Not Marketing to Children Towards Mars bar in the UK - Research Proposal Example

Qualitative Marketing Research Table of Contents How “not marketing to children” affects s’ attitudes towards Mars bar in UK 1. Introduction 1.1. Background Mars bar is a chocolate brand manufactured by Mars Company, UK. Mars bar started to operate in UK in 1932 after Forrest Mars, the son of Frank C Mars who founded Mars, Inc. opened his own company called Mars Limited in Slough, UK. The company produces more than three million Mars bars a day at its UK plant in Slough. Mars Bars are sold to people with above 12 years and marketing efforts are targeted to people of more than 12 years. The brand also targets sports people. For instance, the company has partnered with FA to sponsor England Football Team. It also delivers chocolate bars to football players in England and Scotland. The brand has grown over the years since its early years, and has now attained a sales volume of 3 million per day. 1.2. Research question The research question of this market research is “how does ‘not marketing to children’ affect customers’ attitudes towards the Mars bar brand in UK?” Marketing code for Mars bar requires that the product should not be advertised to children of more than 12 years. Mars does not buy advertising time or space if more than a quarter of the audience are likely children of less than 12 years (Mars, 2013). The brand is also not advertised in websites targeted to people under the age of 13. Furthermore, Mars bar’s website does not allow people with less than 12 years to view its content. When a person enters the website, he/she is asked about his/her age. If he/she is above 12 years old, he is allowed access to the website. Generally, every advertisement effort of the brand is intended for audience over 12 years of age. Therefore, the above research question is relevant because the efforts of Mars to avoid advertising to children may raise questions about the sales capability of the company in the competitive UK confectionary and snack industry. It seems that the brand focuses on social responsibility and ethical marketing over profitability, but is that justifiable in a competitive market? This question seeks an understanding how customers perceive the not-for-children marketing strategy of Mars bar. What is the attitude of customers towards this advertisement? Does the company gain or lose more customers through this strategy? This research determines how the attitudes of customers could be if the advertisement was targeted for the general audience including children. If the study finds a positive relationship between the marketing strategy and customer’s attitudes, then it means the company achieves good results including customer satisfaction and increased sales volume from the strategy. 1.3. Research methodology The main research method for this research is primary research method involving face-to-face interviews with several people in the company. However, for the purpose of analysis, the research will concentrate on two face-to-face interviews. The first interview involves a marketing executive of Mars in Slough, UK. This first interview is intended to get the view of the company on their marketing approach. It seeks to determine what the company hopes to achieve in terms of customer’s attitudes towards the not-for-children advertisement approach. The second interview involves a loyal customer to the company who purchases the product in local stores. This aims at getting the version of customers on their attitude towards the advertisement approach which avoids children. Results of both interviews will be recorded for later analysis. The importance of face-to-face interview is that the researcher is able to measure the attitude of the respondent towards the topic question by observing the body language of the respondent. Furthermore, this method also enables the researcher to prove the truth of the respondent’s answers by observing the respondent. By engaging in face-to-face interview with the respondents, the researcher also gets firsthand information that is not subject to manipulation, bias or prejudice. Therefore, the results of face-to-face interview are more reliable and subjective than other methods of research. This is especially the case in qualitative research. The above advantages of face-to-face interviews makes it a suitable research method for the research questions of this research. Other research methods such as questionnaires are also appropriate for this research but they may not be as appropriate as face-to-face interview because the researcher may not be able to read the attitude of the respondent effectively. The appropriateness of Questionnaires is that they give the respondent freedom to express their feelings without being intimidated because no one is watching them. 2. Interviews 2.1. The first transcribed face-to-face interview The first interview of this research is an interview with a marketing executive of Mars Company in Slough, UK. It is transcribed into question and answers format. In this case, the question is written down and the answer provided by the respondent is indicated after it. The following is the interview conducted on the marketing executive. Q1: Your Company does not advertise its Mars bar chocolate brand to children under the age of 12, what do you think about this? R1: I think I like it, I mean our company shows some responsibility Q2: So you are saying “not advertising to children” is a matter of social responsibility and not a marketing strategy to beat competition? R2: Well, it’s about both. While we attempt to engage in ethical marketing, we boost our sales. Ethical marketing is just a way of achieving competitive advantage. Q3: Oh, I see. So what do you think about your customers’ attitudes? Have they responded well to this approach? R3: Our performance has been improving, so I think they have taken all our approaches positively, including the not-for-children ads. Q4: So you mean you cannot specifically connect the relationship between the attitudes of your customers with the marketing approach that targets people with more than 12 years? R4: You cannot measure those things numerically, but if you have marketing strategies in place and customers are always satisfied and you do not get complains from them, then it means your approaches are working. Q5: I see. You are talking about not receiving complaints from customers, is that the case? R6: As far as not for children advertisement is concerned, none of our existing or potential customers has ever complained. In fact, they are even happier with the strategy. 2.2. The second transcribed face-to-face interview The second interview involved a customer who has been considered as a regular customer of Mars bar brand. The customer tries to explain about his experience with the brand and how not-for-children ad has affected his attitude. Q1: You are a regular and loyal customer of Mars bar, aren’t you? R1: Yes I am, I like chocolate bar. Q2: How old are you? R2: I am 21 Q3: Are you aware that Mars bar is not advertised to people less than 12 years of age? R3: Yes, I am aware. They always ask for my age whenever I attempt to enter their website. Q4: How do you view the advertisement requirement? R4: First, I wouldn’t like my younger sister to use a lot of chocolate. These kinds of food are not suitable for them. So, for the sake of their health they should not be sold them. Secondly, the approach is really ethical. A few businesses are such ethical, and that’s why I like the brand and I will always be their customer. Q5: Would your attitude towards the brand change if the advertisement regulation was lifted and advertisement targeting children was introduced? R5: I would be disappointed with their move, but I wouldn’t stop using their chocolate. I just love this brand (puts a Mars bar chocolate into his mouth). 3. Analysis and findings This research involves an analysis based on linking the interview results with marketing theories and the overall performance of the company. From the interview with the marketing executive, it is clear that the company uses ethical responsibility in marketing as both a marketing/competitive strategy and a corporate social responsibility tool. The respondent says that the approach increases sales of the product; hence the company achieves increased profitability. One of the ways that the company measures the attitude of customers towards advertising efforts is by the number of complaints and positive comments from customers. Although he did not specify the numbers, the first respondent suggests that there are positive comments from customers regarding to not-for-children advertisement. On the other hand, there were no complaints received from customers. The marketing executive argues that this shows increased customer satisfaction for the brand. Furthermore, this argument is supported by the sales volume of the company. With the ad requirements, the company sells more than 3 million Mars bar chocolates per day (Mars, 2013). The second respondent also provides the same opinion that the advertisement approach focusing on people with more than 12 years shows a good gesture and improves the attitude of a customer towards the brand. The second respondent is a customer and suggests that he is happy with Mars bar because it demonstrates ethical business. This research therefore shows that the not-for-children advertising code of marketing has a positive impact on the attitude of employees. This report recommends that the company should deliver its products to stores that are less likely to be visited by children with less than 12 years. Furthermore, the company should explain to its customers why it considers it necessary to avoid advertising Mars bar to children. This can make people understand the ethical motives of the company because the findings of the research have shown that customers are happy with the ethical aspect of the marketing strategy. Works cited Mars (2013). Marketing our brands responsibly. Web. Appendix: Written consent I confirm that I have willingly consented to be interviewed by the researcher in regards to “not marketing to children” and customer attitudes Mars bar customer I confirm that I have willingly consented to be interviewed by the researcher in regards to “not marketing to children” and customer attitudes Sales executive, Mars Company Read More