Page 48 - DMGT506_CONSUMER_BEHAVIOUR

Unit 3: Consumer Motivation

Social Grease Notes
Many programmes are watched because one's family or friends are watching them. They
are the source of conversation while they are on (or during the commercials) or in the days
following the show:
"We discuss (stories) and talk about what we didn't like, about what happened with the different
characters we don't like or we do like … sometimes people think you are talking about some people you
know, real people."
Engrossing Different World

This is a type of escapism in which the television induces a kind of substitute consciousness.
Rather than relaxation, it produces suspense, excitement, and emotional arousal:
"Out of touch … I don't think about anything. I don't think about my kids, my wife or anything …
I am not there … I am not at school and I am not at home. I am in the TV screen … I am there with
them."

Question
Do you think it would be advantageous for the marketers to create commercials considering
these motives?

Source: "How and Why People Watch TV," Journal of Advertising Research, November 1995.

3.4 Summary

Motivation is the driving force within individuals and is the result of a state of tension
resulting from unfulfilled needs, wants or desires.
Most human behaviour is goal-oriented and this is the aspect in which marketers are most
interested as it significantly influences the consumers' consumption decisions.
The goal selection depends on an individual's personal experiences, physical capacity and
the prevailing cultural norms and values.
Another important factor that influences goal selection is the self-image the individual
holds. An individual will acquire or would strive to acquire products that are perceived as
closely reflecting the self-image the individual holds about self.
Motives are aroused as a result of needs that are physiological, emotional, cognitive, or
situational in nature.

Maslow has proposed a need hierarchy that is divided into five levels. He has proposed
that higher level needs become active only after lower order needs are satisfied. The most
basic level of needs includes air, water, food, shelter, clothing and sex. These are all
physiological needs and the highest order relates to accomplishing self-fulfillment.
Other important need categories relate to social needs and ego needs. McGuire has presented
a more comprehensive list of 16 motives.
Freud's psychoanalytic theory is viewed as important in exploring the subconscious
motives about which the individuals have no conscious awareness.

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