Understanding Ads 1 Five thousand! That's about how many advertisements you are exposed to in one day if you live in a metropolitan area. Researchers' estimates of the actual number vary from three hundred to six thousand, but everyone knows that ads are everywhere. Advertising goes down the street with us; it's on trains, planes, and buses. It shouts at us at sporting events from the banners on display and the electronic scoreboards. Advertising takes the form of brand names and logos on our clothing and accessories. You can't even turn on the television or check out your favorite website without watching an advertisement. At every point, advertising shouts, whispers, or cajoles us to “Look at me! Buy me!” But how exactly do advertisements do it? As it turns out, just a few formats characterize the majority of ads. A City street with colorful ads on tall buildings 2 One common, and very persuasive, type of advertisement is known as the association ad. This advertisement could be a picture of a famous person wearing a designer's shoes or clothing, or driving a certain type of car. It does not bother to tell or show you what the product does. Instead, the message is “you've got to have this product because of who you'll be associated with if you own it or wear it.” 3 “Look,” one ad implies, “there's your favorite basketball star wearing those sneakers. Don't you want to be just like him?” 4 “And listen,” the next ad invites, “to the soundtrack that forms the rhythm and beat of the lives of the cool people who wear these headphones.” 5 These types of advertisements may also present an entire socioeconomic or cultural group that it intends the viewer to associate with the product. Moreover, every one of them dresses, looks, and acts the way that the target audience aspires to look, dress, and act. “You want to be those people?” it asks in a voice so subtle you can barely hear it. “Well, then,” it answers for you, “buy our product.” A group of teenagers modeling the latest clothes and wearing the same brand of