Consumer Behaviour – Marketing
How to respond to the questions

Your response should not be purely your initial or basic thoughts, although this may establish your initial approach. Rather your answer should be sophisticated, cogent, and underpinned by theory that you have learned in the unit, including research and reading that you have done or will do in your own time.

We are not assessing your opinion, nor your capacity to describe a theory or issue, but a demonstration of your ability to analyse the question, link theory to the analysis, and take a position by using what you have learned this trimester. Any statements, positions, or assertions you make must be supported by rigorous evidence, predominantly through the use of appropriate sources, and through well-supported and cogent arguments. It is expected that you will have to refer to a range of sources to respond to each question. Each response should stand alone.

As noted, the specific processes and ideas that will be required to defend each question have all been discussed in lecture. However, you will likely need to go beyond the lecture discussion, utilizing the weekly references and other research to provide a full answer.

Note that the questions ask you to explain your reasoning. This is referring to explaining your reasoning utilizing specific psychological processes. You should not be focused on marketing-strategy-related explanations.

Most questions will not require figures or tables but you may use them if you think they help your answer. Embed the figure in the question and provide necessary context.

· A minimum of 10 citations is expected per question. (Harvard style ONLY)

· 1800 words total for the three answers combined (there is no word limit for any specific question). This includes all elements of the assignment, including tables, figures and in-text citations, but the reference list at the end of each question and your cover page are not included in the word count.

You should only be utilizing academic references or notes from the lectures.

· Clearly indicate which question you are answering and clearly indicate subparts (e.g. 2a, 2b)

Question 4

In some Asian countries, having white or pale skin is an important beauty factor, with people spending time and money whitening their skin. On the other hand, in North America and Europe, the opposite is true, where being suntanned is an important beauty factor, with people spending time and money tanning their skin. Using your knowledge regarding associative learning, desire for status, culture, and other relevant research and processes, explain this interesting difference.

Question 9.

People often take to social media to talk about and/or complain about brands.

9a. Explain why people are motivated to complain about brands that have done something wrong either to them or others. You will want to utilize your knowledge on groups, morality, and justice along with your knowledge on identity and dissociative outgroups.

9b. In class, we discussed six reasons that people share things subsequently leading them to go viral (STEPPS). Find a Tweet, Facebook Post, or any other viral image, and explain why you think it went viral. Note that something can be shared for more than one reason and there are some other reasons people share beyond those six.

You should paste the image/post/tweet into the document to provide the marker with some context but you may need to provide a bit of written context as well. Do not use videos.

Question 10.

The same message can be differentially persuasive, depending on who it is coming from.

10a. Explain why a celebrity endorsement can be an effective source. Be sure to explain under what conditions they would be effective and under what conditions they would less effective or even counterproductive.

10b. Explain why similar ‘everyday’ people can be an effective source. Be sure to explain under what conditions they would be effective and under what conditions they would less effective or even counterproductive.