During the book review session held on ‎ Max Sutherland’s ‘‎Advertising and the mind of the consumer’, experts stressed on the lack of any authentic sources on marketing and selling in the country, hence drawing on the necessity to compile and translate books on the subject.

IBNA: The book review session on Max Sutherland’s ‘‎Advertising and the mind of the consumer’ was held on Saturday evening (April 21) at the House of Literati with the presence of Parviz Dargi, Mahmoud Mohammadian, Farid Forouzfar, and Sepideh Batebi. 

At the outset Forouzfar, editor of the book, said: “The author of the book was on the one hand, a commercial expert, and on the other hand he was a psychologist. Therefore he has mastery over both fields. The book is one of the most comprehensive ones on the psychology of advertisement.” 

He added: “Advertisement is a young phenomenon in Iran and there is no authentic and valid source on marketing and sales available in Iran. Therefore there is high demand for compilations and translations in this field in Iran.” 

He then pointed to the book’s division in two parts: “The first part includes eight chapters introducing theoretical principles of advertisements in relation with psychology and the mind. Here the benefits of advertisement are discussed as the author believes that ads never rule out personal judgment and only offer more information and finally it is up to the individual to make the choice.” 

Despite advertisements’ excessive use of emotional attractions, it is finally left to the audience to decide. 

“In the second part,” he added, “practical experiences of advertisement in countries like Australia are introduced along with advices for advertisers. However, we should keep in mind that all mind-related issues are dependent on cultures and therefore such experiences many vary from culture to culture.” 

Then Dargi highlighted the interdisciplinary function of the book and said: “In this book the issues of advertisement and psychology is put together to offer a new interdisciplinary approach.” 

Drawing attention to the gaps of this field in Iran, he said: “Up to the present, advertisement was separated from academies but gradually there was a need for scientific discussions and so advertising publishers turned to more specialized aspects of advertisement.” 

The next speaker was Mohammadian who first appreciated the fine translation of the book and added: “Psychology is the science of cultures and sometimes an advertising concept may mean differently in another culture. In psychology we deal with two realities: of similarities and differences between people. Advertisement is a science of differences and knowledge of such differences needs thorough research. Therefore, whatever suggested in this book should be first examined in each society as a hypothesis.” 

Then Dargi designated three indicators for an effective advertisement: “An effective ad requires three steps: the first is research. To date artistic aspects of advertisement superseded all other elements, but now research is given priority as one should first learn about rivals, target audiences, market, etc.” 

“Second, companies should find their distinctive points compared with other rivals. And then methods of conveying the message are important, as by what means ads should be propagated and whom do they reach. An advertisement is effective only if all three steps are done correctly.” 

Finally pointing to the weaknesses of the book, Mohammadian said: “The author has paid more attention to broadcast media like television and believes that ads are made for goods that are less known for the people, whereas more known objects are also advertised and yet their affectivity on the people is different.” 

Max Sutherland’s ‘"Advertising and the mind of the consumer” is converted into Persian by Sina Ghorbanlou and released by Mobaleghan Publications.

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