Comparing and Contrasting Consumer Attitudes towards Emotional (Cosmetic) Vs Rational (Oral Hygiene) Marketing Messages

by

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Introduction of Topic1

Background of the Study1

Research Aims and Objectives2

Hypotheses2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW4

Advertising and Attitude Change4

Advertisement Appeals4

Rational Appeal5

Emotional Appeal5

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY6

Research Methodology6

Data Collection6

Literature search6

Questionnaire Survey6

Interviews7

Sample Size7

Data Analysis7

Questionnaire Survey Analysis7

Interview Analysis8

REFERENCES9

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Introduction of Topic

I have decided to do my dissertation based on dental industry and comparing cosmetic aspect of dentistry with oral hygiene aspect of it. I have also noticed when the big companies like ORAL-B or COLGATE are advertising their tooth paste, they emphasis on, bright, shiny, sparkly smile and white tooth along with the little touch on oral hygiene. I want to discuss why companies give emphasis to the cosmetic aspect instead of oral hygiene for being pioneer in toothpaste and mouth wash market and whether they are on right track.

Background of the Study

Promotions and advertisements are components of marketing communication which are usually used to create an impact on the consumer's mind related to the product, influencing their purchase decisions, and creating brand awareness (Albers-Miller and Stafford, 2009, 40). For positioning the brand in consumer's mind and influence the purchasing decision of consumers for service or product, marketers always have two options available: either to present and support the products through rationally messages providing reasonable argument, or through giving and emotional tough in their ads for attracting consumers towards the service or product (Ling & Liu, 2008, 489). These two options are categorized as rational message or emotional message, respectively.

The main problem for marketers is to decide which approach will be most suitable for their product or service and will persuade the customer to buy their product. There are a number of discussions and studies that are conducted on the comparison of both rational and emotional marketing messages and their effectiveness. Findings and research on both are still not very conclusive and consistent. For instance, according to Chiu (2007), people do not make purchase decisions on the bases of rational thinking rather they make purchase decisions based on emotions and then tend to rationalize their purchases.

Research Aims and Objectives

The main aim of the research is to examine why companies give emphasis to the cosmetic aspect instead of oral hygiene for being pioneer in toothpaste and mouth wash market. Furthermore, the research aims at analyzing whether the companies are on the right track by doing this or not? These aims would be achieved through following objectives

To examine the concepts of rational marketing and emotional marketing messages

To identify consumer's behaviour towards emotional messages

To examine why consumers are more attracted towards emotional messages than rational messages

To examine why marketers focus on using emotional factor rather than rational factor

Hypotheses

My hypothesis will be based on: That is correct that companies like Colgate or Oral-B persuade consumer to buy their products by stress on cosmetic aspect, but they do not help consumers to store and process right information in their mind. On the other hand, most people do not care about having healthy tooth that much ...