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Consumer Behaviour And Marketing Communication
EFFECTS OF SOCIAL CONDITIONING
Advertisers should be interested in the effects of social conditioning on the individual because
conditioning process is continuous through the individual’s life span. Social conditions that have effect
on an individual include:
- HABIT: this is an act that is repeated so often by an individual that it becomes automatic
with such individual. For example, an individual may ask for coke anytime he wants to
buy soft drink. - CUSTOM: customs are habits followed by great numbers of people. Examples are the
custom of eating three meals a day and women painting lips and fingernails. Advertising,
publicity, personal selling and sales promotion appear to work best when they promote
products, services, ideas that relate with present habits and customs. Efforts to change habits
or customs are much more expensive than attempts to reinforce existing ones. - ATTITUDE: attitudes are states of readiness to make value judgment in support of or against
people, products, ideas or things. Attitudes range from positive to negative or from firmly
entrenched to transitory. Consumers are more likely to buy products towards which they
have a positive attitudes than those towards which their attitudes are negative. - BELIEF: beliefs are subjective concepts of truth. Individual’s beliefs are based more on
emotion than reason and may or may not agree with the facts.
A belief that is held by a large group of people can be helpful or injurious to the sales,
promotion of a product or service.- VALUE: Values are desirable conditions or state of affairs. Individuals who belong to a
particular group usually have some values in common and they tend to share these values. - TABOO: taboos are the powerful “do not”, accepted and enforced by the members of a
group. A taboo carries with it the implication that evil consequences will follow its violation.
Various societies or groups have taboos regarding various things such as the use of a given
colour, phrase or symbol. For example, colour for mourning in Iran is Blue – in Japan it
is white, in Southern Nigeria it is Black, while purple is associated with death in Latin
American countries. Advertisers must be careful in using these colours or symbols when
promoting their products in such markets. (Stanley, 1977; Kotler, 1997; Hawkins, Roger
and Coney, 1986)