Media Literacy and Ladders in our
Heads
by Betsy Razza
The
Georgia Performance Standards in Language Arts include teaching
media literacy from grades 4 through 12. This is perhaps, a result
of the Canadians’ push for this curriculum in all their
schools. The Canadians are concerned about the influence that
the American media has over its children. Every province in Canada
is mandated to teach media literacy. In the United States , media
literacy is becoming mandated in some states and Georgia is now
one of them. As a new area in the English curriculum, this is
not a subject that most English teachers feel comfortable with
for the most part. As a result, media literacy represents an
area of opportunity for our profession, as we are media specialists.
So, how do we teach this new focus in the curriculum? We need
to break down media literacy into different areas using its unique
vocabulary. Sub topics for media literacy in the classroom can
include bias and persuasion techniques, advertising and marketing,
camera and film techniques, and website evaluation. What follows
is a slice of media literacy that focuses on the psychology of
marketing and how marketers position their products for the battle
over the consumer’s mind.
Advertising is a battle for the mind of the consumer. The rules
of the game require positioning your product so it is memorable.
The best way to accomplish this is to be number one. Coca-Cola
is the number one soft drink. Hertz is the number one car rental
agency. Microsoft is the number one software company. Consumers
are comfortable with knowing which products are number one and
accept the pecking order on the ladder (McDonalds over Burger
King, Coca Cola over Pepsi, General Motors over Ford, etc.).
If you can not claim to be number one in your area, then the
next best way to battle for the mind of the consumer is to be
different. Hence, we have Seven-Up as “the uncola.” Apple
carves its unique place in the market by providing innovative
and different products and devices such as iPod, iMovie, and
iPhone. Avis is number two in the car rental business, so its
message is that it is different from its competitor by offering
more service, thus the phrase “We try harder.” The
Avis slogan has another added benefit as it also capitalizes
on people’s natural sympathy for the underdog.
In advertising, it is best to have the best product, but it
is even better to have been the first. Consumers build brand
loyalty with products. It is easiest to get into a consumer’s
mind by being the first product of a kind. Once a consumer starts
using a product, they will often stick with it and make a personal
connection to the brand by identifying with the product. The
first brand that consumers associate with a product usually gets
twice the long-term market share of the second brand introduced
into the market and twice as much again when brand number three
is introduced into the market.
Less is more in advertising. In a society where there is too
much media coming at the consumer through sensory overload, the
message has to be very simple to make a long lasting impression.
Coke’s slogan “the real thing” is a good example
as it is a simple message that tells the consumer that all other
soft drinks are an imitation. By using this message, Coke gets
its message into the head of the consumer and secures it position
at the top of the ladder as the best soda. The slogan also reinforces
Coke’s preeminence and the result is a power product in
the soft drink industry. It is important to note a distinction
here. In the mind of the buyer, it is important that the product
be viewed as the best, not necessarily as the largest seller
due to its low price.
Successful new products are usually successful because they
are different from what is already available on the market, rather
than because they try to take on established products. “Cherchez
le creneau” (look for the hole) is a French marketing expression
that states this well. It essentially means to go against the
grain and stand out as being different. Virginia Slims cigarettes
were successful because they stood out as the first cigarettes
for women. The next brand that tried to do the same, the Eve
brand of cigarettes, was destined to failure. It failed because
Virginia Slims was already the number one women’s cigarette
on the ladder in the mind of the consumers and did not provide
anything unique.
Disparagement of the number one product is a primary marketing
technique that repositions the competition on the ladder. Listerine,
for example, is number one on the ladder for mouthwash. Proctor
and Gamble moved Scope mouthwash into second place when they
came out with their ad campaign of “Medicine Mouth” which
was directed against Listerine’s slogan “the taste
you hate, twice a day”. The battle between Listerine and
Scope left casualties on the battlefield. Bianca and Micrin were
killed as products and Lavoris was deeply wounded in terms of
sales.
Why is it important to understand the psychology behind media
ladders? Our students need to understand the subconscious and
real ladder on which they place products on to be wise consumers.
This perception is created by both the consumers themselves and
the marketers that affect the products’ placement on the
ladder. Media literacy is a tool that we can give to our students
so they can be forearmed and better protected by the information
sensory overload of marketing and the ladders that we build in
our heads with the help of marketers and advertising campaigns.
Source:
Ries, Al, and Jack Trout. Positioning: The Battle for
your Mind . New York : McGraw-Hill, 1986.