My Product for Advertisement - Virtuality Reality Essay Example

The product I chose to advertise and create is called the Virtual Reality Salvation Pod. It’s a set of virtual reality goggles with wires that attach to your head, and detect brain waves from the limbic system. It gathers information from the hippocampus and amygdala, which are parts responsible for creating memories and activating imagination. After the information is gathered, it can create whatever memory you’re thinking of as if it were to really appear right in front of your eyes as virtual reality. This allows for the users to experience everything going on in the outside world as if they were really there. That way, the user(s) don’t need to feel trapped in a room all day long.

They can even eat their favourite foods from their imagination or activate any of their five senses for a more realistic experience. My target audience here is the child from The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula le Guin. The child is trapped in a room, unable to get out, as if he were able to leave the room, the rest of the people of the city would suffer. There is a need for this product here because there is no other option or solution. If the child were to be let out, everyone else in the city would suffer grave consequences, but if the other residents of Omelas were to live a happy life, the child would suffer grave consequences. This provides a need for us to create a way for the child to experience everything else he normally would have by still staying in one room. Since the story states that he remembers a lot from his childhood, like his mother and learning basic English, he could use those memories to power the salvation pod as if everything he ever remembered was really there, and more.

The format I used to advertise this was by commercial. I decided that a visual representation would be the best way to show my target audience just what the benefits of my product really are. I wanted to show the problem in a creative way, and provide a solution with my product. If I were to do a radio commercial or a billboard presentation, I feel like I wouldn’t be able to give as much information as I wanted to. This could not only help the child from Omelas, but also other children who are in isolation, and want to experience the real world without any limits.

One of the persuasive techniques I used in my commercial is warm and fuzzy. In the beginning of the commercial, I showed two clips of children playing outside and having fun. I used this to create a nostalgic or a happy association with my audience. Those kids playing outside could bring back happy memories of being young and having more freedom. This adds to the persuasive portion of the commercial, as more people would be more likely to buy this product thinking that they’ll feel as happy as the child actors again, the way they used to. In this case especially, the target audience can relate to being a kid, as they probably got very little opportunity to play outside, and enjoy their childhood.

Seeing another kid being happy or enjoying life could also bring opposite emotions, like sadness and jealousy. Looking at the poor kids who are sitting all alone in those rooms could also bring association with the audience being able to relate to their situation. The audience will look at the screen and think of how similar they are to those kids, so that could increase their curiosity for wondering what the commercial is going to be about. Since the child in the story was described as being mentally ill or “ turned imbecile” due to being in isolation for such a long time, their attention spans must be very short, so there needs to be a component of the commercial that grabs their attention from the very start and keeps them curious until the end. The audience might feel an emotion transfer of empathy for them, as they’ve gone through similar things. Audiences are more likely to buy a product when they think the people being shown on the screen are similar to them, and when they understand them in a way. Another part of the warm and fuzzy feeling is the music, as the beginning of the commercial, with the kids playing outside has a happy tune, while the poor kids all alone has a sad tune. This could help associate the emotions of the audience better too, so they understand the emotions that should be felt throughout the commercial. 

The second persuasive technique I used is fear. I showed videos of kids sitting all alone in rooms, and isolating themselves from the rest of the world. They look visibly sad, and as if though they wanted to escape but couldn’t. This is the opposite of association, because instead of a happy emotion being created from the scenario, the opposite unpleasant emotion is created. This could strike fear into the minds of the target audience, as they’re facing a similar dilemma. They’re trapped in a room, and they can’t escape it, unless they’re willing to endure severe punishments.

That would be the opposite of association, as an unwanted emotion is being advertised. Although it could be hard to understand at first, fear is an important technique to get the target audience to realize just how much trouble they’re really in. We need to show them the reality of their situation. That they’re trapped in a room, and they’re never going to escape. The kids being all alone could also make the audience feel afraid of never seeing their families or friends ever again. The sad background music also added to the problem that’s already being displayed. This aspect of fear gives a reason to promote the solution. Right after the poor children were displayed on the screen, the solution popped up.

This would encourage the viewers to buy the product even more, because now they realize the severity of their situation and how an immediate solution needs to be found right away. People are most likely to buy a product being advertised knowing that there is a need for this product. Now by exaggerating or implying the need further, the viewers might realize that this is the product that they’ve been needing all along. Sometimes people take things for granted, and they don’t realize that they need something until they don’t have it anymore. Fear could be a good persuasive technique used to remind people that they still need a solution to their problem, and advertisers are going to take advantage of that to sell their product.

The third persuasive technique I used is bribery. Viewers of advertisements are more likely to buy a product thinking that they’ll gain something more from it. By adding offers or deals that make it seem like they’re getting a product for free, it’s easier to convince the viewer to buy the original product. The commercial said that by buying one salvation pod, the viewer could get discounts on some products from the online store. Those products are 3D retina display VR goggles, but the trick is that the Salvation Pod cannot be used without VR goggles. The user will have to buy the goggles anyway before they can start using the original product. This way, the viewers think they’re getting a discount, but they’re really getting them at the normal price. Online, the price was purposely changed, and the discount makes it seem like they’re getting it for a reduced price, but the original price was actually increased on purpose. Another offer from the commercial is that they can enter for the chance to win a free VR Salvation Pod 2.0. The trick here is that anyone can enter the raffle regardless of whether or not they purchased any products in the first place.

Raffle tickets cost a certain amount of money each, and the chance of winning is very unlikely, as many people have entered the raffle. There are also many other conditions even if you win, like the VR Salvation Pod 2.0 is actually a prototype, and the winner will only get to try it out for a certain amount of type, not keep it forever like they’re made to think. Another bribery technique used also appears in showing the price of the Salvation Pod. It says four payments of $99.99 which to the viewer, sounds cheaper than just saying that it costs $400. This is a psychological trick used by many advertisers to make the audience think that a product isn’t as expensive as it really seems. $100 seems like a really cheap price point for virtual reality that allows you to see the entire world without any limits, so the audience might think that they’re getting a really good deal. 

I think my commercial turned out better than I first expected it to. In the beginning, I didn’t know exactly how I was going to create a commercial by myself, as this is an individual project. Afterwards, I decided that creating a Powtoon would be my best option. I thought I was going to have to create an animated commercial, but then I found out that Powtoon has videos of real people, so I used those features along with pictures from the Internet to create my advertisement. I did have some trouble downloading the music and voice overs into my commercial. Next time, I would have tried to find a different way of downloading the music and voice-over into my Powtoon so I didn’t have to waste so much trying to figure that out.

Other than that, I think I used my time wisely, as we had the whole March Break to work on it. I asked questions in class when I wasn’t sure about a component of the assignment. I also referred back to the Persuasion Prezi we looked at in class throughout the process to improve my advertisement, and get creative with the persuasive techniques I used. I also wished I would’ve planned out my commercial better so I didn’t have to keep editing the voice-over to fit the duration of my commercial. Other than that, I think I planned out my commercial well, because I made sure it was both creative, persuasive and fit my target audience well. I’m glad I re-read The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas so I could look deeper into the child’s perspective, and create my commercial the way that would be best suitable for them.