chapter 5 defining audiences for advertising 161 1. What are the key steps in the consumer decision-making process? 2. How does a consumer's involvement or engagement affect the decision-making process? CONSIDER THIS SOCIAL AND CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON CONSUMER DECISIONS Figure 5.4 shows how many factors affect how consumers make product decisions in response to an advertising message. The culture and the society in which you were raised affect your values and opinions. You are a product of the family in which you were raised and, while many of your habits and biases developed in the family environment, the attitudes and values of your friends and peers are important influences on your opinions and behaviour. Let's now look at the five major areas: (1) culture, (2) social class, (3) reference groups, (4) family and (5) demographics. Culture Culture is made up of tangible items (art, literature, buildings, furniture, clothing, music) and intangible concepts (history, knowledge, laws, morals, customs) that together define a group of people or a way of life: Culture is the glue that holds our understandings of place together; in culture, questions of shared memory, identity, tradition, aesthetics, utility and design come together. It's also the place where futures are made.9 FIGURE 5.4 Influences on consumer decision making Social/Cultural influences Psychological influences Behavioural influences Culture Language Social class Reference groups Family Demographics State of mind Needs and wants Motivations Attitudes and values Satisfaction Personality Psychographics Usage Frequency Brand relationships Adoption Copyright @ 2014. Pearson Education Australia. All rights reserved. Segmentation Target audience Moriarty, Sandra, et al. Advertising : Principles and Practice EBook, Pearson Education Australia, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/swin/detail.action?docID=5056582. Created from swin on 2022-05-30 19:25:18. Copyright @ Pearson Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) 2015 - 9781486002719 - Wells/Advertising 3e
162 part 2 planning and strategy Culture is learned and passed on from one generation to the next, and the boundaries that each culture establishes for behaviour are called norms. Norms are the rules we learn through social interaction that specify or prohibit certain behaviours. Norms emerge from the collective values of a society or culture and represent our underlying belief systems. In the 20th century, many Australians considered 'mateship, giving another person a hand up and a fair go' to be an accurate reflection of the collective understanding of Australian values.10 Researchers using the Schwartz Values Inventory found that more than half the Australian adults surveyed rated 'a world at peace, honesty and true friendship' as the 'most important' guiding principles for life, and 'wealth' as the least so.11 Americans, on the other hand, value individualism, freedom and independence, whereas in Asia, people value families and groups more. Of course, there are some universals: most people value good health, for example. Values are hard to change. They are also internal, and they guide behaviour. Advertisers strive to understand the underlying core values that govern people's attitudes and refer to them when selecting an ad's primary appeals; the core values of the brand should match