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Section 2 Internal Influences on Consumer Behavior
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Marketing Opportunity
Everyone wants to be clean,
but some societies are more
fastidious than others and
won’t accept products and
services that they think cut corners. Italian
women on average spend 21 hours a week
on household chores other than cooking—
compared with only 4 hours for Americans, at
least according to Procter & Gamble’s (P&G)
research. The Italian women wash kitchen and
bathroom floors at least four times a week,
Americans only once. Italian women typically
iron nearly all their wash, even socks and
sheets, and they buy more cleaning supplies
than women elsewhere do.
Because of these traits, they should be
ideal customers for cleaning products, right?
That’s what Unilever thought when it launched
its all-purpose Cif spray cleaner there, but it
flopped. Similarly, P&G’s best-selling Swiffer
wet mop bombed big time. Both companies
underestimated this market’s desire for products that are tough cleaners, not timesavers.
Only about 30 percent of Italian households
have dishwashers because many women don’t
trust machines to get dishes as clean as they
can get them by hand, manufacturers say.
Many of those who do use machines tend to
thoroughly rinse the dishes before they load
them into the dishwasher. The explanation for
this value: After World War II, Italy remained
a poor country until well into the 1960s, so
labor-saving devices, such as washing machines, which had become popular in wealthy
countries, arrived late. Italian women joined
the workforce later than many other European
women and in smaller numbers. Young Italian
women increasingly work outside the home,
but they still spend nearly as much time as
their mothers did on housework.
When Unilever did research to determine
why Italians didn’t take to Cif, they found that
these women weren’t convinced that a mere
spray would do the job on tough kitchen grease
or that one product would adequately clean
different surfaces (it turns out that 72 percent
of Italians own more than eight different cleaning products). The company reformulated the
product and then reintroduced it with different varieties instead of as an all-in-one. It also
made the bottles 50 percent bigger because
Italians clean so frequently, and changed its
advertising to emphasize the products’ cleaning strength rather than convenience. P&G
also reintroduced its Swiffer, this time adding
beeswax and a Swiffer duster that is now a
bestseller. It sold 5 million boxes in the first
8 months, twice the company’s forecasts.83
Two people can believe in and exhibit the same behaviors (e.g., vegetarianism),
but their underlying belief system may be quite different (e.g., animal activism versus health concerns). The extent to which people share a belief system is a function
of individual, social, and cultural forces. Advocates of a belief system often seek out
others with similar beliefs so that social networks overlap; as a result, believers tend to
be exposed to information that supports their beliefs (e.g., tree-huggers rarely hang out
with loggers).74
Core Values
The actress Kim Kardashian wasn’t pleased when her picture ran on the cover of
Cosmopolitan Turkey, especially when it was released on the same date that some countries commemorate the alleged Armenian genocide in the last days of the Ottoman
Empire. Because Cosmopolitan publishes in 64 different countries, it is difficult to be
sure readers everywhere experience the content the same way. In addition to political differences, marketers have to be sensitive to cultural values: In some countries,
because of local norms about modesty, some female readers have to hide the magazine
from their husbands! Different cultures emphasize varying belief systems that define
what it means to be female, feminine, or appealing—and what people consider appropriate to see in print on these matters. Publishers of the Chinese version aren’t even
permitted to mention sex at all, so they replace articles about uplifting cleavage with
uplifting stories about youthful dedication. Ironically, there isn’t much down-and-dirty
material in the Swedish edition either—but for the opposite reason: The culture is so
open about this topic that it doesn’t grab readers’ attention the way it would in the
United States.75
In many cases, of course, values are universal. Who does not desire health, wisdom,
or world peace? What sets cultures apart is the relative importance, or ranking, of these universal values. This set of rankings constitutes a culture’s value system.76 For example,
one study found that North Americans have more favorable attitudes toward advertising
messages that focus on self-reliance, self-improvement, and the achievement of personal
goals as opposed to themes stressing family integrity, collective goals, and the feeling of
harmony with others. Korean consumers exhibited the reverse pattern.77
We characterize every culture in terms of its members’ endorsement of a value system. Not every individual will endorse these values equally; in some cases, values may
even seem to contradict one another (e.g., U.S. Americans appear to value both conformity
and individuality and try to find some accommodation between the two). Nonetheless, it is
usually possible to identify a general set of core values that uniquely define a culture. For
example, core values such as freedom, youthfulness, achievement, materialism, and activity characterize U.S. culture.
Of course, these values certainly evolve over time. Some analysts argue that our
focus on acquiring physical objects is shifting a bit toward the consumption of experiences instead. This movement is consistent with research that shows experiential purchases provide greater happiness and satisfaction because they allow us to connect with
others and form a bigger part of our social identities. Indeed, one study demonstrated
that highly materialistic consumers actually experience pleasure before a purchase
because they believe it will transform their lives, but they then experience negative emotions after they buy the item when they realize this is not the case.78 And, as we saw in
Chapter 2 increasingly in the United States we find that many consumers value sustainability and reward companies that are environmentally friendly. That helps to explain
why among young consumers the Chipotle restaurant chain is so popular. The company
promotes sustainable agriculture practices and the humane treatment of animals it uses
for meat.79
How do we determine what a culture values? We term the process of learning the
beliefs and behaviors endorsed by one’s own culture enculturation. In contrast, we
call the process of learning the value system and behaviors of another culture (often a
priority for those who wish to understand consumers and markets in foreign countries)
Solomon, Michael R.. Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being, Global Edition, Pearson Education Limited, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cpcepolyu-ebooks/detail.action?docID=5186164.
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Chapter 7 Personality, Lifestyles, and Values
269
The Chipotle chain is popular among young
consumers, partly because of its sustainable
business practices.
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Source: Helen Sessions/Alamy.
acculturation. Socialization agents, including parents, friends, and teachers, impart these
beliefs to us. In one study, for example, the researchers explored the domain of hunting.
They described the process by which family members and friends mentor young men as
they learn how to hunt. These socialization agents used stories and traditions to guide the
men as they moved through the stages of pre-hunter, neophyte, and apprentice, until they
finally become competent hunters.80
The media are another important socialization agent; we learn a lot about a culture’s
priorities when we look at the values that advertising communicates. For example, sales
strategies differ significantly between the United States and China. U.S. commercials are
more likely to present facts about products and suggestions from credible authorities,
whereas Chinese advertisers tend to focus more on emotional appeals without bothering
too much about substantiating their claims. U.S. ads tend to be youth-oriented, whereas
Chinese ads are more likely to stress the wisdom of older people.81
As we’ve seen, values are general ideas about good and bad goals. From these flow norms,
or rules that dictate what is right or wrong, acceptable, or unacceptable. We explicitly decide
on enacted norms, such as the rule that a green traffic light means “go” and a red one means
“stop.” Many norms, however, are much more subtle. We discover these crescive norms as
we interact with others. The following are all types of crescive norms:82
●● A custom is a norm that controls basic behaviors, such as division of labor in a house-
hold or how we practice particular ceremonies.
●● A more (“mor-ay”) is a custom with a strong moral overtone. It often involves a taboo,
or forbidden behavior, such as incest or cannibalism. Violation of a more often meets
with strong sanctions. In Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, people consider it
sacrilege to display underwear on store mannequins or to feature a woman’s body
in advertising, so retailers have to tread lightly; one lingerie store designed special
headless and legless mannequins with only the slightest hint of curves to display its
products.84
●● A convention is a norm that regulates how we conduct our everyday lives. These rules
often deal with the subtleties of consumer behavior, including the “correct” way to furnish one’s house, wear one’s clothes, or host a dinner party. The Chinese government
tried to change citizens’ conventions when the country geared up for the Olympics in
Beijing: Local habits were at odds with what planners knew foreign visitors expected to
encounter. For one, it’s common to spit on the sidewalk; the sinus-clearing, phlegmy
Solomon, Michael R.. Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being, Global Edition, Pearson Education Limited, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cpcepolyu-ebooks/detail.action?docID=5186164.
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