Why We Buy Questionable Products: The Psychology Behind Our Consumer ChoicesQuestionable Products

Have you ever wondered why people pay for goods or services that the know have been made using questionable practices? People say they care for the environment but they buy brands which harm environment? The recently concluded Qatar FIFA world cup, the kind of excitement it generated in Nepal is unprecedented. We were all excited about it even when we were aware of the mistreatment of the Nepalese workers, suicides and the deaths. Similar is the case in India. With all the anti-China sentiments, the Chinese phones must be the worst performer. But that is not the case, most of the Chinese phones are performing very well in India. Xiaomi had the highest market share in the year 2022.

Let’s explore few of the reasons which makes us choose those questionable products or services:

1. Desirability of the product: If a product is desirable, we try to reason out our purchase. Benjamin franklin wrote in his biography, “So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.” The more intelligent a person is, the better the reason he can present for the purchases. FIFA world cup is a very desirable product. The greater a fan you are the more you want to see the world cup and more the reasons to see the world cup.
2. Wilful ignorance & moral hypocrisy: We are more likely to use ethical information if we have it, but we are less likely to ask for it. Mark Twain said “A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval”. We all are hypocrites in one or other way. If we do it, we approve of it but if others do it, it is unethical. This flexible moral context does not let our feelings turn in to the action.

Why We Buy Questionable Products: The Psychology Behind Our Consumer Choices

Have you ever wondered why people continue to buy goods or services that are made using questionable practices? Despite claims to care for the environment or workers’ rights, people often buy brands that are known to harm the environment or exploit workers. For example, the recently concluded FIFA World Cup in Qatar generated unprecedented excitement in Nepal, even though many people were aware of the mistreatment of Nepalese workers, including suicides and deaths.

Similarly, in India, Chinese phones have become extremely popular, despite anti-China sentiments and concerns about ethical issues in the Chinese manufacturing industry. Xiaomi, a Chinese phone brand, had the highest market share in India in 2022.

Let’s explore a few reasons why people choose these questionable products or services:

Desirability of the product: When a product is desirable, people often try to rationalize their purchase, even if the product is known to have ethical issues. Benjamin Franklin famously wrote, “So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do” (Franklin, 1791). This means that people are often able to find justifications for buying a desirable product, even if they know that it has ethical issues. For example, people may justify buying a FIFA World Cup ticket because they are huge football fans and want to experience the excitement of the tournament.

Wilful ignorance and moral hypocrisy: People often use ethical information when they have it, but they may be less likely to seek out information that could make them feel uncomfortable about their purchasing decisions. Mark Twain once said, “A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval” (Twain, 1900). This means that people are more likely to approve of their own behavior and choices, even if they would judge others for the same behavior. This can create a flexible moral context that allows people to justify their own purchasing decisions, even if they know that they are supporting products or services that have ethical issues.

Convenience and affordability: In plenty of cases there is no economic justification for the ethical choices. Things like eating healthy, and caring for the environment are not convenient and affordable for the majority of the people. People are often willing to overlook ethical concerns if a product or service is easily accessible and fits within their budget. In some cases, ethical alternatives may be more expensive or less readily available, which can make it difficult for people to make a conscious choice.

In conclusion, our consumer choices are often shaped by a complex interplay of factors, including product desirability, willful ignorance, moral hypocrisy, social influence, and convenience. While we may profess to care about ethical issues such as environmental protection, workers’ rights, or fair trade, our actual behavior may not always reflect these values.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-we-buy-questionable-products-psychology-behind-our-pushkar-sharma

(Neeru Paharia, 2013)

Neeru Paharia, K. D. (2013). Sweatshop labor is wrong unless the shoes are cute: Cognition can both help and hurt moral motivated reasoning. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 81-88.

This is what I love about Amazon, they don’t stick to the rules. A simple rule they follow: Let the market set the rules. Even though they sell books online (apart from other products), they don’t hesitate to open book stores citing opportunity. They take fast decisions, right or wrong, learn from it and move forward.

In the recent case, they decided to release the movie ‘Air’ made by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon for Amazon studios in theatres. In the five days of release, they grossed 20.2 million. Amazon is expecting a better performance on the streaming app, because of the buzz created by the theatrical release.

This is what Netflix also did but their focus was on streaming only. Glass onion was released in the theatres only for 5 days in 600 screens. Most of the big movies release for four weeks and in around 3500 screens. Even though the book written by Reed Hastings on Netflix and its culture is titled No Rules Rules’, they seem confused about the future.

The confusion looks apparent in their pricing, password sharing and ad insertion decisions. They are lagging behind their targets of subscriptions in the Indian market by a huge margin. They have management problems in India and they lack content to please the Indian palate. Sony Liv with series like Scam, Gullak and The Rocket Boys, Hot Star Disney with Special Ops and Criminal Justice are creating better content.

Coming back to the theatrical release Amazon and Apple are showing great interest towards the cinema halls. According to certain reports Apple has set aside one billion dollar a year for the movies to be release in the theatres, before streaming. Apple is set to release ‘Killers of the Moon’ by Martin Scorsese and ‘Napoleon’ by Ridley Scott, wide in theatres. The decision makes sense as the exhibitors are complaining about not enough supply of movies in US. Not all the movies have to be released in the theatres but a distinction has to be made for such movies.

In the world of streaming services, I find the Netflix to be most vulnerable because the likes of Amazon and Apple have their ecosystem to support their streaming service. Netflix has to develop one.

What brought the decline in organic search engine traffic?

SEO was not an issue. Paid was not an issue.

There was 96% corelation between cold sales email and organic search engine traffic. Decline came because the staff was sending less emails. People receive email then search for the company on google. Google analytics logged those searches in the organic search categories.

Learning: Digital attribution and the entire online world can be misleading at best or completely wrong at worst.

This will continue to be an issue with the death of third party cookies and the use of ad blockers.

The author says Marketing mix modelling or econometrics may be the solution.

Digital marketers are obsessed with Performance advertising. You put an ad on social media and voila the result, so many people clicked and so many people bought.

According to Les Binet, whose original training was as an econometrician, “It looks very scientific, it looks very precise, and it’s extremely unreliable.”

Why it is unreliable?

Sales may not happen immediately and it happens sometimes after the attribution is calculated.

Sales may happen through different channels. Attributing sales to only one channel may be misleading. “The idea that one channel can be given ‘credit’ for a given lead or sale is nearly always nonsense,” Binet said. “Each sale is usually the combined result of multiple channels working together, often over a period of months or years.

Digital data trails usually last days or weeks, but advertising effects can last for years.

Search Google or Facebook to buy a product does not necessarily mean that they influenced my decision to purchase although Digital attribution will make it feel so. The focus is on demand fulfilment and not on demand creation.

“The attribution modelling bogusly attributes the sales to the few factors along the customer journey at the last bit of sale, and it ignores the many factors that led up to it,” Binet said.

Digital is just a medium and not strategy in itself. Attribute modelling overestimates the short-term direct response and underestimates the long-term brand communications. This is a big issue.

A lot of data is just noise and it signals nothing.

So where does econometrics fit in?

Econometrics models can take various variables that effect sales and narrow down them to few and predict the changes in sales as a result of change in the variable.

Econometrics for marketing has its pros and cons.

1. Name: _____________________
2. Age: ______________________
3. Gender 
4. Location
5. How often do you purchase a mobile phone
6. Which brand of mobile phone do use?(Brand and model)
7. How long have you been using this phone?
8. Name you last two mobile phones
9. Are you likely to purchase the same brand as your next phone
10. How satisfied are you with the current phone?
11. Name your last phone:
12. How satisfied you were with your last phone?
13. How did you get your current set of mobile Phone?
14. How did you get your current phone?