Products and Emotions

28Jan08

Why do people need so much shoes? especially of the fairer gender, there would be tons of shoes!

The wall of shoe boxes beside the shoe rack at home is quite testament to the amount of shoes my mom and sister can horde. As a matter of fact, they would hardly remember all the shoes they own, much less which box they’re in.

I’m going to talk about the different kinds of shoes and its emotional impact on people.

Visceral Impact!

Its a clearly visceral emotion that this product evokes to the consumer. The sexy curves, killer heels and passionate red are yelling “sexy” and to top it with a bit of class, the crystals evoke a sense of elegance.
Why women punish their knees, calfs and ritualistically go through the passage of womenhood by learning to walk on these sorts of high heel shoes would perhaps remain a mystery to half od mankind. But undoubtedly, despite being a health hazard and being uncomfortable to walk long distances in, women continue to make decisions to purchase and wear high heel shoes on its visceral impact.
Alright, so do men react to women in high heels purely from its visceral impact as well, I guess.

Behavioural

Now Birkenstock sandals are really quite plain look if you ask me, but so many people have fallen in love with them.
The ergonomic looking design and suede leather finish have made many people comment how comfortable it is to wear and walk around in them that we now have a whole lot of people wearing Birkenstock sandals because they are comfortable. With all the cheap imitation flooding the market these days, getting an original birkenstock (which is quite expensive for a sandal) also does seem to carry some amount of “prestige” with it. I would say that for most who would get a birkenstock or birkenstock look alike sandal, it would really be for the comfort of walking in them.

Reflective

Personally, crocs are one of the most ugly looking contraptions ever designed by a human being! It looks really cheap because of its rubber/plastic like material and the great number of holes in the shoe. What’s amazing is the throngs of people who spend good money on them. Aethestically, it unpleasing to say the least. Behaviourally, it looks difficult to walk around with. There are people who claim that crocs are actually very comfortable shoes. Most who do own such a shoe in Singapore probably got the imitation version(which I might add is tons cheaper). These proved dangerous for children who wear them when a Straits Times article reported on how a young girl lost her toe on the escalator when her imitation crocs were stuck.

why do people flock after crocs if its ugly and possibly dangerous to wear? I can only conclude that when an individual buys a croc or croc like shoe, it would be largely a reflective process. A process of thinking what would getting an ugly shoe like this do to me? And the notion of how it will seem to make a fashion statement about them being classified within a group of people who subscribe to this fad of fashion (especially in its initial phases before all the cheap imitations flooded the market). Its a “different” shoe and people wanted to be associated with being “different” bought crocs. Therefore I believe that to buy a pair of crocs is largely a reflective emotion.

Comments
A variety of factors affect the way we purchase products from virtually any category. I specifically chose something as simple, needed and used-daily product as a shoe to try to understand if a product that is so functional as a shoe for walking would involve emotions that are more then behavioural in the selection process. I must say I had a hard time in the reflective category to find a product that was clearly bought an a reflective emotion rather then by initial impact or its functional usage.

All own shoes. Some more then others. All shoes are equal. Some more equal then others.

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