Expert: Sean Trapani - 9/15/2007

Question
What is the name of the advertising technique where the person using the sponsors product is more attractive and usually portrayed in a more attractive setting, and the person using the competitor's product is portrayed by a less attractive actor. For example if I am selling mop, the women using the mop will be attractive, and have a more colorful kitchen, while the competitors mop user might be pleasant looking, but she will have her hair tied back, wear glasses and have less make up on, and her kitchen will be less modern and drab. This has nothing to do with how the mop works.

I often wonder why advertisers expect me to buy anything since I am the balding, glasses wearing, slightly overweight man who is always shown using the competitors product.

Answer
LOL :-)

Great question, Paul. That annoys me to no end, as well.

That format is called, plainly enough, "before and after." The psychology behind the common expression of this ad format is the belief that desperate people tend to forgive exaggerations (if they think there's a 1/1000 chance that the product may help them fulfill their desire).

One of the largest desires that advertisers feed in on is the desire to be more attractive and attract a mate.

People who are heavy or losing their hair or have normally colored teeth may feel that they are ugly and unattractive - so they readily see themselves in the darker, more sullen "before" images. The "after" image is what we call "aspirational." It represents an idealized version of what the target would like to become.

That's probably too much information for you, but hopefully it helps.

Prof. T