Lecture 1: consumer Flashcards
Introduction
define consumer behaviours
the activities people undertake when obtaining, consuming and disposing of products and services (Black, Miniard, & Engel, 2001)
define consumer psychologists
- Consumer psychologists study consumer activities associated with the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services, including the consumer’s emotional, cognitive and behaviour responses that precede, determine or follow these activeities.(APA)
what is role theory
Consumers as actors
Role Theory= not used by consumer psychs but helps us think of what consumers may be
name and describe the factors in role theory
- Identity (multi identities, supermarkets identify branding around identities)
- Chooser (choosing products)
- Influencer (eg writing reviews or talking to others- instagram)
- Activist (works to change/improve things- eg recycling)
- Victims (eg horse meat in the UK chains meatinvestigation but only an issue as the UK it is not socially acceptable to eat horses) (or supply consumers when earthquakes eg rana plaza disaster, under what conditions people supply goods)
- Status communicator
in the ‘consumer world’ what factors are growing in influence
web/social media
in the ‘consumer world’ what factors are decreasing in influence
tv/ newspapers
name an early consumer psychologist
- Harry Hollingworth & Coca-Cola
what happened in Harry Hollingworth & Coca-Cola study
o Coca-Cola taken to court for selling harmful drink - 1909
o Employed Hollingworth to conduct experiments on how caffiene affected behaviour
o Conducted rigorous experiments examining effects onsensory, motor and cognitive function finding no deleterious effects
When started coca cola had small amounts of cocaine then removed this and put in caffeine
• Looked at effects of caffiene
o Later became a strong proponent of the AIDA model
hwo did the industrial revoloution affect early consumer psychology
- Fertile crescent 3000BC making enough for self had a surplus so made it for others
o Began to record transactions of trading - Industrial revoloution
o Working long hours in factories
o Began to show things in glass cabinets to display
o Creates desire
o Department stores- 1734 Bennets - Harlowgate 1st to think of the effects of consumers
o Attitudes towards an advert = affective
who was the first to think of the effects of consumers
harlowgate
name some unconscious influencer on consumer psyhologiets
- Ernest Dichter
- Vance Packard
- James Vicary, Coca-Cola and popcorn (1957)
what did ernest dichter find
o Applied Freudian psychoanalytical concepts
o Thought that consumers were led by their unconscious desires - seen as the father of motivational research
o First to use the term focus group - one focus group led to the invention of the Barbie Doll
what is a focus group
Focus Group = aims to gain opinions of products
• Questionable whether it is sunconcious
FG= situated in environment that product exists in (PRO)
what did vance packard suggest
o Exposed the new strategies advertisers were using, including subliminal advertising
o Despite this exposé, the advertising and consumer industry has continued to flourish ever since.
o Began to find that consumers’ behaviour was not always reliable
how did vance Packard find that consumers’ behaviour was not always reliable
Women waiting for an appointment were asked to wait in 1 of 2 waiting rooms:-
traditional room, period furniture, oriental rugs, expensive wallpaper
Swedish furniture, functional, modern, gentle tones
Almost all waited in the modern room
When asked which they preferred, 84% preferred the traditional room.
Disparity between what people are saying and what they are doing
• Consumer psychologists nightmare
describe vance packards study on women and detergent
o Women asked to test 3 types of detergent (it was the 1950s)
Detergent the same, but the box design was varied
Yellow box (strong visual impact), blue box, blue box with splashes of yellow
Yellow was ‘too strong’; blue ‘left clothes dirty’; mixed box was felt to be a beautiful balance of colours and had a ‘fine’ and ‘wonderful’ effect in the wash
• Influence of colour= packaging has an influencing effect of how people thought it worked
what did James Vicary 1957 study
coca cola and popcorn
where did james Vicary conduct his study
in a movie theatre in New Jersey
what happened in James Vicarys 1957 cocoa cola and popcorn study
o Conducted experiment at a movie theatre in New Jersey
o Showed messages in some frames of the film which appeared for a fraction of a second
One three thousands of a second
Subliminal wouldn’t know products appeared
o “Hungry? Eat Popcorn” “Drink Coca-Cola”
o Resulted in a jump in theatre sales – 57.8% for popcorn and 18.1% for Coca-Cola
During interval in cinema
what happened when James vicarys study was challeneged
o When challenged, it transpired that the results had been falsified and the study may not have even taken place.
Why have to hold onto raw data for 5 years
o Other researchers have not been able to replicate Vicary’s ‘findings’ but other modes of ‘product placement’ are commonly used ….
o Sublimanary advertising banned but product placement continues- write #ad
o Not allowed in british TV/film production (product placement)
Has to occur seamlessly as part of the action eg texting on a blackberry
Not completely subliminal but an unconscious nudge
what is wright 2006 definition of market segmentation
o … the concept of segmentation … is at the very heart of marketing. Manufacturers and retailers have known almost instinctively from early times that in most cases they cannot sell the same product in the same way to every customer. This has become increasingly so as consumers become more sophisticated, wealthier and more aware of choice. Wright (2006)
what is mass marketing - and give an example of this
o Mass marketing: production of something everyone will want – minimises costs, keeps prices low.
Eg Volkswagen, car for the people sell to everyone?(rarely happens) due to market segmentation
what are the different segmentation levels
mass marketing
mass segmentation
niche marketing / narrow segmentation
micro marketing/ narrow segmantation
define mass segmentation and give examples
o Mass segmentation: market divided into large segments – a compromise position for the producer and the consumer
Eg marketing along gender lines
