Marketing And Branding Of Peanut Butter

Psychedelic Sellers

When one goes to the store and looks at all the choices of peanut butter, how do they know which one is the best? Pricing could be something that comes to mind, but what if they believe that the cheaper one tastes different? Maybe they go with the expensive one thinking that it’s everything peanut can be. In all reality, it’s peanut butter. So how do some products sell better than other’s when they are actually the same product? Companies today use marketing and branding to sell their products, but does a pretty picture really sell? In today’s day, it shows that the “pretty picture” is actually relating a product to the consumer, using advertising techniques, and using social media and the internet to obtain the goal higher than the actual product-- marketing. Everything from peanut butter to engine parts, selling the product is key.

As stated in Naomi Klein’s No Logo, Companies have discovered that they can contract to outside companies-- most of them not in the country. In doing so, they can cut the higher minimum wage that the United States has to pay, to a much lesser salary that outside companies are willing to work for. That’s money in the company’s pocket. From this point, companies no longer are manufacturers, but now marketing and sales representatives. “Whoever owns the least, has the fewest employees on the payroll and produces the most powerful images, as opposed to products, wins the race” (Klein, para 4). It’s not about the product being sold- it’s all about how to sell the product.

To add structure to that argument, I opened my pantry and pulled out a few items. Some branding ideas used are logos that make the consumer feel “at home” or “comfortable”. Mrs. Butterworth syrup is a product that a...

... middle of paper ...

...is a little unsettling to say that it doesn’t matter what the product is, but how it sells. Different mind techniques that the companies use are the reasons we buy the products the more you think about it. It is rare to find someone who will buy the Wal-Mart brand can of soup when the consumer knows that Campbell’s soup has been around for years and is only $0.50 more. Why wouldn’t someone buy the name brand if it’s only a little more. It’s the same product-- marketing and branding their products are what sell. Relating the product to the consumer like Mrs. Buttersworth does sells. Using advertising techniques such as the Betty Crocker cake mixes helps the consumer feel like they did the work. Using social media to sell their products is a borderline free advertisement technique. All the product needs is to get the attention of the audience to make a sale.