CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Consumers are usually exposed to hundreds and maybe even thousands of commercial messages every day. They may appear in the form of billboards, like campaign, or in the form of newspaper ads, Television advertisement, coupons, sales letters, publicity, event sponsorships, tele-marketing calls, or even e-mails. These are just a few of the many communication tools that companies and organizations use to initiate and maintain contact with their customers, clients, and prospects. one may simply refer to them as advertising. But, in fact, the correct term for these various tools is marketing communications. And advertising is just one type of marketing communications.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Albert Lasker, who today is generally regarded as the father of modern advertising, owned a prominent advertising agency, Lord  & Thomas. To Lasker advertising is “salesmanship on the media, driven by a reason why.” But that was long before the advent of radio, television, or the Internet. The nature and scope of the business world, and advertising, were quite limited. A century later, our planet is a far different place. The nature and needs of business have changed, and so have the concept and practice of advertising (Arens 2004).

Today, definitions of advertising abound. Journalists, for example, might perceive it as a communication, public relations, or persuasion process; business people see it as a marketing process; economists and sociologists tend to focus on its economic, societal, or ethical significance. And some consumers might view it simply as an act to persuade them to satisfy their buying behavior. Each of these perspectives has some merit and demerit. Arens (2004) observes that Advertising is the structured and composed non personal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods, services, and ideas) by identified sponsors through various media. APCON on the other hand described advertising as a communication in the media paid for by an identifiable sponsor and directed at a target audience with the aim of transferring information about a product, service, idea or cause.‟

Benson Eluwa (2005) in the view of this, argues that Advertising is a form of non-personal method of communicating information which is usually paid for by a sponsor through various media. From the forgoing one can deduce that advertising is a persuasive communication, because it tries to persuade the reader, viewers or listeners to take to the sponsor‟s point of view and also take some appropriate actions towards an object of advertisement. It is an obvious fact that advertising has in no small way helped to give more recognition to the business worlds. It brings the consumer in touch with the producer. It has to be noted too that advertising is a necessary social force for any economy growth and it has influenced the public taste to such an extent that product that is not advertised is considered as fallen into oblivion while businessmen who could not advertise have been forgotten. This is why, Carrena (1992) admit that advertising plays a vital and constructive role in society hence the advertising campaigns would generally thrive on the efficiency, energy and excellence of the copy which when properly executed will influence the consumer. The advertiser intends to spread his/her ideas about the products and offerings among the prospects. Popularization of the products is thus, the basic aim of advertising (Ramaswami & Namakumari, 2004).

Majority of marketers use mass media for their marketing communications. The choice of media is dependent upon the nature of the message and the intended target audience (Etzel, Bruce J., William and Ajay, 2008). Television advertising is the best-selling and economical media ever invented. It has a potential advertising impact unmatched by any other media (Saxena, 2005). The advantage of television over the other medium is that it is perceived as a combination of audio and video features; it provides products with instant validity and prominence and offers the greatest possibility for creative advertising (Kavitha, 2006). Over a longer period of time, the Television set has become a permanent fixture in all upper and middle class households, and it is not uncommon even in the poorer society of urban areas and rural households (Shah & D’Souza, 2008). Reactions to television advertisements seem to be stronger than the reaction to print advertisements (Corlis, 1999). The advertisers find it more Impactive to use television rather than print media to reach consumers, partly due to low literacy rate (Ciochetto, 2004). TV advertising not only change emotions but give substantial message exerting a far reaching influence on the daily lives of people (Kotwal, N., Gupta, N. and Devi, A., 2008).

Television advertisements have heralded an unprecedented increase in economic activities. For some, television advertisements are always one of the best things to look out for on television because of their highly captivating, dramatic, entertaining and humorous nature. For others, this form of advertisement is nothing but an interruption of a nice quiet evening at home, especially when the viewer is seriously engrossed in a highly informative news programme. However, beyond these two extremes, the advertiser must gain access to the consumer‟s mind in order to win his/her purchasing loyalty. This is why the advertiser capitalizes on the glamour and potency of television to reach out to a wide spectrum of consumers in order to market his wares. Ideally, television commercials are based on the same principle as the old-time medicine show where a medicine dealer uses banjo player and magician to attract customer‟s attention to his product and market his wares.

In television commercials, the advertiser uses talents (for dramatic spectacle) and music to put the audience in good humour, so that the sponsor (manufacturer of the product) who corresponds to the medicine man will have a receptive audience when he peddles his wares. The majority of television advertisements in Nigeria recently comprise brief advertising spots, ranging in length from a few seconds to several minutes. In the Nigerian media, advertisement of this sort has been used to sell every product imaginable over the years from household products to goods and services. The Impact of television advertisements upon the viewing public has been so successful and so pervasive that it is considered impossible for a politician to wage a successful election campaign in Nigeria without the use of television advertisement.

Lager products are without doubt among the products that have been given intensive and wide advertisement coverage. The products were able to arouse attention using promotional strategies.

Consumers’ behaviour is affected by both internal (individual) and external (environmental) factors or influences. The internal influences include the consumer motivation and involvement, attitudes, personality and self-concept, learning and memory, information processing on the other hand, external factors includes cultural influences, sub-cultural influences, social class influences, social group influences, family influences, personal influences, (khan, 2006). The way these influencing factors integrated within the consumer determines how that consumer will behave towards the product(s) which focal point is on the Impact of peak milk television advertisement.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is a known fact that television advertisements use persuasive techniques to appeal to consumers‟ sense of buying. It is also evident that television advertisements have a lot of influence on human behaviour. This influence may be either positive or negative. The kind of influence depends on the kind and quality of advertisement. Since television commercials have the potential to influence human behaviour either to make them buy a product or admire it. It becomes relevant to establish the Impact of such influence with reference to peak milk television advertisement in Edo state.

Furthermore, there is no gainsaying that television advertising has strong persuasive stimuli in helping to determine what we actually think about; it controls our values, attitudes and belief system, especially when weighed on constant exposure, prominence and cumulative media specific Impact (Gambo, 2003: 690) If this is the case, what therefore is the Impact of peak milk television advertisement on consumer’s buying behaviour in Edo State?

1.3   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of this study are

1.   To ascertain the attitude of consumers in Edo State towards peak milk television advertisement.

2.   To determine the extent to which peak milk television advertisement influence consumers to make buying decision.

3.   To examine the level of influence of peak milk television advertisement on consumer buying behaviours.

1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS

        The research questions of this study are;

1.   What is the attitude of consumers in Edo State towards peak milk television advertisement?

2.   To What extent does peak milk television advertisement influence consumers to make buying decision?

3.   What influence does peak milk television advertisement have on consumer buying behaviours?

1.5 SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY

The result of the study would be of immense benefit to advertisers of peak milk as it would provide a guide on planning, production and placement of television advertisements for the product.

Essentially, this study makes a significant contribution to the existing literature on the attitude of consumers towards television advertisement. The study would also be of great use to mass communication and marketing students who intend to take up similar studies.

It is also envisaged that findings from this study would assist the management of Peak Milk Nigeria Plc. to Impactively promote their products in the highly competitive environment of the brewery industry in Nigeria.

1.6   THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study was limited to 300 consumers, 150 male and 150 female in order to achieve gender balance and equality. The scope covered Benin environs as it is the largest city with the largest number of local government area in Edo State. Moreover, it is the commercial nerve centre of the state with active commercial activities on a daily basis.

1.7   DEFINITION OF TERMS

Frequently employed terms in this study are defined within the context of usage to avoid any misinterpretation.

ADVERTISING; Act of making something deliberately known to be people through any of the channel mass of communication such as television and persuading them for positive action towards that thing.

BUYING DECISION: The ability of the consumer to conclude on the purchase of a particular product.

BUYING HABIT: The decision process and actions of people involved in buying and usage of products.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR: Activities, actions and influence of people who purchase and use goods and services to satisfy their personal or household needs or wants.

.EXTERNAL INFLUENCE: This refers to the environmental influence on the consumer. Examples include family’s social structure and culture.

INFLUENCE: Power to Impact somebody’s or people’s character, belief or action through example or powerful presentation.

INTERNAL INFULENCE: This connotes personal needs and motive of the consumers, his perception, the habit he had developed that influence his behaviour

IMPACT: The powerful, immediate or dramatic Impact that something or somebody has over another thing or person.

TELEVISION: A piece of electrical equipment with a screen on which you can watch programmes with moving pictures and sounds.

TELEVISION ADVERTISING: Marketing communication about product or services channeled to the public though the television usually by an identified sponsor.

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