I recall Mint.com’s founder Aaron Patzer talking about the importance of looks/beauty in instilling trust in a website which asked people to share their online bank account passwords…something I still may not do. There are many case studies about this facet of Mint.com but here’s one post that takes this angle from a UX (user experience) perspective (answer to the 2nd question). Aaron clearly states the truth,
People do make judgments of trust on appearance รข?? in the real world and online.
So, let me extend this line of thought and present to you a print advertisement – for Vasan Eye Care, an eye care hospital chain in India (predominantly in the South, I presume?).
Now, for the obvious question – is there a case for good looking doctors? There are many, many ads on TV for products like floor cleaners, toilet disinfectants, tooth pastes, bathing soaps, sanitary napkins, health drinks and fairness creams among others that feature a tall, fair, muscular, brilliantly-jawed male doctor. Or a svelte, beautifully attired lady doctor.
Do we trust good looking doctors more than experienced ones? I’d personally trust a white-haired, old’ish looking doctor who seems ‘experienced’ in his craft, but that’s just me.
And for the record, I recall seeing the doctors on the left and right in the Vasan ad in more than one TVC…meaning, they are professional models/actors. This is a very different topic, however.
So, can beauty buy trust…if you look at this question from an advertising perspective? Why else do brands and their advertising agencies use such picture perfect models as doctors?
What seems even more silly is using known actors and making them act as doctors. Kent water purifier’s TVC featuring Boman Irani is a good example, in this case.
Now, thankfully, Boman or the 3 doctors in the Vasan ad do not have a stethoscope in their neck, but they all have a doctor’ish white coat to give an impression that they are the ones who treat us for something and what they say is somehow more trustworthy.
I’m all for good looks and beauty in advertising – I make impulse purchases of things that look good to me. For instance, ITC Dark Fantasy Choco Fills…I gravitated towards it in the departmental store purely because of its matte finish packing. That the biscuit tastes equally good is an added advantage. But that is just a biscuit – I don’t need to ‘trust’ a biscuit – I just need to ‘like’ it. Models posing as doctors telling us we should trust their word when it comes to the choice of floor cleaner, baby food, kids’ health drink, water purifier etc. is a vastly different thing.
Why should advertising, as one of the major forms of communication, be allowed to get away with faking doctors, when every other form of communication (PR and social media, to name just two) are hammered time and again for not being authentic enough? And when did we start making decisions based on good looking (fake too) doctors asking us to trust them with something that impacts our/our family’s health?
Thankfully, not all brands use this line of thought. Hamam soap is a decent example – notice the grey-haired, middle aged and bald doctors in this TVC!
