INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION

Consumers Pay Heavy Price of

Awareness through Advertising

Concept Paper
Submission Date: June 22, 2010

Prepared for

Mr. Basit Afzal

Prepared by

Afrah Masood

Anum Zafar Butt

Noushaba Jamal

Shaina Arshad

Syeda Bintay Zainab

Wardah Khalid
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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: introductio n, 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 Consume rs

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 Awa reness 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.

Adve rtising 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.

Adve rtising and consume r 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 Adve rtising

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 deve loped 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 unsatisfac tory 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.

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