Summary
The purpose of this study was to analyze consumer perceptions of three brands of body lotion and how these perceptions affected and were affected by magazine advertisements for those brands. Various statistical tests were performed on a sample of 80 respondents using SPSS, including paired and independent t-tests, chi-squared, frequency count, simple correlations, regression analysis, ANOVA/MANOVA, discriminant analysis, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. The results were considered statistically significant where P<=0.15 indicating that in 85 or more samples out of 100 samples drawn from the same population as this sample, the expected values would be about the same as reported here.
The three brands considered in this study were Vaseline, Aveeno, and Olay. Overall the three brands were liked almost equally however, based on Brand Index Scores Aveeno was the most positively perceived brand followed by Olay and Vaseline. In terms of pre-to-post ad exposure respondents were more favorable to the Vaseline brand after seeing the advertisement followed by closely by Olay.
There was a weak positive relationship between the Brand Index scores for Vaseline and Aveeno which indicates that people who like Vaseline also like Aveeno. The results however were not statistically significant and could not therefore be applied to the population.
Survey results indicate a weak relationship between how respondents rated brand attributes and how they responded to the advertising so we cannot accurately predict up-movers and down-movers based on the responses to the Likert items. For Vaseline 26.2% of those who liked the Vaseline ad is explained by how much they liked the brand. For Vaseline 3 of the 10 Likert items that best explained the variance in pre-to-post change scores were: “Prefer over other brands”, Prevents dryness” and “Makes skin softer”. Only 14.0% of those who liked the Aveeno ad is explained by how much they liked the brand. For Aveeno, 2 of the 10 Likert items that best explained the variance in pre-to-post change scores were: “Good Brand” and “Feel more attractive using it”. 16.9% of those who liked the Olay ad is explained by how much they liked the brand. Finally for Olay one Likert item that best explained the variance in pre-to-post change scores was: “Feels oily on skin”.
This study is limited primarily because the data were drawn from a non-random sample and because the sample was not large. A control group would have made the research design more rigorous but was not possible due to constraints on time and resources.
In conclusion, some of the findings in this survey were significant and therefore this study could serve as the basis for further research into consumer perceptions of body lotion