In my family we have certain brands we always buy for products. For laundry detergent we always buy tide. For our weekly grocery shopping we always go to the same neighborhood Savemart. For my running shoes I have always gotten Brooks. For breakfast cereal we always buy honey nut cheerios. This list goes on and on.
These products are my families lovemarks. They are the products we loyally buy without a second thought. We have become a part of the loyal clan that follows these products.
We have bought tide for as long as I can remember in my family. For our laundry we always wash with tide to get the tough stains out. But is that the only reason we continue to buy it? I don't think so. Maybe its because we've never had a problem with its performance or because it does a better job than the other leading brands. But after watching the persuaders I have a different idea. I think tide has not only become a regular part to our laundry but it also is a part of our family. I can not imagine washing my clothes without tide. In my brain I would feel a difference in my clothes (they wouldn't be quite as clean) but this difference is only my uneasiness about not loyally using tide on my clothing.
This same loyalty is not only in the laundry detergent we buy but also in our regular grocery store. Ever Sunday we go grocery shopping in my house. We have gone to the same grocery store since I was a little kid. This grocery store used to be called Albertson's but then it was sold and renamed Savemart. Despite the change in ownership we still were loyal customers and went back to store there. When I asked my parents how long we had been going there they told me they had been going since 1989. I had not realized how attached we are to that store. It would seem something so insignificant just the grocery store we happen to shop at but it really is much more than that. We know that store inside and out we don't have to wander the store searching for an item we can walk in and know exactly where it is.
Since I was a young girl my morning breakfast has always been the same. I have had toaster eggo waffles on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and honey nut cheerios on Tuesdays and Thursdays for my entire life. My morning routine would be blown to pieces if I ever changed one of those two products in my life. I can't imagine having breakfast during the week and it not being either of those things. I can not love a cereal any more the way that I love cheerios. Even when i'm on vacation or at a friends house other cereals just never taste right. I will eat them because when I am hungry is not a good thing but it will never hold the same place in my heart as cheerios do.
Even unconsciously I connected to my brand of running shoes. At fleet feet whenever you go to buy shoes they will ask you what you are looking for, measure your foot, and then bring you shoes that fit both of those descriptions. They bring out a wide range of options for you to try on and choose which works best for you. This whole approach is so you don't try to choose a shoe based on its brand or flashy color. But despite this I have magically found a way to break the system and am now on my third pair of magnificent Brooks running shoes. Every time I go in, I go through the same process and I won't look at the brands of the shoes that I am trying on but somehow the ones I like the most end up being Brooks. I say it is because I like how they feel on my feet, but now I think it is me subconsciously pulled towards my lovemark.
I have been a loyal user of these brands for too long that I don't see myself changing my ways anytime soon.
I really like how you pointed out that our discomfort with using a new product is not necessarily because of its bad performance, but because of the fact that it is not the product that we have been using for several years now. It's all in our heads! Lovemarks have such an emotional hold on us that we can only be satisfied with products that are a part of our family. Your ending sentence also got to me. I don't think we need to change our ways in any form. The important thing is is that we are beginning to identify the causes of our attachments to products or brands. Now that we know how to analyze the influence of media around us, we have a better understanding of media's impact on us.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I like how well planned out your breakfast schedule is! :)
I completely agree with you. I think the fact that everyone subconsciously has a lovemark in their daily life shows the effect of the media. I liked your last sentence because I also don't see any problem with continuing to buy the same products I have bought my entire life, probably because I'm so used to it, and if I changed my ways it just wouldn't be the same. If we were to change the brands we buy, we wouldn't be necessarily be sad about the new brand, we would be sad because we are no longer buying the brand that we are so attached and used to.
ReplyDeleteI can see the angle you are coming from. I agree with your statements entirely, but I think it's important to note that it's not simply that close "family-like" connection with the product that makes a lovemark a lovermark.I believe a lovemark could also manifest itself to a person simply by being the most popular brand. I've known plenty of people who dominantly drink Coca-cola, who have also tried Pepsi, say that they taste almost exactly the same and that neither one, taste-wise, is preferred over the other, but because everyone drinks Coca-cola, they drink Coca-cola. I would assume that it ties back to the primal need to feel accepted by a social group, in order to eliminate that feeling of inadequacy amongst others.
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