Implications of social judgement theory for persuasive advertising campaigns

Abstract

Advertising is generally aimed at increasing demand, influencing people to change brands or motivating people to make a purchase; advertising messages are designed to induce and lure consumers to buy particular products or services. The way the consumers perceive an advertising campaign will, therefore, determine how they will respond to the advertisement. Thus, the researchers embarked on a self affirmative discourse of the implications of social judgement theory for persuasive advertising campaigns. The discourse shows that advertisers must use persuasive strategies that will make the consumers to be loyal to their brands; more so, the strength of the social judgement theory is that it illustrates the most important elements that motivate people to buy a product and it also shows what the connections are between the motives and attributes of products or services. An understanding of the social judgement theory is important to companies because it helps companies to spend money on advertising campaigns more effectively. It was, therefore, concluded that social judgement theory helps the consumers to interpret advertising campaigns and decide whether to act positively or negatively. The researchers recommended that advertising campaign planners must ensure that they use techniques that will make consumers to interpret advertised products, goods and services from a positive angle; more so, celebrities used in association with advertising campaigns must be seen to be credible, as this will go a long way in positively influencing the consumers.

Keywords: Implications, social judgement theory, persuasion, advertising, campaigns