Week 1, Prompt 4: "Why Good Advertising Works (Even When You Think It Doesn't" by Nigel Hollis (The Atlantic)

-         Central Argument- 

-         A good advertisement influences us unconsciously through memorable images.  

-          I agree that good advertisements leave us unconscious messages or memories. I believe that good advertisements also urge us to buy a certain product without us knowing that the advertisement had affected us. I know, because I had experienced this.

-         When I was young, me and my mother used to go watch movies every weekend, in the cinema. The cinema was located in the mall. We were just walking by the toys isle of the mall to get to the cinema, and then I saw something I had to have. I had never really seen it in person, but on TV. I had never really cared about it, but when I saw it, I thought to myself, “I must have it.” The cars were boosted with a little speed booster, as it moves swiftly on its lane. “Cool…” is what I thought. I bugged my mom to buy it for me, and yeah, she bought it. Little did I know that the advertisement that I saw on TV was the reason I was influenced. I didn’t think about the product, until I saw it.

-         Similarly, my Mom wanted to buy a car during the time. She was so excited, but she didn’t know which car to buy. She scoured the net looking for the “perfect car.” She couldn’t find it, she was about to just buy some random car off the net, until she noticed something. A car which was shown in an advertisement. She knew it was the one. A car that isn’t too stylish and not too shabby either. It was meant to be. She bought the car, and till today, she still uses it (the car should be around eight years old now). She never actually knew what she wanted, after or until she remembered the advertisement.

-         Then there was my Dad who was taking me to the beach. On the way, he was talking to me, but I wasn’t really listening, so I guess he was talking to himself. Anyways, he was saying something about wanting to eat something different.  He looked at me as if I was going to give him a good suggestion. He then passed by a restaurant, I don’t remember what restaurant, but he said he remembered it from TV. He drove us around; we went into this Thai restaurant and ate the best food ever. If hadn’t seen or remembered the ad, we wouldn’t have ever eaten the good food there.

-         Through personal knowledge and experience, I now know that good advertisements actually leave memories and messages to us unconsciously, and this is actually effective.