Chapter 2
Perception
By Michael R. Solomon
Consumer Behavior
Buying, Having, and Being
Sixth Edition
2-1
Opening Vignette: Parmalat
• What was Gary’s perception of Parmalat?
• Why is shelf-stable milk popular in
Europe?
• In the focus group research, what were the
U.S. consumers’ perceptions of Parmalat?
• What is Parmalat doing to overcome the
obstacles associated with marketing shelfstable milk in the United States?
2-2
Sensation and Perception
• Sensation:
– The immediate response of our sensory receptors (eyes,
ears, nose, mouth, fingers) to basic stimuli such as light,
color, sound, odors, and textures
• Perception:
– The process by which sensations are selected, organized,
and interpreted
• The Study of Perception:
– Focuses on what we add to raw sensations to give them
meaning
2-3
An Overview of the
Perception Process
Figure 2.1
2-4
Sensory Systems
• External stimuli, or sensory inputs, can
be received on a number of different
channels.
• Inputs picked up by our five senses are
the raw data that begin the perceptual
process.
• Hedonic Consumption:
– The multisensory, fantasy, and emotional aspects
of consumers’ interactions with products
2-5
Advertisements Appeal to Our Sensory Systems
• This ad for a luxury car emphasizes the contribution
made by all of our senses to the evaluation of a driving
experience.
2-6
Sensory Systems - Vision
• Marketers rely heavily on visual
elements in advertising, store design,
and packaging.
• Meanings are communicated on the
visual channel through a product’s
color, size, and styling.
• Colors may influence our emotions
more directly.
– Arousal and stimulated appetite (e.g. red)
– Relaxation (e.g. blue)
2-7
This ad targets which senses?
• This Finnish ad
emphasizes the
sensual reasons to
visit the city of
Helsinki.
2-8
Sensory Perceptions - Vision
• Some reactions to color come from
learned associations.
– (e.g. Black is associated with mourning in the
United States, whereas white is associated with
mourning in Japan.)
• Some reactions to color are due to
biological and cultural differences.
– (e.g. Women tend to be drawn to brighter tones and
are more sensitive to subtle shadings and patterns)
2-9
Perceptions of Color
This ad campaign by
the San Francisco
Ballet uses color
perceptions to get urban
sophisticates to add
classical dance to their
packed entertainment
itineraries.
2 - 10
Sensory Perceptions - Vision
• Color plays a dominant role in Web page
design.
• Saturated colors (green, yellow, orange, and
cyan) are considered the best to capture
attention.
– Don’t overdo it. Extensive use of saturated colors can
overwhelm people and cause visual fatigue.
• Trade Dress:
– Colors that are strongly associated with a corporation, for
which the company may have exclusive rights for their use.
• (e.g. Kodak’s use of yellow, black, and red)
2 - 11
Perceptions of Color
• As this Dutch
detergent ad
demonstrates
(Flowery orange
fades without Dreft),
vivid colors are often
an attractive product
feature.
2 - 12
Discussion Question
• First Heinz gave us
“Blastin’ Green” ketchup
in a squeeze bottle. Now
they have introduced
“Funky Purple” ketchup.
• What sensory perception
is Heinz trying to appeal
to? Do you think this
product will be
successful? Why or why
not?
2 - 13
VIDEO: Snapple
Click image to play video
• Snapple drinks were
revived by the
Whipper Snapple
product, thanks to
consumers forming
their own perceptions
about the product.
2 - 14
Sensory Perceptions - Smell
• Odors can stir emotions or create a calming
feeling.
• Some responses to scents result from early
associations that call up good or bad
feelings.
• Marketers are finding ways to use smell:
–
–
–
–
–
Scented clothes
Scented stores
Scented cars and planes
Scented household products
Scented advertisements
2 - 15
Smell in Advertising
• This ad pokes fun at
the proliferation of
scented ads. Ah, the
scent of sweat.
2 - 16
Sensory Perceptions - Sound
• Advertising jingles create brand awareness.
• Background music creates desired moods.
• Sound affects people’s feelings and
behaviors.
• Muzak uses a system it calls “stimulus
progression” to increase the normally slower
tempo of workers during midmorning and
midafternoon time slots.
• Sound engineering:
– Top-end automakers are using focus groups of consumers
to help designers choose appropriate sounds to elicit the
proper response.
2 - 17
Stimulus Progression
2 - 18
Sensory Perceptions - Touch
• Relatively little research has been done on
the effects of tactile stimulation on the
consumer, but common observation tells
us that this sensory channel is important.
• People associate textures of fabrics and
other surfaces with product quality.
• Perceived richness or quality of the
material in clothing is linked to its “feel,”
whether rough or smooth.
2 - 19
Applications of Touch Perceptions
• Kansai engineering: A
philosophy that
translates customers’
feelings into design
elements.
• Mazda Miata designers
discovered that making
the stick shift (shown
on the right) exactly 9.5
cm long conveys the
optimal feeling of
sportiness and control.
2 - 20
Tactile Quality Associations
Tactile Oppositions in Fabrics
Perception
Male
Female
High class
Wool
Silk
Low class
Denim
Cotton
Heavy
Light
Table 2.1
Fine
Coarse
2 - 21
Sensory Perceptions - Taste
• Taste receptors contribute to our
experience of many products.
• Specialized companies called “flavor
houses” are constantly developing new
concoctions to please the changing
palates of consumers.
• Changes in culture also determine the
tastes we find desirable.
2 - 22
Exposure
• Exposure:
– Occurs when a stimulus comes within the range of
someone’s sensory receptors
• Consumers concentrate on some
stimuli, are unaware of others, and
even go out of their way to ignore some
messages.
2 - 23
Sensory Thresholds
• Psychophysics:
– The science that focuses on how the physical environment
is integrated into our personal subjective world.
• Absolute Threshold:
– The minimum amount of stimulation that can be detected
on a given sensory channel.
• Differential Threshold:
– The ability of a sensory system to detect changes or
differences between two stimuli. The minimum difference
that can be detected between two stimuli is known as the
j.n.d. (just noticeable difference).
2 - 24
Weber’s Law
• The amount of change that is necessary to be
noticed is systematically related to the intensity of
the original stimulus
• The stronger the initial stimulus, the greater a
change must be for it to be noticed.
• Mathematically:
i
K
I
– K = A constant (varies across senses)
– Δi = The minimal change in the intensity required to produce j.n.d.
– I = the intensity of the stimulus where the change occurs
2 - 25
Subliminal Perception
• Subliminal perception:
– Occurs when the stimulus is below the level of the
consumer’s awareness.
• Subliminal techniques:
– Embeds: Tiny figures that are inserted into magazine:
advertising by using high-speed photography or
airbrushing.
• Does subliminal perception work?
– There is little evidence that subliminal stimuli can bring
about desired behavioral changes.
2 - 26
Subliminal Messages in Ads
• Critics of subliminal
persuasion often focus
on ambiguous shapes
in drinks that
supposedly spell out
words like S E X as
evidence for the use of
this technique. This
Pepsi ad, while hardly
subliminal, gently
borrows this message
format.
2 - 27
Attention
• Attention:
– The extent to which processing activity is devoted
to a particular stimulus.
• Attention economy:
– The Internet has transformed the focus of
marketers from attracting dollars to attracting
eyeballs.
• Perceptual selection:
– People attend to only a small portion of the stimuli
to which they are exposed.
2 - 28
Attention and Advertising
• Nike tries to cut through the clutter by spotlighting
maimed athletes instead of handsome models.
2 - 29
Personal Selection Factors
• Experience:
– The result of acquiring and processing stimulation over
time
• Perceptual vigilance:
– Consumers are aware of stimuli that relate to their current
needs
• Perceptual defense:
– People see what they want to see - and don’t see what they
don’t want to see
• Adaptation:
– The degree to which consumers continue to notice a
stimulus over time
2 - 30
Factors that Lead to Adaptation
• Intensity: Less-intense stimuli habituate because they have
less sensory impact.
• Duration: Stimuli that require relatively lengthy exposure in
order to be processed tend to habituate because they require a
long attention span.
• Discrimination: Simple stimuli tend to habituate because
they do not require attention to detail.
• Exposure: Frequently encountered stimuli tend to habituate
as the rate of exposure increases.
• Relevance: Stimuli that are irrelevant or unimportant will
habituate because they fail to attract attention.
2 - 31
Stimulus Selection Factors
• Size:
– The size of the stimulus itself in contrast to the competition
helps to determine if it will command attention.
• Color:
– Color is a powerful way to draw attention to a product.
• Position:
– Stimuli that are present in places we’re more likely to look
stand a better chance of being noticed.
• Novelty:
– Stimuli that appear in unexpected ways or places tend to
grab our attention.
2 - 32
Discussion Question
• What technique does
this Australian ad rely
on to get your
attention?
• Does the technique
enhance or detract
from the
advertisement of the
actual product?
2 - 33
Attention to Stimuli
• Interpretation:
– The meaning that we assign sensory stimuli.
• Schema:
– Set of beliefs to which the stimulus is assigned.
• Priming:
– Process by which certain properties of a stimulus
typically will evoke a schema, which leads
consumers to evaluate the stimulus in terms of
other stimulus they have encountered and believe
to be similar.
2 - 34
Schema-Based Perception
• Advertisers know that consumers will often relate
an ad to preexisting schema in order to make sense
of it.
2 - 35
The Priming Process
2 - 36
Stimulus Organization
• A stimulus will be interpreted based on its
assumed relationship with other events,
sensations, or images.
• Closure Principle:
– People tend to perceive an incomplete picture as complete.
• Principle of Similarity:
– Consumers tend to group together objects that share the
same physical characteristics.
• Figure-ground Principle:
– One part of a stimulus will dominate (the figure) and other
parts will recede into the background (the ground).
2 - 37
Gestalt Principle
• This Swedish ad relies upon gestalt perceptual
principles to insure that the perceiver organizes a
lot of separate images into a familiar image.
2 - 38
Principle of Closure
• This Land Rover ad illustrates the use of the principle of
closure, in which people participate in the ad by
mentally filling in the gaps in the sentence.
2 - 39
Figure-ground Principle
• This billboard for Wrangler jeans makes creative use of
the figure-ground principle.
2 - 40
Semiotics: The Symbols Around Us
• Semiotics: Field of study that examines the
correspondence between signs and symbols
and their role in the assignment of meaning.
• A message has 3 components:
– 1) Object: the product that focuses the message
– 2) Sign: the sensory imagery that represents the
intended meanings of the object
– 3) Interpretant: the meaning derived
2 - 41
Semiotic Components
Figure 2.2
2 - 42
Semiotics (cont.)
• Signs are related to objects in one of
three ways:
– 1) Icon: a sign that resembles the product in some
way
– 2) Index: a sign that is connected to some object
because they share some property
– 3) Symbol: a sign that is related to a product
through conventional or agreed-upon associations
• Hyperreality: The becoming real of what is
initially simulation or “hype”
2 - 43
Office Space and “The Red Stapler”
2 - 44
Perceptual Positioning
• Positioning Strategy
– A fundamental part of a company’s marketing
efforts as it uses elements of the marketing mix to
influence the consumer’s interpretation of its
meaning.
– Many dimensions can establish a brand’s position
in the marketplace:
• Lifestyle
• Price Leadership
• Competitors
• Occasions
• Attributes
• Product Class
• Users
• Quality
2 - 45
Perceptual Map
• Figure 2.3: HMV
Perceptual Map
2 - 46