Values

Definition:  The ideals, customs, institutions etc of a society toward which the people of the group have an affective regard. These values may be positive such as cleanliness, freedom or education. Or these values may be negative such as cruelty, crime or blasphemy.

Kahle’s List of Values (LOV) consists of nine items:

• Self respect
• Excitement
• Self fulfilment
• Being well respected
• Sense of accomplishment
• Warm relationship with others
• Security
• Fun and enjoyment
• Sense of belonging

Buying certain products can help one achieve these end-states such as certain brands of clothing can help with the sense of belonging, a certain car can help with the sense of accomplishment and concert tickets can aid fun and enjoyment.

Values change over time which is shown using marriage as an example. In the fifties a good housewife would be one that would be willing to bend over backward to please her husband - it was a very submissive role. However these days it’s more equal and mostly the husband trying to forever please his wife.
A technique called Laddering can help to identify the link between desired end states and functional product atrributes. The key to finding out the terminal value of a person is to keep asking the question “why?”. For example: Mints -> Strong taste -> Solves bad breath -> Able to talk to people -> SELF ESTEEM. The terminal value is the person’s self esteem.

Key events that have occurred during someone’s life can make an impact on them, this is a timeline of an eighteen year old’s life from 1992-present.

1. Croatian War of Independence (1991-1995)
2. Jurassic Park was made (1993), Pablo Escobar shot down in Columbia (1993)
3. Civil War in Rwanda (1994), existance of black holes proved (1994), Channel Tunnel opens (1994), Comet hits Jupiter (1994), start of the OJ Simpson murder case (1994), TV show Friends was released (1994)
4. First planet outside our solar system found (1995), Windows 95 released (1995), James Bond returns to cinemas (1995)
5. OJ Simpson trial begins (1996), Princess Diana and Prince Charles divorce (1996), Nintendo 64 released (1996), cloned sheep Dolly created (1996), JonBenet Ramsey murder (1996), Dunblane Massacre (1996)
6. Hong Kong’s independence (1997), Mars Pathfinder lands on Mars (1997), funeral of Princess Diana (1997), Comet Hale-Bopp first spotted (1997), Tony Blair elected (1997), Titanic the movie opened (1997), Harry Potter published (1997), Mother Theresa dies (1997), Pokemon introduced (1997)
7. Peace in Northern Ireland (1998), Geri Halliwell leaves the Spice Girls (1998)
8. Columbine Tragedy (1999), NASA loses two Mars-bound space probes (1999), first non-stop world trip in a balloon (1999), Y2K scare (1999), creation of the Euro (1999), Extremist bombings in England by neo-Nazi group White Wolves (1999)
9. Dr Harold Shipman found guilty of murdering fifteen patients (2000), the ILOVEYOU computer virus spreads worldwide (2000)
10. Apple release iTunes (2001), Wikipedia goes online (2001), car bomb explodes in front of BBC television centre in London (2001), Mars Odyssey is launched (2001), total solar eclipse (2001), London Stock Exchange goes public (2001), 9/11 (2001), anthrax attacks (2001), Bush declares a ‘War on Terror’ (2001), Apple releases the iPod (2001), Windows XP available (2001)
11. Wall Street Journal reporter kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan (2002), funeral of the Queen Mother (2002), the Mars Odyssey discovers presence of water on Mars (2002)
12. London Congestion Charge scheme begins (2003), global protests against Iraq war (2003), SARS virus (2003)
13. Facebook was founded (2004), Hurricane Ivan (2004), Boxing Day Tsunami disaster (2004)
14. Pope John Paul ll dies (2005), scientists announce they have created mice with small amounts of human brain cells in an effort to make realistic models of neurological disorders (2005), Hurricane Katrina (2005)
15. Scotland ban smoking in public places (2006), UK Terrorism Act becomes law (2006), toiletries banned from commercial airplanes (2006), Saddam Hussein sentenced to death (2006)
16. Final book of the Harry Potter series released (2007)
17. The price of petroleum hits $100 per barrel (2008), Northern Rock in financial crisis (2008), Fidel Castro resigns as President of Cuba (2008), Global financial crisis (2008)
18. Swine Flu pandemic sweeps the world (2009), death of Michael Jackson (2009)
19. Chili miner incident (2010), earthquake in Haiti (2010).

Upon taking the VALS survey (http://www.sric-bi.com/VALS/presurvey.shtml) the results could not be shown although the survey was repetitive in a lot of it’s questions. It also had a few questions about religion and religion in schools which is a touchy subject for most and a lot of questions about fashion trends.

Values in marketing differ for companies. Companies such as Cadbury's and Costa use Fair Trade in their marketing campaign to reach more ethical people whereas companies such as Marlboro or any cigarette companies tend to be viewed as highly unethical. Back in the day, Camel (a cigarette company) used celebrities as spokepersons in their adverts:

However this backfired when Camel smokers died due to their habit:

Camel went for a new campaign in the 80s and introduced Joe the camel, a smooth character.

This campaign was accused of directing cigarettes at children so had to be scrapped. Nowadays cigarette companies have been banned from advertising as they are seen as unethical and the values in society have changed. Smoking is no longer socially acceptable and considered cool.
The latest trend in advertising is all about the brand image of the company being ethical - Cadbury's:

People have higher values now than they did a decade ago and this has to be reflected in advertising in order for the product to sell.