Question

2. Going to the movies! Go to the website of any one cinema (e.g. Hoyts, Events, Reading or any other cinema of choice). Analyse the likelihood of reference group influence occurring with this sort of product category compared to another product category.

Answer 1

Reference group acts as a point of comparison wherein a person can relate to an individual on the poster in a movie theatre and the person forms his behaviour and attitude based on that comparison and experience.

Now on a movie cinema source, one will see posters with names on it and a person's face, children or just one picture wherein it tries to depict what a movie stands for. There is much more reference group influence occurring with this sort of product category as the movie producers want the consumer to relate to the story, otherwise their product wouldn't sell. They often base movies based on the large target audience which they expect the movie to cater to. This increases demand for their product and with one picture they try to make it as relatable as possible, by posting several children in a movie poster so that children will see the poster, immediately relate to it and can come in and watch it.

Now as compared to other product categories such as electronics, there is only one ambassador who is famous, who is shown on the cover of such products. The ambassadors are different for different countries so as to make it more relatable. There is less reference group influence in such product categories as a large target audience can see only one person, who might be male/female, it could be more relatable to a male when a male ambassador is chosen, the relatability is not such an important factor in such circumstances as the product is universal, and its features are important for higher sales rather than what is shown on the packing cover.

Thus reference group influence plays an important role in the case of movie category as it increases business and demand for the products.