A conceptual captology design by

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• A conceptual captology design by
• Kara Blond and Dan Gilbert

Design Challenge To design an interactive system
that changes how people react to ads on TV
Time limit 8 hours
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• Persuasive Purpose
• Attitude change To convince teens to be
  skeptical about company motivations in producing
  advertisements on TV
  
• Behavior change To persuade teens to make
  responsible, rational buying decisions
  
• Success Teens will internalize and apply a
  process of deconstructing and critically
  evaluating ads on TV

Industrial Design
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User Description

• High School Students who
• watch a lot of television
• are making purchase decisions for the first
  time
  
• are aggressively pursued by advertisers
• are subject to significant peer pressure

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The Storyboard
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• Using this product, you will learn to
• view TV ads with a critical eye
• make responsible buying decisions

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Click to play
Watch this commercial carefully
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• Think about it
• Does this ad convince you to buy the product?
  What did you learn about the product from the
  ad?
  
• What are some of the strategies that the company
  uses to persuade you?
  
• How else could the advertisers convince you to
  buy their product?

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• Make your un-Commercial
• On the next screen, click on the yellow stars to
  replace the actors, music, setting and slogan for
  this ad.
  
• How might changing these options affect the ads
  message?
  
• Challenge Can you design the least persuasive ad?

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(No Transcript)
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actor
music
slogan
setting
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Watch again still convinced?
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• Think about it
• Would your new ad convince you to buy the
  product? Why or why not?
  
• Can you now distinguish between the product and
  the strategies used to sell it?
  
• What questions will you ask yourself the next
  time you see an ad?

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Features/Functionality

• Insert alternate stars, music, settings and
  slogans for those in the original ad
  
• Replay commercial with variables changed
• Runs on TV screen (DVD), operated with remote
  control
  
• Pre- and post-activity reflection questions
• Integrated with High School curriculum

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Theoretical Justifications

• Push teens to make decisions in central
  processing rather than peripheral processing
  
• Seeing new commercial creates cognitive
  dissonance sexy jeans on a very unsexy guy
  students must rationalize this confict
  
• Learn and apply lesson in the same context on a
  TV screen
  
• Uses satire as a persuasive technique it
  exaggerates to make a point and uses humor to
  reinforce its message

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Results of User Testing

• Feedback from two STEP students currently
  teaching high school
  
• Incorporated suggestions about
• reflective questions
• explicit instructions and goals
• building activity in to larger curriculum

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Additional Comments
Testimonial I would love to have this for my kid
s. I want my students thinking about why they
want things, not just wanting them.
-- STEP student
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Shortcomings of Design

• Potential to send mixed messages about body
  image
  
• No built-in assessment
• No instruction about powerful force of peer
  pressure (may be the strongest influence on
  purchase decisions for teens)
  
• No specific process for applying skills in a
  real-world setting
  

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Expansion - What else is possible?

• Other form factors or ID possibilities
• Cell phone or GameBoy-based interaction with
  reminder messages for buying decisions
  
• Web-based program could offer
• More kinds of commercials Kids compare
  techniques across genres and product lines
  
• Most recent and popular commercials
• Other features and interactions
• Ask teens to keep journal charting purchases
• Compare to ads from other countries (in foreign
  languages)
  
• Create a role for parents or teachers to
  stimulate discussion
  

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Next Steps in Design Process

• User test prototype with teens
• Hire developers to build program on DVD
• Convene educator focus groups to assess learning
  potential
  
• Consider (and dismiss!) competing models for our
  product
  

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Evaluation of Captology Design Project
How well does the design idea fit into the realm
of captology? 0 1
2 3 4
5 6 7
How well does the design match the design brief?
0 1 2
3 4 5
6 7
How viable/convincing is the proposed solution?
0 1
2 3 4 5
6 7
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Evaluation continued
How clever is the proposed solution?
0 1 2
3 4 5
6 7
How effectively did the presentation
communicate? 0 1
2 3 4
5 6 7
How well does the document communicate?
0 1
2 3 4 5
6 7
Bonus Points