The Never Changing Society Essay, Research Paper
Society is constantly changing but there are ideas that are embedded into society that still remain. The idea to survive and the idea to become better than your previous are still present. There exist one idea that correlates to a very strong impulse that controls our daily happening and our lives, the idea of selfishness. Everyone does something for something in return. In our present day society, selfishness is more evident when it comes to the matter of greed. Large corporations will put on different facades to attract different types of people to buy their product. This is core behind the idea of advertising.
People change because society changes and therefore their interests change as well. To survive, companies need to appeal to the new interests by focusing their product to the new market of people. If you cannot appeal to the new interest your company will surely be doomed. Take for instance the car companies of the 1920?s. Ford first developed its Model-T car and had a monopoly over the car industry even if they all came in one color, black. Then, Chevrolet came out with its cars, which had different colors; Ford had then lost a large amount of its business to Chevrolet and was then no longer the leader in the car industry. Studebaker was another successful car company with decent cars and a fair amount of supporters but when the market changed and the company could not keep up with it, it failed and went out of business.
In today?s present state, the car industry is mainly selling sport utility vehicles or SUV?s for short, but they are still selling the same thing, cars. At present, our economy is doing well so that is why many people are purchasing SUV?s. They are expensive and they waste a lot of gas. Not quite practical unless there is enough money to spend on it. Back in the 1980?s when the economy was not doing so well, smaller cars that used less gas and were cost cheaper sold a great deal more. The compact sedans of the 1980?s are now not in style anymore and not very many people are purchasing compacts and sports cars anymore either. Even though sports cars are flashy and expensive, it is more common than SUV?s were so people wanted something different. SUV?s are more high profile and they are like a trophy of how much money a person has. Nissan knew that sedans were not selling but it wanted to change the view and show everyone that their new sedans are different and not your parent?s cars. Their marketing strategy started with the release of the 2000 ?Maxima?. Nissan worked their marketing strategy into the hype of the year 2000. Saying things such as ?It is coming? slowly hyped the car ads up. When the car ads were finally shown, it would have the phrase, ?An All-New Compact Sedan? and then a red marker would scribble out the word ?Compact?.
The marketing strategy must have had some sort of focus and idea that it wanted to set forth. First, the word compact sedan is used to describe the vehicle. Then the red marker crosses out the word compact showing that it is not a small car anymore. This in theory is appealing to those people who would like to buy S.U.V.?s because they are larger cars that compact sedans but this sedan is not a compact. Nissan attempts to also appeal to the individuals who desire a larger vehicle to boost their ego. Also, crossing out the word compact endorses the idea that this is not like the previous sedans, it is different, and it is breaking the mold; another plan to endorse the revolutionary idea of the car. Using a red marker to scribble out the word compact is used to show the childish nature of the car. In our present society, becoming old is not very appealing; many people still want to feel young. Not only is the red marker used to cross out the word, it leaves a trail as if it was a crayon and each time a word is crossed out, the marker makes a different action each time. This action is trying to set forth the image of Nissan as playful and friendly not systematic and cold. If the word ?compact? would have just faded away, it gives a different message than if it was scribbled away. If the marker scribbled the same way for each word, it would look so robotic and give a different message. The assumption is that the younger market finds owning a sedan as a sign of being old and by scribbling out the word, Nissan is attempting to show that their car is fun to drive and therefore fun to own. Then there is also the emphasis on ?All-New? because the mentality exist in society that having something brand new before anyone else does makes you ?cool?. It works as an ego boost to the person who owns the product and is similar to an elitist complex that humans have; they want to be in a group but they also want to feel that they are better than others are. These messages are then accompanied with the image of the vehicle barreling down a barren desert and followed by a large cloud of dust, which gives a message of its own. The car by being alone draws more attention to the vehicle. If there were other vehicles there, the attention of the viewer would not be solely focused on one thing. Then, by having the car be placed in a barren atmosphere gives a sense of how it is going to a new ?undiscovered? area that the other cars can not and have not been hence the fact that it is the only car there. Also, there is no defined road that the car is driving down, adding to the sense that the car is on a new path that it has not been paved yet. The emphasis on new can be seen but also by having something that is undiscovered shows that it is daring. The idea of this car being a revolution furthers implies that this sedan is not anything like the sedans of old. Another emphasis of the car breaking the mold and it helps stress to the individuals who are afraid to buy a sedan because they feel that it is not ?hip? but by saying that the car is revolutionary, it accentuates the fact that it is the newest and greatest thing. Having a dust trail behind the car gives the effect that the car is moving very fast. This idea appeals to the nature of society, how everything is fast so by having this car be fast, it is leaving its competition in the dust. Or another way to look this is that this car is going into a new realm fearless, that is why it is going at it with such speed because it is fearless and not cautious or timid about anything, the car itself has confidence. This can appeal to the men in that they do not want a ?wimpy? car. They want a car that has strength and power and believe that the other cars are made for women.
In the end, no matter what technique is used, it is the same idea just with a different image. Nissan is selling cars no matter how they advertise it just like Marlboro is selling cigarettes. The key is that companies need to change their strategies with the times. Time changes people and therefore if the companies can evolve with the times to fit the need of the people. This system is similar to that of the idea in nature that the fittest will survive. There are individuals who believe that only the strongest can survive but it is not true, something can be the strongest but if it is not fit to survive in the particular atmosphere then it will not survive. The same goes for the business. If the company lacks the skill to survive in the particular atmosphere then it will not, no matter how strong the company could have been, if it is not fit to perform in a particular environment, it will not. Advertising can only blur the image of the product so that it looks more appealing. No matter how the intricate the illusion or how big the claims, the company is still selling a product that hopefully the consumer wants to buy.