The document discusses several theories related to advertising including: 1) Uses and Gratification theory which explores how people use media to fulfill personal needs like diversion, relationships, and identity. 2) Reception Theory which examines how audiences interpret media messages as dominant, negotiated, or oppositional readings. 3) Moral Panic theory defined as intense public fear around a perceived threat and the five factors required for a moral panic. 4) Several models for understanding consumer behavior and effective advertising approaches like the Marketing Mix, Hierarchy of Effects, Means-End theory, and Leverage Points.

1. Advertising Theories
By Emma Knowles

2. Uses and Gratification – Blumer
and Katz
 Diversion - escape
 Personal Relationship - emotional interaction
 Personal Identity - finding yourself within the
text
 Surveillance - information that is useful

3. Reception Theory – David Morley
 Dominant Reading - Audience shares the encoded
meaning
 Negotiated Reading - Audience shares some of the
meaning
 Oppositional Reading - Audience rejects the meaning,
or takes something different

4. Moral Panic - Cohen
 "an intense feeling expressed in a population
about an issue that appears to threaten the
social order.”
 According to Stanley Cohen, a moral panic
occurs when "a condition, episode, person or
group of persons emerges to become defined
as a threat to societal values and interests.”

5.  For a moral panic to be recognised these five things happen:
 Concern – There must be awareness that the behavior of the is
likely to have a negative impact on society.
 Hostility –A clear division forms between "them" and "us".
 Consensus – Widespread acceptance that the group in question
poses a very real threat to society.
 Disproportionality – The action taken is disproportionate to the
actual threat posed by the accused group.
 Volatility – Moral panics are highly volatile and tend to
disappear as quickly as they appeared due to a wane in public
interest or news reports changing to another topic.

6. Hierarchy of Needs

7. Means-End theory
This approach suggests that an advertisement
should contain a message that leads the consumer
to a desired end state.

8. Leverage Points
It is designed to move the consumer from
understanding a product's benefits to linking those
benefits with personal values.

9. Marketing Mix
 Professor E. Jerome McCarthy in the 1960s and is considered to be
the key concept to advertising.
 Four basic elements called the four P’s.
 P for representing the actual product.
 Price for the process of determining the value of a product.
 Place for the variables of getting the product to the consumer.
 Promotion which is the process of reaching the target market and
convincing them to go out and buy the product

10. Hierarchy of Effects
It clarifies the objectives of an advertising campaign and for each individual
advertisement. The model suggests that there are six steps a consumer or a
business buyer moves through when making a purchase

11. Semiotics
 Consumers and marketers have shared meanings.
 semiotics is the study of how these signs are
interpreted.
 There can be hidden signs within brand names, logos,
package designs, print advertisements, and television
advertisements.

12. Two levels of interpretation
Surface level
 The surface level uses signs creatively to create an
image or personality for their product. These signs
can be images, words, fonts, colours, or slogan.
Underlying level
 The underlying level is made up of hidden meanings. The
combination of images, words, colours, and slogan must
be interpreted by the audience or consumer.

13. Signifier
The signifier is the colour, brand
name, logo design, and technology.

14. Signified
 The signified has two meanings known as denotative
and connotative.
 The denotative meaning is the meaning of the
product.
 The connotative meaning is the product’s deep and
hidden meaning. A connotative meaning of a
television would be that it is top of the line

15. Semiotics of gender
 Certain characteristics of object may enhance or decrease the
elaboration of the message such as, the product being perceived as
feminine.
 Second, the characteristics of individuals can affect attention and
elaboration of the message (traditional or non-traditional gender
role orientation).
 Lastly, situational factors may be important to influence the
elaboration of the message.

16. Marketing communication claims
 Objective
 The extent to which the claim associates the brand with a tangible product
or service feature.
 Subjective
 Emotional, subjective and impressions of intangible aspects of a product
or service. They are non-physical features of a product or service that
cannot be directly perceived, as they have no physical reality.
 Males tend to respond better to objective marketing communications claims
while females tend to respond better to subjective marketing
communications claims.