There are hundreds of huge, well recognized brands nowadays. We all know them so well, we are not even their clients, but we still know them so well. They are everywhere around us, they influence our life, they set up trends for the next five years, they create our lifestyle. We all have to have Mackbook, get a cup of coffee in Starbucks before class, and grab a lunch to go in McDonalds. But how did we make our choice? Why did we choose these brands? There are many “classic” theories about it, and how consumers make their choice. However, now I would like to focus on rather unusual theory, which attracted my attention.

All the companies try to come up with a great advertisement, with a “catchy phrase”, something that will differentiate their product from other products. However, recent researchers showed that consumers behavior is influenced not by actual advertisement, but by environment around them. Things that we see in everyday life influence us and change our consumer taste and preferences. For example, after launching NASA’s Pathfined on Mars in 1997, demand the Mars chocolate bar increased dramatically (the fun fact is that the name of the company has nothing to do with planet Mars, it was named like that, because of the founder last name). Also, people who live next to the shore have to are more likely to buy, Tide detergent, because they often witness tides. So the question is still open, should big companies spend great amounts of money on advertisement or should they try to influence by changing the environment, which would remind us of their product?