While visiting one of our Dropping Jaws supporters, the gang developed quite the appetite upon entering their pantry we stumbled upon the following:
After several minuets of comical rousing we all sat down to talk about a previous article written on www.droppingjaws.com (click on link to view http://droppingjaws.mobi/?p=710) This time around we wanted to take a different approach on the issue at hand , after deciding to go with conducting some marketing research, basically personal interviews, this type of data collection gave us flexibility, data control, a higher response rate and much more possible data. Now many may say this choice of surveying may have its faults… yeah sure, once you factor in the many reasons why this information could be less accurate which can generate flawed results.
In the market research world this is called a systematic error or better known as being dead wrong but according to the Journal of the Marketing Research Society ” One of the biggest problems in market research from the very beginning has been in getting respondents to express the truth. It is often the case that people want to “impress” the interviewer,or are, for some reason, ashamed to admit the facts because it lowers their self-esteem. Another important consideration is repression; where the respondent has hidden from his or herself a “truth” which is too hurtful to reveal.” WOW! This is the beauty behind marketing and advertising the skills and strategies that are used within commercials, sales and marketing copy writes, press releases, and numerous other communication means.
They play on the imperfections or flaws of our society which in returns makes the consumer question their own mindset. Dr. Robert Cialdini author of “Influence the Psychology of Persuasion” speaks about this in a chapter entitled “Social Proof” , Cialdini states “In general , when we are unsure of ourselves, when the situation is unclear or ambiguous, when uncertainty reigns, we are most likely to look to and accept the actions of others as correct.” When the group was asked the reasons why they chose one over the other the general consensus was they just preferred the leading brand, but when tasted and ingredients were the checked the only big difference was marketing and advertising.
Even though this quasi research study wasn’t to dispel the taste rumors about generic and brand named cereal but to explore an often overlooked but widely used form of marketing research “Participant Observation” which is the type of observation in which the researcher participates in the activities of the group in order to obtain an in-depth and intimate understanding of it. Once some members of the Dropping Jaws Division discovered the generic brands of cereal in pantry, the mood of the group switched from objective to subjective and being rational to being emotional in a matter of moments. In a moment this logical trendsetting analytic group of individuals was transformed into your average class of 1st graders (harsh huh lol, sorry gang:) which was just an example of solecism.
Almost to the point that the group nearly missed the leading brand provider located inside the pantry as well, granted the boxes were not located directly next to each other, they were placed together to have more of a lasting dramatic effect for our viewers. Tim Curry, Robert Jiobu and Kent Schwiririan authors of “Sociology For The Twenty- First Century” explains “The goal of a participant observation study is to obtain in-depth understanding from a highly detailed and sometimes intimate knowledge of the people being studied.” At first glance the shocker of seeing a product so similar in product packaging design gets your attention but the actions that took place after that was nothing but marketing and advertisement at its best.
