I’M OLD NOW...SO WHY DISNEY?

I decided from the very beginning that I wanted my topic to be something that most people could relate to. I feel like Disney is a brand/company that many of my own peers have had exposure to. I was a child that grew up religiously following Disney movies and Disney TV shows. My mother heavily supported the moral lessons that Disney taught in their products so she never had a problem with me watching Disney films/shows. With so much experience with this brand, I have this great interest to see just how influential Disney really is because it sure works on me! People think that the Disney brand can only sway children, but I beg to differ. Even as an adult I still get excited about Disney things such as:

• When the company comes out with a new Disney movie, I usually plan to see it in theatres opening weekend
• I am actually planning my first trip to Disney World this spring break
• When I go to a karaoke bar, I always look for Disney movie songs to sing with my friends
• I often talk about old Disney movies that I grew up with to my friends and we all reminisce together about our carefree days
• The picture below proves that I still want to be the iconic Disney couple!!!

As you can see, Disney still has this hold over me. Even though I am older I cannot shake free from the Disney cult! With so much passion for this brand, I know that I can enthusiastically write 10 whole pages on this topic without getting bored.

DISNEY’S CONNECTIONS TO CUSTOMER INSIGHTS AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES

Disney for the family:
Like I mentioned earlier, Disney grasps the lives of many people early on in their childhoods. We grow up learning our morals from the various lessons that Disney teaches. We learn that following our dreams is important to finding happiness. We also see that finding and falling in love can make our life feel complete. Overall, it shapes our beliefs and our values and it gives us all hope in a happy ending. Disney paints such an enthusiastic picture for consumers and the result is our undying support for the brand. We go out and spend our money buying the DVD’s, soundtracks, music books, and movie tickets because it is a brand that we believe in. We do it as kids, as adults, and I know that many of us will continue to do it as parents. There will be this cycle where we rely on Disney to teach our kids life lessons. Our kids will then grow up off of Disney beliefs. After that, they will rely on the new Disney releases of the times to teach their kids lessons, and the cycle will always live on until someone further down in my family tree stops having kids!

• Most of the families in the movies have two parents and the father is often the powerful figure
• Most of the films discuss how the parents should love and protect their children
• Almost all of the movies stress strong family relationships as a vital part of life
• Most movies feature couples falling in love at first sight quickly followed by marriage

Kids then interpret these lessons/ideas and mold their lives to fit what Disney portrays as normal. The article continues on with how therapists use these findings in their patient analysis. Personally, I feel that Disney’s universal themes really do affect everyone in some way.

DO YOU AGREE?

You know how I feel about Disney, but what are your thoughts? Did you grow up with Disney influencing your life and beliefs? Do you plan on using Disney as a moral educator for your own kids? Please let me know!

HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU BUT HE’S INTO TECHNOLOGY!
What would Valentine’s Day be if we didn’t watch some sappy chick flick right? Well, we watched He’s Just Not That into You and I got to say, that movie hit the Generation Y article smacked dab in the face. If you read my blog 1 post, you can see that I agree with the Generation Y article and podcast very much of how courting through technology has become a very common thing. However, I never stopped to think about how technology also has the power to break off a romantic relationship just as quickly as starting one. Not many people talk about breaking up through technology because it seems taboo. To me, breaking up is something that needs to be very personal where face-to-face contact is absolutely crucial! This movie just really made me see that my ideas of delicate breakups are long gone in the past.

The one quote that sums it up brilliantly is said by Drew Barrymore’s character, “I had this guy leave me a voice mail at work, so I called him at home, and then he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It’s exhausting.”

1. The place was super packed with college students and it took a good 10 minutes before I was able to place an order.
2. The restroom had only one square of toilet paper left so I had to use it sparingly!
3. They got my order wrong and put tomatoes and sour cream in my Nachos Bellgrande!
4. I had to hear my boyfriend complain about not being able to drink what he really wanted to.

After eating at this particular Taco Bell location, I went home and got on the internet. Several of my friends instant messaged me asking me how my Valentine’s Day was. I told everyone and I quote, “The Taco Bell on Guadalupe sucks! Don’t ever go to that one again!” I told at least 6 people of this incident and I will probably reach more people because of this blog. Like I mentioned earlier, we ALWAYS go to this particular Taco Bell. I’ve never had a real problem with them before and I usually am very pleased with the service, physical environment, and food. So how, just how could I have such a change of heart? I’ve learned several times in my marketing classes that we are more likely to tell more people about our bad experiences instead of telling a lot of people about our good experiences. This was just very evident in this case. I mean, I’ve always made my purchases at this one Taco Bell. I’ve never had a problem with them before and I’ve actually always been very satisfied with the restaurant. Out of all the times I had been happy, I couldn’t ever remember telling anyone about my good experiences with this place. So why, why did I just get so crazy and tell so many people about my bad experience even though it only happened once?

COKE VERSUS PEPSI
In case you haven’t read the article True Colors by Malcom Gladwell, it talks about how two big easy do-it yourself hair dying brands (L’oreal and Clairol) have evolved in the past and built up strong associations for their consumers. Although the two have very similar products and services, the two differ greatly in brand images. History has shown that L’oreal has a sort of trendy, glamorous, busy, and celebrity like feel to it. On the other hand, Clairol has become this classic, girl next door, family oriented, and laid back product for their consumers. We discussed in class how you were either a Clairol Girl or a L’oreal Girl. I think it’s very clear that being able to identify with a brand is super important, but I feel like this idea can only be applied to certain products. Don’t quite feel that way? See if you can relate after reading about my example in the next couple of paragraphs.
As I mentioned earlier, my boyfriend complained a great deal about Taco Bell not having Coke to go with his meal. As an alternative, he was told to purchase a Pepsi in the place of the Coke. Guess what? He didn’t even drink it! He just gave it to me instead. To me, the drinks taste so similar that I wouldn’t care if I drank one or the other, but it was a huge deal for my boyfriend. I asked him why he had such a problem with the substitution and he said, “I don’t like Pepsi. It's just so stupid, too hip, and doesn’t taste nearly as good as Coke.” This one opinion/statement automatically brought me back to the True Colors article. I further probed my boyfriend for his thoughts about the two products. I asked him, “Well, what do you think Coke and Pepsi stand for or what do you think when you hear the two brands?” He answered with the following:

Coke: Classic, All American, Fun, Laid Back, Easy Going, For the Family, Loved, Relaxed

Pepsi: Trendy, Modern, For the Hip, Lustful, Celebrity Endorsers

So then I asked him, “What’s wrong with Pepsi? Those things that you mentioned aren’t necessarily bad.” He then had to explain to me that he couldn’t picture himself as a Coke Man. That Coke was much more superior brand that he felt like he could relate to. He said that Coke made him feel like a real American man unlike a random teeny bopper that was just trying hard to be trendy and cool. This felt unreal and sounded like something straight out of a textbook. Could we really feel like there is such this great need to be like the brands that we so often purchase?

These incidents also raised another question, “Do we feel this way about all products we buy or just really big name brand things?” I know that there are materialistic people out there who only buy Gucci, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Armani, Burberry, etc. in order to appear more luxurious, fierce, and rich. It makes sense to me why people would care a great deal about being able to be identified with a brand when it comes to fashion because their actual physical appearance is being enhanced by their clothing and accessories, but I don’t feel like consumers need to feel this connection to products when it comes to buying a simple household item such as soda or any other item that can be easily and quickly disposed. Holding a Coke can or bottle does not make it an accessory! I don’t care about what a person consumes in their body! I just can’t see how food can be felt so strongly by some people. When I see people choosing one drink brand over the other, I don't automatically make assumptions about their characteristics. I would just think that they preferred one TASTE and not one IMAGE over the other.

I NEED YOUR OPINION
In the end, I need opinions after writing this blog:

1. Do you agree that breaking up is something you should be able to do via email, texts, instant messaging, voice mail, cell phone call, or fax?
2. Do you find yourself complaining more about things than praising other products?
3. Do you really think that switching from Pepsi to Coke or vice versa will change others’ perceptions about you?

Let me know your thoughts!!

I just finished watching Barry Swartz’s lecture on the “Paradox of Choice”. His philosophy made a lot of sense to me and changed my view on shopping forever. This blog will explain my thoughts and my own experiences with the paradox of choice.

WE REGRET IMPERFECT CHOICES WE MAKE

Schwartz discussed the power of choice as a double edged sword for the consumer. On one hand, it gives us the freedom to make our own decisions, but on the other hand, the process can lead to unhappiness. Schwartz says that one side effect of having a lot of choices is that it leads us to regret the options that we don’t take. It dawned on me that I often find myself regretting a purchase because it didn’t make me 100% satisfied. Schwartz also has a philosophy that the more choices we have, the higher possibility there is for regret of a bad decision. As consumers, we expect to get something perfect and end up setting our expectations too high. It only makes sense for consumers to feel like there IS a perfect answer out there since there are often times so many options to choose from.

WE BLAME OURSELVES FOR BAD CHOICES

Schwartz also talked about how having too many options to choose from can lead to depression. If we as consumers make a purchase that we regret, we start to blame ourselves for not finding the item perfect for our needs. Schwartz makes a point that instead of blaming the manufacturer for only providing one boring product, we get mad at ourselves for having so many options and picking the wrong one. This leads to unnecessary depression and self loathing. I wholly agree with this theory because when I buy a bad product, I always get mad at myself for not picking one of the other ones that I had an option of choosing before.

WE DON’T FOCUS ON WHAT’S REALLY IMPORTANT

Another interesting point that Schwartz brought up is that if we are presented with a choice and have to think about, we are easily distracted from our current situation. For a moment we forget to have fun while shopping or vacationing and focus our attention on the decision at hand. Schwartz says that this could completely ruin the mood of the occasion and cause us to create a negative memory when it really should be a positive one. I have firsthand knowledge of this in an instance where I was supposed to make chili con queso for a party. When I got to the grocery store, there were so many different cheeses to choose from that I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out which cheese was the best. When I got to the party I was so stressed out with my choice that I couldn’t really enjoy myself. I was constantly worrying whether the other people at the party actually liked what I had brought, and I felt miserable the whole time.

MORE CHOICES = MORE ANNOYANCES

After watching the lecture, I began to think about how I have fallen victim to the paradox of choice. Many times I have felt this dissonance that occurs when too many choices are made readily available at my service. The best example that I can think of is the act of buying shampoo. First and foremost, let me just tell you that when it comes to shampoo, I never stick with one shampoo over and over again. I haven’t felt like I have found the perfect shampoo yet that does everything I need it to or smell the way I would like my hair to smell. Because of this, I am constantly changing my shampoo for the different smells and hair treatment remedies that the different shampoo brands promise to provide.

So when I’m at the closest HEB, Target, or Walmart looking for shampoo, I find myself in a rut looking for that perfect smell and service combination. I have so many choices to choose from since there are so many attributes that can unite and become one perfect hair product! Just look at the task that is laid out in front of me!

I suffer from this “paralysis” that Barry Swartz speaks of and I will literally sit for eternity (okay, exaggeration at its best) but I will really sit there for half an hour looking for just the right product with the right smell, brand, and service. When I finally commit, I hurry home to shower right away so that I can test out my new hair showering products. After my hair dries, I somehow...someway always feel like I didn’t choose the right product. The smell just isn’t right or the service promised doesn’t deliver how I imagined. I just know that my perfect hair potion is still at the store and it’s my fault that I didn’t take out a little more time to research even further for a better shampoo. What’s even worse is that because I’m a poor college student, I buy in bulk so I’m stuck with my decision for months!

Going to the store and choosing between the two didn’t take me long at all because I would feel confident in my decision (I mean, I had a 50/50 chance of getting it right!) The opportunity cost I’d be taking part in wouldn’t be very high at all. Most of the time I would be really happy with my decision, but if I happened to feel like I chose the wrong item when I went home, it’d be okay with me because I knew exactly what the right one was for the next time. I can tell you this, any feeling of regret that I had back then comes nowhere close to the regret that I have now when I have to choose one thing from an ample supply of choices.

1. Which brand if any do you prefer?
   A. Pantene Pro-V
   B. HERBAL ESSENCES
   C. Suave
   D. Garnier Fructis
   E. Dove
   F. I have no preference
   
2. What smell do you prefer out of the following?
   A. FRUITY
   B. Flowery
   C. Spice
   D. Minty
   E. Evergreen


3. Do you like 2 in 1 products?
   A. YES
   B. No
   C. Does Not Matter


4. What best describes your hair?
   A. STRAIGHT
   B. Curly
   C. Coarse
   D. Super fine


5. What best describes what you would like your shampoo to do for you?
   A. Frizz Control
   B. Smooth/straight
   C. Extra volume
   D. Rebuilding
   E. MOISTURIZING
   

After taking the short quiz...the computer would generate a shampoo that best describes what I’m looking for and TAH DAH...

This picture would pop up. As you can see, this short quiz will help eliminate a lot of time I’d normally be wasting looking for a product. This quiz would also help narrow down my choices CONSIDERABLY.

By the way...please don’t make fun of me for using baby shampoo for so long. Instead, please give me any advice you have on shampoo products that you think I might like. Thanks!