Another Mindless Purchasae

                    Everyone has, what many refer to as, their "go to brands". These are names and labels that consumers will automatically draw their attention to. The chosen brands are ones that people most identify with, whether it be because of the name, scents, jingles or the appeal the brand brought. Overtime consumers make connections between themselves and the brands that they have chosen. These can be based on personal or repetition, a constant bombardment of advertisements that become embedded in their mind. These behavioural responses result in mindless, sometimes unnecessary and pricey, purchases.

                  

                  Relating back to my previous blog, this is a result of stimulus. In this blog we're going to stick to classical conditioning, since I am relating a lot of the theories to my own shopping and buying habits I feel like this is the theory that relates most to me. Classical conditioning is a form of associative learning. This conditioning refers to when a stimulus that initially elicits a response becomes paired with a stimulus that does not elicit a response on its own. As time goes on the, because of learned association, this second stimulus also begins to result in a similar response as the original stimulus. Consumers are learning to makes associations between stimuli without any complex processing, therefore they are making buyer decisions without memory or cognition. 

                   

                   One of the most common tools that marketers use to increase the stimulus of their consumers is repetition. Repetition increases learning and can result in mindless purchases on the side of the consumer. Most information consumers will process in an automatic or passive way and then these products are automatically categorized in their mind. From there customers will respond to the product as a member of the category, without actually taking the time to analyze and figure out if it really fits. 

                    And as much as I wanna deny being a part of this group of people, I am probably leading the crowd. The finest example will be not just through repetition but also through the use of celebrities. I watch a lot of television which results in a lot of commercials. My mom loves commercials, she is one of the few people who LOL's at them, meaning I have to sit through them all. Therefore jingles and phrases are permanently embedded in my mind to the point of where I see the product and will begin to sing the song out loud; every time I pass a McDonalds Justin Timberlake singing "I'm Lovin' it" pops into my head. The celebrities are the worst, the amount of purchases I have made because I have related them to who endorses the product. Like I said when I started the blog, I am basically the ultimate consumer and associative learning is very much a part of it.