The Impact of DayQuil Commercials on Consumer Purchasing Behavior

Abstract

Course name Instructor’s name Assignment due date Effect of effects DayQuil Medication Commercials on Consumers Organizations use commercials to influence the consumers’ attitudes and decisions on their products. The capacity of pharmaceutical commercials to define the decision-making patterns among consumers is an issue of interest for organizations and regulators in the industry. This study is on the effects pharmaceutical commercials, specifically DayQuil can have on consumers. Dayquil is a medication that temporarily relieves cold and minor flu symptoms. The televised commercials are used to either entice the consumer to purchase the medication or persuade consumers against purchasing or consuming the medication after hearing the possible side effects and unapproved FDA ingredients. At the end of this study, we will be able to conclude if there is a positive or negative correlation between positive/negative pharmaceutical commercials and the decision to consume/purchase the medication. The purpose of the study is to determine the positive and negative effects of DayQuil commercials on the consumers’ decisions to purchase or use the medication. Determining the influence that negative and positive televised commercials have on the purchase behavior could determine the strategies that marketers and regulators could use to achieve their goals. The independent variables for the study are the positive and negative commercials for DayQuil medication. On the other hand, the dependent variables are the positive and negative purchasing decisions for the consumers of the medication. Determining the relationship between the variables will shape the strategies for influencing the consumption of medication by stakeholders in the industry. The relationship between commercials and the consumption of products has attracted researchers in various fields. Noland (2020) investigated the effectiveness of the mood management theory in determining how consumers’ purchasing decisions are influenced by commercials. The theory suggests that people will seek to maintain their good mood while avoiding factors that could expose them to the bad mood. In line with the theory, the consumers of products are likely to purchase products that will maintain their good mood while keeping away the bad mood. Noland (2020) found that positive moods tend to attract non-controversial commercials while people with a negative mood have a tendency to prefer controversial commercials. Krishen and Bui (2015) found that among randomly assigned samples, groups that viewed commercials based on fear reduced indulging intentions. Their findings offer insights on the role of pharmaceutical commercials on the consumption behavior among the target audience. Fear has a significant impact on the effect of commercials on the potential to influence consumers to use medication. The researchers note that regulators could achieve positive health decisions by using fear-based commercials to influence potential consumers of pharmaceutical products. Marketers target the emotional appeal for their audience to influence their decisions to purchase or use a product. Kang et al. (2020) investigated the role of storytelling in achieving favorable emotional responses and found that commercials that involved storytelling led to a positive purchasing decision. The findings show that emotions play a major role in purchasing behavior and that organizations can use stories to achieve a positive effect on consumers. The results that show ads play a major role in influencing their audience to choose a product or services from a particular organization. The structure of the commercial has significant implications on its effectiveness with stories achieving the emotional response that leads to a purchase decision. Literature demonstrates that commercials have the potential to influence the purchase decision for products among the target consumers. The hypothesis for the current study is that watching a commercial for DayQuil medication will have a positive or negative effect on the audience’s decision to use the product. The participants of the study were 34 individuals from CSU Channel Islands. The average of the participants was 26.26 years with a standard deviation of 10.664 years. Participants’ age was between 18 and 52 years. A demographics analysis showed that the Caucasians composed of 38.2% of the participants, Hispanics were 41.2%, African Americans made up 2.9%, Asian Americans were 14.7%, and the Native American participants were 2.9%. The findings showed that the participants were from a diverse population based on age and ethnicity. The analysis further revealed that 35.3% of the participants were freshmen, 17.6% were sophomore, 35.3% were Junior level, and 11.8% of the participants were seniors. Majority of the study participants were female at 73.5% while male participants were 26.5%. The materials for the study included the cloud-based service offered by Qualtrics and an electronic device to show the videos to the participants. They could use a phone, a laptop, or a tablet to access the videos for the study. A positive video showed the impact of DayQuil for a sick man whose condition improved after consuming the medication. On the other hand, the negative video showed many cold and flu medications and...