Week 4 EOC: Advertising is Based on Happiness

What makes a happy consumer? Exceed my expectations and you'll win me over every time.

It's sad to say, but rarely are my expectations met or even exceeded as a consumer in today's market place. The last purchase the truly delighted me was during a recent vacation to Maui. The vacation condominium’s that we decided to stay in were in fact expensive; however every need and expectation was fulfilled by this amazing property.

Vacation is my escape from the everyday rat race, so I make a point to do it often and do it well. It was on vacation that I finally realized that my happiness or enjoyment of a trip hinges on whether my expectations are at the very least met - let alone exceeded. The destination could be (and has been) amongst the most beautiful places in the world, yet if my treatment as consumer falls short so does my happiness.

Order envy is the worst. I love to eat and even better, I love to eat out. But the absolute killer by far is when your food arrives and the food being served to the person next to you looks SO MUCH BETTER! That my friend is order envy. Some call it by other names, but I’m sure you know it as Buyers Remorse. For me, a recent home purchase falls directly into this category and kills me just a little bit every time I pull into the garage.

I know I should be grateful to have a home yadda yadda yadda, but there isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not enveloped with a feeling of bitterness and anger toward both myself and our ridiculously awful housing market. It is obvious that I couldn’t have picked a worse item to purchase and not be happy about, but there’s a lesson to be learned by every mistake and wisdom to be gained in every circumstance.