As an advertising professor, my job is to teach people how to convince consumers that whatever they’re buying is worth the cost it took to make and distribute it, a reasonable profit, and the costs to advertise it.
Since I was a young lad growing up in my parents’ advertising agency, I was always struck by the fact that things would be cheaper if we didn’t spend money on advertising. The trouble is that consumers just don’t buy things that aren’t advertised.
The trouble is that we often come to believe that advertised differences are real. Sometimes, there are unique benefits for a product or service. More often, however, when we say our product “tastes better,” we are stating a subjective judgment.
Beer is a perfect example. Americans spend millions of dollars on what is, largely, lousy beer. Mass brewed American beers are fairly universally viewer as awful around the rest of the world.
Yet we buy 30 pack after 30 pack of the swill.
And the brands with the best advertising sell the most beer, newly Belgian “imports” Budweiser and Bud Light.
At the same time, most Bud Light drinkers would scoff at bargain priced brands, such as Miller High Life Light, Milwaukee’s Best Light, or Old Milwaukee Light.
If you had asked me yesterday, I would have submitted to you that the preferences for Bud Light, Miller Lite, or Coors Light over the three cheaper brands were created on Madison Avenue.
Those differences are not real. We spent millions of dollars putting them in your head.
These feelings were confimed yesterday when I ran across the 2008 World Beer Cup winners.
Who won the “Best American-Style Light Lager”? Surly it was one of the “big boys,” right?
Nope. Old Milwaukee Light.
When we strip off the logos and accompanying brand images that copwriters and art directors worked so hard to create, the cheap beer tasted better.
Sure, the ads are nonexistent or not nearly as clever. But blind judges who should know something about beer picked a beer from the bottom shelf.
Won’t my graduate students be surprised to see a refrigerator stocked with Old Milwaukee Light at the next lab party? Award-winning Old Milwaukee Light, that is.
The next time you’re sitting back enjoying a widely advertised packaged good, ask yourself whether that increase in quality is real. Maybe it is. And maybe an advertiser put that image there.
I'm a cognitive scientist and communication scholar who manages a psychophysiology lab at Texas Tech. I teach courses about the cognitive processing of media messages and research methods.
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Sweet, now those are lab party favors that I can afford!
Seriously, I’ll bring some Blue Moon or Linenkugel’s, though. And some cheap light beer.
Is it really even about advertised “better taste” or some lifestyle, based around attractive women, football, and Clydesdale horses, that is being associated with the Big 3?
I don’t think they advertise on Better Taste. But I think the brand image is strong, and drinkers associate and identify with those images.
So the storyteller part of the brain has to justify the liking, and taste is the obvious reason.
I hope no one is drinking a Bud right now thinking, “This beer sucks, but I sure love those horses.”
Denial helps us out here.
are you familiar with any studies that focus on the psychology of this. That if someone is given a product and told it was something else, checking how that measures up against their actual rating.
Guess it this comes in handy next time I throw a keg party. I’ll get the cheapest keg and throw on a really “good” beer label and look like a generous guy!
Mike:
There are studies, but I cannot recall them offhand. If I think of it, I will shoot you a PDF.
But the keg party trick sounds perfect. Just don’t label it Guinness. They’ll be on to you!
Unsuccessfully looked yesterday for a hamburger test that was judged in the Midwest. McDonald’s scored no better than middle of pack, and was typically lower in individual categories such as vegetables, bun and patty. But at crunch time, the Golden Arches compiled all of those 5th-7th places finishes into a win, even though a couple of chains ahead of them averaged 3s and 4s.. A lot of teambuilding exercises claim that 1+1=3. I guess this is a case where 5+5+5+5+5=1.
Curtis:
McDonald’s is all about the experience. Kids and good times. Grandparents taking junior out of a special treat.
I admit their food is bland. Good quality but nothing special. But, I, too, love the Golden Arches!
Lovin’ It!