{"id":30,"date":"2019-07-26T17:21:15","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T17:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/criticalanalysis\/chapter\/context-strategic-decision-making\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T17:02:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:02:29","slug":"context-strategic-decision-making","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/criticalanalysis\/chapter\/context-strategic-decision-making\/","title":{"raw":"Context & Strategic Decision-Making","rendered":"Context & Strategic Decision-Making"},"content":{"raw":"

The Role of Decision-Making in Understanding Context<\/h1>\r\nAs we delve into the larger context surrounding our field of study and its associated professions, we\u2019ll adopt a decision-making lens. How do current trends, concerns, and research within our academic discipline influence the choices we make regarding our academic and professional development or personal interests? In simpler terms, what knowledge do we need about our field to make informed decisions?\r\n

A Marketing Mishap: The Affinity Shampoo Commercial<\/h2>\r\nTo grasp the relationship between context and decision-making, let\u2019s examine a marketing campaign that stumbled due to a lack of consideration for context\u2019s impact on consumer behavior. Take a moment to watch the Affinity Shampoo Commercial<\/strong> (please note that the video quality is subpar, but it conveys the advertisers\u2019 approach).\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/voP2gOXJcJ4?si=-QRIpwlxBFj-fINY[\/embed]\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAt first glance, the commercial seems innocuous\u2014after all, who wouldn\u2019t desire luscious hair? However, despite the shampoo\u2019s potential benefits, women refrained from purchasing it. Why? Because they didn\u2019t want to associate themselves with being \u201colder.\u201d The marketing campaign overlooked a critical cultural context: American attitudes toward aging during the 1980s. The consequences were significant.\r\n\r\nAs you can see from the Affinity shampoo example, a series of decisions went into the making of the commercial: how the product would be described in the voiceover, the gender of the voiceover artist, the gender of the model, the age of the model, what she would say, what the product packaging would look like, the product tagline on the screen, and so on. When you view the commercial, you can see that every one of these decisions made sense-except they ignored the larger context of America's youth culture.\r\n\r\nPlease read the article: \"Riding Happy into the Golden Years,\"<\/a> to learn more about the fall out of Affinity shampoo and the consequences of misreading an audience.\r\n\r\nAdditional horrible and\/or unfortunate ads whose marketing teams misread context:\r\n