Marketing Placebo

Shiv, Baba, Carmon, Ziv and Ariely, Dan (2005), "Placebo Effects of Marketing Actions: Consumers May Get What They Pay For," Journal of Marketing Research, 42 (November), 383-393.

This article describes marketing activities including pricing, quality, and advertising claims, can change the actual efficiency of the products in the tests. The article speaks of the placebo effects derived from the anticipated products efficiency. In the three experiments used in this article, it observes the conclusion that a discounted price can be less of a benefit when using the product. There is a correlation found between the real and discounted price of a product, and the actual benefit observed through the belief as to its effectiveness. This article includes a discussion of theoretical background, managerial marketing, and the public policy caused by the findings.

Chapter 4 discusses the use of experiments "to rule out alternative explanations." This article agrees with the book that experiments are a good way to do this. However it is not so black and white. There are many variables in the experiments in this article. In the first experiment you do not know if you have accounted for all variables until the experiment is over. Chapter 4 also discusses casual research. This is the kind of research that was trying to be obtained in the article. The article was trying to find out if price caused assumed quality. In chapter 5 the book spoke of self-confidence, in the article they speak of self-efficiency. Self-efficiency or self-confidence are observed when the participants are participating in the puzzle task. Here they are looking at ones own belief in ones ability. In this instance, the ability to unscramble word puzzles. In chapter 5 the book also discussed perception. The article observed perception as lower-priced products are of lower quality. Therefore, the adage "you get