That Good Feeling...

Happiness, Beauty, and Sex

Persuasion
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Positive
Emotion
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Have you ever tried to get someone to do something for you, or tried to convince yourself of something? If so, on occassion you have probably used positive emotion appeal. The following are some examples of things you might say:

"Come on, it'll be fun!"

"You'll feel better about yourself after you exercise."

"You should definitely wear that dress. It looks great on you!"

These are some examples of using the promise of a good feeling as the outcome to performing a certain action. Advertisers use this "good feeling reward" too. Some advertisements promise a general good feeling, such as happiness or contentment, as a result of the use of their product:

Sisterly Love and Togetherness Contentment and Happiness
The Good Old Days Old-Fashioned Fun and Happiness
Safety, Comfort, and Happiness

Other advertisers promise a more specific feel-good outcome, or in the following cases, a "look-good" outcome:

Beauty Celanese
Clairol Olay
Wonderbra

Finally, the following ads show the belief in the old adage, "sex sells":

Pop-up Ad for a Digital Camera Spice Girls Polaroid
Versace Jeans Shakira CD Cover Ad for 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' television show

As you can see, advertisers make implicit promises of happiness, beauty, sex, and other feel-good outcomes through their images. Since there is no direct guarantee of these results and the observer is expected to assume them, this is a type of peripheral persuasion (Brehm et al, 2002)^. For those consumers that respond to peripheral persuasion, it is a very effective method.