Direct-to-consumer YouTube advertisement
Advertising goods and services have never been a simple task due to the necessity to consider the specific characteristics of clients. All prospective buyers see products through the prism of their personal experience, and their situation can have a major impact on their consumer decisions. Companies in healthcare markets use various appeals to increase the effectiveness of advertisements.
Three pharmaceutical advertisements chosen from the sample are related to social anxiety disorder, trouble sleeping, and ED. The video about Lunesta, a drug for those with insomnia, targets adult people who have sleeping problems. The advertisement wants the target audience to believe that these sleeping pills are effective enough and do not have dangerous side-effects. The advertisement does not seem to have a secondary message as the arguments for using Lunesta are expressed explicitly. The image of a magic butterfly is an example of an emotional appeal – the majority of people associate this insect with positive things.
The second advertisement that presents Viagra is targeted at men belonging to different age groups (primarily those older than forty) who already have erectile dysfunction or want to prevent such problems. In terms of the “call to action,” the advertisement makes people believe that erection problems are easy to address at any age as it shows an elderly man. The age of the key character from this video is especially important because it forms an underlying message of the advertisement. The characters are presented by a good-looking woman and an older man – using such characters. The advertisement shows that any man who uses this product can be popular with attractive women. An emotional appeal is also used in this case because the entire situation is exaggerated to make the audience laugh and, probably, distract them from negative emotions related to ED.
The video about Zoloft is targeted at adult men and women who have a social phobia. The advertisement wants the audience to try a potentially effective way of treating this anxiety disorder. Also, this advertisement increases the social awareness of the disorder, telling people with this problem that they are not alone. The video is unlikely to contain an underlying message. The appeals are related to people’s lifestyles and emotions as the advertisement uses cartoon characters to show feelings associated with communication problems. All three ads chosen are placed on TV or websites. Their placement indicates that they are targeted at extremely large groups of consumers.