You've Been Framed

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Clever marketers try to tailor their pitch to you as precisely as possible.  A favorite strategy is "framing" by which they use context in whatever way that they believe will be most convincing.  There are a host of framing approaches.  Let's consider seven common ones by imaging that a salesperson is attempting to sell you a vacation package.

 First, emphasis could be placed on the value of the vacation.  You are told that the package is especially affordable, since airfares are being provided at a rock bottom rate.  Second, the vacation could be framed temporally, suggesting that your children are just the right age to appreciate the trip.  Third, the vacation might be goal-framed, such that the vacation is structured to require you to pay for it in small increments, thus sustaining your motivation.  Fourth, the vacation could be framed in terms of some attribute or attributes that you highly prize.  If you are not particularly attracted to the destination, you might be swayed by being told that the venue is one frequented by a large cadre of celebrities that you readily can ogle.  Fifth, the salesperson can frame the vacation to benefit from the number-size effect, merely changing a numerical feature of the pitch.  This strategy might consist of changing the numerical appearance of the deal without changing its substance -- after initially offering a 10% discount on a $3000 flight, the package later is describe instead as including a $300 discount.  Sixth, the salesperson strategy sometimes is to offer you an “options not equivalent” comparison.  For instance, she/he states that they have a similar, but cheaper, vacation package that lasts 7 days, rather than the 10 that originally had been proposed.  Finally, you might be presented an “options equivalent” choice.  In this situation, you are told that an identical trip literally is the same as the previously offered one, but you would be placed on a standby list, and need to leave at short notice.
Each of the seven frames likely would appeal to one person, but not to another.  Successful marketers use their knowledge of you and your reference groups to make their framing selections appealing and relevant to you.  For instance, if you are of high income and/or associate with persons of that ilk, you might be especially susceptible to presentations that frame the proposed vacation as one that is exclusive.  By contrast, if you cannot resist a bargain, you conceivably could be convinced by an argument that professes a discounted "limited time only" pitch.  


 About Peter J. McCusker

Dr. Peter J. McCusker is a licensed psychologist, member of the American Psychological Association, and member of the National Register of Health Service Psychologists. Dr. McCusker has taught multiple psychology courses and has practiced within clinical psychology and within the psychology of physical medicine and rehabilitation for forty years. During that time he has treated patients in private settings, hospitals, and outpatient clinics. A husband, father, grandfather, marathon runner, and former Marine, Dr. McCusker has authored Justifiably Paranoid: Resisting Intrusive and Malicious Influences; Conversation: Striving, Surviving, and Thriving; Barry Barack Hussein Soetoro Obama: Identity and Racial Hypocrisy in America; and Don't Rest in Peace: Activity-Oriented, Integrated Physical and Mental Health
      

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