Elaboration Likelihood Model

The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) assumes that once a consumer receives a message he or she begins to process it. Depending on the personal relevance of this information, one of two routes to persuasion will be followed. The routes are:

1)  Under conditions of high involvement, a consumer takes the central route to persuasion.

2)  Under conditions of low involvement, a peripheral route is taken.

The central route addresses a high elaboration approach. It is appropriate to use this method for products or services that are generally considered high involvement purchases, and typically, this method requires careful evaluation of a persuasive communication and analysis of its merits by the audience. This approach is generally used for products or services that are promoted through their numerous features simultaneously. This technique is typically illustrated in truck commercials, gadget/tech products, and real estate listings such as this one. The listing includes renderings of the home and landscaping (which at the point of production had not been built). It lists several property features  and contact information for the realtor.

A peripheral approach involves low elaboration of the message, with little

cognitive processing of the merits of the actual argument presented. This processes often relies on environmental characteristics of the message, like

the perceived credibility of the source, quality of the way in which it is presented, the attractiveness of the source, or possibly a catchy slogan that contains the message.

This is an example of a peripheral ad series. Its target market is high school       students in my graphics design II class.

The ad appeals to the students’ pre-existing interests, not their evaluation of blue jeans. The content of the campaign is that if the students like the elements of the ad, they will like the jeans.