Soft sell

This article is about a type of advertisement. For the type of magazine, see Soft sell magazine.

Not to be confused with Soft Cell.

In advertising, a soft sell is an advertisement or campaign that uses a more subtle, casual, or friendly sales message. This approach is the opposite of a hard sell.

Theorists have examined the value of repetition for soft sell versus hard sell messages, in order to determine their relative efficacy. Frank Kardes and others have concluded that a soft sell, with an implied conclusion rather than an overt hard sell, can often be more persuasive.^[1] Soft sell is also less likely to be irritating to consumers^{[citation needed]}.

See also

• Hard sell
• Advertising
• Psychological manipulation