WHO CONTROLS YOUR CHOICES?
The hypothesis of this experiment was that advertisement (appearance) would affect the choice of vitamin waters for kids. Manufactures annually spend thousands of dollars to make their product a best seller. Most of this money is spent on sleek advertisement designs and bottle shapes. This research project was designed to provide some data as to whether costly advertisement truly does affect the choice of drinks for kids.
	Eight different brands of vitamin water drinks were used and 45 students participated in the study. Students were asked to select their three favorite drinks and rank them in first, second and third place order (dependent variable). They were asked to base their selection on the label, advertisement and packaging (independent variable) and not on what they already know about the product. They were also instructed to give the reasons why they selected the drinks. Reasons for selection were grouped into the three following categories; advertisement (appearance), nutritional value, and performance enhancement claims. Two trials were conducted with only the order in which the vitamin waters were placed on the table varied (control).
Response data was organized into the total responses for those who chose the drink based on nutritional value, advertisement (appearance), and performance enhancement claims. The data in both trials suggested that advertisement (appearance) was the dominant factor in the choice of drink. The results of this experiment confirm the necessity for manufacturers’ to spend large amounts of money on advertising and product packaging.