a serious, no-nonsense image appropriate to a business magazine. Thus, one can argue that in this case, the image is an inherent part of the ad's structure and content, or, more concisely, "The message is the medium."
The second ad I will analyze appeared in Advertising Age on May 23, 1990. It is also a magazine ad (for Parade) directed toward advertisers. It covers two facing pages and has a much or dramatic visual presentation than the previous ad does. One the first page is a giant spoon (covering about three-quarters of the page) filled with cough syrup; the caption reads, "To sell a lot of cold medicine right at the change of seasons,". On the second page is another giant spoon, with only the dregs of the medicine remaining, and the caption, "You want a magazine that works immediately."
Under the second caption is a short explanation of the main selling point in this ad - that when you place an ad in Parade, you get very fast results because, "It reaches its entire audience in 48 hours. So your ad reaches all your prospects when you want to sell, precisely when they want to buy. Parade: All 69 million readers in 48 hours." Like the ad for Financial World, this ad confines itself to one "hook" and relies on an overtly logical appeal. However, it also uses a covert emotional appeal.
First, by using the imagery of medicine, there is the implication that advertising in Parade is good medicine for weak or sick sales. Second, and more importantly, by showing cold medicine, they are reminding people what it feels like to be sick. The image can evoke all of the unpleasant feelings and vulnerability of illness, and this emotional reaction can make the reader more open to the message and/or more motivated to buy since their anxiety level (need level) has been raised. Leventhal (1970) showed that unpleasant feelings, fear in particular, are very effective in manipulating consumers' behavior if applied in a judicious manner ...