1. Why am I not surprised that your discussion lends itself to one conclusion -- we are saturated with promotion. With several opinions above to start the ball rolling, the consensus is that we are quite inundated with advertising! As I shared with you during our two identical conference calls, research shows that we are subjected 8000 times each day to various marketing cues, some of which are due to advertising.

How does The Persuaders make you feel about marketing and advertising?

2. We seem to have a pretty consistent thread of opinion relative to how you perceived the Persuaders. I am not surprised.

Marketer attempt to seek multiple ways to convince you that their product or service is something that you require to make your life all it can possibly be. Yet, amazingly, if you haven't obtained what they are trying to sell you, rarely is one's life going down the hopper. That doesn't keep the marketer from trying, however.

A question to ALL. How long do you suppose that marketers have truly been studying consumer behavior? At what point did the study of consumer behavior take on a life of its own? Let's see your research on this!

3. Google is developing a self-driving car that will be in the marketplace in the near future. Identify a potential target market segment and describe the value proposition that would meet the needs of this target market customer group. What need is being fulfilled? What benefits are being sought?

4. The Buying Decision Process (See "Lecture") focuses on the five steps that a consumer experiences when they go through a major purchase, especially a significant first-time purchase (e.g., a car, HDTV, digital camera, etc).

One reason for this is because the consumer wishes to minimize their exposure to "something" when they are about to purchase. What might that "something" be? Examples?