A reply to Christena George on collaboration and globalization

RE: Week 8 Collaboration

The world we live in today is probably the most globalized version of it. Globalisation has definitely made our lives much easier and convenient to a point that we do not have to step out anymore but can buy, sell, gift products all just by a click. However the greatest drawback of this is that we have all become obsessed with the digital media and are bombarded with messages and advertisements on a day to day basis. Researchers have suggested that an average person is exposed to around 5000 advertising messages daily from both traditional and non traditional media (Johnson, 2014) . We can all agree that most of them are from social media.

The fact that most media, especially digital is much more affordable compared to television or print, encouraged marketers to use multiple platforms to get thor message across easily. For instance, most of the younger generation wake up to content on social media. People are always checking their phones as and when the opportunity comes up.The main question is how much of these messages/ advertisements are relevant to our daily lives(Bamford,2014).

We come across a wide variety of content on multiple platforms and a good number of them are very irrelevant to our lives. This can be considered as over marketing and this can be in the form or emails, brochures, online ads etc. For instance some shopping websites that offer discounts for creating an account end up sending promotional emails on a constant basis that the customer has to eventually end up unsubscribing due to the overflow of the content. Hence I do think most brands are guilty of over marketing.

Over marketing however can also lead to over consumption and wastage. We are exposed to advertisements for all product categories that we are interested in that have eventually shifted from need based consumption to desire based. For instance I often shop for cosmetics and clothes and all I end up seeing on social media is ads for these products informing me about a sale or about new products that I could be interred in etc. This will naturally make me look into it regardless of whether I have a similar product or not. Advertising is so powerful and it can lead to an addiction which further leads to the increase in demand for a product(Ilicic & Webster, 2013). It is so connected to human psychology and uses this to get the message across. For instance a woman who is unhappy with her looks uses a waist trainer to get back into shape and to wear all the clothes she desires. Advertisers recognise the importance of people wanting to fit in and use this opportunity to create content, which eventually can have its drawbacks one of which making people materialistic or even ending in a depression.

One way that over marketing can be controlled is by segment marketing, where marketers focus on the segment they want to target. This way they can make sure that only their intended customers see the messages. Decreasing the frequency of the ads can also prove helpful for this situation. Reducing the number of emails or reminders to 2 to 3 times a week instead of making it daily can help make them more relevant(P. M. Brown & Cameron, 2000).

References:

Ilicic, J., & Webster, C. M. (2013). Celebrity co-branding partners as irrelevant brand information in advertisements. Journal of Business Research, 66(7), 941–947.

Brown, P. M., & Cameron, L. D. (2000). What can be done to reduce overconsumption? Ecological Economics, 32(1), 27–41.

Bamford, M. (2014) ‘Too much marketing can confuse customers’, Money Marketing, (1460), p. 47.

Johnson, S (2014) New research sheds light on daily ad exposures [Online]. Available from: http://sjinsights.net/2014/09/29/new-research-sheds-light-on-daily-ad-exposures/ (Accessed: 2 October, 2020)