INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION

Prepared for

Mr. Basit Afzal

Prepared by

Afrah Masood

Anum Zafar Butt

Noushaba Jamal

Shaina Arshad

Syeda Bintay Zainab

Wardah Khalid

Consumers Pay Heavy Price of

Awareness through Advertising

Concept Paper

Submission Date: June 22, 2010

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CONSUMERS PAY HEAVY PRICE OF AWARENESS THROUGH

ADVERTISING

INTRODUCTION

The process of development along with the expanding globalization and liberalization process

has increased the number of consumer related issues. Consumer protection has earned an

important place in the political, economic and social agendas of many nations. Consumer

awareness is making the consumer aware of his or her rights. Consumer awareness is a

marketing term. It means that consumers note or are aware of products or services, its

characteristics and the other marketing P's (place to buy, price, and promotion).

Usually commercials and ads increase consumer awareness, as well as "word of mouth".

Education is a lifelong process of constantly acquiring relevant information, knowledge and

skills. Consumer education is an important part of this process and is a basic consumer right that

must be introduced at the school level. Consumers by definition include all citizens who are, by

and large the biggest group, who are affected by almost all government, public or private

decisions. The most important step in consumer education is awareness of consumer rights.

However, consumer education is incomplete without the responsibilities and duties of

consumers, and this influences individual behavior to a great extent. With the increasing changes

in economic conditions, the children especially are becoming young consumers at an early age.

Children must learn to obtain information about goods and services, understand the psychology

of selling and advertising, learn to shop wisely and distinguish between wants and needs. They

must also understand the alternatives of conserving and saving rather than buying and

consuming.

Awareness for a consumer outweighs all the cost associated with the decision-making process.

Making consumers aware and educating them through advertisements not only benefits the brand

but also proves highly advantageous to the consumers. The reason for this is that, if the consumer

is aware of a new product or service or the benefits of a brand then he or she is not only offered

with more choices but it also leads to more satisfying decisions. The variety in choices and

greater satisfaction in consumers also increases the competition amongst different brand which

leads to organizations offering better products and services in the market. Thus, competition

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results from the availability and awareness of choices and the greatest beneficiary of awareness

are always the consumers. Furthermore, the cost for non-price competition is borne by the

consumer for high end products, however, when there is tough competition the prices are fixed

and the wooing of the consumer is carried out without price increases.

Individuals use a lot many types of goods for a reason. These goods are both tangible (goods)

and non-tangible (services). Together goods and services are known as commodities. The reason

for their use is what can be called as satisfaction of wants. Wants are satisfied by using goods

and services. The process of using various goods and services to satisfy a want is known as

consumption. When individuals pay a price for good or a service and use it for to satisfy a want,

individuals become consumers.

Consumer behavior can be defined as a process and activities people engage in when searc hing

for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing off products and services so as to

satisfy their needs and desires.

There is a need for decisions when there are choices. Consumer purchase decision process is

generally viewed as consisting of stages through which the buyer passes in purchasing a product

or service.

Awareness is the first stage strategy of a products lifecycle. It makes the consumer realize the

availability of yet another choice. Unless the consumer knows what is available, the information

search cannot be complete. Advertising also reduces the search cost for the consumer which is

considerable in terms of both money and time in today fast paced world. Monetary cost is not the

only one involved; there are psychological benefits as well. The consumer has less chance of

post purchase dissonance if information available is complete. The chance of indecisiveness

through a large amount of choices is there but the discomfort is very small compared to the

benefits.

CONSUMER DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

The first stage in consumer decision-making process is problem recognition, which occurs when

the consumer perceives a need and is motivated to solve the problem; consumers realize that

something is not as it should be.

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The problem recognition stage initiates the subsequent decision process. Problem recognition is

caused by a difference between the consumer‘s ideal state and actual state. Perhaps, for example,

your car is getting more difficult to start and is not accelerating well. The second step is

information search—what are some alternative ways of solving the problem? You might buy a

new car, buy a used car, take your car in for repair, ride the bus, ride a taxi, or ride a skateboard

to work. The third step involves evaluation of alternatives. A skateboard is inexpensive, but

may be ill-suited for long distances and for rainy days. Finally, the purchase stage arrives, and

sometimes a post-purchase stage (e.g., individual return a product to the store because he or she

did not find it satisfactory). In reality, people may go back and forth between the stages. For

example, a person may resume alternative identification during while evaluating already known

alternatives.

Figure 1 Consumer decision-making process

Consumer involvement will tend to vary dramatically depending on the type of product. In

general, consumer involvement will be higher for products that are very expensive (e.g., a home,

a car) or are highly significant in the consumer‘s life in some other way (e.g., a word processing

program or acne medication).

Because people act out many different roles, they sometimes alter their consumption decisions

depending on the particular ―play‖ they are in time. Consumers live in the world that the actions

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of marketers significantly influence. Marketing stimuli surround us as advertisements, stores and

products compete for our attention and our dollars. Marketers filter much of what individuals

learn about the world, whether through the affluence they depict in glamorous magazines or the

roles actors play in commercials. Consumers also have very different lifestyles, even if they

share other demographic characteristics such as gender or age. The way consumers feel about

themselves, the things consumers‘ value, the things individuals like to do in their spare time; all

of these factors help to determine which products will push our buttons- or even those that make

us feel better.

PRODUCT LIFE

The term product life is a description of what happens to product sales over time. The standard

product life cycle consists of four stages: introduction, growth, maturity and decline. During the

first stages (the introduction and growth stages), sales increase as a result of consumers

becoming informed about the existence of the new product. In the maturity stage, the proportion

of consumers aware of the product is stable, and later, in the decline stage, sales decrease due to

the entry of improved competing products. Advertising can accelerate the information diffusion

process for a new product, by informing the consumers of product existence. Notice that the

effect of advertising on sales is dynamic, since advertising will affect the proportion of

consumers aware of the product in the future, and therefore will affect future sales. Usually,

firms advertise their products the most at the beginning of the life cycle. The dynamic effect of

advertising on consumer awareness could explain this pattern.

CONSUMER EXPLOITATION

With advertisement in production, consumption becomes more difficult. There is growth in the

number and services. Outside pressures become increasingly refined and harder to resist. It is

necessary that the present generation keep themselves well aware and active to be able to take

the ultimate decision in the market. If this is not so then the consumer is often exploited or

cheated by the seller or the producer. So it is important to be aware of how individuals can be

cheated as consumers. Individuals must know their rights and duties as consumers. Even the law

provides individuals protection as consumers.

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Consumer is exploited when in any form he/she is cheated or not informed adequately about the

product. There are many ways by which consumers can be exploited. They may be exploited by

giving incomplete or wrong information. They may be exploited by sellers who may weigh less

or measure wrongly. Sometimes a consumer may be given low quality if good. One of the very

common and a serious problem by which a consumer may be exploited and cheated by the shop-

keeper is by providing impurity or adulteration with harmful substances.

Consumer not only pays more they also suffer bad health and may even risk their like.

Sometimes consumers are exploited when they purchase medicines and electronic devices.

Inadequate safety measures adopted in making such devices may harm consumers physically. An

electric heater may give a shock or a generator may give a high voltage harming the electric

wiring or bulbs and tube- lights in the house. To be able to charge a high price a supplier may

store the commodity (hoarding) and create an artificial scarcity. The consumer may panic and be

forced to pay a high price for the same. Sometimes, some articles are copied and sold in its

original brand name such as creams, soaps etc. The quantities of these duplicate materials are

much inferior.

Sometimes the producers don‘t give the harmful effects of using their product for long or they

may deliberately conceal information and circumstances in which the product must be used or

the accompanying devices to be used with the product are not spelt out. The consumers then feel

trapped and helpless.

For some items like a telephone or a gas connection, license or a passport or even for doctor‘s

treatment, the consumer may be made to undergo delays and roughness and rude ness. This

harasses and displeases the consumer.

Consumer durables like refrigerator or a sewing machine or scooter etc, need maintenance. The

sellers may not give these after sales services or may charge a high amount for them.

There are many factors of causing exploitation of the consumer:

Illiteracy is one of the causes. An illiterate consumer can be cheated easily as she can

neither read the name of the product nor the instructions. Illiteracy also affects the level

of consumer awareness.

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Lack of information is another cause. The seller may take advantage of the freedom of

the market and keep away, important or correct information from the consumer. Price,

composition, quantity, conditions of use, and terms of purchase all must be given to the

consumer.

Monopoly is also a cause of consumer exploitation. In market where only one or few

producers or sellers operate, the consumer is more vulnerable. This is all the more so in

case of essential commodities like life saving drugs and food items. The consumer in

such areas is charged with high price; given a low quality and his/her problems are not

taken seriously.

Malpractices such as adulteration, overcharging and underweighting of the goods were

considered as punishable offences. Consumption which does damage the environment and which

generates a spirit of abstinence and sharing is held supreme. An ideal consumer is alert,

responsible and environment friendly, buys only when there is need, prevents himself/herself

from being cheated and knows his/her rights and duties.

An economy, in which consumers are aware, can practice their duties and exercise their rights

freely, efficiency of the sellers and producers will be higher and so the economy will be more

developed.

Consumers respond to advertisements and buy goods. Generally advertisements do not give all

the information that a consumer needs to know or wants to know about a product. Some of the

common methods of exploitation are:

1. Under weight and under measurements –not measured or weighed correctly

2. Substandard Quality –defective home appliances and medicines beyond expiry date

3. High prices—charging above the retail price

4. Duplicate Articles—selling fake items in the name of the original

5. Adulteration and Impurity—is done to get higher profits

6. Lack of safety Devices—absence of inbuilt safeguards in appliances

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7. Artificial Scarcity—hoarding and black marketing

8. False and Incomplete Information—misleading information on quality, durability, and

safety.

9. Unsatisfactory after sales Service—high cost items like electronics and cars require

constant and regular service.

10. Rough behavior and Undue conditions—harassment in getting LPG connection or a

telephone connection.

Factors Causing Exploitation of Consumers

1. Limited Information—providing full and correct information will help in the choice

2. Limited Supplies—when goods and services are in short supply then price shoots up

3. Limited Competition.—single producer may manipulate the market in terms of price and

stocks.

4. Low Literacy.—illiteracy leads to exploitation. Hence Consumer Awareness is essential.

Rights and Duties of Consumers

Rights

1. Right to Safety—to protect against hazardous goods

2. Right to be Informed—about price, quality, purity

3. Right to choose—access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices.

4. Right to be Heard—consumers interest and welfare must be taken care of

5. Right to seek Redressal—protection against unfair trade practices and settling genuine

grievances.

6. Right to Consumer Education—Knowledge about goods and issues related to consumers.

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Duties

1. Get a bill for every important purchase and also the Warranty card

2. Check the ISI mark or Agmark on the goods

3. Form consumer awareness groups

4. Make a complaint on genuine grievances.

5. Consumers must know to exercise their rights.

The need for empowerment of consumers as a class cannot be over emphasized and is already

well recognized all over the world. The advancement of technology and advent of sophisticated

gadgets in the market and aggressive marketing strategies in the era of globalization have not

only thrown open a wide choice, for the consumer but all the same also rendered the consumer

vulnerable to a plethora of problems concomitant to such rapid changes. There is an urgent and

increasing necessity to educate and motivate the consumer to be wary of the quality of the

products, and also the possible deficiencies in the services of the growing sector of public

utilities. In short, the consumer should be empowered with respect to his rights as a consumer.

He should be equipped to be vigilant with a discerning eye so as to be able to protect himself

from any wrongful act on the part of the trader. In order to be able to position the consumer in

such a state, there is every need not only to evolve legal remedies but also provide reliable and

exhaustive information, which he can access without much effort and expense

CONSUMER AWARENESS

According to the Longman Business English Dictionary, consumer awareness is a term used to

describe the awareness of a potential or current buyer about a particular product or company.

Consumer awareness can be as simple as a shopper remembering a television commercial or as

specific as a customer delving into the manufacturing origins of a specific product. Consumer

Awareness is about making the consumer aware of his/her rights. In marketing it means that

consumers are aware of products or services, its characteristics, its price and where it is

available.

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Consumer awareness is the process of notifying the public or target customers about new

products, recalls on products, disease outbreaks, public service information and many other types

of news. Many companies use certain advertising mediums like newspapers or radio ads to

promote consumer awareness. Informing the public about vital information or new products plus

positive word-of-mouth experiences can have a synergistic affect on disseminating information

amidst the public.

Consumer awareness provides the public with the information it needs on products and services,

so it can make well- informed decisions on what it's purchasing and from whom it purchases. It

helps consumers understand their rights and become active participants in the buying process.

Consumer awareness ensures that companies are held accountable by governing agencies and the

consumers who use their products and services.

Consumer awareness is a significant factor in keeping the economy moving, as it holds

companies accountable for what they sell and how they sell it, and gives consumers control over

their purchases. It motivates consumers to provide feedback that can be used to improve the

quality of products and services.

Companies determine how to educate their consumers by taking into account their industry, the

product or service they sell and their target demographic. Consumers can receive education

through television and radio commercials, print and Web advertising placements and through

direct mail marketing. Companies use social media sites to answer consumer questions, post

product news and updates and to solicit feedback on products and services. Websites with

informational blogs, articles and videos also provide consumers with the education they need on

companies and the products they offer. While email marketing is commonly used as a sales tool,

companies also use it to educate their consumers on their brands. Trade shows, seminars and

magazine interviews provide consumers with education as well.

Consumers are presented with a wide variety of options when they shop for products and

services. Each offer consumers a different price, level of quality and set of features and benefits.

An informed consumer is able to dissect the information about the product or service to make a

wise buying decision after exploring his options and making accurate product comparisons.

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Consumer education forces companies to be honest about what they're offering, price their

products and services fairly and pay close attention to the needs and wants of their customers.

Companies keep the consumer in mind from the research and development phase to when they

begin to market the product and then solicit consumer feedback.

An important aspect of consumer education is employee training and education. An informed

employee is more equipped to answer customer questions successfully and accurately. As a

result, he is able to build trusting relationships with consumers as he assists them in the buying

process. Companies invest in employee training to ensure the customer service is held at a high

standard. Consumers have access to employees while shopping in a store, through phone and

email communications, on social networks and through live chats hosted on company websites.

Functions

Consumer awareness plays a key role in customer decision making. By increasing a potential or

current customer's knowledge about a product, service or business, a healthy economic

environment is established in which customers are informed and protected and businesses are

accountable.

Considerations

According to research at Eastern Michigan University's Consumer Education Center, consumer

education is an ongoing process that considers a variety of factors, including price, reputation,

personal knowledge, history, social issues and other factors.

Benefits

The study at Eastern Michigan University found several s ignificant benefits to consumer

awareness for both individuals and society as a whole. The benefits of consumer awareness for

individuals include enhanced critical thinking, improved life skills and increased self-confidence.

Consumer awareness benefits society by promoting customer satisfaction, increasing economic

stability and creating realistic customer expectations.

Comparison Shopping

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With the wide range of choices available on the market, it is essential to comparison

shop. This does not involve just getting the best deal but also finding the product that is

right for consumer based on his or her specific needs. Due to awareness consumers can

comparison shop between different product types and also between stores.

Quality Control

Because consumers have the right to return faulty products, companies must be more

vigilant about producing quality goods.

Competition

As consumers have more choices in the market and rely on more than just advertising to

make a decision, the competition for business becomes stiffer. This means even more

choices, with better features, at lower price points.

Business Feedback

With consumers who aren't afraid to let a business know what they did right and wrong,

businesses gain important feedback into the consumer mind, helping to design new

products and improve old ones.

There are different types of awareness.

Media Awareness

Media awareness involves a customer's knowledge of the advertising surrounding a given

product or company. Media awareness also encompasses independent product reviews online or

in print publications. Cost awareness involves comparing the prices of a similar product among

different competitors.

Agencies

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One benefit of consumer awareness is that it creates a knowledge of companies or products that

can cause potential problems. There are several agencies that take complaints about products,

services and companies.

ADVERTISING

Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers

to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. Advertising is almost

everywhere in our daily life. Its forms and roles are both contested and admired. Some see

advertising both as the mirror and the maker of culture. Even when advertisements contribute

new sounds and the symbols that shape the future, its words and images reflect the present and

the past. Others say advertising is purely an economic activity with one purpose i.e., to sell.

Many advertisers and agencies believe that advertising creates ―magic in the market place‖. It is

evident from definitions of advertisement that with the change in times there have been changes

in the way advertising is perceived.

However, in spite of all these changes advertising has always been a very strong institution,

which has continued to influence our lives since the beginning of time. So advertising is a way of

gaining sales effectiveness and of keeping selling expenses low. Advertiser wants to be certain

that he, his store, and his product are identified in the advertisement and he is gaining benefit

from it, even when he cannot be there to deliver the message in person. And also advertisement

must be carried by newspapers or magazines or television or radio or billboards, or by some

other mass medium. The advertiser must pay the owner of those media for the space or time he

used for the advertisement.

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Figure 2 Advertising Model

AWARENESS THROUGH ADVERTISING

Many advertisements are designed to generate increased consumption of those products and

services through the creation and reinforcement of "brand image" and "brand loyalty". In other

cases advertising can also be used to raise awareness to the public on certain topics. These topics

vary from economics issues to health issues such as smoking, cancer and aids. Other issues such

as environmental have made the public aware of global warming through advertising. Although

such advertisements are meant to raise awareness lets not forget that it is a business and therefore

it does persuade consumers to choice a certain campaign or life style. The main purpose of an

awareness advertisement is to raise knowledge on a certain issue and at the same time pursue

costumer to buy that certain product that is raising the awareness.

The advertisements are not only to keep up with competitors but to also strengthen its reputation

of being the number #1. On its competitive stage researchers get to see how coming up with new

ways to catch the consumers attention before the competitors does.

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One of the most controversial issues in the economics literature concerns the effects of

advertising on actual price levels. While some studies suggest that advertising lowers prices, and

other studies show that advertising increases prices. Two roles of advertising are important:

advertising affects prices paid due to its effects on:

(1) Perceived differences among competing brands and

(2) The number of brands considered for purchase (consideration set size).

First, the price paid by the consumer for a particular brand is affected by the perceived

differences among brands considered. Advertising provides preference-relevant information that

differentiates between competing brands. The more the differential preference for some brands

over others as a result of advertising, the greater is the willingness of the consumer to pay a

higher price for those preferred brands.

Additionally, the price paid for a particular brand is a function of the set of brands that are

considered for choice. Larger consideration sets lead to a greater number of effective substitutes

and lower prices paid. Advertising effects on the set of brands considered depends on the extent

to which the consideration set is generated from memory versus external cues in the

environment. If the consumer has to rely on memory for generating the set of brands to be

considered for purchase, advertising can increase consideration set size by enhancing recall of

brand names. In this situation, in addition to differentiating among competing brands (as

suggested in the previous paragraph), advertising serves an important reminder function. In

contrast, if consideration sets are largely determined by point-of- purchase factors available in

the choice environment, advertising‘s role in increasing consideration set size (by making brand

names more salient) will be relatively superfluous.

While its differentiating function is still relevant, advertising‘s potential to enhance consumer

memory for brands is irrelevant. Advertising also plays a reminder role by manipulating the

relative importance of memory versus external cues for the generation of brand names . In sum,

the effect of advertising on prices paid is a function of two opposing forces:

(1) ad- induced increases in consideration set size, which tend to lower prices

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(2) ad- induced increases in differential preference for some brands, which lead to higher prices.

The net effect of advertising (whether increase or decrease) on prices paid depends on the

relative strength of these forces.

There are conflicting theories about the price effects of advertising. Some have argued that

advertising is persuasive and differentiating. An advertiser can highlight its value (we have the

best selection/service), differentiate its brand (we‘re the premiere place to shop) – this would

lead to higher prices. In addition, it is expensive to advertise so these costs have to be covered.

Cartier and Polo advertise in this manner. In contrast, some advertisers focus on making it easier

for customers to find the best deals (e.g., the Best Buy/Circuit City rivalry) by highlighting their

low prices.

The ―presumptive case‖ should be that advertising works by raising marginal consumers‘

willingness to pay for a brand. This has the effect of flattening the demand curve, thus increasing

the equilibrium price elasticity of demand and the lowering the equilibrium price. Thus,

―advertising is profitable not because it lowers the elasticity of demand for the advertised good,

but because it raises the level of demand.

The question: ―How does non-price advertising affect consumer price sensitivity in experience

goods markets?‖ has received considerable attention in both marketing and economics. In the

theoretical literature there are two dominant views of the role of advertising, which will later be

referred as ―information‖ and the ―market power‖ views.

In the information view, non-price advertising provides information about the existence of a

brand or about its quality. This leads to increased consumer awareness of attributes of available

brands, reduced search costs and expanded consideration sets, which, in turn, results in more

elastic demand. In this view, advertising can increase consumer welfare by reducing markups of

price over marginal cost and generating better matches between consumer tastes and attributes of

chosen brands.

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The market power view of advertising is that it creates or augments the perceived degree of

differentiation among brands. This will increase brand ―loyalty‖ which, in turn, will reduce

demand elasticities, increase markups of price over marginal cost, increase barriers to entry and

reduce consumer welfare. However, it is controversial whether advertising actually creates

barriers to entry; because this depends on how effectively new brands can use advertising to

induce trial by consumers who are loyal to other brands.

A key point is that advertising may affect the price elasticity of demand for a brand in two

fundamentally different ways. First, advertising may affect the parameters of the demand

functions of individual consumers in such a way as to make individual consumers more or less

price sensitive. Second, advertising may affect the composition of the set of consumers who buy

a brand. If advertising draws more price sensitive consumers into the set that are willing to pay

for a particular brand, this will increase the price elasticity of demand facing the brand.

Advertising raises the demand elasticity, should be the ―presumptive‖ case. Starting from

equilibrium with no advertising, a firm would, ideally, like to target its advertising at marginal

consumers whose willingness to pay (WTP) is just below the initial equilibrium price. Increasing

the WTP of marginal consumers flattens the demand curve in the vicinity of the initial

equilibrium, leading to more elastic demand at that point. Despite the fact that the demand curve

becomes more elastic, leading to a smaller markup, the firm‘s profits increase because the

demand curve shifts up. Advertising is profitable not because it lowers the elasticity of demand

for the advertised good, but because it raises the level of demand at any given price.

Advertising Effects on Consumer Welfare: Prices Paid and Liking for Brands Selected

The effect of advertising on consumer welfare has been the subject of dispute among economists,

arising largely from disagreement among scholars regarding the persuasive versus the

informative role of advertising. However, an increase in prices paid caused by advertising does

not necessarily imply detrimental effects on consumer welfare. Even under circumstances in

which differentiating advertising leads consumers to select brands with higher average prices, it

can provide useful information to consumers that allow them to make purchases that are more in

line with their personal tastes than are the choices of consumers not exposed to the

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advertisements. Economic and welfare effects of advertising have received extensive scrutiny by

economists.

There are two roles of advertising that mediate its effects on price elasticity.

1. Advertising differentiates between brands in real or illusory ways, increasing the relative

strength of preference of some brands over others.

2. Advertising enhances memory for brand names, and this increases the size of the

consumer‘s consideration set.

The price paid by the consumer for a particular brand is affected by the perceived differences

among brands considered. Advertising provides preference-relevant information that

differentiates between competing brands. The more the differential preference for some brands

over others as a result of advertising, the greater is the willingness of the consumer to pa y a

higher price for those preferred brands. The amount of preference-relevant information contained

in the advertisements for ―differentiating‖ and awareness‖ plays the differentiating role in

advertising.

Additionally, the price paid for a particular brand is a function of the set of brands that are

considered for choice. Larger consideration sets lead to a greater number of effective substitutes

and lower prices paid. Advertising effects on the set of brands considered depends on the extent

to which the consideration set is generated from memory versus external cues in the

environment. If the consumer has to rely on memory for generating the set of brands to be

considered for purchase, advertising can increase consideration set size by enhancing recall of

brand names. In this situation, in addition to differentiating among competing brands (as

suggested in the previous paragraph), advertising serves an important reminder function. In

contrast, if consideration sets are largely determined by point-of-purchase factors available in the

choice environment, advertising‘s role in increasing consideration set size (by making brand

names more salient) will be relatively superfluous. Thus, while its differentiating function is still

relevant, advertising‘s potential to enhance consumer memory for brands is irrelevant.

In total the effects of advertising on prices paid is a function of two opposing forces:

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1. Ad-induced increases in consideration set size, which tend to lower prices.

2. Ad-induced increases in differential preference for some brands, which lead to higher

prices.

The net effect of advertising (whether increase or decrease) on prices paid depends on the

relative strength of these forces.

Advertising and consumer awareness of a new product

The increase of a new product‘s sales is usually attributed to consumers becoming informed

about the existence of the product. Advertising can accelerate this consumer awareness process.

Awareness provides the consumer with choice. Unless the consumer is aware of the dea ls

available Purchase Decision is based on limited information. Sometimes it is only through

advertising that the consumer becomes aware of lesser priced options. The awareness of

consumers of the variety of available alternatives allows the consumers to make decisions that

best meet their need.

Violent Advertising

Some advertising, like the programming in which it is embedded, contains violent content. Little

is known about the frequency of violent portrayals in advertising or the consequences on viewers

and society of such portrayals.

Without empirical evidence about the effects of violent advertising, policy makers face a void

when considering appropriate regulations, practitioners cannot understand the consequences of

their portrayals, and researchers cannot build an understanding of the phenomenon. Media both

reflects and shapes societal trends and people‘s perceptions.

One reason for the use of violent advertisements may be to increase viewers‘ attention to the

stimulus (advertisement) thereby enhancing attention and brand/issue awareness. For marketing

communications to be effective, information processing models specify that consumers must

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focus on and consider the message contained within the communication of violent content can

increase a consumer‘s attention to the advertisement in two ways.

First, violent content can be considered an intense stimulus (that is, a sensory contrast). Since

this type of stimulus is difficult for consumers to avoid, it leads to both voluntary and non-

voluntary attention. Second, violent content may appeal to some viewers‘ cognitive or hedonic

needs thus enhancing processing of the advertisement‘s central message.

Thus, the intended consequence of violent content in advertising would be to increase brand or

issue awareness by enhancing consumers‘ attention to and/or subsequent processing of the

advertisement. A viewer‘s exposure to an advertisement that contains violent content will result

in higher brand awareness than when the viewer is exposed to an advertisement for a similar

brand without violent content. From the discussion, it would appear that the use of violent

content in advertisements has a positive effect for the ad sponsor (i.e., increased brand/issue

awareness).

Violent Advertisements have been used in countless public service advertisements due to the

power of the fear appeals. Most of the AIDS awareness ads as well as the Safe Driving ads rely

on violent ads for Mass appeal.

Emotional Advertising

Emotional appeal is a type of advertising in which the copy is designed to stimulate the

consumers‘ emotions, rather than the consumers‘ sense of the practical or impractical. When

copywriters use emotional appeal in advertising, they are attempting to appeal to the consumer's

psychological, social, or emotional needs. The copy is written to arouse fear, love, hate, greed,

sexual desire, or humor, or otherwise create psychological tension that can best be resolved by

purchase of the product or service. Thus, emotional appeal in advertising creates awareness

among the consumer‘s about various product, services, sociopolitical issues, etc.

Not surprisingly, emotional appeals target the emotions of the audience to create some kind of

connection with the product or service. Since humans are in many ways emotional creatures,

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pathos can be a very powerful strategy in argument. For this same reason, however, emot ional

appeal is often misused, sometimes to intentionally mislead audiences or to hide an argument

that is weak in logical appeal.

Humorous Advertising

Humor can be defined as the capability to be laughing at things, the way in which everybody

sees that some things are entertaining, or the value of being funny. Funniness is generally used

within publicity nowadays whether this is on radio, in newspapers, or on TV as part of daily

advertising communications campaigns.

Humor appeal is used in 30% of all advertisements and is an excellent way of capturing the

attention of the consumers. It scores high in recall tests but it is only effective if the humor in the

advertisement is related directly to customer benefit. Moreover, humor is more likely to be

successful when the advertisement clearly identifies the brand and the funny material does not

‗swamp‘ the message. Humor appeal is effective when a brand is a mere parity to other products

or services in the same category, humor generally creates consumer awareness, aids in memory

recall and retention. Humor can be a powerful device to generate awareness and recall when used

well. It does the opposite and can even be detrimental sometimes leading to the brand‘s failure

when used inappropriately and irresponsibly.

Product/Benefit Advertising

Advertisement containing information about the products makes consumers aware and promotes

the products uses, features, and benefits. Such advertising allows consumers to gain awareness

about the different products and services available in the market and based on this awareness the

consumers can make the best purchase decision.

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Pioneer Advertising

Products and services that are in the introductory stage of the product life cycle make use of

pioneer advertising. In this, the consumer is made aware of the new product or service and

demand is simulated for a new product category. Promotion employed in informing

the prospects about a new product. It aims at customer education and usually involves

expensive and sustained advertising campaign.

Fantasy Advertising

A lot of innovative goes into the subgenre of a Fantasy advertisement.

Fantasy advertising has the ability to generate consumer desires/ awareness. It is able to

stimulate notions of the ultimate, ideal and the perfect and to place the attainable in a strategic relationship with the unattainable.

The level of directness and emphasis on fantasy desires has the effect of tipping projections into

the comic or ironic, often thereby giving them a social acceptability and enjoyableness which they might lack if taken straight.

It allows the consumer to satisfy dormant or unfulfilled needs through proxy by making him aware of substitutes.

Sexual Advertising

Advertisers must adopt some strategy to stand out among the page-after-endless-page of competition. And sex certainly cuts through the clutter.

Sexual information, whether in the form of pictures, stories, or sounds, has been shown to evoke

a predictable range of emotional responses within viewers. Advertising research reveals that sexual appeals are attention getting, arousing, affect inducing, and memorable. These attributes may be one reason that among others social marketers and nonprofit organizations use sexual

appeals for a variety of topics ranging from skin and breast cancer to sexually transmitted diseases to attempts to increase attendance at opera performances and university sporting events.

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AVOIDING SCAMS AND HOAXES

Scams, hoaxes and false advertising have been around for a long time. So how do buyers ever

trust sellers and how do sellers gain that trust? Who sets the standards, and who enforces them?

Over time, consumers, businesses and the government have developed ways of protecting

themselves and maintaining standards in business and advertising. These include Consumers

Union, the Better Business Bureaus, and the US Government's Federal Trade Commission. Used

properly, these resources can effectively better the consumer experience and improve business,

as well.

In order to avoid being scammed and hoaxed, consumers need to do their homework. An

important step to making a purchase is to consult sources they trust. Individuals consumers can

consult include:

Friends, family and the individuals on the street

Consumers may want to ask around about how long the product has lasted and if it is

dependable and easy to use. Consumers can try to get the opinion of more than one

person, because experience is subjective and varies drastically and product quality can

vary as well. Anecdotal evidence can be useful, but it only goes so far. Another problem

is bias. Would the consumer trust his or her friend if the friend the consumer he or she

sold the best vacuum? Even though, the friend might be trustworthy about most things,

but in this situation, he has a conflict of interest. He wants to do what's good for the

consumer, but he is looking out for himself, too. So, who can the consumer trust?

Independent reviewers

To maintain integrity, some independent reviewers do not accept any advertising. This

means that, in theory, they do not have any reason to skew their reviews in favor of a

major advertiser or supplier. Consumer Report are reports published by Consumers

Union whose aim is to protect the consumer. The products it tests are bought on the open

market, not donated by companies or distributors, and it does not allow its reviews to be

used for commercial purposes. Some review resources are dedicated to a single industry,

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such as PC Magazine and CNET (technology), Forbes (business/markets/finance)

sand Edmunds (cars). Consumer Search takes a different approach, compiling reviews on

each product and ranking the reviews themselves before finally ranking the products.

A little detective work

Some companies provide services, not products. How can consumers research a service?

Look up the company. Say a customer wants to have his or her house painted, and who

offers to do the job is the consumer‘s friend. The consumer, already skeptical, decides to

investigate and search for following reports on his or her friend‘s business. If the reports

turn out to be satisfactory, then the consumer would take up his or her friend‘s offer. On

the other hand, if, the search turns up an unsatisfactory report, it could indicate problems

ranging from false advertising to bad service to a return policy not adhered to or, worse, a

pattern of bad business behavior that the company has consistently refused to address.

Share your knowledge

Once the research has been conducted and an informed decision was; the customer has

the product in his or her hands. If the product turns out to be beyond the customer‘s

expectations then he or she should convey it to his or her friends as well. Similarly, if the

product does not fulfill the customer‘s needs, he or she should still share this knowledge

with other individuals so that people are aware of the advantages and the disadvantages

of the products or services. Furthermore, if the product or service does not fulfill the

promises, the customer must file a complaint against the company‘s irresponsible and

unethical behavior to the respected authorities.

CONCLUSION

When consumers are ex-ante unaware of product existence, they naturally do not consider search

until they hear about it through other individuals or more precisely through advertisement. The

first advertisement consumers receive raises awareness about the existence of a market for the

advertised product and it possibly prompts a willingness to gather more information by

searching. Thus, the role of advertising is to convey information about a firm‘s product to

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consumers. Advertisements contain information about the price and the true location of the

individual variety. Exposure to an ad makes a consumer learn about the existence of such a good

and realize her ideal variety. Then, depending on the advertised price(s), consumers make

rational inferences, and accordingly decide whether to search or not. In this environment, the

monopoly price should arise as an equilibrium outcome when the search cost exceeds a certain

minimum threshold value.

Advertising has the power to create awareness, inform, and persuade. It is a communication tool

of enormous complexity, however. Much advertising does not have its intended effect. The

reasons for this failure lie in the variety and complexity of the effects of advertising. Like all

successful communication, effective advertising is guided by a thorough understanding of its

intended audience and how that audience will receive the intended message. Advertising is used

by commercial firms trying to sell products and services; by politicians and political interest

groups to sell ideas or persuade voters; by not- for-profit organizations to raise funds, solicit

volunteers, or influence the actions of viewers; and by governments seeking to encourage or

discourage particular activities, such a wearing seatbelts, participating in the census, or ceasing

to smoke. The forms that advertising takes and the media in which advertisements appear are as

varied as the advertisers themselves and the messages that they wish to deliver.

Advertising primarily seeks to make consumers aware and everyone knows this, too. The typical

advertisement tries to induce a consumer to do one particular thing--usually, make the consumer

aware and buy the product - instead of a thousand other things. There is nothing obscure about

this purpose or what it means for buyers. Decades of data and centuries of intuition reveal that all

consumers everywhere are deeply suspicious of what advertisers say and why they say it. This

skepticism is in fact the driving force that makes advertising so effective. By understanding this

process more fully, the much popular confusion surrounding advertising and how it benefits

consumers can be understood.