Marketing Promotion: Where do brainwash advertisements come from?

To a certain extent, brainwashing advertising achieves the purpose of increasing brand awareness at the expense of brand reputation. However, truly superior advertising communication will never unilaterally pursue cognitive communication at the expense of recognition. This metaphysical thinking behind brainwashing advertising, which separates cognition and recognition, will inevitably face severe challenges in the fiercely competitive advertising market.

The history of brainwashing advertising in China has lasted for more than 20 years. On the one hand, it has been criticized, and on the other hand, it has been highly praised, which has become a special label for this form of advertising. This article discusses this form of brainwashing advertising from three aspects: its origin, advantages and disadvantages, and future development trends.

The originator of Chinese brainwashing advertisements - Yan Wu

In the mid-1980s, there was an advertising slogan - "Yanwu, Yanwu, a song brings a piece of love" that spread throughout the streets and alleys at that time. This may be the first brainwash advertisement in China, and can be called the ancestor of brainwash advertisements.

Yanwu Group spent more than 4 million to broadcast the advertisement during prime time after the news broadcast and bought it for three consecutive years. At that time, this amount of money was not a small amount for a company, especially when advertising marketing was not so common. Although the advertising industry in China was developing rapidly at this time, most traditional companies had not yet realized the value of advertising conversions.

Relying on the repeated dissemination advantages of brainwashing advertisements and the channel advantages of CCTV, coupled with the fact that entertainment was quite scarce in that era and the use of singing and dancing to perform advertisements was very popular with the audience, the Yanwu advertisement had an amazing dissemination effect once it was broadcast. Almost everyone knew it and everyone could sing it. Also becoming popular was Yanwu boy Miao Haizhong, who became a superstar overnight.

The success of Yanwu can be said to be impossible to replicate. In an era when entertainment was scarce, brands saw the business opportunities in advertising and used a singing and dancing method that was not available at the time to perform advertisements. With the help of channel advantages, time period advantages and other advantages, it became the originator of brainwashing advertising in China.

Putting aside the advertising effect, Yanwu's products themselves were not top-notch, but after the advertisement was broadcast, consumers naturally regarded Yanwu tape recorders as the leaders in the tape recorder industry. Yanwu's sales continued to rise at the time, and this advertisement played an indispensable role in this.

With the success of Yanwu, brainwash advertising has gradually become popular. Although it has been criticized, it is still favored by companies due to its outstanding advertising effect. Next, let’s analyze the four reasons why brainwash advertising has remained popular.

Five reasons why brainwash advertising continues to thrive

. Highly refined sales language is easy to remember

When it comes to brainwash advertisements, the first thing that comes to many people’s minds is Melatonin. The slogan “I won’t accept any gifts this year, and the only gift I will accept is Melatonin” can be said to have grown up with the post-90s generation.

The image spokespersons in the commercials, the little old man and the little old lady of Melatonin, have changed their looks in many advertisements over the years, wearing bikinis, wedding dresses, ethnic costumes, grass skirts and other fashionable clothing styles. The liveliness that overflows from the screen infects everyone in front of the TV. Although that liveliness is too exaggerated and not realistic, the images of these two advertising characters have been implanted in people's memories and are deeply imprinted in the childhood memories of the post-90s generation. Although brainwashing advertisements are annoying, they have actually brought an increase in sales for the company. The cumulative sales of Melatonin have reached over 100 million.

Melatonin’s brainwashing advertisement also has a “face-slapping” function. The advertisement of Melatonin has brought the health function of "brain nourishing" into the limelight. In fact, Melatonin health products do not have the "brain nourishing" function as advertised. The State Food and Drug Administration has reminded that among the 27 categories of health foods currently available in China, there is no such health function as "brain nourishing", and my country has never approved any health food with the health function of "brain nourishing".

When consumers questioned what the "Melatonin" in Melatonin was, the manufacturer explained that the human brain is composed of the cerebrum, cerebellum, thoracic trunk, pituitary gland and melatonin body. Medical authorities once again refuted the claim by saying that from the perspective of biological anatomy, there is no such thing as a platinum body in the human body. The so-called platinum body is actually the pineal gland.

Brainwashing advertisements are made based on the principle of brainwashing with the intention of selling products, but they fill in a concept that does not exist and use the method of replacing the concept to make consumers mistakenly believe that the existence of Melatonin is real. This is unethical and not recommended.

Melatonin has a bad reputation and has been rated as "the top ten vulgar advertisements" for 10 consecutive years. It has even become a negative example in the advertising circle. Some advertisers have criticized the advertisement for its lack of aesthetic appeal, lack of advertising logic, and lack of any advertising creativity. Even though people have mixed opinions about the Melatonin advertisement, it is still the leading product in the Chinese health care market and the best-selling advertisement in China. The brand's popularity has survived in the hearts of Chinese people for more than 20 years thanks to brainwashing advertisements.

The success of Melatonin’s brainwashing advertisement first comes from the precise positioning of the advertisement. In China, a country of etiquette, Chinese people attach great importance to personal relationships and love face, so when giving gifts, one must not lose face. The "two-sided nature" of Melatonin products determines its sales volume. First of all, Melatonin, which is positioned as a health product, is not an absolute necessity, but it is an absolute necessity if it is positioned as a gift.

There is a phenomenon in my country's health care product market, that is, "those who buy don't use, and those who use don't buy", which separates buyers and users. The cleverness of Melatonin lies in positioning itself as a health care product as a gift, thereby effectively connecting users and buyers. Once you have a clear understanding of the market and positioning, your audience will naturally become clear.

The slogan in the advertisement, "Respect your parents with Melatonin" seemed to hit the consumers in front of the TV all at once. China had gradually entered an aging society in the 1990s, and the proportion of elderly people in society was gradually increasing. How to better support the elderly became a social issue that middle-aged people at that time were thinking about. Although the emergence of Melatonin could not solve this social problem, its health-care effects were just right for the serious social aging phenomenon at that time.

The advertisement for Melatonin labels itself as "youthful and healthy product" and also claims that it has the effects of "improving sleep and moisturizing the intestines and promoting bowel movements". These two target groups are middle-aged and elderly people. By touching on their pain points, the increase in sales is natural.

2. Brainwashing by using repetition and emphasis strategy

As brainwashing advertisements have evolved to the present day, roaring style has become a prominent feature. The roaring style of advertising represented by Platinum Travel Photography and Boss Direct Hiring was criticized by people, and these two advertisements were rated as "poor students in the advertising industry."

Platinum Travel Photography is now a brand known by everyone from 80-year-olds to 4-year-old children. Judging from the advertising effect alone, the advertisement seems to have completed the task of creating brand awareness. However, can the brand awareness established amid a chorus of criticism really last? The creative team of the advertisement adhered to the message "shoot wherever you want" to convey to consumers. Once this message was made clear, the mission of this advertisement was accomplished.

Regardless of the subjective intention of this sentence, what is used here is the repeated dissemination strategy of brainwashing advertising. The greatest function of repetition is to fight against forgetting and allow information to remain in the brain longer. This is actually a very good means of propaganda.

3. Brainwashing ads meet the expectations of Chinese people

Looking back at these two ads, it is not difficult to see that the creative team wanted to convey to the audience the idea of ​​"remembering this brand". This goal has now been achieved. As for the much-criticized issues of the annoying roaring style and the pretentiousness of the ads, the creative team's answer is that ads do not need to be entertaining.

Let's try to interpret this sentence. For a brand that has not yet gained popularity, there don't need to be too many requirements for the content and depth of the advertisement at this stage. When the brand's popularity is established, it is the correct order to deeply optimize the content of the advertisement and enhance the brand's quality. The roaring brainwashing advertisement meets the current needs of the brand and brings real economic benefits to the company. This is a successful advertisement.

Here, advertising creativity is aimed at the economic effect that advertising brings to the company. Advertisements that are too artistic cannot bring substantial economic effects to business owners. They can only satisfy their own ideas about art, and they are using the brand's funds. Art and business are not contradictory. Art is meant to better serve business. However, advertisements that are too artistic or too high-end have a very small audience in China.

China's unique social environment determines that China has no brands, only famous brands. For most audiences with low artistic appreciation, the value of advertising does not lie in making them feel that they cannot afford this brand through superb forms of expression. Highly artistic advertising only exists in brands with strong financial resources and high-end positioning.

When it comes to advertisements whose advertising dissemination and economic effects are not proportional, Pechoin's "1931" is the first to be blamed. Behind the explosive reading volume and dominating the WeChat Moments, there are dismal marketing data. With more than 30 million readings, the monthly sales volume of Pechoin Moonlight Treasure Box on Tmall is only more than 2,000, and the conversion rate is less than 0.0008.

Pechoin's "1931" was successful in terms of advertising effectiveness, but failed in terms of economic benefits. As a Chinese medicine skin care brand, Pechoin has already gained popularity, but the emergence of "1931" is because Pechoin wants to achieve brand transformation and upgrading, align with young people, and create a younger brand.

Although the dismal economic data in "1931" did not hinder the pace of Pechoin's brand transformation and allowed consumers to see the trend of Pechoin becoming younger and younger, it became a marketing failure on the road to Pechoin's brand transformation.

4. The media is compulsory and monopolistic

The media used to deliver brainwash advertisements are generally rigid and compulsory media. The so-called compulsory media refers to media such as television, elevators, outdoor LED screens, subway advertisements, and pre-movie advertisements in cinemas. These are media that you have to come into contact with and do not require your consent. Even if you feel resistance in your heart, you will occasionally stop and wonder in your heart, "Why do I keep seeing this advertisement recently?"

When consumers have this kind of doubt in their minds, the brand imprint theory that the advertisement wants to convey is successful. No matter what consumers think of the brand at this time, attracting attention is the first step to success. After all, in an era where traffic is king, our attention is distracted every day by various current affairs news, celebrity gossip, and social news.

The much-criticized brainwash advertisements are still able to stand firm in the market, and compulsory media has played a big role in this. If a media takes on brainwash advertisements for a long time, its own value will decrease, but compulsory media do not care about the problem of its own value decrease. They only care about commercial value, that is, the visible economic value, and both parties get what they need.

5. Causing a public outcry

The exclusive 123 campaign created by In addition for Vipshop’s December 8 sale event caused widespread controversy due to the unique promotional methods used by the advertising creative party. First, on WeChat, the most frequently used platform, self-media celebrity Mimi Meng took the lead in creating hype and suspense. The title of the article "Hehehe, the content inside is indescribable..." made people imagine something wild, but the content of the article was only the Arabic numerals 123 and then 3, which were infinitely superimposed. Then they turned to Weibo, a traffic platform, and more than a dozen Weibo celebrities posted content in the same format, "1.2.3.3.3.3......", and the formation was surprisingly neat. Afterwards, Vipshop officially unveiled the mystery. This hype was created for Vipshop's special sale with a maximum discount of 30% off. The poster released by Vipshop this time was also pure Arabic numerals. The number 3 almost filled the entire layout of the poster, and the copy followed closely, "Your favorite brand, up to 30% off."

The poster design is clear and impeccable, and it simply and directly conveys Vipshop’s preferential policies. However, netizens obviously do not buy into this wave of marketing, believing that not all attention and traffic are positive and effective. Vipshop's marketing promotion method lacks creativity and aesthetics, causing strong discomfort among the majority of netizens.

When public opinion had gradually fermented, Vipshop launched its second wave of marketing poison and released a ten-minute video advertisement. During these ten minutes, the number "3" almost dominated the screen throughout, and the event information only appeared briefly 15 seconds before the end of the video. At this time, almost everyone on social media was discussing Vipshop, but the criticism almost overshadowed the few voices of praise.

When Vipshop's marketing event sparked widespread discussion in society, and most of the responses were negative, this advertisement was successful from a communication perspective. Its shock wave advertising and marketing approach focuses on solving practical marketing problems for companies rather than creative and interesting presentation methods.

In the short term, the marketing goal of the event has been achieved. Consumers will remember that Vipshop is having a discount and are likely to complete the purchase. However, for the long-term development of the company, the fewer brainwashing shock wave-style advertisements like this, the better.

The reason why brainwash advertisements exist is mainly due to the use of a large number of repetition and emphasis strategies, as well as the compulsory and monopolistic nature of the communication media. The essence is that advertisers and business owners each get what they need. Advertisers who have come up with many excellent creative proposals are not devaluing themselves by producing this simple and direct brainwashing advertisement, but it is based on the company's development strategy. If a new brand wants the audience to remember itself and increase brand awareness, brainwashing advertisements are very effective. However, for companies, if they want to deeply cultivate their own brand culture, relying on brainwashing advertisements is definitely not enough. Later advertising and marketing strategies should pay more attention to output quality. Brainwashing advertisements are a coincidence of the times, and the audience's appreciation ability determines that such brainwashing advertisements will continue to exist for a long time.

Two inherent deficiencies of brainwashing advertising and its two possible futures

Although brainwashing advertisements are highly praised, we must also see the shortcomings of this form of advertising. Taking the CCTV advertisements during the 2019 Spring Festival as an example, many brainwashing advertisements were cut because they were too repetitive and monotonous. This was a bolt from the blue for some companies that bet on brainwashing advertisements.

CCTV's call to stop brainwashing ads and the strengthening of advertising review mean that the space for brainwashing ads to be carried out has been greatly compressed.

"The Art of War" says: Therefore, the considerations of a wise man must be mixed with benefits and harms. If it is mixed with benefits, the work can be trusted; if it is mixed with harm, the trouble can be resolved. So when we see brainwashing advertisements becoming increasingly popular, we also need to see the inherent shortcomings of this form of advertising, so that we can “do whatever we want without breaking the rules.”

1. Innate lack of artistic quality

Why was the unimpeded brainwashing advertising poured cold water on by CCTV? The reason is not only that this form of advertising is monotonous and boring, but also that it violates a basic attribute of advertising - artistry.

Generally speaking, all high-quality advertising works have both commercial value and artistic value. Brainwashing advertising, because it overemphasizes commercial value and ignores the inherent deficiency of artistic value, will inevitably affect its own long-term development.

2. Reputation gives way to popularity

Brainwashing advertisements can solve a company's visibility problem in the short term, but they cannot solve its reputation problem. What's worse, the high-frequency broadcast of brainwashing advertisements not only cannot solve its reputation problem, but also lays a deep hidden danger for the shaping of brand reputation. It should be noted that fame only solves the problem of making customers remember you, while reputation is the key to whether customers choose you!

It can be said that brainwashing advertising, to a certain extent, achieves the increase of brand awareness at the expense of brand reputation, while truly superior advertising communication will certainly not unilaterally pursue cognitive communication at the expense of recognition. This metaphysical thinking that separates cognition and recognition and is hidden behind brainwashing advertising will inevitably face severe challenges in the fiercely competitive advertising market .

As people's aesthetic concepts gradually improve, traditional brainwashing advertisements will either gradually evolve into higher-level artistic forms of commercial communication or die out.

Author: PR Home

Source: PR Home