Developed in pre-World World II Germany, the founders of gestalt principles as a psychological theory include Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler. These principles include pattern recognition, so that people's thoughts provide missing details in a pattern or eliminate details not necessary for pattern completion. It allows viewers to connect information in a specific stimulus. Gestalt includes grouping principles -- or how individuals organize discrete stimuli into groups -- as well as context principles -- or how a specific context determines people's perceptions.
Gestalt and the Viewer
Advertisers using the basic gestalt process in the television medium focus on how the viewer responds to the entire message -- the sounds, colors and distinct images seen in the commercial. The response varies from viewer to viewer, depending on age, emotional background, physical condition, level of education and social class. How the individual responds is his gestalt. Depending on the product or service, advertisers target the message to specific viewer demographics, who share common gestalt responses.
When conducting an ad campaign, marketers use the gestalt process when reducing the product to a basic design theme, logo or slogan. Think of famous ad lines or instantly-recognizable symbols, such as McDonald's golden arches. That symbol evokes hamburgers and french fries to anyone remotely familiar with advertising, although the logo itself does not display food. Advertisers strive for individuality when marketing products, so the viewer or customer doesn't confuse their product with a competitor's item. However, under gestalt principles, customers won't confuse completely different products, such as cars and food, or clothes and electronics.
In advertising, perception is reality. Advertisers using gestalt principles must consider how the message they use is perceived by potential customers and how this message prompts action -- buying the product or service. Media and advertising professionals use gestalt theory to create effective ways to sell products whether using images or conceiving of the most beneficial forms of distribution. Figuring the overall success rate of using gestalt principles is also based in simplicity -- sales results.