“Perception”
The ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses.
Essentially perception is what our senses experience. Perception is the process of selecting, organising and interpreting our five senses, I feel the heat of the sun, hear the waves, see beautiful people around me by the beach, smell my barbeque and taste my beer, everything seems so perfect and I perceive I am happy. Through our life we are raised to take advantage of our senses.
Somewhere along the way the advertising industry caught on to this and used it as a way to effectively market products. Not necessary but debatably exploiting our brain to buy a product or service.
When we talk about beauty products… products that enhances your beauty. But what’s beauty… the cliché “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” is not correct anymore. The key is perception… “The perception of beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”
Unfortunately, we rely on “beauty authorities,” such as Hollywood, fashion designers and style experts to define beauty for us. The standards and criteria of beauty set by our society have been manipulated and are wrong, absurd and unrealistic.
So, how does the non-celebrity woman compete? She cannot! Women are unduly influenced into negative opinions about themselves and forced to chase an illusion. The deck is stacked totally against them.
Dove conducts a social experiment exploring women’s view of their own beauty in contrast to what others’ see in them. A promotional piece for Dove, it exemplifies how we are, indeed, more beautiful than we think.
Perception builds up a sense or meaning about a product or brand when a consumer makes an initial contact. In marketing literature this can be described as the consumer information processing stage, with Sensation, Attention, Interpretation and Retention as the four distinct stages of perception. As a marketer the more you research and understand how your perspective target customer think and perceive, the more effective and ethical can be your perception methods.
In business point of view, you create an idea and other people react emotionally to that idea and you build your connection with those people until you get to the point where they trust you enough to buy what you are selling.
The big question is… “Is it ethical?” If yes… Then what’s the literature behind it…
Marketing Management Blog 
This is a strong piece and it is a big question is marketing ethical? Are we just talking about beauty and marketing or marketing as a whole? As Wayne and the MM book says at the end of the day a company is in business to make money, and marketing plays a key role in this. Are companies who fire employees to keep profits up shareholders happy unethical? From your piece we could also start assessing the role that magazines have to play on the perceptions of self-image women have, and this is not just about the marketing that is within the magazines. Why do women continue to buy them even when women feel depressed after looking at them for 3 minutes (see link)?
This has to first start at the definition of ethics and this is where your question is big in many ways philosophical. Ultimately one could argue that ethics are what we define them to be, meaning you and I could decide that being told we are not pretty enough, young enough, slim enough to is unethical based on our moral compass. However, a company may define ethics as not breaking the law or causing direct harm to another. In the Dove case study for this course it was interesting how Unilever owned Dove and Lynx, Dove promotes that women are beautiful, yet Lynx sexualises and objectifies women to sell products.
Perhaps it comes back to education. If we better educate people to understand how marketers use techniques to affect our purchasing behaviour then it becomes up to us to understand when we are being ‘played’.
This is a very engaging topic, and one that could be explored from many angles and probably best done with a bottle of red wine. I have no doubt your reflective piece will be extremely interesting!
Sources:
http://mic.com/articles/10903/70-of-women-feel-depressed-after-looking-at-a-fashion-magazine-for-3-minutes
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for your comments, i totally agree with you. End of the day its business and we need to make profit. and i really like your point of educating people to understand how the marketers work, and i believe with the changing environment where informations are so readily available most or a major part of consumers are aware of the reasons for their choices.
my next blog will be the literature and theory behind perception and how it evolved for the marketeers, please have read through and let me know your thoughts.
LikeLike
Its a great post I must say as perception is something which develops are thinking process. But if we think of it being ethical or not; I would say that it is ethical in a way. A product is advertised by asking people about their beliefs; about what they want. Whenever a product is marketed, it is for the people and by the people. Whatever the mass wants the most, they are given that! When I speak of perception in this context, it is developed by the society and we cant actually blame anyone for this as man is a social animal. He is ought to be influenced by the different things running in the society, whether right or wrong. It is this perception that is picked up by the marketers to promote their product and study the consumer behavior. Speaking objectively, we can say that they are trying to give people something that they are asking for. So it is ethical!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The question your blog immediately brought to my mind is: Is ethical marketing possible, and if yes, what is the fine line between ethical marketing and profit?
The information I found indicates that some products can hardly be ethically marketed (such as weight loss products- we all know now they do not work!), but on the other side, is unethical marketing more efficient than ethical marketing? My view is, may be not for too long… I believe we are in a changing era where the customer data is indeed heavily analyzed but this same customer can on the other side access the product data and do a market research in a few minutes, collect testimonials, feedbacks, find alternative products and verify the information that the marketing campaign is using to sell the product. For customer retention, it may be worth making sure the product that we are trying to sell is of good quality and that the information we are providing is reliable.
What we could call the “ethical Dove campaign” wanted to show to women of the world that they are more beautiful than they think they are- naturally. So why did the Dove marketing team launch advertising campaigns in parallel showing photoshopped models? Was the company taking seriously the message that women are more beautiful than they think they are? Did Dove Marketers feel that this message would not be sufficient to sell?
From the customer perspective, are customers always seeking authenticity, the truth, when buying a product? Or do customers prefer when marketing is selling “The Dream”?
Thank you for such an engaging blog.
Sources:
http://www.marketing-schools.org/types-of-marketing/ethical-marketing.html#link1
https://blog.kissmetrics.com/what-are-you-really-selling/
LikeLiked by 2 people
Attitudes are judgments concerning objects, people or events. Attitudes consist of cognitive, affective and behavioral intention. There are many studies that deal with the psychological aspects that Influence these factors; the link (below) to one such study by Petty, Wegener and Fabrigar titled ‘ Attitudes and attitude change’ is one of them. Attitudes are difficult to change and can take a large amount of time to influence.
From a legal stand point, as long as marketers stay within legal bounds regarding influencing attitudes and perceptions, they are within their right. But it does pose an ethical question. When markets can not only influence individual attitudes and perceptions of what beauty means, but can also influence the general society perception, they have effectively improved their STP scope.
Many people struggle emotionally when they believe they don’t match up to the perfect image portrayed in the media. So there are consequences marketers must consider. There are side effects. Regarding literature, another link is below titled, ‘Ethics concerning physical attractiveness phenomenon: business strategy versus research knowledge by Patzer. Worth a read.
Click to access 1997-ANNREV-Petty,Wegener,Fabrigar.pdf
Click to access 10555.pdf
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think the question arises, does that generate a new market? A market for ‘ethical’ standards, brands, products, communication, people… in competition to unethical standards.
Green Marketing’ is becoming more heard of, entrepreneurs such as Branson, Gates are ‘giving back’ to the community, financially and with their knowledge and connections.
With regards to can we exchange money for these ethical standards, brands, products… would we have to innovate and create a new currency – form of exchange – form of communication? Given gold and currencies have a long standing history, I think the question is, how far to we have to reach or how much would we have to educate our new target audience.
Thoughts are appreciated.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree with your analysis, but how it works?
The conditions that lead consumers to want specific product benefits are found in aspects of both their personality and their life situation.
In order to understand consumers’ wants and find a common motivational ground for all goods and services, Marketers use the conditions that lead consumers to want what they ask for instead of what products and services they ask for. Therefore, the focus was shifted from using personal traits and attitudes to predict behaviour, to the dual influence on behaviour of person and environment factors.
The way consumers view the product-use situation sets the direction for their brand search. From the array of available brands, consumers select a brand that best responds to the relevant features of the product-use situation, as perceived by them.
Marketers try to identify various consumer perceptions of the product-use situation that activate product purchase, and that direct choice among available brands
In terms of whether it’s ethical, I guess it depends, i.e. would the ethics be questionable if the intention of the ad was to raise funds to buy a kidney dialysis equipment for patients at a hospital, make donations to Red Cross, or improve public awareness regarding the negative impact of alcohol consumption?
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1249884?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
LikeLiked by 1 person
This very interesting. Although I don’t believe we should put emphasis on outer appearance as much as we do, it is very true that people (women in particular) are much harder on their looks than they need to be.
LikeLike
Even though I agree with your post regarding advertising agents or marketers exploit our senses to buy new products or services, but is the perception of who we are and what we want based on what these agencies consistently tell the consumer or is it the marketers just reflecting what the consumer wants or expects even though it is out of reach, a bit like what came first the chicken or the egg.
You are quite right Doves promotion did build a sense of meaning behind the product and related it back to its target market, but if Dove believed that showing women that they are more beautiful than they perceived themselves, why do they sell products to enhance a women’s beauty (or perceived beauty)??
What jumped out to me from your blog was marketers can use perception to gain and retain a customer but the main question is, is it ethical? Well doesn’t it depend on who you are looking out for? If it is for your shareholders or is it for an environmental purposes, both would give different answers.
Appreciate your thoughts
LikeLike
Consumer’s Perceptions on a business/product have a big influence in their decision making.
Thats the reason why food related commercials are aired on TV when we are more likely to be hungry,An adult service provider beams their offerings to our living room closer to midnight.Holiday package offerings are aired closer to Holiday time etc.The commercials will have more effects on consumers when their related desire level is high.
A home theatre system is more likely to sell in a shop,if the shop have a dedicated area where consumers can sit and feel the real atmosphere.(mock up of a living room).
Above said Perceptions are human nature.We mostly need to feel things before owning it.
But when this comes to beauty,the perception fact is almost not relevant,if I may say so.Because consumers are already (through many years) corrupted to believe in a set of rules which decides what beauty is.
These rules vary from culture to culture,continents to continents etc.
For example in India any cosmetics that lighten your skin colour,SELLS!!! Fair and Lovely http://www.fairandlovely.in/
in fact Fairness is closely related to light skin colour.
In Australia,any products that pronounce toughness sells better (this is my assumption) isn’t that so?. Car manufacturers especially.
LikeLike
Interesting post – the first question that springs to my mind – as one person already commented….’Is marketing ethical?’ And I have to say that I believe that there are organisations that fall on both sides of the equation. Just like firms vary in accounting practices, sales tactics, supply chain participants and so on. What I do think however – and this can relate back to customer perception – is the concept of equity. Which will be, and is a great leveller at some point. Customers, whether it be related to price or brand promise eventually look for equity in their relationships. Organisations that don’t balance the equity of customer interactions pay in the long run in lower cosumer loyalty. And customer perceptions have a great deal to do with creating equity. How we feel when we deal with the company, what we hear from them and so on – all creates a perception about that organisaiton. If that experience doens’t continute to ring true to the first perception we create of that brand – we won’t remain loyal and probably won’t be customers for long.
LikeLike
Good blog, I am totally agree with this blog ! Perception is a powerful thing, many marketers have used it to make their customers trust in their brand and then when customers trusted in the brand enough, they create a perception! we can take car companies as example, BMW (drive for fun), Volvo (Safety), Mercerize-Benz (Luxury), here are just few example how marketers create a perception. From example as I mentioned earlier, most of premium car companies nowadays are safe, come with luxury interior, and most of them are pretty fast! but however, these kinds of perception is still attached in consumer mind, that BMW is for a fun driving, Volvo has a exceptional safety, and Mercedes-Benz is for show-off their status (luxury).
However, to answer your question, I would say it is ethical ! Marketers just do their job to create a brand recognition in consumer mind, the consumers have choices to choose, no body force them to buy the products.
Anyway, I have noticed something in Dove’S social experiment, does anyone here notice that women in the video, pretty much most of them are good looking ? Do they choose only good-looking women to do experiment or what ?
LikeLike
Good Post !
Throughout the years, the vast majority of the countries have turned out to be continuously more multicultural, with the ethnic populace developing at record rates.Many components can play into individual allure the way you dress, the way you act, the way you conduct yourself, even things that are hard or difficult to change, similar to societal position and riches, race, and body size and shape. However, the first thing we see when we meet somebody is their face. Faces dispatch a thousand boats, and confronts that just a mother could love, and we are especially receptive to see what matters. The cerebrum, among its numerous different capacities, is a wonder identifier. Ethnic patients have diverse corrective concerns and regular components that are one of a kind. The restorative concerns of ethnic patients likewise vary as the consequence of contrasts in skin pathophysiology, components of maturing, and special anatomic structure. There is no more a solitary standard of excellence. We should now adjust to the more differing populace and see how to oblige the assorted qualities of excellence in the United States. Ethnic patients don’t essentially need a Westernized look in light of the fact that what constitutes magnificence is dictated by racial, social, and ecological impacts. We as pioneers in healthy skin must comprehend these distinctions and adjust our practices in like manner. This article will concentrate on the distinctions in maturing in diverse ethnic populaces and highlight systems one of a kind to skin of shading. It may not be all that shocking that we’d preferably mate with a symmetrical Greek god or goddess than with somebody who ventured out of a Picasso painting. And after that there are the feelings we anticipate through our countenances. Not astonishing, positive feelings expand engaging qualities.
LikeLike
Dove is promoting their product through raising people’s self-awareness and self-confidence. I remember I watched a ad done by dove is that to go through two gates which one is labeled beautiful and one is ugly. This action was done in many regions in the word with different cultures and it did raised people’s confidence about themselves not only to their appearance but also their inner beauty. This kind of action promote dove’s perception regarding to beauty. I personal think that dove done good job
LikeLike
This was a great post!
Is it ethical? I’m sure after reading this many individuals would emphatically say NO!
However is it really unethical? The cosmetic industries are merely taking advantage of a predetermined vision of beauty which has been drummed into our brains since birth. It is no different to how life insurance companies play on our fear of death and how gyms play on our fear of being fat. Some may argue that Dove has chosen to go against the trend set by the cosmetic industry. But realistically Dove have taken advantage of consumers in the exact same way. They have differentiated themselves from their competitors by appearing to be more empathetic to consumers. But in actual fact they have just chosen a different marketing strategy in an effort to gain brand awareness and essentially increase their profits.
LikeLike
Interesting post!
I think in terms of marketing ethics within the health and beauty industry, it’s important to further deconstruct what Dove is actually trying to do in the linked commercial.
Consumers have become increasingly savvy to the arguably unethical manipulations of beauty industry marketing techniques in recent years. It’s widely acknowledged that fashion magazines intentionally make women (more specifically, though not solely) feel inadequate in order to present their product as a false solution (“all the hot tips to make you beautiful and fashionable in one magazine!”). The product reinforces the problem that demands the purchase of the product, and so on. So yes, I believe there are genuine ethical concerns there.
It seems to me that what Dove does in that commercial is appeal to its increasingly marketing weary and media savvy audience by saying “you hate yourself” and then presenting the solution of… moisturiser and deodorant? I feel like there is some trickery occurring in this instance too that also deserves some ethical consideration.
LikeLike
This is s great post.The perception of beauty vary from person to person, it is still necessary to consider many factors around of us to define what standard is better and suitable for yourself. The awareness and perceptions of beauty to consumers has affected deeply since the variations in the past and recent society and changes of consumers behaviours, typically related to the cosmetic products. From the consumer behaviours’ perspective, our purchasing decision can be affected from many sides, like the salesperson who introduce and recommend some products to purchase. Sometimes, our mind can change in terms of the circumstances and other people’s thinking, hence it always bring the multiple results than our expectations and we can not ensure it is always beneficial.
LikeLike
I really enjoy your post. It’s one of the most meaningful blogs I have read today. The video helps me to think what is the difference between how you see yourself and how others think of you in the first eye. first, not only female, but also male should not be judged by the negative features of their body. such as in the video, this lady said her mother used to tell her she has a big jaw. however, I do think cosmetics are really important to female customers. Because even in the formalism view, cosmetics are used to enhance people’s self-confident and how they want to express themselves to others. It is not only because they want to make other people who look at them feel better.
LikeLike
Actually, the idea of getting “beautiful” by using a specific product- is controversial. In some Asian countries, Unilever advertised a beauty product (fairness cream) named “fair n lovely”, in such a way that the consumer are forced to think that- if you don’t use this product, you are definitely not becoming fair and lovely!! Even those advertisements are promoted by celebrities. The question is- sending a valuable message through a product is impressive but sending a message that may hurt particular human emotions- is crucial. Cosmetics/beauty products are effective but they should never change a perosn’s image in the mind of other person, just because she is more fairer than past!
Your post is interesting enough to raise questions, thanks for writing it down.
LikeLike
This is a very interesting post I have seen do far. I believe perception is something that develop thinking process of human. But when it comes to ethical or not , In my point of view that can be ethical in a way. A product is advertising not just the sake of advertising but also they researcher humans beliefs and wants. when product is sent to the market it is obviously design according to the humans perceptions and want. Since I believe consumers are the priority when selling products. with regarding to this context about perception I think it is developed by the society as a whole. i do agree with few comments above since we can’t just blame on one person .people get influenced by these things easily without knowing whether it is right or wrong. marketer just study the consumer behaviour in a way and do some research to promote their products. they are trying to give what consumers looking for so i believe it is ethical in a way.
LikeLike