TOPIC 2: One of the most controversial areas of Perception is Subliminal Adverti
ID: 391569 • Letter: T
Question
TOPIC 2: One of the most controversial areas of Perception is Subliminal Advertising. Part of the controversy is the debate as to whether it is effective or not. Conduct some outside research and give your opinion as to whether Subliminal Embeds work in advertising or they do not. Outside research is needed for this response, so citations are crucial here. TOPIC 3: Attitude is an easy area to develop but difficult to change. Once an attitude has been formed (about a brand) it is costly to change. Identify one brand that has suffered a set-back or controversy. Answer in detail the following questions with regard to attitude: a) Was the brand's attitude (before the negative event) mostly based on one component (Cognitive, Affective or Conative?) Explain. What about now, after the negative event, is the new attitudes being formed based on the same component or another one altogether? Explain. b) How is the company combating the negative attitudes that have been formed from the negative event?
Explanation / Answer
Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats
In Jan 2008, Kellogg came up with this new cereal called Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats with a claim that eating this cereal will improve level of attentiveness in children by 20%. This claim was seemed to be clinically proven. Consumers were attracted to this false claim and sales of this product were on an upsurge. Kellogg’s had earned $105 million in revenue due to this false claim.
FTC issued a law order in April 2009, which ordered Kellogg to stop making such misleading claims. There was no evidence that consumption of this product increased attentiveness. Kellogg had to both stop the television commercials as well as revamp the packaging of Frosted Mini-Wheats. They also were made to pay a compensation amount close to $4 million to the consumers who were misled due to the false claims. The termination of these false claims led to substantial decrease in the demand of this product.
Apart from financial loss, the Kellogg’s company also had to lose its credibility in the market for this misrepresentation in advertising. Consumers started doubting the other products of Kellogg’s as well. This misrepresentation led to decrease in the goodwill of the company.
a) In the above-mentioned case, the primary attitude of the company was cognitive. They were trying to market their protect with the belief that eating them will improve the level of attentiveness in children by 20%.
After the controversy, the company has inclined towards the affective attitude. They have the fear that they will lose their customer base and that the company’s brand image will become bad. So they are working really hard to come up with interesting products with authentic belief so as to win the customers back.
b) After a situation like this, company must try to be transparent and accept the mistake. Accepting mistake helps in re-establishing the connect with the users. The company can release a statement of apology and the course it took to rectify the mistake. The company can try to opt for a strong PR, which will help in portraying the company in positive light by highlighting its CSR activities and other initiatives taken for other products development. These initiatives help in buying the trust of consumers back in the brand.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/05/30/187330235/no-frosted-mini-wheats-don-t-make-your-kids-smarter
https://thinkprogress.org/kelloggs-must-pay-4-million-after-falsely-advertising-mini-wheats-health-benefits-for-kids-470b0e4a3a9f/
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