<p><em>Introduction:</em></p>
<p>Imagine an advert depicting the usage of the product being advertised by a customer - for example, an advert of an automobile brand, showing a person driving the car.</p>
<p>Let's assume the target segment are men of below average income. The advert could show such type of a person, revealing through its visual setup that the driver belongs neither to the rich (upper class), nor even to the middle one. The rationale would be that by showing a character closely resembling the target segment, viewers would be able to identify with him and get influenced by the advert.</p>
<p>On the other hand, we could have a successful, quite handsome and well-to-do advert protagonist. The rationale in this case would be that people would want to think of themselves not as the way they are but they way they wish to be; or that people would rather want to see a role model to imitate (follow) rather than one of themselves.</p>
<p><em>Question:</em></p>
<p>Does either of the two approaches have power over consumer perceptions? If so, which one is the more powerful? If one if the two does the job, is the other less effective, or much worse, putting customers off?</p>
<p><em>Prior research:</em></p>
<p>I have tried researching the topic by reading various advertising psychology (and especially branding) content, but, alas, I am either not picking the right search phrases or research is scarce. I have tried phrases such as &quot;self image in advertising&quot;, &quot;image perception in advertising&quot;, &quot;identifying with the advert protagonist&quot;, etc; those brought me nothing of value.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-20T13:08:44.433Z
On top of that, what generalisation are you referring to on how *"men of below average income"* would look like?
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-20T14:20:54.830Z
@ Chris Rogers - cheaper apparel, lower self-confidence, crude manners, facial looks typical of people exercising jobs of low intelligence requirements, unhealthy body figure. This detail does not change the point of the question, though. We either have an image depicting the target customers the way they are or one, depicting who the target customers would wish to be. How exactly we have managed to accurately depict the two is a technicality in this case.
drabsv
<social-psychology><persuasion><emotion-perception>
Do people prefer to see an image similar to themselves in advertisements or rather an ideal model?
drabsv
# Do people prefer to see an image similar to themselves in advertisements or rather an ideal model?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-09-20)

*Introduction:*

Imagine an advert depicting the usage of the product being advertised by a customer - for example, an advert of an automobile brand, showing a person driving the car.

Let's assume the target segment are men of below average income. The advert could show such type of a person, revealing through its visual setup that the driver belongs neither to the rich (upper class), nor even to the middle one. The rationale would be that by showing a character closely resembling the target segment, viewers would be able to identify with him and get influenced by the advert.

On the other hand, we could have a successful, quite handsome and well-to-do advert protagonist. The rationale in this case would be that people would want to think of themselves not as the way they are but they way they wish to be; or that people would rather want to see a role model to imitate (follow) rather than one of themselves.

*Question:*

Does either of the two approaches have power over consumer perceptions? If so, which one is the more powerful? If one if the two does the job, is the other less effective, or much worse, putting customers off?

*Prior research:*

I have tried researching the topic by reading various advertising psychology (and especially branding) content, but, alas, I am either not picking the right search phrases or research is scarce. I have tried phrases such as "self image in advertising", "image perception in advertising", "identifying with the advert protagonist", etc; those brought me nothing of value.

**Tags:** social-psychology, persuasion, emotion-perception

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: On top of that, what generalisation are you referring to on how *"men of below average income"* would look like?  
> **username_0**: @ username_1 - cheaper apparel, lower self-confidence, crude manners, facial looks typical of people exercising jobs of low intelligence requirements, unhealthy body figure. This detail does not change the point of the question, though. We either have an image depicting the target customers the way they are or one, depicting who the target customers would wish to be. How exactly we have managed to accurately depict the two is a technicality in this case.  

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## 0 answers

