AN EVALUATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF ADVERTISING ON THE PURCHASE OF SELECT SPICES AMONGST RESIDENTS OF UYO METROPOLIS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
According to Bakare (2008:3) “for advertising to be successful, it should be planned and created to achieve the most effective result at the least cost”. Advertising unites science and arts in forms of research and creative skills supported by intelligent buying of media space, it makes it possible to produce and execute campaigns that contribute to business success.
According to Daramola (2003:191) “Advertising is the means of promoting goods and services and giving information about a product’s features and its availability and for persuading people to buy”. The aim of advertising messages is to attract or persuade more consumers to purchase or consume more of their products or services. Advertising messages is to attract or persuade more consumers to purchase or consume more of their products or services. Advertising is used to gather information before making purchasing decisions. There is no product in the market that does not seek to be purchased or noticed by the potential consumer.
A challenge faced by all advertisers is how to influence the purchasing decision of consumers in favour of the product or service they offer. For companies like Glaxo Smith Kline and Unilever, this means getting consumers to charge more purchases on their Maclean’s and close up and select spices. While their ultimate goals is to influence consumer’s purchasing decision, most advertisers understand that the actual purchase is only part of an overall process.
Advertising attempts to influence the way consumers behave towards purchasing a product. Advertisers spend billions attempting to influence what, when and how we consume. They also spend millions studying consumer’s behavior. Consumer’s behavior could be defined as the processes and activities people engage in when searching for selecting, purchasing, using evaluating and disposing of product and services so as to satisfy their needs and desires. For many products and services, purchase decision are the result of a low, detailed process that may include an extensive information search, brand comparisons and evaluations and other activities, other purchase decisions are more incidental and may result from seeing a product prominently displayed at a discount price in a store. (George and Michael Belch 2001:107).
Advertiser success in influencing purchasing decision depends in large part on how well they understand consumer bahaviour. Consumers are attempting to satisfy and how they translate into purchase criteria. They need to know how consumers gather information regarding various alternatives and use this information to select among competing brands. Advertisers need to know how consumers make purchasing decisions.
According to Russell W. Belk (1998) in Georges and Michael (2001:107) purchase decisions may be influenced by the personality or lifestyle of the consumer”. Consumers adjust purchasing behavior based on their individual needs and interpersonal factors. On some levels, consumer choice can appear to be quite random. However, each decision that is made has some meaning behind it, even if that choice does not always appear to rational.
Purchase decisions are based on personal emotions, social situation, goals and values. People buy to satisfy all types of needs, not just for utilization purposes. These needs as identified by Abraham Maslow in the early 1940s, may be physical or biological, for safety and security, for love and affiliation, to obtain prestige and esteem, or for self-fulfillment.
Since the purpose of every advertisement is to increase the sale of the product advertised, it would only be wise for advertising to be structured to influence consumers’ purchasing decision. What influence consumers to purchase products or services depends on the consumers decision-buying process which is a complex matter as many internal and external factors have an impact on buying decision of the consumer. Does advertising messages on select spices influence the consumer’s purchasing decision?
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The drive of the purchasing decision and consumption behavior of a consumer of a particular product is a mystery. While some believe that the decision to buy a product is a personal and dependent on individual’s values and beliefs other believe and are of the school of thought that the decision of a consumer to purchase a product is majorly a contributory effort and influence of advertising persuasive message on the product. Where the decision to purchase select spices is drawn by advertising influence or not is the reason this study sets to find out. In other words to what extent does advertising influence consumers purchasing decision on select spices?
1.3 Objectives of the Study
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