In advertising, a hard sell is an advertisement or campaign that uses a more direct, forceful, and overt sales message. This approach works in opposition to a soft sell.
Theorists have examined the value of repetition for hard sell versus soft sell messages to determine their relative efficacy. Frank Kardes and others have concluded that a soft sell with an inferred conclusion rather than an overt hard sell can often be more persuasive.
Famous quotes containing the words hard and/or sell:
“Towns find it as hard as houses of business to rise again from ruin.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“Don’t sell the bearskin until you have shot the bear.”
—Swedish proverb, trans. by Verne Moberg.