Psychology of Consumer Behaviour | Scoop.it

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

What will you sacrifice for a free burger?

Once upon a time there was Subservient chicken where we could tell a chicken what to do and where to go. Behind this subservient chicken of course was Burger King who were trying to tell us that we could have it our own way.

My favorite was the meme spawn Subservient President created by MoveOn. Oh what fun to make the president do things as if he were our own subservient chicken. But alas subservient president disappeared. Burger King still has their subservient chicken online.

But what has Burger King been up to lately?

Well, would you believe they are trying to to get themselves into your Facebook? They have created a Facebook application called the "Whopper Sacrifice."

All you need to do to get a coupon for a free Whopper is sacrifice 10 friends by removing them from your friends list. It will even display for all to see on your feed who you sacrificed for your free Whopper. I suppose if you are a young starving student with hundreds of Facebook friends, you might consider dropping a few. How would you feel being sacrificed for a burger?

Sorry fellow Canucks, no sacrificing friends for Whoppers in Canada.....yet! But here's something for you Go back to http://www.subservientchicken.com/ and try a few of these out on old Subservient. According to Wikipedia:

"There is also an easter egg in the program: if you type Crispin, the company name, into the box, the creators, will pop out from behind a sofa and walk off.

When told to perform sex acts, take off his mask, or do anything the Subservient Chicken considers offensive, the chicken walks up to the camera and shakes a scolding chicken finger in disappointment. When told to eat food from rival fast food chain McDonald's, he approaches the camera and places his finger down his throat, when told to eat Burger King he has a more positive response. If he is told to 'join PETA', he performs the same action as when a 'dizzy' command is typed in. The chicken responds to the command "smoke" by smoking, but when told to "smoke a bong" he waggles his finger scoldingly. If told to "choke" he attempts to strangle himself. When commanded to do anything with the word "me" in it, he approaches the camera and looks at you, turning his head a few times. When told to take off his costume, the chicken shows that he is stuck inside his costume.
When "taco bell" is typed in he performs a dance with a lady in a red jumper who appears from besides the camera."

Sick of the chicken? Try asking Stewie of Family Guy to do a thing or two. http://www.stewielive.com/

Monday, January 12, 2009

Rose Petals - Cans of Smokeless Tobacco -What's the dif?

Once a sacred place, advertising space is now available on the front page of the New York Times for between $75,000 and $100,000 depending upon the day. Some would say it's because newspapers are becoming more flexible, but the truth is there is a serious advertising slump and newspapers and magazines are hurting. It's about Stayin Alive.

We have seen user generated content online and on TV, but who'd have thought Playboy would be using it. Their January edition celebrates Playboy's 55th anniversary and the 75th anniversary of Skoal.

Yeah Skoal- smokless tobacco. Twelve pages and the back cover are dedicated to advertorial content gathered from Skoal's site Skoalbrotherhood.com. It includes jokes and of course the best looking Skoal models of the past.


Where once there were rose petals now there are cans of Skoal!

How romantic--NOT!!







Mouth Cancer- No kidding...

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Virgin: Selling Sex and Nostalgia



The fashions have changed, the technology has changed, but what about the message?

Saturday, December 27, 2008

John Lennon Speaks -One Laptop

Even from the grave Lennon and a little controversy for a good cause

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Merry: Playing for change!

Connecting the world through music is the mission of The Playing for Change Foundation. They provide facilities, supplies and educational programs to musicians and communities around the world.

Here is one of the videos from their upcoming documentary.



Read more, hear some great music and support the movement at http://playingforchange.com
Thanks to my friend Shirley who sent me this link.

Merry Music

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Fisher-Price Toys- They're hot!


From San Jose Mercury News:
"Some customers calling the consumer-relations hot line on a Fisher-Price DVD are getting an invitation for relations of a different sort.

Mattel's Fisher-Price unit apologized today for including an incorrect telephone number for customer service on the back of a DVD sleeve that is actually the number for an adults-only hot line."

No wonder Elmo is dancing

Daffy Duck wants more, more more

In keeping with the season a song from the honourable Daffy Duck



'nuff said
What say you Mr Scrooge?

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

KickButt- Make one of my students have a happy new year!

Here is my plea.
I'm part of a group of GTA college and university people who have been working on an anti-smoking initiative with Toronto Health. We came up with the idea of a YouTube contest where GTA college and university students produce anti-smoking messages and submit them to the KICKBUTT contest. They could win a MacBook, an iPod Touch or a gift certificate.

Naturally, I want one of my students to win. After the final exam I talked one of my students into promising to create something- and he did. I think he did a great job. So please see the video and rate it, and make everyone you know see it and rate it, and make one of my students have a very merry new year!



Peace and Love

Friday, December 12, 2008

The Doghouse- Presents vs Presence

What happens when a man buys his wife a vacuum cleaner for Christmas?


Oh there is so much one can say about this. What does it say about the advertisers who made it? What does it say about how men and women are portrayed? What does it say if we laugh at it? What does it say if we don't?

All I know is that a piece of jewellery from JC Penny is about the last thing on earth I would want. In reality a snazzy vacuum cleaner isn't half bad. But I do recall getting a dog hair clipper for my birthday once, and that kind a put a damper on things although the dog had a lovely hair cut. For me the guy in the dog house who had given his girlfriend extra ram with a note saying, "Thanks for the memories" was a doll. Less is more and sweet is sweet.

Maybe it is more simple than we all think; maybe what we all we need is fewer presents and more presence.