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Unit 6: Consumer Learning




          unconditioned and conditioned stimuli occurring together, the stronger the association between  Notes
          them will develop. Consumers can be conditioned to develop positive impressions and images
          of brands through the associative process.

          From classical conditioning emerge three basic concepts important for understanding consumer
          behaviour: repetition, stimulus generalisation, and stimulus discrimination.

          Repetition

          People have a tendency to forget and one proven method of increasing retention of learning is
          repetition. Repetition is believed to work by strengthening the bond of association and thus
          slowing the process of forgetting. Learning follows a pattern which is known as learning curve.
          In the Figure 6.2, ‘x’ axis shows the number of repetitions and ‘y’ axis represents the amount of
          learning. In a typical case, the rate of learning is quite rapid in the early stages. In later stages, as
          the amount learned accumulates, the rate of learning per repetition decreases. This shows that
          there is a limit to the amount of repetition that will  aid learning  and  beyond a  limit,  the
          attention and, the rate of learning will decline.
          According to Julian L Simon and John Arndt, ad repetition apparently leads to a curve similar to
          the learning curve shown in Figure 6.2. In their specific situations, advertisers must determine
          whether the general pattern shown by the learning curve actually fits their particular products.
          For instance, it is quite possible that in case of low-involvement purchase situations  fewer
          exposures might be needed to register simple facts such as brand names or brand recognition. In
          situations where the typical learning curve is appropriate, there are some important implications.
          For example, an advertiser must be willing to repeat an ad message several times. It is due to
          this reason that a brand name is often repeated a number of times in just one advertisement. For
          repetitions beyond a point, the advertiser pays only for fractional increases in consumer learning.
          Another  implication is  the effect  known as  advertising wear-out,  which is  the  result  of
          overexposure because of much repetitive advertising leading to individuals’ boredom, disinterest
          and decreased attention and retention of the message. According to David W Schumann, Richard
          E Petty and D Scott Clemons, varying the ad message can decrease the advertising wear-out
          effect. This can be accomplished by repeating the same message or theme in a variety of execution
          formats. For example, different Pepsi commercials  continue showing different settings and
          endorsers but the punch line “yeh dil mange more” continues. The commercials of FeviQuick
          continue with the theme “chutki mein chipkae” in different humorous settings. In this type of
          advertising  variation  approach,  there  is no  real change  in  message  content  of  different
          advertisements and for this reason some researchers have called it as cosmetic variation. When
          the advertising content is changed in different versions of the same ad without any changes in
          cosmetic features, this approach is called substantive variation. According to Curtis P Haugtvedt,
          David W Schumann, Wendy L Schneier and Wendy L Warren, consumers exposed to ads with
          substantive variation process more information about product attributes and the formed attitudes
          are more resistant to change compared to ads with cosmetic variation.





















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