The main goal of persuasion in advertising is to change/strengthen one's attitude towards a certain product/brand or service. An attitude refers to the general evaluations that people hold of themselves, objects, and issues. Psychology in advertising has long been used as an effective means to sell a product or service. Persuasion can be broken down into two paths: central and peripheral path and there are several techniques involved when trying to persuade an individual. The main question I will be addressing in this paper is, "Why do people choose certain brands of products or services over other?" .
Once a consumer has decided to buy within a particular product class, then the decision as to which specific item or brand to purchase must be made. For this to happen, the brand needs to be in the person's consideration set. A brand gets into person's consideration set by factors that occur before the persons enters a store, as well as influencing factors within the store. .
Persuasion is the changing of attitudes by presenting information about another attitude. This information is processed one of two ways: centrally or peripherally. The two routes in persuasion, central and peripheral, may alter a person's belief structure based on the cognitive processes that occur at the time of the persuasion. In central route persuasion, persuasion occurs on the basis of the logic, merit, or strength of the arguments. The central route is an active and conscious process in the determination of the merit of a favorable and unfavorable thought in response to the advocated position. The outcome of this favorable and unfavorable thought processing will determine whether the position that had been advocated holds any merit. In peripheral route, people are persuaded on the basis of factors unrelated to the nature or quality of the content of a persuasive message. Instead, they are influenced by factors that are irrelevant or extraneous to the topic or issue, such as who is providing the message or the length of the argument.
