Babies in Advertising: How Michelin Did It

Since time immemorial babies have been employed in advertising, to up the cuteness quotient and get audiences around the world awwing and coochie cooing. Its a pretty uncontested fact that baby pictures catch our attention and do evoke a certain emotional response, even from the most stoic of audiences.

One would think that babies would be best utilized in the case of low involvement products warranting the use of peripheral routes to engage and persuade audiences; but in fact, babies can be fit just about anywhere. For instance, look at this ad for Michelin. Now one wouldn't exactly think that babies and tyres go well together, but this ad manages to mix the two just fine! Michelin, instead of adopting the traditional route as is done by others in its category, seeks to elicit an emotional response from the audience. There are few things in the world that a driver with a family would care about more than his own child; and Michelin plays to this fact wonderfully.  Therefore, rather than just being a prop, the baby is actually woven into the story to convey the intended message, Safety First. Smart advertising by Michelin!