PERCEPTIONS OF N

AME

BRAND & GENERIC FOOD

S A M A N T H A WE I S

S

THEORIESThe Mere Exposure Effect (Babin & Harris, 2013, p.56) states that

consumers prefer objects to which they have been exposed, over stimuli they have not seen before.

An exemplar is a concept in someone’s schema that is the single best representation of some category (Babin & Harris, 2013, p.81).

The Prospect Theory suggests that people seek certainty in a gain domain and uncertainty or risk in a loss domain (Babin & Harris, 2013, p.73).

Regulatory Focus Theory shows two different types of thinking, promotion based and preventative based (Babin & Harris, 2013, p.86).

- This image from Wayne’s world exemplifies the mere exposure effect through product placement and good use of an exemplar by showing one of the most popular pizza companies.

PROCEDUREParticipants were asked to give their preference

response to types of food shown to them on a PowerPoint presentation. Each slide showed four food items, two generic and two name brand. Position of products were randomized as a control measure. Participants were asked to rate each product on likeliness to purchase on a scale of 1 to 5 (from least likely to most likely). Data was gathered and generic vs name brand scores were collected and compared.

HYPOTHESIS & RESULTSIt was hypothesized that generic food products would

be more popular than name brand food products.Results from this study concluded that name brand

food products were more popular (M = 3.72, SD= .62), compared with generic food items (M = 2.37, SD= .33). A within subjects t-test was used to find that t (10) = 5.97, p< .05. These results show that there is a significant difference between popularity of generic and name brand food items. Participants showed a significant preference for name brand food than generic food items.

IMPLICATIONSThese results are important for stores to know so that they can either produce less

of the unpopular products or make money by increasing advertising of popular generic products.

If a company finds this information extremely pertinent then they may even cut the line of products to avoid wasting money. By knowing which individual product types are popular or unpopular this can change the strategies of companies, marketers and that food business.

If peanut butter is popular to buy generically, name brand companies will have to increase their marketing and sales strategies to compete. Overall popularity of name brand or generic food products and alter the production and marketing of food altogether.

As far as the psychological community, this study showed the effect of exposure and attention on perception. Generic brands are not exposed as widely as name brand products. This causes for less attention given to the generic products and results in a weak perception or lack thereof. The importance of exposure of perception is shown, especially when buying food products.