Why create ads that convey little information?

Television ads for companies, like television ads for political candidates, can either be informative or persuasive. In both cases, the decision to use informative or persuasive ads can be explained in a multitude of ways. Some people claim that the major reason to use persuasive ads is to keep the audience entertained. According to this argument, "In an age where people can TiVo their favorite shows and skip the commercials, people need a reason to watch the commercials, and entertainment is that reason." As a result, for many companies, persuasive ads tend to prevail, because they more effectively entertain their audience than informative ads do.

Alternatively, economics explains the phenomenon of prevalent persuasive ads in a different way. Economics teaches us that informative advertising will increase a company's appeal to those people who truly like the company or would like the company if they knew more about it. Persuasive advertising, on the other hand, because it gives litte or no new information about the company, can use methods that appeal to a wider audience. As such, companies often want to appeal to as many people as possible, so they use persuasive, non-informative, entertaining ads.