Controversy: A Benefit or Detriment to Advertising — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

Presenter photographs should be head and shoulder shots comparable to passport photos.

Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

Controversy: A Benefit or Detriment to Advertising

Name: Casey Korb
Major: Marketing
Hometown: Naperville
Faculty Sponsor:
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Senior thesis

Abstract

Taking advantage of social issues and topics to create a controversial advertisement can be a very beneficial marketing tool. Advertisers apply everyday conversations and use socially relevant topics in their advertisements that people are likely to have emotional responses to or are already passionate about and create the potential to produce a response from the public that garners attention, promotion, and recognition for the brand or product. Though using controversy as a marketing tool can be a risk, if used correctly, it can produce an extremely successful ad benefitting the company in the long run. With the risks being take into consideration, there are a few steps that can be taken to maximize the potential for success when using controversial topics as the foundation of an advertisement: 1) utilizing the narrative paradigm, or storytelling, as the basis of the ad and align the ad’s message with the storyline of the audience; 2) emphasizing collaboration in the creation of an ad, where diverse input helps create a stronger ad message and avoid unintended responses to the ad; and, 3) advertisers properly applying marketing information distribution practices (or market research) to help the creative teams designing the ad produce an ad that is fit for purpose and meaningful to the target audience.

Poster file