Unit 3: Selling & Buying

Think over:
Hãy suy ngẫm:
Look at this advertisement. What do you think it is for?
Discuss the reasons for your opinions.

Below is a list of techniques which advertisers commonly use to persuade us to buy their products.
Dưới đây là những chiến thuật mà các nhà quảng cáo thường dùng để thuyết phục khách hàng mua sản phẩm của họ.

a. Association of ideas    b. Key words    c. Guilt    d. “Science”    e. Expertise

f. “Before and after”    g. “The camera never lies”    h. Repetition    i. Brand name    j. “Keeping up with the Joneses”

Find out exactly what each of these techniques involves by reading the descriptions below and matching them correctly with one of the labels from the above list. Present your opinion and write your answers in the spaces provided.
Hãy tìm ra chính xác nội dung của mỗi chiến thuật đề cập đến bằng cách đọc kỹ nội dung mô tả ở dưới và chọn tên của các chiến thuật trong bảng trên phù hợp với sự mô tả ở dưới. Trình bày ý kiến của bạn và viết câu trả lời vào chỗ trống cho sẵn.
1.
    Some products are advertised as having a remarkable and immediate effect. We are shown the situation before using the product and this is contrasted with the situation that follows its use. Taking a tablet for a headache in such advertisements can have truly remarkable results. For not only has the headache gone, but the person concerned has often had a new hair-do, acquired a new set of clothes and sometimes even moved into a more modern, better furnished house.
2.
    One thing reminds us of another - especially if we often see them together. These reminders are sometimes more imaginary than real: for some people snow may suggest Christmas, for others silver candlesticks may suggest wealth. The advertiser encourages us to associate his product with those things he thinks we really want - a good job, nice clothes, a sports car, a beautiful girl-friend - and, perhaps most of all, a feeling of importance. The “image” of a product is based on these associations and the advertises often creates a “good image” by showing us someone who uses his product and who leads the kind of life we should like to lead.
3.
    Advertisements often encourage us to believe that because someone has been successful in one field, he should be regarded as an authority in other fields.
    The advertiser knows that there are certain people we admire because they are famous sportsmen, actors or singers, and he believes that if we discover that a certain well-known personality uses his product, we will want to use it too. This is why so many advertisements feature famous people.
4.
    Maybe we can’t always believe what we’re told, but surely we must accept what we’re actually shown. The trouble is that when we look at the photograph we don’t know how the photograph was taken, or even what was actually photographed. Is that delicious- looking whipped cream really cream, or plastic froth? Are the colours in fact so glowing or has a special filter been used?
    It is often difficult to tell, but you can sometimes spot the photographic tricks if you look carefully enough.
5.
    If you keep talking about something for long enough, eventually people will pay attention to you. Many advertisements are based on this principle
    If we hear the name of a product many times a day, we are much more likely to find that this is the name that comes into our head when the shopkeeper asks “What brand?” We usually like to choose things for ourselves, but if the advertiser plants a name in our heads in this way he has helped to make the choice for us.
6.
    In this age of moon flights, heart transplants and wonder drugs, we are all impressed by science. If an advertiser links his claim with a scientific fact, there’s even a chance we can be blinded by science. The question is simply whether the impressive air of the new discovery or the “man-made miracle” is being used to help or just to hoodwink us.
7.
    Advertisers may try to make us want a product by suggesting that most people, or the “best” people, already use it and that we will no doubt want to follow them. No one likes to be inferior to others and these advertisements suggest that you will be unless you buy the product.
8.
    The manufacturer needs a name for his product, and of course he looks for a name that will do more than just identify or label: he wants a name which brings suitable associations as well - the ideas that the word brings to mind will help sell the product.
9.
    Most advertisements contain certain words (sometimes, but not always, in bold or large letters, or beginning with a capital letter) that are intended to be persuasive, while at the same time appearing to be informative. In describing a product, copy-writers insert words that will conjure up certain feelings, associations and attitudes. Some words - “golden”, for example -seem to have been so successful in selling that advertisers use them almost as if they were magic keys to increase sales.
10.
    Advertisers may invoke feelings that imply you are not doing the best for those you love most. For example, an advertisement may suggest that any mother who really loves her children uses a certain product. If she does not, she might start to think of herself as a bad mother who does not love her family. So she might go and buy that particular product, rather than go on feeling bad about it.

Design an advertisement
Hãy thiết kế một mẫu quảng cáo
    Planning an advertisement is not an easy task. There are a number of things that you need to consider before you launch your advertisement. For instance, you must have a clear idea of who your target customers are (e.g. their age group, income level, etc.), the medium for your ad (e.g. T.V, newspaper, billboard, etc.), and the actual design of the advertisement (e.g. scene, actors/ actresses, etc.). The following guidelines should help you plan and design your advertisement. Try to come up with a detailed description of the actual advertisement.
     Thiết kế một quảng cáo không phải là một việc dễ dàng. Có một số việc bạn cần phải xem xét trước khi giới thiệu một mẫu quảng cáo. Ví dụ, bạn phải có một ý tưởng rõ ràng về đối tượng khách hàng mà bạn hướng đến (ví dụ: tuổi tác, mức thu nhập…), phương tiện quảng cáo (ví dụ: ti vi, báo chí, bảng quảng cáo…) và thiết kế thực tế của quảng cáo (ví dụ: quang cảnh, nghệ sĩ…). Những nguyên tắc sau sẽ giúp bạn thiết kế quảng cáo của mình. Háy cố gắng mô tả chi tiết mẫu quảng cáo thực tế của bạn.
1. Choose one of the following products for your advertising campaign?

• Toothpaste
• Perfume
• Shampoo
• Cold Medicine
• Insect Spray
• Other (please specify)

2. Make up a name for the product, e.g. Clairodent for a brand of toothpaste. Explain how the name is related to the product image.

Describe your target customers in terms of their age group, income level, education, interests, and other major characteristics.

Age group
Income level
Education
Interests
Others

3. Select either a TV station or a magazine for your advertising medium.
For Television, please specify the following:
Name of station, e.g. Telstar
Duration, e.g. ten seconds.
Frequency, e.g. ten times daily for the first three months.
Time of day, e.g. prime time.
For Magazine, please specify the following:
Name of magazine
How big, e.g. full page
Where, e.g. back cover
How often, e.g. every other week
In colour or not.
4. Describe your advertisement in details. Include the following:
motto
image you are selling
story line (what goes on in the ad)
jingle (pop music)
actors/ actresses
setting/ scene (outdoors, indoors, etc.)

Look at the pictures. Do you shop at any of these places?
Hãy xem những bức tranh sau. Bạn có đi mua sắm ở những nơi này không?
Think over and fill the box.
Hãy suy nghĩ và điền vào bảng sau.

Places to shop	Things for sale	Words to describe things
Megastore
Flea market
Department store
Mall
Arcade
Market
Book fair
Boutique
Online

Discussion
Hãy thảo luận
What are the differences between these places? What do you think the people are buying? What else do you think they can buy here?

Complete the survey below about your shopping habits. Calculate your total points.
Hãy thực hiện phiếu điều tra về thói quen mua sắm sau. Tính tống số điểm bạn có được.

WHAT KIND of SHOPPER ARE YOU?

1. How often do you go shopping? A. everyday B. once a week C. once a month D. never 2. How often do you think about shopping? A. all the time B. everyday C. sometimes D. never 3. When do you usually shop? A. when I feel sad B. when I feel happy C. when I feel bored D. only when I need something 4. How do you prefer to pay? A. with a credit card B. by personal check C. with a debit card D. with cash

5. Which sentence best describes you? A. I prefer to shop alone B. I prefer to go with friends C. I prefer to shop online D. I prefer someone else to shop for me 6. What do you think about shopping? A. I love it! B. I like it C. It’s ok once in a while D. I hate it! 7. What was the last thing you bought for yourself? A. some trendy clothes B. a CD or DVD C. a book or magazine D. something to eat or drink 8. What was the last thing you bought for someone else? A. electronics B. clothing C. perfume D. a card

Discussion
Hãy thảo luận
Use the information above to compare your answers. Whose shopping habits are like yours? Share your information with the class. Who is the craziest about shopping?

Read the article. What do you think? Is a “shop-till-you drop” habit comparable to binge eating?
Hãy đọc bài báo sau. Bạn suy nghĩ như thế nào? Thói quen “mua sắm đến nhẵn túi” có giống với việc chè chén say sưa không?

 Compulsive shoppers may have a new psychological excuse to blame for their wild shopping sprees. Psychologists at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand are investigating the “shop-still-you-drop” habit as a behavioral disorder comparable to binge eating. The symptoms are that shoppers frequently buy more than they can afford or more than they need, and it causes them distress.
  “It becomes a problem when you are out of control”, senior psychology lecturer Neville Blampied said. “When you are feeling bad and blue, what do you do?” Some people eat chocolate cake and half a quart of ice cream. Some people take the credit card and go out to the mall.
  “Bank managers are aware of the problem because they have to deal with people who have to be ceremoniously stripped of their credit cards.”
  Compulsive shopping was first identified in 1915, although it was then known as monomania. Few studies have been on the problem.
  An advertisement in a suburban Christchurch paper, calling for volunteers to participate in an experimental treatment program co designed by Mr.Blampied, attracted 10 replies. But the problem, said Mr. Blampied, is “clearly not rare”. He concerned that compulsive shopping tends to fall into the realm of psychiatry and is treated with drugs. “As psychologists we are interested in nondrug treatments for behavioral difficulties,” Mr. Blampied said.
  Compulsive eaters or shoppers get a kick from their habit. “Both activities provide an immediate kind of arousal and a bit of a boost and you feel a bit better,” he said. “You have long-term problems in consequence, but human beings are extremely good at discounting long-term benefits,” he said.
  The therapy’s aim was to help people find better ways of managing their negative emotions. The program, consisting of 10 one-hour weekly sessions and two follow-up treatments, is loosely based on teaching stress management.
  “You often have to start to get people to correctly recognise their emotions. Not being able to discriminate what you really feel impairs your ability to solve the problems associated with what’s making you feel that way,” Mr. Blampied said.
Answer the following questions.
Hãy trả lời những câu hỏi sau.
1. What is this article mostly about?
2. When might people indulge in compulsive shopping?
3. Which is considered to be important in therapy for compulsive shoppers?

Share ideas about these points with the others.
Chia xẻ ý kiến về những đề tài sau với các bạn.
1. Do you think advertising is a good or a bad thing
- in newspapers and magazines?
- on television?
- on street hoardings?
2. What kind of things do you dislike in advertisements?
    What kind of things do you find offensive?
    What sort of advertisements do you like?
3. Do you think there should be some kind of control over what is put into advertisements? If so, what would you like to see banned?
4. What do you think about online shopping? Have you ever bought something online? If so, was it a positive or negative experience? If not, do you want to?
5. Tell about an interesting place to shop in your city / town? What are good and bad things about it?
6. What are the things you enjoy and the things you don’t enjoy about shopping for clothes / books / CDs / food and so on?
7. Do you always go shopping alone? What are the advantages and disadvantages of going with someone else?
8. What differences can there be in shopping at different times of the year?