Hard-sell & Soft-sell Approaches in Advertising

by George N. Root III

The hard-sell and soft-sell approach used in advertising demonstrate two very different ways of selling product, based respectively on extolling benefits or provoking subtle emotional responses. No right or wrong way exists to present a product because the success is always measured by consumer response. If customers purchase more product because of the urgency of a hard-sell advertising campaign, then that advertising client is more apt to use that approach in the future. Understanding how each advertising approach operates will help you determine which one is right for your business.

Product Demonstrations

One common hard-sell approach is the product demonstration. You will see this in many forms, including the side-by-side comparison, the product features demonstration and the quality-of-life advertising approach, which tries to get you to wonder how you were ever able to live without the product. The reason a product demonstration is a hard-sell approach is because it tries to convince you that one product is superior over another based on a direct comparison. The advertisement is telling you that you must buy this product now because we just proved that it is better than the competition.


Holiday advertising uses soft-sell and hard-sell approaches, but the soft-sell advertising has created some of the more iconic advertising images. One good example of this is the evolution of Santa Claus as an advertising image for the Coca-Cola Co. Before 1931, images of Santa Clause had varied from a red suit to a green suit, and a thin man to a larger man. In 1931, Coca-Cola started running ads featuring a new image of Santa Claus created by artist Haddon Sundblum, drinking Coke products. That image remains as a memorable representation of Santa Claus and is also an example of effective soft-sell advertising.


An infomercial is a long-format commercial normally 30 minutes in length. It focuses on one product or one family of products, and it is an example of hard-sell advertising. The fast pace of an infomercial is augmented by a loud sales pitch, large and often blinking computer graphics and the persistent repetition of the information needed to purchase the products.


Humor is a common element in soft-sell advertising, according to the "Advertising Age" website. Humor is used to get the consumer's attention without being to direct in the sales pitch. Beer commercials that feature humorous situations are some of the more popular soft-sell advertising approaches. The advertiser is using humor to associate a positive feeling with the product. The approach looks to entertain the viewer rather than make the viewer feel like she is watching a commercial.

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