Fit Tea and Advertising

.....business chooses to advertise it is attempting to introduce a product or service into the marketplace to make potential customers more likely to buy and become loyal to the business. The aim is to increase visibility and generate brand awareness of the product and/or service, thereby increasing potential profits. Companies do this all the time when they are first launching a brand-new product or service. For example, Apple increases its advertising when they first launch a new iPhone. The same can be said with companies like Amazon when they launch a new version of their kindle.

The type of signals, advertisers make for their company are to create a connection with the consumer base. The customers need to feel a deeper connection to the product that will compel them to purchase and continue purchasing. Social media is being used to by companies now because social media savvy people already have that built-in connection their audience they spent years to establish and can make it easy to advertise a product (Wind, 2016). A product by the name of 'Fit Tea' has hit Instagram with many Instagram-famous bloggers and vloggers promoting the product.

When customers see the product being promoted by someone they admire and/or like, they are more likely to buy the product because they believe the promoter is sincere. This goes into the kind of promises the company makes when advertising to an audience. By promoting this product, there are implicitly promising a high-quality product that works and can be purchased at a reasonable price. Customers then trust the company and make the purchase.

This exchange creates a connection and establishes a relationship between the customer and the firm. Such a relationship allows for potential future transactions between both parties. Such transactions promote customer loyalty and continued profits for the company. Therefore, it is important that the firm attempts to make promises that will propel the growth of customer loyalty.

Although these promises are meant to be kept by firms, at times they are not. When promises are not delivered, many things can go wrong. That anticipated customer loyalty can fizzle before it is formed. For example, if a company promises a customer will lose weight thanks to using a product (Fit Tea), and the customer does not lose weight, it destroys the confidence and trust the customer has for the firm and the product.

Fit Tea is an excellent example of this. Many social media famous women were approached by the company that represents Fit Tea to promote their product. These women at times lie about taking the tea and losing weight because of the tea. However, because their fans are loyal and gullible, they buy into the claims that the tea helped their favorite stars lose weight. The tea and teas like it are natural diuretics and mainly influence the loss of water weight. "contains natural diuretics like dandelion and senna roots, may have a laxative-like effect and cause temporary water weight loss. Some more serious side effects of similar products have been reported, including pain and an irregular menstrual cycle" (Berg, 2016).

Even with the potential negative side effects, the tea keeps being promoted along with other, similar teas raking profits in for the companies that produce and sell them. Still because of the inability to deliver promises of real weight loss, customers have begun to voice their concerns. This happens with many companies when they fail to deliver their promises. Customers decide to leave complaints and bad reviews to voice their anger. Whatever the problems that come from unkept promises, advertisers need to be aware of the negative effects of brand recognition when such recognition concerns the quality of the product or service.

References

Berg, M. (2016, November 17). Strange Brew: Reality Stars Are the Active Ingredient For Flat Tummy Tea. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2016/11/17/strange-brew-reality-stars-are-the-active-ingredient-for-flat-tummy-tea/#6f9fd034f527

Jefkins, F. (2016). Advertising. Elsevier Science.

Wind, J. (2016). Beyond Advertising: Reaching Customers Through Every Touchpoint, 2nd Editio. John Wiley & Sons.