Marketing Communications

ATTITUDE FORMATION AND CHANGE 79

reflect consumers’ desires for sensory pleasure. Many tourists buy Belgian chocolates when

visiting Belgium because of the delicious taste. Needs/goals can also be classified as approach

or promotion goals, and avoidance or prevention goals.^15 The former pertain to positive

outcomes while the latter relate to avoiding negative outcomes. For example, consumers can

decide to shop at Carrefour because it offers them a nice shopping experience (= approach,

promotion) or because they do not have to drive far (= avoidance, prevention). A consumer

who plans to buy a new car is probably motivated to process marketing communications on

cars. However, the needs or higher-order goals that this particular consumer is pursuing have

an important impact on information processing and the benefits he or she is receptive to.^16 If

the consumer is mainly driven by functional needs, he or she may want clear information on

price, safety, fuel consumption, etc., while a status appeal or an ad showing driving sensations

may be more effective when symbolic or hedonic needs prevail. The same goes for approach/

promotion goals and avoidance/prevention goals: when the former are prevalent then

marketing communications should bring a message focused on positive outcomes (you feel

the excitement when driving this car), while for the latter goals a message should emphasise

negative outcomes (the excellent air bags will protect you during a crash).^17 So, in order to be

persuasive, marketing communications should tap into consumers’ motivational concepts

and marketers need to understand what goals consumers are trying to accomplish by buying

the product.^18

Teenagers getting pregnant is not a problem in developing countries alone; in many developed countries it also

happens more than society would like. Many young girls see babies as cute and lovely (approach motivation), but

do not realise the responsibilities and problems that having a baby at such a young age can bring. To convert the

approach to a prevention motivation, encourage contraceptive use and raise awareness about teenage pregnancy,

Duval Guillaume created for the Belgian public health department a TV spot that promotes a fictitious game. The

game is inspired by the Simms, a game that is very popular among teenage girls. The ad starts out like a normal

video game commercial: ‘Get ready for teenage mum, your ultimate gaming experience.. .’. The player is invited to

change diapers around the clock, try to study while the baby cries all night, and manage relationships with friends

while looking after the child. The player sees the girl in the game having to choose between picking up the phone

or letting her baby have a little accident. Choosing the baby results in ‘friend lost’. The next challenge is to feed the

baby, who spits food in his mum’s face. At the end, the mum is on her knees, totally exhausted. The voiceover ends

with ‘your ultimate challenge: not having a nervous breakdown’. Next the text ‘Being a teenage mum is not that

much fun. Use contraceptives. http://www.laura.be’ appears. The ad clearly shows the difficulties of balancing

teenagers’ needs and wants with the responsibility of a baby. The campaign provoked a lot of discussion, was

mentioned on many weblogs and received an award for its creativity and effectiveness.^19

business insight

Being a teenage mum is not that much fun

Although someone is motivated to do something, he or she may be unable to do it. Ability

refers to the resources needed to achieve a particular goal. One may be motivated to process

a computer ad, but when it is full of technical details one may not be able to process and

understand it because of a lack of technical knowledge. A person may be motivated to buy a

particular house, but after learning what it is going to cost after renovation, stamp duty, land

registration fees, etc., might be unable to buy it because of insufficient money.

Finally, opportunity deals with the extent to which the situation enables a person to obtain

the goal set. A consumer may be motivated to buy Danette of Danone, but if the supermarket

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