How Consumer Choice Is Influenced by a Psychological Need - Essay Example

Consumer Psychology Introduction Advertisements in their very essence are persuasive in nature. Their primary goal is to sell something to the consumer. Companies often stimulate consumer’s desire in order to get them to buy a product. Images are so powerful because unlike written texts, which are often contextualised by its audiences, these pictures are not picked apart and analysed. Viewers often embrace advertising images as true regardless of the intent or alterations that could have been done to them. Advertisers usually appeal to the human need to create and maintain a personal and social self concept. Therefore, this paper will focus on how consumer choice is influenced by this psychological need. Definition of terms Khan and Bozzo (2012) define self concept as the perception of a person’s attributes, beliefs or behaviour. Self concept assists companies to understand how buyers make choices in light of the symbolic meanings connected to their brands. A person’s perception about themselves is closely associated with their personality. People are likely to buy things that match their personality. However, personality traits are not just static; people will change their personal traits depending on the social situation under consideration. An individual can have either personal or social self concept. The personal aspect reflects those attributes that make a person unique. On the other hand, the social self concept relates to a person’s perception of where they belong socially. This may include religion, college or family. Social self concept may also refer to a person’s attributes in the presence of others (Mehta, 1999). Sometimes the ideal self (the person one wishes to be) is not in tandem with one’s reality. For instance, a young man may feel clumsy and awkward when in reality he is nothing like that. In such a case, the ideal self clashes with a person’s self image. In the area of marketing, self image is highly related to product image. Consumer behaviour is a direct effort to enhance a person’s self concept. People consume goods as symbols of their self concept. A person can also shape or define their self concept to themselves using goods. In certain circumstances, they may maintain or enhance it using those goods. Consumption, in this regard, is a tool of self expression. Actual self congruence occur when a match occurs between the brand being sold and the actual self image of the person. Therefore, marketers are likely to sell more brands if the commodities they sell relate more to most consumers’ self concept (Schor, 2004). How consumer choice is affected by self concept The purchase process is not a random one. Consumers want to acquire brands that resonate with them and are unique to them. This explains why not all brands with have a similar level of preference for every individual. The consumer wants to feel that a certain product was exclusively meant for them. It needs to meet his specific needs and this fosters attachment to the product. It is for this reason that marketers will create advertisements designed to sell exclusivity. These ads make the consumer feel connected to the brand because they respond to specific needs for the buyers. As such, marketers influence consumer decisions by selling exclusivity. They make their products seem special and uniquely catered to their viewers thus causing them to purchase the item (Khan and Bozzo, 2012). If a product is used publicly, it is likely to match with an individual’s ideal self concept than their actual self concept. A consumer would use a publicly consumed good or highly visible one like shoes to reflect a certain image of themselves even when this is not true. People will buy shoe brands that match their ideal self concept or the person they desire to become. Therefore, social self concept is more relevant in this category of products. Conversely, privately consumed goods like tissue are less likely to match ideal self concepts than actual self concepts. In light of this information, marketers selling publicly consumed goods tend to use advertisements which are idealised in nature. They could sell the commodity in a way that makes it seem attractive to others. Viewers tend to compare themselves to models utilised in advertisements. Barulich (2006) reports that they do this because of three purposes: to self evaluate, to improve themselves as well as to enhance themselves. People want to evaluate themselves and will look at depictions in advertisements with this intention in mind. For instance, teenage girls may stare at a model and feel that the person is more physically attractive than them. In this regard, physical attractiveness is a critical part of a person’s self concept. Advertisements can use this need to self evaluate in order to push products. They will look towards the product in order to create a new self concept which is more desirable to society as depicted through media. It is critical to understand why advertisements have such an immense power over viewers who want to make purchase decisions. Adverts consist of images which tend to elicit emotional responses. Their visual character makes them engrained in the memory of the viewer whose values and behaviour will be influenced by them. Consumers are exposed to advertisements daily, and the images portrayed there can affect their perception of what they consider to be beautiful or ‘cool’. Most times, advertisements will contain images of people who typically consume the product. This implies that viewers will associate themselves with the people in the advert (Sullivan 2008). As mentioned earlier, people tend to use advertisements as self evaluation tools for their self concepts. If an advert contains an unrealistic or falsified image, then the viewer will be subjected to psychologically detrimental effects. Their evaluation of their self concept will be done against an impossible ideal. In this regard, they may start engaging in self destructive behaviour like drug taking or anorexia in order to reach that idea. Essentially, advertisement will have legitimised and then normalised socially destructive behaviour (Grabe, 2008). Consumers will purchase a product, especially one that has unrealistic images, in the hopes that it will move them from their actual selves to the ideal selves (Walden, 2006). Marketers tend to influence buyer choices this way by always creating idealised images that are difficult to reach. This creates some insecurity in the buyer who must relentlessly pursue that image. Air brushing and heavily editing models in order to make them flawless would push buyers to keep purchasing the said product in order to fit that image. Therefore, marketers play around with self concept by changing what actual and ideal self image entails. They set ideal standards so high that consumers will continuously reach for them without ever reaching them (Sullivan, 2008) Not all advertisements strategies using attractive models may work. A product and model match must exist in order to get viewers to consider the product. This means that consumers tap into their social concept in order to assess whether an advertisement is convincing enough. If a muscular male model is used to sell exercise equipment or other masculine products, then the advertisement tends to be more believable than if the same model was selling something like toothpaste. In this regard, the image of the product has to match that of the model. In order to assess this appropriateness, people look towards their self concept as a standard. Advertisements thus rely on self concept as a gauge for selling the product image, and this influences consumer choice (Gross and Katz, 2003). The literature seems to present conflicting evidence on the extent to which brand image causes viewers to purchase a certain item. For instance Mehta (1999) carried out an analysis of a male fragrance brand among audience members of general age and gender. They exposed the individuals to commercial containing strong visual and audio images. The participants were contacted later and asked whether they recalled elements of the advertisement, whether they would buy it and how they rate the brand. The author found that a congruency existed between the products as well the personal self concept. Consumers preferred and intended to purchase commodities that they felt were consistent with their self concept. The nature of the commodity with respect to its conspicuousness is moderated by self concept. This analysis indicated that people tend to buy things that boost their self esteem and refrain from things that do not. One part of the literature shows that marketers will sell more if they appeal to consumer’s personal self concept. They affirm that people will select items in order to enhance or boost their self esteem. Another category states that people will purchase items if an advertisement lowers their self esteem in order to reach an ideal self concept. These differences in points of view emerge from certain moderating factors. It seems that self concept and brand image congruence matters when actual self concept matches depictions in an advertisement. Therefore, people will use the product to sustain their self concept. Conversely, low self esteem-inducing advertisements will lead to self concept and brand image congruence only when the nature of self concept under consideration is ideal (Lu and Hsin-Ya, 2009). Therefore, people will long for a product that does not match their actual self concept if it relates to their ideal self concept. They will be prompted to purchase the commodity if they feel that it will move them towards their ideal selves. Such persons often have particular traits that make them respond to such advertisement. Most times, they have a low self esteem or image. Furthermore, social class may also affect them as they could aspire to improve their social classes. Alternatively their personality typology could also affect the way they perceive advertisements. Gender may also be a factor since women tend to be more susceptible to low esteem-inducing adverts than men (Till and Busler, 2000). In order to understand these differences and thus place the effects of advertisements in context, it is critical to look at some of these variables in depth. When marketers present advertisements with highly attractive models to women, they are more likely to elicit comparative behaviour from them than from men. This may have such a strong effect that would cause them to purchase the advertised product. Venkat et. al. (2002) explains that this tendency stems from the socialisation of women in western cultures. From an early age, women are taught about the importance of beauty or physical attractiveness (through toys and play behaviour). Furthermore, since agreement exists on the definition of beauty among females, it is relatively easy for them to start comparing themselves to each other. The thin ideal is quite prevalent in mass media and is more widely accepted than male perceptions of attractiveness. Dittmar et. al. (2006) trace the origin of low body satisfaction among females to their preadolescent times. Barbie dolls may be one cause of these negative perceptions. Girls often view these dolls as cultural icons and thus aspire to be like them. A number of children often engage in imaginary games with their dolls and do their best to become inspirational role models. The thin self concept is introduced at this age in the form of play and fantasy. These dolls are thus socialisation agents for what society perceives as acceptable. Once the girls internalise that image, they will use it as a personal standard as they grow older. It is because of this fact that many women now struggle to accept themselves as they are. Comparison tendencies are often triggered automatically when the image of a model is presented to a woman (Clay et. al., 2005). Advertisers are aware of these standards and will continue with such depictions in advertisements targeting adults. Therefore, marketers are more likely to use images of idealised models among female audiences than male ones. If a person has low self esteem, they tend to respond more strongly to advertisements with depictions of ideal women than those with moderate to high self esteem. An individual’s perception of their body image is altered by their self esteem. If they possess a high self esteem, they are less likely to compare themselves to models in advertisements and thus purchase the said product in order to improve themselves (Cash and Pruzinsky, 2002). The reverse is true for persons with low self esteem. For this reason, marketers are likely to fuel social comparisons by using idealised women. Such advertisements will create even less satisfaction with the female body. Some of these images may cause the subject to buy the product in order to feel better about themselves. Skorek and Dunham (2012) add that sometimes the extent to which women think of the images as attainable may also affect their purchase intention. If a model appears to be too attractive and thin, and the concerned viewer seems to think of them as unattainable, then chances are that they will not be inspired to make a change. This will actually discourage them from purchasing the advertised item. A consumer who is somewhat closer to the ideal image will be motivated to sustain their decisions and this may cause them to reach for the product being advertised (Levine and Niva, 2004). Therefore, ideally, a person should respond to advertisements that match their self concept and ignore those that do not reflect those attributes. However, sometimes the opposite may occur when the subject responds to the ad even when their personal self concept does not reflect the brand image in the advert. This normally, occurs when self esteem, gender and other variables moderate the purchase decision. Therefore, marketers may use the latter approach to alter consumer decisions if they feel that their target market possesses these moderating variables (Douglas, 2000). Conversely, if the target market consists of males with a high self belief, then portrayal of idealised images will not work. Such groups will only focus on those images that maintain their self concept. Certain ethical implications may come about due to this tendency to depict thin models. Marketers believe that thinness sells; a number of them attempt to affect consumer choice by shaping their self concept. In a world where females come in various shapes and sizes, it is logical for models in advertisements to represent this same diversity. Advertisers prefer to use this option because it creates a vicious cycle among females of the western world. First, idealised or unrealistic women cause women to compare themselves to what they see (Berberick, 2010). They eventually internalise the images and thus develop low self esteem. As a result, they are even more likely to feel negative about themselves when they see the next ultra thin model in an advert. This will prompt them to improve their self image by reaching for those products. This approach thus creates perpetual customers for the consumer industry because sociological factors have been manipulated to create vulnerability amongst them (Hargreaves and Tiggemann, 2004). Conclusion Self concept refers to an individual’s perception of themselves. Marketers influence purchase decisions by creating advertisements which match people’s self concept. Generally, individuals will use products that cause them to express themselves, so brands that match this definition of self concept will sell. However, sometimes advertisements may enhance purchase intentions even when they do not coincide with personal self concept. This often occurs due to the need to aspire to an ideal self concept in the ad. Women, persons with low self esteem, and social class may cause viewers to identify with these images. Marketers often harness these factors when selling their brands. They will consider their target audience and the characteristics they possess before reading marketing messages. These individuals thus exploit self concept in order to sell their wares. References Barulich, D., 2006. Beauty match-up and self concept congruity in advertising. [online] Available at: http://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/E0/01/57/54/00001/barulich_d.pdf [Accessed on 28 January 2014] Berberick, S., 2010. The objectification of women in mass media: Female self image in misogynist culture. The New York Sociologist, 5, pp. 1-15. Cash, T., and Pruzinsky, T., 2002. Body image: A handbook of theory, research, and clinical practice. New York: Guilford Press. Clay, D., Vignoles, V. and Dittmar, H., 2005. 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