Animals and Advertising
Advertising 101 always stress one thing; when in doubt or lacking your creative “Ah Ha Moment,” use the classic advertising formula of babies & animals. Chances are that most commercials that make us say “oh and ah” have our furry (or sometimes non furry) friends in them. This has been an easy and useful method of advertising for decades due to its high success rate. The goal in advertising is to get the target audience to connect with the product or service, in which you would then make an emotional connection. Not only does this connection have to be personal, it has to be meaningful with a positive reaction.
Since most consumers find animals attractive and captivating, it has been suggested that sales have increased for certain products and brands that have been heavily associated with an animal. Although animals used in advertisements can cause a brand identity, research has shown that it also encompasses several psychological aspects such as behavioral and emotional. This can be anything from viewing animals in distress, which results in an increase in donations, to Anheuser-Busch’s famous Clydesdale horse, which resonates a symbol of power and strength and leads to a person believing that drinking a Budweiser will make them more powerful and confident. So when the goal is to get people’s attention, why not include some cute and engaging animals?
