Comments on Gordon Foxall: The marketing firm

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Abstract

Foxall's use of behavioural concepts in analysing the actions of a marketing firm is welcomed. However, a number of issues contained in the paper by Foxall (Foxall, G. R. (1999). The marketing firm, Journal of Economic Psychology, 20, this issue) require clarification. These areas are: the role of `informational stimuli'; the influence of verbal rules; and, the precise nature of the discriminative stimuli operating. It is suggested that aspects of classical conditioning also may be applied profitably in interpreting the relationship between marketing firms and consumers' behaviour. In particular, the role of marketing firms in determining the nature of the conditioned response, through manipulating the shopping environment and the existing response system, is highlighted.

Introduction

Foxall (1999)suggests that concepts from instrumental conditioning could be applied to analyze how marketing firms influence consumer behaviour. He argued that marketing firms capitalise on the instrumental nature of consumers' behaviour to manipulate a variety of cues within a retail environment to promote acquisition. For example, they enhance the attractiveness of the product to maximise its reward in a relatively straightforward manner. Additionally, marketing firms organise the setting in which buying an item or services is rewarded. By establishing the stimuli which set the occasion for purchase, the marketing firm ensures the maximum likelihood of further consumption by reproducing these settings on future occasions. Although the adoption of a learning theoretic approach is to be welcomed, two separate sets of concerns remain. Firstly, some assumptions in the analysis remain only weakly supported by the evidence obtained from studies of conditioning. Second, different assumptions about consumer behaviour could lead to a rather different conditioning account. This alternative account also accommodates the same phenomena referred to by Foxall (1999). The existence of an alternate conditioning view exacerbates the need for clarity in Foxall's (1999) model in order to allow proper comparison. Of course, on the basis of present knowledge, it is difficult to favour one or other of the approaches (indeed, they are not necessarily mutually exclusive). However, the possibility of an alternate account based on similar observations as those made by Foxall (1999) does weaken the force of Foxall's (1999) account.

Section snippets

Concerns about concepts

There are three areas in the model proposed by Foxall (1999)that produce cause for concern. Until these areas acquire some greater definition, it is difficult to examine the model in the light of contemporary accounts of conditioning.

The mention of an “informational reinforcer” (Foxall, 1999; see also Foxall, 1994) as controlling behaviour is problematic. Informational stimuli are usually taken as those that impart knowledge to the subject about the status of the response with respect to the

A classical conditioning model of consumption and marketing

It is possible to produce an alternate model to that outlined by Foxall (1999). This model is also based on learning theory, and accounts for the same types of observations as those of the instrumental conditioning model Foxall (1999). However, the alternate model makes rather different assumptions about the nature of consumer behaviour. The relationship between stimulus and outcome which prevails during an episode of consumption is as amenable to analysis in terms of their embedded Pavlovian

Comparisons of classical and instrumental models

Both models of marketing discussed here (the classical and instrumental views) emphasize the role of the marketing firm as manipulating the stimulus which provokes consumer behaviour. In the model presented by Foxall (1999), this stimulus sets the occasion for consumers to purchase items. The classical conditioning model suggests that the stimulus serves as a CS for a consummatory CR. It is, of course, very difficult to distinguish between these stimulus functions. Not least, because all

Conclusion

Foxall (1999)opens an important line of discussion concerning one area of economic activity. The power of learning theory in illuminating these areas should not be underestimated, and to this extent Foxall (1999)contribution is to be welcomed warmly. The possibility of an alternative learning theory model to describe consumer behaviour and the manner in which marketing firms operate provides an opportunity to empirically test between theories. Such empirical testing, however it is conducted,

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Lisa A Osborne for initiating discussion of these ideas, and to Peter Lunt and Celia Heyes who read previous versions of this manuscript. Requests for reprints should be addressed to: Phil Reed, Department of Psychology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK (e-mail: [email protected]).

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