Chapter 1 Consumers RuleHow is vegetarianism being promoted and who is promoting it?
How is the beef industry responding to this movement toward a meatless diet?
How are values influencing individuals’ choices in consumption?
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Motivation:
The processes that lead people to behave as they do. It occurs when a need arises that a consumer wishes to satisfy.
Utilitarian need: Provides a functional or practical benefit
Hedonic need: An experiential need involving emotional responses or fantasies
Goal:
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Drive:
The degree of arousal present due to a discrepancy between the consumer’s present state and some ideal state
Want:
A manifestation of a need created by personal and cultural factors.
Motivation can be described in terms of:
Strength: The pull it exerts on the consumer
Direction: The particular way the consumer attempts to reduce motivational tension
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Ads Reinforce Desired States
This ad for exercise shows men a desired state (as dictated by contemporary Western culture), and suggests a solution (purchase of equipment) to attain it.
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Instinct: Innate patterns of behavior universal in a species
Tautology: Circular explanation (e.g. instinct is inferred from the behavior it is supposed to explain)
Drive Theory:
Biological needs produce unpleasant states of arousal. We are motivated to reduce tension caused by this arousal.
Homeostasis: A balanced state of arousal
Expectancy Theory:
Behavior is pulled by expectations of achieving desirable outcomes – positive incentives – rather than pushed from within
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Needs Versus Wants:
Want: The particular form of consumption used to satisfy a need.
Types of Needs
Psychogenic needs: Culture-related needs (e.g. need for status, power, affiliation, etc.)
Utilitarian needs: Implies that consumers will emphasize the objective, tangible aspects of products
Hedonic needs: Subjective and experiential needs (e.g. excitement, self-confidence, fantasy, etc.)
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Instant Gratification of Needs
We expect today’s technical products to satisfy our needs – instantly.
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A person must choose between two desirable alternatives.
Theory of Cognitive Dissonance: A state of tension occurs when beliefs or behaviors conflict with one another.
Cognitive Dissonance Reduction: Process by which people are motivated to reduce tension between beliefs or behaviors.
Approach-Avoidance Conflict:
Exists when consumers desire a goal but wish to avoid it at the same time.
Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict:
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Figure 4.1
Discussion Question
Do sporting events, such as a college football game, satisfy utilitarian or hedonic needs? Which specific needs do they address?
Give some other examples of utilitarian and hedonic needs.
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Negative Consequences
The Partnership for a Drug-Free America points out the negative consequences of drug addiction for those who are tempted to start.
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Play: Engaging in pleasurable activities
Thematic Apperception Technique (TAT):
(1) What is happening?
(3) What is being thought?
(4) What will happen?
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Need for achievement: To attain personal accomplishment
Need for affiliation: To be in the company of others
Need for power: To control one’s environment
Need for uniqueness: To assert one’s individual identity
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
A hierarchy of biogenic and psychogenic needs that specifies certain levels of motives.
Paradise: Satisfying Needs?
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Figure 4.2
Dutch Conception of Paradise
A Dutch respondent’s collage emphasizes this person’s conception of paradise as a place where there is interpersonal harmony and concern for the environment.
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Criticisms of Maslow’s Hierarchy
The application is too simplistic:
It is possible for the same product or activity to satisfy every need.
It is too culture-bound:
The assumptions of the hierarchy may be restricted to Western culture
It emphasizes individual needs over group needs
Individuals in some cultures place more value on the welfare of the group (belongingness needs) than the needs of the individual (esteem needs)
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Involvement:
A person’s perceived relevance of the object based on his/her inherent needs, values, and interests.
Object: A product or brand
Levels of Involvement: Inertia to Passion
Type of information processing depends on the consumer’s level of involvement
Simple processing: Only the basic features of the message are considered
Elaboration: Incoming information is linked to preexisting knowledge
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Increasing Involvement through Ads
The Swiss Potato Board is trying to increase involvement with its product. The ad reads, “Recipes against boredom.”
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Inertia (Low involvement consumption):
Flow State (High involvement consumption):
Consumer is truly involved with the product, ad or web site
Cult Products:
Command fierce consumer loyalty and perhaps worship by consumers who are highly involved in the product
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Product Involvement:
Related to a consumer’s level of interest in a particular product
Message-Response Involvement:
(a.k.a. advertising involvement) Refers to a consumer’s interest in processing marketing communications
Purchase Situation Involvement:
Refers to the differences that may occur when buying the same product for different contexts
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Emotions versus Cognitions
Many marketing messages, such as this ad for a cosmetic company in Taiwan, focus on emotions rather than cognitions.
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Involvement Profile:
Risk importance
How closely the product is related to the self
Zaichkowsky’s Personal Involvement Inventory Scale
Segmenting by Involvement Levels:
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Use novel stimuli
Use prominent stimuli
Include celebrity endorsers
Maintain an ongoing relationship with consumers
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Values
Value:
A belief that some condition is preferable to its opposite (e.g. freedom is better than slavery)
Core Values:
General set of values that uniquely define a culture
Value system: A culture’s unique set of rankings of the relative importance of universal values.
Enculturation:
Process of learning the value systems of one’s own culture
Acculturation:
Process of learning the value system of another culture
Cultural beliefs are taught by socialization agents (i.e., parents, friends, and teachers)
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Cultural Values (e.g. security or happiness)
Consumption-Specific Values (e.g. convenient shopping or prompt service)
Product-Specific Values (e.g. ease-of-use or durability)
Virtually all consumer research is ultimately related to identification and measurement of values.
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Emotions versus Cognitions
The positive value we place on the activities of large corporations is changing among some consumers who prefer to go “anticorporate.” This ad for a coffee shop in Boulder, Colorado reflects that sentiment.
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Instrumental Values: Actions needed to achieve terminal values
The List of Values (LOV) Scale
Developed to isolate values with more direct marketing applications
Identifies nine (9) consumer segments based on the values they endorse
Relates each value to differences in consumption
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Hierarchical value maps:
Show how product attributes are linked to desired end states
Means-End Conceptualization of the Components of Advertising Strategy (MECCAS):
Message Elements
Consumer Benefits
Executional Framework
Leverage Point
Driving Force
Voluntary simplifiers:
Believe that once basic needs are sated, additional income does not add to happiness.
Examples:
The importance people attach to worldly possessions
Tends to emphasize the well-being of the individual versus the group
People with highly material values tend to be less happy
America is a highly materialistic society
There are a number of anti-materialism movements
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Materialists value visible symbols of success such as expensive watches.
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Discussion Question
Materialists are more likely to consume for status. Can you think of products and brands that convey status?
There is a movement away from materialism in our culture. Can you think of products, ads, or brands that are anti-materialistic?
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the Aftermath of 9/11