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Summary The purpose of this study was to analyze the preferences for three disposable women's razors among adult women in the population. A total of 90 respondents participated in the online survey that contributed to the database of results that were analyzed using various statistical methods. These analyses included: t-tests, multiple regression analysis, multiple discriminant analysis, analysis of variance, multiple analysis of variance, and factor analysis. Prior to print ad exposure for the three brands, the survey found that Schick and Venus were equally rated, and BiC brand of razor received a mean of zero rating points. In the brand recall section of the questionnaire, however, the results showed that 15 respondents recalled the Schick brand as the last purchased razor brand, 14 respondents recalled Venus, and 11 recalled BiC. After exposure to the three print ads, Venus and Schick split, with Venus pulling in the lead, and BiC finally gained some ranking points. The preference order following print ad exposure was: 1. Venus, 2. Schick, and 3. BiC. Due to the extremely low pre-exposure ratings, the majority of respondents did increase their ratings of all three brands following print ad exposure. However, the greatest increase was seen for Venus, then Schick, and finally BiC. To compare the difference between the top two preferred brands, a brand index score was calculated using Likert item questions in the survey that provided a total of ten different statements about each brand. Of the 90 participants, two-thirds had higher brand index scores for Venus than Schick, and the remaining one-third had higher brand index scores for Schick over Venus. To determine which of the 10 brand preference factors were most important in determining brand favorability, several analyses were conducted. These showed that the most important factors overall were perception of how good the razor brand was, how smooth the shave was, how close the shave was, how cool the razor looked, how sexy the razor made the respondent feel, how trusted the brand was, whether the respondent reported a preference over the other two brands, and purchase intent. How expensive the razor was perceived to be was important in determining preference for Schick and Venus, but not for BiC. Overall, respondents reacted favorably towards the Schick Quattro ad because of its unique design and the copy which indicates that boys are jealous of the female-only razor. However, this was not enough to overcome the appeal of the female-only brand, Venus. Many of the comments from respondents have led the researcher to believe that the presence of the male in the BiC ad turned many women away, feeling as though the brand is making a false promise to the consumer. Overall, the brand preferences remained rather constant throughout the survey, with Venus coming ahead in the end by a very small degree. The limitations of this study include the use of a convenient sample, which prevents this study's results from being projected to the population at large. Future recommendations are to conduct this study with a random sample of adult women, and to include a control group in which advertisements are not shown. Additionally, these results cannot be projected to advertising effects in general, but only to print advertisements among the community of women tested. In conclusion, there was very little indication that the advertisements shown to the participants produced any results beside activating and increasing previously existing brand preferences among the three razor brands. With more adequate resources, this study could be reproduced with more projectable results. |