McDonald's: Healthy Options for Your Unique Needs - Essay Sample

Introduction

Above is an example of an advertisement by McDonald's, which highlights the healthy options that the customers can choose. That is meant to address the unique needs of the customers, where they need healthy foods; because of the increased emphasis on healthy living in most societies. The stimulus, in this case, is health, where the company shows its concern to its consumers' health preferences. The role of an effective advertisement is to make sure it informs the target market that the organization is in an excellent position to satisfy the needs of the buyer. In this case, the need is physiological. However, there is an added attribute to the advertisement, which is meant to satisfy the customer more. That is in terms of health, where the ad promises the customer food that is healthier than other options available. The need that is to be satisfied in this case is among the basic, on the Maslow's hierarchy of needs (Huitt, 2007). That is where there are needs, such as food, rest, and water. An individual needs those for survival. These needs have to be satisfied before the individual meets any other requirements.

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Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a hierarchy that highlights needs based on their perceived necessity. That is psychological, safety, love, self-esteem, and self-actualization at the top (McLeod, 2007). One address the needs low on the hierarchy, then the one above follows, for better satisfaction. An example of physiological needs is food and rest. These are the needs that a human being must satisfy with priority. Without meeting the psychological needs, an individual is not in a position to satisfy the requirements above the hierarchy of needs. That is because they will not be in a place to take care of more critical needs when the basis is not well taken care of. Next on the hierarchy are the safety needs. These are the needs that an individual needs so that they are not exposed to any form of danger. An example of safety needs is personal, financial, and emotional security. They are meant to give individual peace of mind as they live. When one is secure, then they can move up the hierarchy of needs and satisfy the belongingness and love needs. That takes the example of friends and other intimate relationships that an individual has.

Self-esteem needs come next, where an individual has a feeling of accomplishment and prestige from the activities they do. For example, pursuing goals and developing skills, that is an illustration of self-esteem needs. Lastly, there is self-actualization, where an individual fulfills their full potential. Based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the need addressed by this advertisement is psychological. That is the most basic need that a human being needs (food). MacDonald deals with selling food commodities, which are the most basic human need under the physiological category. Without food, one will not feel the satisfaction they need from safety needs, love, and belongingness of self-actualization. Therefore, the level that MacDonald's foodstuffs link to his psychological needs. That is because food falls in that category of requirements that need to be satisfied by an individual.

Decision Making

Decision making is the process that an individual goes through that leads to the selection of a course of action that is consistent with their interests. The course of action that an individual makes after the decision-making process is as a result of analysis of the circumstances, and other classes of action that are available at the moment (Payne et al., 1991). That leads to the individual choosing an activity or object that will lead to the highest level of satisfaction. When making a decision, various issues come into play. First, are the preferences that an individual has. That will guide the type of choice a person takes, which is consistent with their needs.

Furthermore, there are environmental factors such as economic, health, and religious factors. In this case, when an individual is deciding to buy MacDonald's products, the significant issues that come into play are the economic factors and health/. That is because to satisfy a need, an individual considers the value of their money, as well as the health implication that the food commodity will have on that. That informs the various product promotion strategies that MacDonald's undertakes. They are meant to enable consumers to have their decision making lead to them purchasing MacDonald's products.

There are various types of decision making, such as business, personal, and consumer decisions. Business decisions are made by corporations; as they try to satisfy the needs of various buyers. That includes marketing decisions, product pricing, research, and design. They are made by the organization so that their goals and objectives are achieved in the long run. That is based on the business development strategy that the organization has developed for its operations. In this case, it is MacDonald's that makes the business decisions. That is to enable the company to satisfy the needs of their consumers better. That will lead to a sustainable competitive advantage in the long run. The other type of decision making is personal decision making. That includes life decisions that individuals make, such as education, housing, and insurance. They are meant to enable an individual to live a better quality of life. In this case, this type of decision is made by all people in general, as they decide on the various activities that improve their quality of life.

Lastly, there is the consumer type of decision; made by consumers as they purchase commodities. This type of decision by an individual determines the effectiveness of the purchase decisions that the consumers make. These decisions are based on various bases, such as the price of commodities, tastes, and preferences, and cultural factors. In this case, the consumers are involved in this type of decision making as they purchase the products by MacDonald's. That is based on their tastes and preferences, which guide their process of decision making.

Furthermore, the promotional and percussive advertisements by MacDonald's determine the direction of the decisions that are made by consumers. Therefore, in this case, the decision making that is most suitable is consumer decision making. The process that is followed is the recognition of a need, which is followed by information search. Third, there is an evaluation of alternatives from the information they obtained, which leads to a purchasing decision. Lastly, there is a post-purchase evaluation, where an individual analyzes the degree of satisfaction achieved from the decision they made. That is the decision making that is associated with the buyers of MacDonald's commodities in this case.

References

Huitt, W. (2007). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Educational psychology interactive, 23. http://www.rlifiles.com/files/en/2015_Grad_F.pdf

McLeod, S. (2007). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Simply psychology, 1, 1-8. http://highgatecounselling.org.uk/members/certificate/CT2%20Paper%201.pdf

Payne, J., Bettman, J. R., & Johnson, E. J. (1991). Consumer decision making. Handbook of consumer behavior, 50-84. https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/30385453/bettmanjohnsonpayne91.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DConsumer_decision_making.pdf&X-Amz-Alg

Strom, S. (2013). With Tastes Growing Healthier, McDonald's Aims to Adapt Its Menu. Retrieved April 18, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/business/mcdonalds-moves-toward-a-healthier-menu.html