PROJECT PROPOSAL ON THE IMPACT OF USE OF MODELS ON PATRONAGE

OF A PRODUCT (CASE STUDY OF MARY KAY)

By
OLATOYEGUN MARIA FOLASHADE
1409072122

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Advertising is a form of persuasion that aims to get people to patronize some product, service
or idea. Whether an organization manufactures goods or provides services, it is imperative
that product and service providers reach prospective customers and maintain existing ones.
Advertising aims at ensuring that a product does not fade out of existence. To achieve this,
the use of people who are famous in the society to endorse a product, service or idea has
become one of the various marketing tactics of advertisers. According to Kotler & Keller
(2006), advertising consist of non-personal form of communication conducted through paid
media under clear sponsorship. Baran (2001) also describes Advertising, as a paid nonpersonal communication to sell an idea, product person or services with an identified sponsor.
Advertising has been an active participant in socio-economic development of the society.
This is believed to have largely inspired the use of models as spokesman especially in effort
geared towards advertising and promoting product and services.
With a view to achieving various communication objectives and getting the target market
subscribe to whatever product or service or idea being advocated, advertisers make use of
different kinds of appeal when reaching out to their audience. Advertising appeals aim to
influence the way consumers view themselves and how buying certain products can prove to
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be beneficial for them. The message conveyed through advertising appeals influences the
purchasing decisions of consumers (Ashwini, 2009).
According to Wikipedia, a model is a person with a role either to promote, display, or
advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing) or to serve as a visual aide for
people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Modelling is considered to
be different from other types of public performance, such as acting or dancing. Although the
difference between modelling and performing is not always clear, appearing in a film or a
play are generally not considered "modelling".
The ever increasing product diversity and competition on the market of goods and services
has dictated the pace of growth in the number of advertisements. Despite their admittedly
diminished effectiveness over the recent years, advertisements remain the favoured method of
sales promotion. Consequently, the challenge for an advertiser is to explore every possible
avenue of making an advertisement more noticeable, attractive and impellent for consumers.
One way to achieve this is through invoking the use of models. Over the years, businesses
have long sought to attract the attention of potential customers and increase the patronage of
their market in a world of ever- increasing commercial advertisements. Every day, people are
exposed to thousands of voices and images in magazines, newspapers, bill board, websites,
radios, television. One well-used approach at differentiating and communicating
advertisements is the use of models. The use of models has gain acceptance by most
organizations in creating awareness about products introduced by organizations and in
marketing organizations too.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
No doubt, advertising has been one of the most effective means of creating awareness. Music
and drama are effective elements employed in the companys adverts to attract people to the
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network. However, models who appeal to some audience may serve as a turn off to others.
Not all models can advertise a product. The loss of public acceptability of a model can ruin
the product or brand advertised by the model. Issues of scandals which have dented the
images of models have also translated into the products being advertised by the model. Of
course the negative impression imprinted as a result of scandals is said to have drastically
affected the products patronage as well as its success. Also some of the models may lose
relevance in their fields with time. When that happens, the products and the messages being
conveyed about the product may make no sense to the audience. Thus, the study aims to
determine if the acceptance or non-acceptance of a model will influence customers
preference and opinion about the product.
AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The primary aim of this project is to analyze the impact of the use of models on the patronage
of a particular product. Specifically, the objectives of this study is:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

to investigate the customers attitude toward the use of models in adverts

to investigate customer purchase intention towards model advertised products
to determine if use of model increases awareness of products
to analyze the impact of models on overall patronage of the product

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In this study, an attempt will be sufficiently made to answer the following questions.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Does the use of models increase the awareness of products?

What are customers purchase intentions towards model advertised products?
Do customers have a positive attitude towards the use of models in adverts?
How does the use of models in adverts increase patronage of the product?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will serve as reference for further research work and contribute to existing
information on the subject. It will reveal to service marketers peoples opinion about the use

or non-use of models in advertising. It will also depict whether the use of models by service
providers can change the image of the organization in peoples mind or not.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This study employs the survey design. The method was considered appropriate in view of the
fact that peoples opinion and attitude are the focus of the study. The sample population
comprises students of Lagos state polytechnic, Ikorodu in various departments. The rationale
behind this choice is that there are both male and female students in the school.
The sampling techniques to be employed in this study is the stratified random sampling
would be used by grouping the respondents into the faculties of the campus because the
views of people who were willing, able and qualified were sampled.
The research instrument to be used for this study is questionnaire. The questionnaire would
be self-administered in order to ensure objectivity, thus terms that could be found ambiguous
to the respondents were explained.

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