Review on the article Authenticity is being peddled as a cure for drooping brands Plugaru Carolina

Journal The Economist Group no. 1737

Date of publishing: November 14th 2015. Series D

Abstract

The article Factors of influence and changes in the tourism consumer behavior was published on in 2011 in
Bulletin of the Transylvania University of Brasov. The main purpose of this research is to identify the genesis
of consumers attitude in their buying behavior, and therefore the specific factors that contribute to their influence.
This research focuses mainly on authenticity that a product expresses, and what impact it has on the consumers.
Technically, it determines its role in influencing the consumer behavior.
The main topic the article addresses, represent a high relevancy aspect, because the individuality and authenticity
of the product are the mainly the factors that illustrate the perception of the product and its recognition.
The structure of this article mainly uses a narrative structure combined with the hourglass structure. The
Hourglass structure implies discussing the main effects regarding a particular topic, in our case the consumers
perceptions of the brands. As mentioned above, the author also focuses on the narrative structure by sharing
details regarding this topic, and comes up with more and more examples of researches and implications that
sustain his point of view before drawing final conclusion.

Introduction

Being genuine represents one of the most crucial and essential attribute of a product or trademark, for which the
person who buys the merchandise or even services to proceed their purchase decision.
Besides that, authenticity induce the customers dependability towards a product. Speaking about consumers
ability to make decisions, we can say that they are influenced by some factors depending mainly on its age, values
and the expectancies regarding a product or brand. In addition to that, an important idea that sustains the main
interpretation concluded in this text, and that should be cited is Authenticity is far easier to pull off when your
product has some real-world qualities that its competitors lack (Authenticity is being peddled as a cure for
drooping brands, The Economist, November 14th 2015).
Moreover, nowadays consumers share opinions about products not only by the information that the company
provides about the specific product, but by the information that they can find additionally, including reviews,
which can make their purchase decision fluctuate between products that share specific attributes, accordingly to
their needs and judgment.
SWOT ANALYSIS

Strong Points of the article.

In order to identify the first and main strength point of this article we should always pay attention to the sources
of information that the article uses. To explain it briefly, if an article does contain expressions like experts say
or some studies tell, we can see that this is not a reliable article because it is not sustained by facts. But in this
article we can see that the sources are not vague, they are representative, are conducted by proved organizations,
and at the same are verifiable.
Another strong point of this article that it has a lot of details and explanations. For every idea represented, there
plenty of arguments that could sustain these. The author also is presenting real facts and logical reasoning.

Weak points of this article.

At the end of the article there are not included references so the reader cannot get more information directly about
the facts that are described in the article. Instead, the reader has to search manually for each study, research, etc.
that was mentioned in the article, which is time consuming, and not an appealing thing for the reader.
As being mentioned above, the article shows up in a high representative journal, unfortunately, but the writer does
not use a proper language in order to express himself (using the word bullshit). A journal like the Economist
should have a more professional style of writing.

Opportunities of this article.

A relevant opportunity for this specific article is that it addresses to a high numbers if readers, because it is hosted
by a well-known Economic Journal with a good reputation The Economist. This can be seen as being an
opportunity because the articles provenience speaks for itself. Moreover it proves that the content is qualitative,
and leads to a higher number of readers. This criteria leads to another good outcome, people can read and use this
article as a reference without any doubt that the information represented there can be trusted.

Threads of this article.

Overly speaking, peoples perception of the Business Journal can suffer considerable changes due to the major
weakness that was pointed out in the paragraph above (inappropriate language). If the lecturers are noticing
inappropriate words, another outcome might also be possible; human behavior varies from person to person, and
there are a lot of readers who may have an emphatic response to the article if they see in it improper language as
being specified in the original article.
JUDGEMENT VALUE.

Did I liked the article or not? Why do I like it or not?

The main reason why I choose this article is because I really like the topic it addresses, in my opinion being
authentic also represented one of the key factors that a product should have, and because of this, while I was
reading this article I was conjecturing the fact that this article totally resemble with my beliefs.

What do I like about this article?

The main thing that I like about this article is that it does not focus only on the authenticity, it always focuses on
other factors that influence consumer behavior. This is the main aspect that I enjoyed while reading this article,
considering the fact that there are plenty of other papers that focus mainly on a single topic, and neglect other
factors that could be possible correlated.

What I would have like in addition about this article?

I would like to see in this article more examples of surveys that sustain his point of view, also I would appreciate
if the author would write the reference list at the end of the article because this topic is very relevant for me, and
I would like to see its sources of information.

What is interesting about this article?

I was really interested about the examples of studies and surveys that were included in this article especially the
survey that was made in 2013 by the Boston Consulting Group on 2,500 American consumers where interrogated.
The results were very controversial, and unexpected for me. This study found that being authentic was one of the
main qualities they said would attract them to a brand, but in comparison with the millennial consumers it was
second in importance only to rewarding their loyalty with discounts.

How is it helpful? What the article does not clarify?

This article is absolutely helpful because it provides worthwhile information for the new companies or even for
the future marketers that try to promote or learn how to promote some particular products and fluctuates between
the values that they want to focus, and at the same time the article clarifies all the aspects that complement each
other.

What is the mindset/mood that the article induces?

The mindset/mood that this article creates, is mainly characterized by interest, I was really concerned before on
this topic, and the author could explain me in one page the distinctions abut consumers/perceptions and what
really means authenticity of a product.
Opportunity and the actuality in the context.
Generally speaking this article focuses on an important topic, and we can see that its main opportunity is that it
can be used and read by a high number of people. By that I mean that it segments the readers into main categories.
This article can be useful for marketers, for companies that want to propose its product on market, for analysts of
consumer behavior and why not, for people that simply want to be informed. Thus, this article is represented by
being an actual one because its ideas and examples are based on true, though recent surveys and studies that were
made on a large number of people, which is an important factor that determines the certainty of the paper.

CONCLUSIONS.

Resuming the ideas represented above.

The main purpose of this research is to identify the genesis of consumers attitude toward brands. The structure
of this article mainly uses a narrative structure combined with the hourglass structure. The main topic the
article addresses, represent a high relevancy aspect, because the individuality and authenticity of the product are
the mainly the factors that illustrate the perception of the product and its recognition.
While describing the SWOT analysis, there were represented other aspects of this article. Speaking about strong
points of the article we can see that the sources are not vague, they are representative, are conducted by proved
organizations, and at the same are verifiable. Moreover, the author is presenting real facts and logical reasoning.
Thus, speaking about weak points of this article we can mention that the end of the article there are not included
references so the reader cannot get more information directly about the facts that are described in the article. A
relevant aspect represent the opportunities, we can deduct that the article addresses to a high numbers of readers,
mainly because it is hosted by a well-known journal with a good reputation. And one major thread would be
peoples perception of the journal which can suffer considerable changes due to the use of inappropriate language.
The main thing that I like about this article is that it does not focus only on the authenticity, it always focuses on
other factors that influence consumer behavior. This article provides worthwhile information for the new
companies or even for the future marketers that try to promote or learn how to promote some particular products,
and fluctuates between the values that they want to focus.
This article focuses on an important topic, and we can see that its main opportunity is that it can be used and read
by mass of people. Thus, this article is represented by being an actual one because its ideas and examples are
based on true and recent studies that were conducted on huge communities of people, which is an important aspect
that determines the certainty of the paper.
Personal Proposal.
I would like to propose a slightly different approach to the topic of this article. Because in my opinion authenticity
is not the only factor that attracts the customer to a particular brand, I believe that it should be combined with
other marketing components. My proposal is to elucidate how authenticity can become a better tool for attraction
consumers in correlation with advertising. Especially how the particular company can use its authenticity in a
commercial, in order to reach more consumers. I find this topic relevant because advertising is an indispensable
approach for buyers, and in this case its interaction with the genuine side of the product could give an extra result
in increasing sales, moreover when the consumer is dug up to something that enhance its interest, they may act in
a response that is auspicious for the companies.