Your curiosity is killing you. You turn around and reach the provided address, to find a big shoe store. Their banner reads, ‘Improper and cheap jogging shoes can hurt your legs. Get the best quality shoes here.’

So in order to advertise their store, the jogger in the park teased you. He played a ‘teaser’. Got it?

Teasers in media

Similarly, in the world of advertising, any small caption, image, audio, video, animation, etc that grabs your attention for comparatively small span of time but leaves you curious is called a teaser! These days television channels are running plenty of teasers that go something like, ‘World is coming to an end! Watch special bulletin at 10 tonight.’ Does it not arouse curiosity?  Actually, it may be just another program. But amidst cutthroat competition, such teasers help to attract viewership. They do not reveal the real picture and leave you wanting for more.

Recently, some newspapers published teasers that read ‘Gold prices dropped. Turn to Page 3’. It leaves readers curious enough to turn to page 3 without reading headlines. Here, it talks about a new offer on its products that may fetch you gold.

These days every magazine on newsstand is trying to grab buyers’ attention by sporting teasers. It may be a catchy line or an image that compels us to pick up an issue and look inside.

Teasers on the web

Most commonly we come across teasers while surfing the net. They are in the form of pop ups, moving images and animations. They catch our attention, raise curiosity and vanish. They leave a link to be clicked to find out more.

How about articles and blogs on the net? Do they have teasers? Yes! They are mostly in the form of a catchy title, byline or an image.

Their characteristics

Though sounds simple, the teasers have three main characteristics. These are:

• They don’t reveal anything: They don’t tell you the story or hint at what’s on the offer.
  • They arouse curiosity: That’s for sure and that’s their primary task. They shall invoke the       response and hang up in mid air.
  • They are short lived: Their life ends after taking you to the main story. They lose effect or are of no use once the story is revealed.