ShmoopTube

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[Dino and Coop singing]

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Picture all the iconic advertising characters you can think of... [Kid smiling in front of a TV]

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The M&Ms...

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…Koolaid Man...

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…Ronald McDonald...

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…Tony the Tiger...

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…the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

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They all seem pretty friendly, right? [Pictures of the characters appearing around the boy]

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Well, that's because you haven't seen them when they've all grown out their evil super-villain [They all grow mustaches]

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mustaches.

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Not so nice now, are they?

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Okay, so those characters actually don't have evil mustaches – and for good reason.

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See, advertisers intentionally use cartoon figures and talking animals to make you feel

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happy and to maybe…just maybe…convince you to buy their product. [Kids sat round watching the TV]

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Because seriously, if you were walking down the breakfast cereal aisle, would you be more

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likely to reach for the box with the friendly leprechaun on the box, or the box with, say, [Lucky Charms box jumps out at the woman]

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a gigantic octopus with pickles for tentacles? [Woman looks scared]

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Okay, we'll be taking the Lucky Charms instead of the Octopickles thank you very much.

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In addition to friendly characters, advertisers also use a “call to action” that tries

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to tell you what the right thing to do is. [Big order now button]

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Ever seen a TV infomercial that urges you to “call now” in order to cash in on some [Woman waving phone that says call now]

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super super-sweet deal that they swear won't last long?

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Yeah, that's a call to action.

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And spoiler-alert: Those deals never go away.

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Many advertisers also use funny commercials and humor in order to convince you to buy [Someone diving into a washing machine]

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their product.

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Of course, sometimes they try so hard to be funny, it just ends up being flat-out annoying.

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Which we here at Shmoop have never done… [People dancing round the Shmoop office]

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…Uh…moving on.

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Advertisers also tend to make bold claims about their product and what it can do for

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you – sometimes to outrageous lengths. [Claim! pops up all around a woman]

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A vacuum that can reach all the hard-to-reach places with ease?

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Okay, that sounds reasonable.

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But a vacuum that can reach all the hard-to-reach places with ease because the vacuum is actually

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a fully walking and talking robot maid who will spend 24-hours a day cleaning your house, [Robot vacuum cleaning the floor]

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cooking your meals and giving you back rubs?

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First off, yes please.

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We'll take twelve. [Guy looking excited]

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Secondly…that might be too good to be true.

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Advertisers want to convince you that their product is the best thing ever, so they often use

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“hype words” like amazing, incredible, unbelievable, stupendous,

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and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. [The words popping up in bright colors]

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Okay, maybe not that last one.

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It probably wouldn't fit on the billboard anyway.

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No matter the tactic, the goal of the advertiser is the same: to convince the audience that

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they absolutely must buy the product in order to make their life great.

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And most of the time, it's probably at least a little bit embellished. [Guy with a trolley full of stuff]

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Because no one needs to have a certain kind of breakfast cereal, vacuum, car, shampoo

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or pair of jeans in order to make their life great. [Guy chucking all the things out the trolley]

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But you know what you absolutely do need?

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A pair of tongue slippers. [Tongue slippers are revealed by a red curtain]

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Order now and get a free set of matching teeth earmuffs, while supplies last! [Woman wearing teeth earmuffs]

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