Running head: Marketing
1
Marketing
Jessica Torres
Park University
Fort Bliss, Texas
Marketing
Introduction
When looking back at the history of buying, marketing, and selling I see how much the
whole process had changed dramatically. During the early to mid-1800’s going to the market
place and purchasing items needed to daily living was a pretty straight forward and stress free
event. You went in to the market place to purchase flour and the store representative would go
into a large container and physically scoop out the desired amount of flour into another container
to be weighed and then paid for before you left the store, pretty cut and dry right? The consumer
was not overly concerned with the name of the container with the flour in it, where it came from,
or how many calories it contained. Today there is so much information that is readily available
and it all seems to be shoved into the consumers face making the purchase decision more
complex; so much so it almost requires an Associate’s degree! Now consumers are faced with
deciding between bread containing GMO’s, gluten, added sugar or sucralose, and not to mention
which brand name to buy. Klien found the best statement from Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott
“Familiar personalities such as Dr. Brown, Uncle Ben, Aunt Jemima, and Old Grand-Dad came
to replace the shopkeeper, who was traditionally responsible for measuring bulk foods for
customers and acting as an advocate for products . . . a nationwide vocabulary of brand names
replaced the small local shopkeeper as the interface between consumer products.” (Klein, 2015).
Body
The ball of confusion doesn’t end at the grocery store, just try purchasing a simple purse
or a pair of shoes and you will find yourself, once again, faced with not only different styles and
colors but material, place of manufacturing, price and most importantly today brand. I can go to
the mall and spend $400 dollars on a purse with a brand name so my friends think I am awesome
and have money when all I can do with the purse is put a phone and about fifty cents worth in
change into it. Not to mention the style of the purse will be outdated oh let’s just say in a manner
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of 4 months. I also have the option to go spend $30 at Walmart for a bigger purse with “no
name” brand on it and be able shove who knows what into that bottomless pit and have it last me
a whole year. Manufactures have become very effective at being able to bridge the gap between
the product they have and how it will be beneficial to the potential consumer’s life. Using
popular icons like Michael Jordan and LeBron James help paint a mental picture that leads the
consumer to believe that purchasing the shoes, underwear or shirts they wear will make us just as
cool as they are. A perfect example of this would be a movie that came out in 2002 called “Like
Mike” featuring a famous young rapper by the name of Lil Bow-Wow who played the role of a
young basketball player who was not the greatest player on the court. He found a pair of old
basketball shoes believed to be “Michael Jordans”…to get to the point, after putting on the shoes
his ability to play basketball increased dramatically. And of course this movie prompted a spike
in the sales of Nikes Jordan shoes.
There has been losts of money invested into neurologist to help penetrate the minds of
consumers. Although not much data has been provided to show evidence the money companies
spend on this neurology study actually works. Although if you really think about what
companies are trying to do our minds is pretty creepy. What if this neurology method really
works, how would you be feel that you are a pawn in aa game between companies like chest.
“What’s in name? A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” A famous line
quoted from the Shakespearian play “Romeo and Juliet” by Juliet as she was arguing that it
didn’t matter to her that the love of her life Romeo was a Montague she loved him for who he
was in the inside. You would think that people would have the same kind of mindset when
considering making a decision on purchasing products but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Or is
it? I read an article written by Keith Thomas of KRT Marketing where he revealed the initial
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name of eight of the largest companies today and was really surprised at their choice of
name…and who they have become. For instance “Back in 1893, a North Carolina pharmacist
named Caleb Bradham started experimenting with a few soft drink recipes. One of these bore his
name: Brad’s Drink. In 1898 Brad’s Drink was renamed to Pepsi-Cola and would become one of
the world’s most recognized brands” (Thomas 2015). Honestly I am not sure how far he would
have gotten with a product called “Brad’s Drink”. It sounds like something I wouldn’t pay more
than a dollar for at Sam’s Club or even Family dollar. However if I were given the chance to try
the product I’m quite sure it would have tasted just as great as it does now, but I’m almost
equally convinced that its success would not have reached the point it has today. Then again
there has been quite a bit of marketing and advertising that has taken place for Peps-Cola to
include and indorsement by the late Michael Jackson.
Conclusion
The reality of marketing is money, money, money; of course buying nice things great and
to many it may seem cool and even increase our popularity among our peers but what happened
to the individuality of a person. Who wants to be just like the next person, apparently that is
everyone. It seems very strange that the majority of the corporations producing and advertising
the products we buy have put a great deal of time, effort and money into making themselves
stand out from the competition, yet the products they promote seemingly takes away our identity
by encouraging us to be like the next person. I may not speak for everyone but I like being an
individual who has extra money and not in debt. Just because the T.V. or radio states I need this
“magical item” to make me cool or some gadget to my life easier I will remain the person who
will research the facts and make a decision based on what I like.
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References
Lunsford, Andrea. Easy Writer: A Pocket Reference. 5th Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014