look is a constant reminder that this movie is coming out soon! It eventually becomes something interesting and turns into something you have to watch in order to become satisfied. (As I have been following the movie is has had a different effect on me because its become linked with work and something that because i’ve research it so much it has lost its appeal to me.But i’m just a weird case so don’t pay attention to my little rant ;p)

But in all honesty with regards to the strong theory seeing its consumers as unintelligent or stupid it may be the case depending on the circumstance. Some people may have watched the previous movie and because of this it turns into something they have to watch but only because they want to know what happens next. However we are in recession, money and jobs are hard to find so by using roughly £7 to buy a cinema ticket that could have bought a few items in tesco or even gloves or a scarf in this crazy weather. So yeah the strong theory does work in this case as people continue to watch movies in cinema’s even in this financial situation.

Ok this is just long soooooooo sorry if i've bored you :) Byyyyyyeeeeee