Throughout history humans have always seemed to have an obsession with the penis. A women’s interest in a penis is pretty obvious. But for men it has been a symbol of pride, strength, and virility, while at the same time a source of shame and inadequacy, providing content for pop culture humor, and locker room ridicule. Civilizations have erected monuments in its representative shape, from ancient Egypt’s obelisks, to America’s super-sized Washington Monument. Cultures around the world have also held onto beliefs that certain foods, herbs and tonics can increase a man’s virility and make him “strong like a bull.” You can just imagine going into an incense scented apothecary in ancient China and purchasing an equivalent to modern day Viagra®.
It should come as no surprise that with today’s cultural view that a pill can cure anything that entrepreneurs are attempting to exploits a man’s shortcomings to make a dollar. In the May 2011 edition of Maxim Magazine, Avid Pro Medical ran an advertisement for their penis enlargement herbal supplement. Their advertisement is full of bold print, special offers, coloring and statements designed to create compliance with the reader to purchase their product. The craft of this advertisement is not in its color layouts, but rather in its use of certain social psychology principles.
Almost from the beginnings they start using statements to gain the readers confidence. The use of headlines like “Doctor Approved” and “Featured on 20/20”, convey a sense of authority to their statements. This plays on a person’s belief that their doctor or a respected news agency would not mislead them into taking a bogus product. After doing some research on the internet I found that this product was mentioned on an episode of 20/20. The article was on male penis enlargement and the techniques men will use to achieve results. The story did make mention of the use of herbal supplements, but only to highlight the ineffective results and misleading...