Reinforcement in Advertising

Central to the subject of consumer behavior (Chapter 6) is the concept of reinforcement. We marketers have "borrowed" this from psychology, as we have done with many other concepts. Positive reinforcement is reward for doing something you should do. Punishment is a negative consequence of doing something you should not have done. Extinction is being ignored. It's like when you call someone and they never return your call. Eventually, you stop calling. Try to recall a television or radio commercial, or a print ad (newspaper, magazine) or internet banner or popup that stresses one of these three concepts. You are free to do two or even all three of them, but one is fine. While most ads stress the rewards of using the product, others stress the negative consequences of not using the product or of using a competitor's brand.