Persuasive Advertising - J. Scott Armstrong [53]
2.3.1. State that an attractive product is scarce when it is true
All rush after the unusual, which is more appetizing both for the taste and for the intelligence.
Baltasar Gracián, 1637
When Unilever introduced the butter substitute, “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter™” (ICBINB) to the United Kingdom in October 1991, the Butter Council threatened legal action because of the use of the word “butter.” In response, Unilever ran ads showing the storyboard for the “banned” TV commercial along with a story claiming that the butter interests were trying to remove ICBINB from the market. Within a month the company had trouble keeping up with the demand for ICBINB. The ad campaign won an IPA Advertising Effectiveness award (Duckworth 1997).
The scarcity principle is most applicable when a desirable product (e.g., artwork) is expensive, is bought for pleasure, and can be displayed to others. The condition “when it is true” is important for developing good long-term relationships with customers.
Explaining the reason for a shortage adds credibility. However, customers could become annoyed if an appeal lacks credibility. Consider this time-share condominium marketing line: “If you purchase now, I can give you the ‘today-only price.’”
Avoid discussing utility when using scarcity appeals. For example, when advertising antique cars, do not emphasize gas mileage, safety, or speed. If utility is advertised, customers might then consider alternative products rather than thinking about the uniqueness of this item. Certainly this is the case for scarce products that are very expensive. For example, a defective Swedish stamp, printed in 1855 and used in 1857, sold for the equivalent of one dollar in 1883. In October 1996, this useless “treskilling yellow” stamp sold for $2.3 million, making it perhaps the world’s most valuable item by weight.
J. S. G. Boggs is an artist who makes drawings of money and uses them to pay for his purchases. For example, he would go to a restaurant, have a meal, and present his realistic drawing, say of a $50 bill. His drawings were valuable and their worth was unrelated to the denomination that he drew. People who thought of them in terms of utility passed up an opportunity to acquire artwork that was sought by collectors and prized for its scarcity.
When Nabisco’s Snackwells™ was in its early phase, demand was so strong that consumers swept Snackwells boxes off the shelves. This led to the development of an effective multi-year campaign that included the tag line, “so good, can we ever make enough?”
Evidence on the effects of scarcity
Experiments have shown that people’s desire for a product increases when high demand causes a shortage. In one experiment, 134 subjects were placed in rooms with a jar containing either two or ten cookies. A second experimenter entered the room to say that his subjects had eaten more of the cookies than expected; he asked for the jar with the ten cookies and replaced it with one that had two cookies. In another variation, the second experimenter also changed jars but said that he had accidentally taken the first experimenter’s jar. Subjects who believed that the cookies were scarce because of demand thought of them as more desirable than did those who believed that the cookie supply was accidentally diminished (Worchel, Lee, and Adewole 1975). Further support was provided in an experiment on the choice of recipe books. Subjects had higher preferences when scarcity resulted from market conditions rather than from an accidental shortage (Verhallen and Robben 1994).
Experiments found that scarcity only led to higher demand when the product was already attractive. Otherwise, subjects showed altruistic