TREND IN THE USE OF HUMAN MODELS IN THE NIGERIA ADVERTISING INDUSTRY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of persons, institutions, ideas, goods or services, by an identified sponsor using appropriate medium or media of communication.  According to the Cable news network (CNN), advertising gives us the right to choose, in the market place.  It induces immediate sales and builds sustainable  image  for a product.

          Advertising also informs buyers  about products that ate new in the market as well as remind them about old ones almost forgotten due  to lack of publicity on them.   It  tells about names of such new products and where  to  get them.  Using well know models to advertise products or services creates arousal of interest if viewers identify such products or services with the models.

          Advertising practitioners/advertisers hold the view that when  celebrity models are used for promotion of goods or services, the loyalty of the garget audience is won.  The use of models in advertising stem, from the marketing concept and also emanates from the fact that  advertisers and advertising agencies realized the power influence and importance of associating notable personalities or even good looking people with product identity in order to achieve the following reasons:

1.       To attract the attention of prospective buyers.

2.       Improve the sales of the products by associating it with such models.

3.       To get buyers to be favourably disposed to the products.

4.       To propagate the brand

5.       To improve on the brand image

6.       To add value to advertising and communications  industry.

          World wide use of model in advertising has remind a remarkable instrument of increasing business activities because the appeals drawn will be very effective in advertising and will attract much concern where attitude change is involved.  As a result, some developments have been with eased in the advertising industry within the least twenty years in the area of supportive services as radio and television production, research and out door services.  These are activities and ventures where modeling services are required.

          To day, advertising industry use models in several ways either on television or advertisement on the pages and covers of various magazines, newspapers, journals calendars, bill-boards, and posters.

          Hogarth (1968) asserts that there are many different ways in which models are used  in advertising and further stated how complex the world of advertising can be if one stops to think about models used in advertising.  The models could be trained, untrained, celebrities, seductive and non-deductive.  But of all the models used. Celebrity models seem to be the most effective in advertising.

          White Hooper (1946) sees celebrity endorsements as finding either an authority star personality, or entertainer, who will associate himself/herself with your product, in some positive  fashion, that will enhance its   popularity with the television audience”.  This study which was conceived out of a sense of strong interest in models used in advertising, coupled with the fact that too little was known about models used in advertisements by the modeling agencies or advertising   agencies is intended to find out the influence of these models in advertisements.  Most of the advertising firms operate  through modeling agencies and majority of the models are represented by these agencies with their contracts being established by their representatives.  But no rule exists that model must be represented by an agent, as some companies have been incorporated to provide and train models  for modeling.

          The purpose  of a modeling agency is to avail advertisers/advertising agencies the services of trained and experienced models required  for advertising of goods or  services, since modeling seems to play important roles  in the advertising industry, especially in accelerating appeal for goods and services as well as improving sales of influence models now have no the audience in promoting   of  goods and services .

PROBLEM STATEMENT

          In Nigeria today, use of models in advertising has become one of the sophiscated marketing strategies employed in advertising operations.  Watching the televisions, one sees  and listen to an innumerable number of advertisements of products and services like peps, cola, Elephant blue detergent, lux toilet soap, star lager beer, jik bleach etc. Each of these products were  advertised by models, mostly celebrities,  it is  important to remember that modeling has now reached a highly competitive stage, and huge efforts and finance are being invested yearly by the industry.  Whether these efforts are justifiable or not depends on the effectiveness and the ethical implication of modeling.

The problem, however, is that in Nigeria  there s a  poverty of studies on the effectiveness and ethical dimensions of modeling  in advertising.  This study is geared towards   helping to solve this problem in the Nigerian context.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

          The objectives of this study are as follow

1. To provide an indepth understanding of meaning of models and modeling in advertising
2. To examine the ways models are being used
3. To find out people that are required to be models
4. To find out whether models have  any influence on prospective buyers
5. To find out if the use of models in adverting is very effective
6. To find out if the use of models is  considered ethical or unethical.

HYPOTHESES

Hypotheses are tentative supposition put forward to determine facts and give solution to problems.  Based on the problem definition and the objectives of the study previously stated, the following hypotheses are to be tested or investigated to find out whether models help in the advertising industry or not.

1. H Modeling is a very effective advertising strategy in Nigeria.
2. HO: Modeling is not an effective advertising strategy in Nigeria.
3. H2  Use of models in advertising is seen as ethical by Nigerians.

HO Use of models in advertising is  seen as unethical by Nigerians.

H3 Models influence prospective buyers on the purchase of products.

Ho models do not influence prospective buyer on the purchase or products.

RESEARCH QUESTION

The research question of this study is as follow

1.      Do human models have effects on the advertising industry?

2.       Do Human model tend to prompt the Advertising industry in Nigeria?

3.       Which class of the Human models is most preferred?

4.       Do Human models Advertising have negative or positive effect on them?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The significance of this study depends largely on the set of objectives of the research.   Based on this, it  will help to bring out the influence and effect of models on the prospective buyers and their influence could be anything ranging from negative to positive or neutral. It will also aid in deciding whether model enhance the creditability of the advertisement, and the product or service advertised or worse still, whether it detracts from the creditability of the advert.

There is need  for modeling services (support personnel) in the promotion of goods or services.  Given that some of the advertising problems that plague the industry are being models and modeling  agencies used, it is hope that the study will no doubt help the advertiser and advertising agency  to adopt improved modeling services as a strategy which would enhance the overall advertising performance in the industry.

LIMITAIONS OF THE STUDY

A research effort of this nature is usually thought with some problems and limitations the framework of this study would have been based on models used in various advertising media but its scope will be limited to advertisement on television, radio, magazines, bill boards and poster, in Enugu and Lagos metropolis.

          Advertising research involves cost in  terms of survey,  collection of data, preparation of questionnaire and production of concluded research work.  meanwhile, some respondents  never completed the questionnaires administered on them  as they continued to shift attention from them. And even the one completed were not retuned.

Dearth of relevant literature on the models and modeling agencies used in advertising became a  problem because there was lack of accurate data on th models used in advertising.  Even when approached they refused giving details on how they use models in advertising for fear of the competitors.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study will cover selected Advertising agencies in Enugu and  Lagos, especially Lagos because Lagos is a commercial center in Nigeria that has a large population.   It will have a good representations  of the consumers that will be surveyed to find out how effective and how ethical modeling is in Nigerians, Advertising industry .

OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS

ADVERTISING:  Is any past form of non presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor. Advertising can be run both in the print or electronic media using the basic visual audio communication materials eg.  In the newspaper using photographs, etc.  or radio/TV using voicing or sound effect.

AGENCY:  Is an organization that creates communication messages and they gets them exposed via the various media, to the audience with the objective of receiving its commission.

MODEL:     A person called upon or  employed to be photographed,  or to display or demonstrate certain products or services to possible buyers in order to compel  action.  An acclaimed model must operate  within the known standards, rules, regulations, or procedures of the profession.

MODELING:       It is an art of making models working as a model, take up a career  in modeling agency.

EFFECTIVE:       Making a strong  impression or  influence on the intended result.

ETHICAL:  It describes ethic which  is a  system of moral principles or rule that govern or influence a person’s behaviour.

CELEBRITY:       They are star or role used in adverting products or services, it could be television  stars, actors actresses, sport figures or entertainers whose appearance in the advertisement of such goods or services sustains the  interest of his /her  audience on the  goods  or services so advertised.

CONCEPTUAL DEFINITIONS

1.       Advertising: Making  generally or publicly known persuade publicly in  order to encourage  people to buy or use  it.

2.       Agency:  The means  fore or substance that produces an effect or changes.

3.       Model:  A person use to  display  or demonstrate certain produces  or services to possible  buyers in order to  compel action.

4.       Modeling  the act of making  a model.

5.       Effective: Producing the result that was wasted or intended.

6.       Ethical :  Connected with principles of what is right and wrong.

7.       Celebrity:  A famous person  specially some one in the entertainment business.

CONCETPUAL DEFINITIONS

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

1. What are the effects of human model in the Advertising industry in Nigeria?

2.       Is modeling an effective advertising strategy in Nigeria?

3.       How does Human model effect the consumer a perception  of the particular product?

4.       Does Nigerian accept modeling advertising as a profession?

5.       Can model advertising in Nigeria be compare to what is obtained in the advertising industries in the foreign countries?