5.2 Persuasive Techniques

Bandwagon & Testimonials

Bandwagon

This is when an ad gives the impression that everybody is doing or using something. These ads imply you would feel "behind the times" if you were not doing or using that something, too. The product is shown as the "in thing" and what all the "cool" people have.

E.g. Everybody has the new Swirly-Twirly! If you haven't got one, you better come down before they're sold out. You don't want to be left out. 

Testimonial

This is when a celebrity or a trusted person is supporting a product or company. Sometimes it is their own company or sometimes they are being paid to be in the commercial.

Below is an example of both techniques. The mother is played by the actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus who starred in Seinfeld. The boy is feeling left out because he is not wearing the same clothes like all the other children at school, so it is also the bandwagon technique.