Consumer Attitude

Objectives
 This chapter deals with:
 What is attitude
 Nature of attitude
 Types of function
 Theories of attitude and its implication
 Attitude formation and Change
Gillette
 Although Gillette entered the Indian market in 1984 and
launched its newest triple-blade system, Mach3 in 2004, sales
were flat for a long time.
 premium price, which was 10 times more than its two-blade
competitors.
 the target customers were professional men with higher
disposable incomes
 Indian men do not consider shaving a significant enough
activity to justify such a premium price.
 Gillette's Mach3 value proposition was based on extensive
consumer research,
 which highlighted key concerns men had about shaving:
 it was time-consuming, caused skin irritation and was generally
unpleasant.
Gillette

 Mach3 promised "the closest shave ever in fewer strokes - with

less irritation".
 to deliver the promised performance , manufacturing, distribution,
marketing and advertising were geared for the global introduction
through increased production capacity and aligned promotional
material.
 Gillette had to focus on changing the consumer's attitude, leading
to some creative marketing campaigns.
 the launch of the newest Gillette Mach3 in 2009 was supported by
the 'Shave India Movement 2009
 In which Gillette created the platform 'India Votes... to shave or
not' to support this campaign, which asked three controversial
questions:
 Gillette
 Are clean-shaven men more successful?
 Did the nation prefer clean-shaven celebrities?
 do women prefer clean-shaven men?
 For two months, various media channels picked up on the campaign and
ran interviews, discussions, editorials and news stories, which triggered
popular interest. The main purpose was to create a debate around shaving

 For two months, various media channels picked up on the campaign and
ran interviews, discussions, editorials and news stories, which triggered
popular interest. The main purpose was to create a debate around shaving.

 Gillette recruited Bollywood celebrities such as Arjun Rampal and Neha

Dhupia to support the campaign. This innovative way of marketing
proved to be effective and as awareness grew, sales and market share
increased by 38 per cent and 35 per cent respectively.
.
Attitude
 Attitude may be defined as a feeling of favorableness or
unfavorableness that an individual has towards an object (be it
a person, thing or situation)
 Each of us has a vast number of attitudes towards product,
services, advertisement, direct mail, the internet and a retail
store.
 Ex: Big Bazar, United Color of Beneton, SOTC
Characteristics of Attitudes
Attitude Object
 Any targets of judgment, including people, places, and
things, that have an attitude or opinion associated with it.
 Attitudes are directed towards an object (product/service

offering, price, store, dealer, promotion, advertisement

etc.) about which a consumer has feelings and beliefs
Attitude are a Learned Predisposition
 A learned predisposition means attitude have a motivational
quality.
 they might influence a consumer towards a particular behavior
or repel the consumer away from a particular behavior.
 behavior are formed as a result of direct experience with the
product,
 Word of mouth information acquired from others, or exposure
to mass media advertising, the internet, and various forms of
direct marketing.
Attitude is consistent
 Its means that they are relatively consistent with behavior they
reflect.
 Consumers are consistent with respect to their behavior.
 they are not entirely permanent and may change
 the individual would be more likely to buy a same company’s
brand when his current vehicle needed to be replaced.
Attitude occurs in a situation
 They occur within a situation.

 Sometimes depending upon the situation, a consumer

may exhibit a behavior that may be inconsistent with
his/her attitude.

 He may prefer to buy Pepsodent over Colgate because

the former is on a sales promotion and gets him a free
toothbrush
Functions of Attitude
 Utilitarian function:
 Consumers form positive attitudes towards product and

service offerings because they provide a utility.

 they provide a rewarding experience through the

benefits that they provide.

 Ex: Dettol, Head and Shoulders

Ego-defensive function
 Consumers form attitudes as they help defend their
ego,
self-image and self-concept
They want to replace their uncertainty with a sense of
security and personal confidence
Ex: Lifebuoy and Rexona Deodorant
Value-expressive function
  Positive attitudes are formed when a product or service
expresses a persons’s values and lifestyle, personality
and self image, and self concept.
 This is because attitudes provide people with a basis for

expressing their values.

 Dove soap depicts softness and sophistication.
 Raymonds, a complete man, 
Knowledge function

 Such products that structure knowledge and reaffirm

it ,they provide certainty and reliability
 Attitudes are formed when consumers want to reaffirm

their knowledge base, to finally help them simplify

purchase decision making. 
 Ex: Crocin as safe drug
 Body shop: Environment friendly
Theories of Attitude
 Tricomponent Attitude Model
 Muliattribute Attitude Model
 The Trying-to-Consume Model
 Attitude-toward-the-Ad Model
Tri component model

Conation

Cognition Affect
Cognitive component
 the knowledge or cognitive component of the tricomponent
model consists of consumers' knowledge about the products
and service offering and the marketing mix.
 Consumer attitudes are formed on the basis of experiences as
well as information received from personal (WOM, family,
friends, peers etc.)
 Receive information from commercial source:
Advertisements, sales person
Affective Component
 A consumer’s emotions or feelings about a particular product or
brand .

 Our emotional state may amplify positive or negative

experiences, which then have an effect on our attitude

 It manifests itself through feelings and resultant expressions like

happiness, sadness, anger, surprise etc., and is indicative of
consumer reaction towards the offering and the mix, which
subsequently affects the purchase decision making as well as the
purchase process
Conative Component

The likelihood or tendency that an individual will undertake a

specific action or behave in a particular way with regard to
the attitude object.

 component, is indicative of the an individual’s tendency to

behave (to buy or not to buy) in a particular manner with
respect to the attitude object (product/service offering, brand
etc).
Multiattribute Models

 The multiattribute attitude models state that a consumer’s

attitude towards an attitude object (product and service
offering, brand, elements of the marketing mix) is a function
of a consumer’s perception and belief of the key attributes as
well as his assessment of the key attributes. 

 There are many variations on this model

1. The attitude toward the object model
2. The attitude toward the behavior model
3. The theory of reasoned action model
The attitude toward the object model

 Attitude is function of the presence of certain beliefs or

attributes with respect to an object.

 Consumers will like a brand or product that has an adequate

level of attributes that the consumer thinks are important.

 Example: if you are buying a home, there is a list of attributes

that the home must have 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, Kitchen,
Balcony .
 With this model, an attitude is positive for the house that has
the most of these attributes.
 Attitude is function of evaluation of product-specific beliefs
and evaluations
n
◦ Ao= WiXib
i=1
◦ Where:
Ao= Attitude towards the object O
Wi = importance of attribute i
Xib = belief that brand b has a certain level of attribute I
Attitude towards Behaviour
 The attitude toward behaving with respect to an object, rather
than the attitude toward the object itself Corresponds closely
to actual behavior
 The question here is how likely are you to purchase brand X
(behavior) rather than how highly do you rate brand X (object)
 A person’s attitude toward behaving or acting with respect to
an object, rather than toward the object itself
 Not uncommon for consumers to have a positive attitude
toward an object but a negative attitude toward purchasing it
Theory of Reasoned action
 According to this model, behavior is determined by a person’s
intention to behave
 To understand intention, we also need to measure the
subjective norms that influence an individual’s intention to act

 A subjective norm can be measured directly by assessing a

consumer’s feelings as to what relevant others (family, friends,
co-workers) would think of the action contemplated

 designed to account for the many cases where the action or

outcome is not certain but instead reflects the consumer’s
attempt to consume (or purchase).
Example
 Arjun, a young graduate wants to go to US to do his MBA. For this
he needs to give his GMAT.
 1. Behavior: Study hard for GMAT.

 2. Intention: Arjun decides that he would study hard for GMAT

examination.

 Intention is impacted by:

 a) Consumers attitude towards behavior: Arjun has a positive
attitude towards studying hard.

 b) Subjective norms: Arjun’s parents approve of his decision to go

abroad for further studies
Theory of Reasoned action
 It helps to identify those attributes most important in causing
consumers to form positive (or negative) attitudes toward the
purchase of a product
◦ Changing attitude toward purchase

 It helps to identify and helps to adjust sources of social

pressure and their possible role in intention formation
◦ Changing subjective norms
Ad illustrating the
theory of trying
to consume
Issues in Attitude Formation
 How attitudes are learned
◦ Conditioning and experience
◦ Knowledge and beliefs
 Sources of influence on attitude formation
◦ Personal experience
◦ Influence of family, friend ,Direct marketing & mass media
 Personality factors
◦ Celebrity personality
Strategies of Attitude Change

1. Changing the Basic Motivational Function

2. Associating the Product with an Admired Group or Event
3. Altering Components of the Multiattribute Model
4. Resolving Two Conflicting Attitudes
5. Changing Beliefs about Competitors’ Brands
Strategies to Attitude Change
• Utilitarian function is how the product is useful to us. A
marketer might want to create a more consumer positive
attitude toward a brand by showing utilities the brand can
do.
• ego-defensive function would show how the product
would make them feel more secure and confident (e.g.
cosmetics that defense women’s appearance).
• value-expressive function would more positively reflect
the consumer’s values or lifestyle.
• knowledge function would satisfy the consumer’s “need to
know” and help them understand more.
Attitude change
 Marketer can change the attitude of consumer by focusing
on the useful function which the consumers are not aware
of.
◦ Eg: Hit which can be used to kill mosquito and
cockroach.

 Many advertisements helps the consumer to feel secure and

confident by which the marketer tries to changes the attitude
by offering reassurance to the consumers self concept.
 Eg: Bolero advertisement
Attitude change
◦ If a consumer segment generally holds a positive attitude
toward owning the latest designer jeans, then their
attitudes toward new brands of designer jeans are likely to
reflect that orientation.

◦ Thus by knowing target consumers attitudes, marketers

can better anticipate their values, lifestyles or outlook and
can reflect these characteristics in their advertising and
direct marketing efforts.
Utilitarian Function
Knowledge Function
Associating the Product with an Admired Group or Event

 Environmental Cause Likely to Impact Consumers’

Attitudes Toward Its Product. Accordingly, they might Have a
More Favorable Attitude toward the company and its product.
Altering Components of the Multiattribute Model
◦ Changing consumer’s evaluation of attributes. Perhaps
the consumer thinks that the product fine to be inexpensive,
but a marketer might be able to point out that it is often
worth paying a bit more for better quality.
◦ Changing brand beliefs. Maybe a consumer thinks a brand
is very expensive when in fact it is less expensive than
several other brands.
◦ Adding an attribute: Who thought chewiness was an
attribute that could even exist for a vitamin until Gummy
Vites came along?
◦ Changing the overall brand rating, not a single attribute
of it. : using statements like: “ the one all others try to
imitate” or “ the largest selling brand
Changing Beliefs about Competitors’ Brands

 We made them change by kingfisher to counter the ad

given by Jet airways ad claims “we have changed”
Resolving two conflicting attitude
 Detergent powders are effective
in cleaning but these also cause a bad effect on the skin. 
 natural dishwashing and laundry detergents is introduced. 
 a person who cares about both effectiveness and harmless
chemical free product.
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

 A theory that suggests that a person’s level of

involvement during message processing is a critical
factor in determining which route to persuasion is
likely to be effective.
Behavior can Precede or Follow Attitude
Formation

 Cognitive Dissonance
Behave (Purchase)
Theory
 Attribution Theory

Form Attitude Form Attitude

Cognitive Dissonance / disagreement Theory

 There is a tendency for individuals to seek consistency among

their  beliefs, opinions. When there is an inconsistency
between attitudes or behaviours something must change to
eliminate the conflict.
Attribution Theory
 A theory concerned with how people assign causalty to events and form their
attitudes as an outcome of assessing their own or other people’s behavior.
 Self-perception Theory
◦ Foot-in-the-Door Technique

 Attributions toward Others

 Attributions toward Things
 How We Test Our Attributions
◦ Distinctiveness
◦ Consistency over time
◦ Consistency over modality
◦ Consensus
 https://forms.gle/iaTGg6WBCTFAu9pY7
Reference
 http://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/lbs-case-study/g
illette-innovated-improved-its-market-share-in-india/st
ory/204517.html
 http://www.slideshare.net/mzubairbhattt1994/consumer
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 http://www.slideshare.net/NishantAgrawal14/consumer
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