Use of advertising appeal in award-winning advertisements: An evaluation within the scope of the crystal apple competition

The aim of this thesis is to examine TV/Cinema advertisements that have won awards at the Crystal Apple Awards, focusing on elements of humor, sexuality, and fear in advertising attractiveness, and to understand how these elements influence consumers' emotional responses and brand loyalty. This study is deemed important due to the lack of sufficient information on the simultaneous use of attractions such as humor, sexuality, and fear, despite existing research predominantly concentrating on rational and emotional appeals. Therefore, it aims to systematically address this gap by specifically investigating how these attractions are combined in TV/Cinema advertisements. The research scope includes all award-winning advertisements in the Film-TV and Cinema categories over 35 years, with a purposive sample comprising 106 individual advertisement films awarded in 2023, 2022, and 2021. The methodology employed in the research is a qualitative research method known as content analysis. The data was initially analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 program, followed by the creation of concept maps using the Maxqda 2020 program, and the comparison of data. According to the research, 41.5% of the award-winning TV/Cinema advertisements were from 2022, 31.1% from 2021, and 27.4% from 2023. The study identified that humor was the dominant appeal, accounting for 70.60% in 2021, 68.63% in 2022, and 77.14% in 2023. The most awarded product category varied across years, with humor being the predominant appeal. The results of the research indicate that humor, sexuality, and fear appeals coexisted in the examined advertisements, with humor prevailing during the studied period. Additionally, it was observed that other types of appeals were also utilized in these advertisements. These findings aim to shed light on future studies directed towards the preparation of successful advertising campaigns in the industry.