VALUES

What is the most important in your life?

Values tell people what is good, beneficial, important, useful, beautiful etc. It answers the question of why people do what they do. It helps solve common human problems for survival.

“Important and enduring beliefs or ideals shared by the members of a culture about what is good or desirable and what is not. Values exert major influence on the behaviour of an individual and serve as broad guidelines in all situations.”(Lasa, 2009)

“If we believe our overall values drive our behaviour, then we should be concentrating on the important, underlying motives that drive consumers to make product or service choices rather than simply product attributes” (Ries & Trout 1982)

There are different types of values such as:

-          ethical/moral

-          doctrinal/ideological (religious, political)

-          social

-          aesthetic.

Values have impact on behaviour and attitudes. For example if the company treat better managers than their workers it means that company is an unfair place to work. This may affect the productivity of the worker. If the company would have more egalitarian policy, the worker attitude and behaviours would have been more positive. (William L. Reese, 2000)

Values also depend on the country people come from.

In the US, for example, professional athletes at the top levels in some sports are honoured more than college professors. Surveys show that voters in the United States would be reluctant to elect an atheist as a president, suggesting that belief in God is a value.

Another example can be wearing dark cloths and appearing solemn are normative behaviours at a funeral. In certain cultures they reflect the values of respect and support of friends and family. (Sidney B. Simon, 1995)

Think about values which you have!!

Do these values come from the country you come from, from your family home or friends?  The main reason of knowing your own values is going to help you make consistent decisions and take committed action. This will improve the results in those areas that are truly the most important for you.  Below I wrote the list of some values which may help you with finding your own values

•             Love

•             Health

•             Wealth

•             Comfort

•             Fun

•             Happiness

•             Success

•             Learning

•             Peace

•             Intimacy

•             Adventure

•             Security

Now it is good to prioritize these values. This will help you find out what is the most important for you. You should ask yourself questions such as: which of these values is truly the most important to you in life? If you could only satisfy one of these values, which one would it be? The list of values you’ve got can say what kind of person you are.

Once you know your values you can make your life key decisions. For example:  should you accept the new job position you've been offered? How much time should you spend with your friends? Your values help to make a good decision by asking yourself: "What would a person with these values choose to do in this situation?"

How advertisements relate to the values?

Almost all advertisements relate to the people’s vales. Everyone has different values in their life and different ads relate to different people. Below there are some examples of advertisements which shows different values.

-          First example is the McDonald’s Happy Meal ads which show the emotional moment with the kids. It relates to the family and having a good time values.  As the Burnet an accountant director says: “We wanted a more emotional connection”.   Milano says. “For parents, Happy Meal means happy memories; for kids, it means fun, favourite toys and properties, and favourite food. The area between those is ‘special moments,’ which gave us the line ‘Happy Meals for happy times.”

-          Another example is the ConAgra- food advertisements. Those ads give the message of many values in the advertisements. This brand tries to make the emotional connection with the consumers.  The company has underlined the importance of value-based products.

Another example of ConAgra ad is  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhwQKj9zQRo. This ad shows the values of happiness and healthy life style.  

-          http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/29295272 this ad shows the family values.

-          Another example shows the value of health “slim and fit” http://www.mojvideo.com/video-slim-fit/b59c0534835de1cc2be2 . this ad is example of physical beauty, youth, slimness and verbal wit.

-          Last ad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mqAK3g3UZQ&p=BEE7484F1FED28B0 shows the value of popularity, being rich.

Time line which had a reflection over me and my dad.

Me

My dad

Poland in NATO (1999) 11 September  new york  2001 Death pope John Paul II 2 April 2005 Euro notes and coins are issued for the first time in countries across Europe (2002) Global alert on SARS is announced (2003) Facebook is founded (2004) Barack Obama becomes the first African American President of the United States (2009) Plane with half of polish government crashed in  Smolensk. 96 politics died including polish president.  (2010) Volcanic ash from one of several eruptions beneath Eyjafjallajökull, an ice cap in Iceland, begins to disrupt air traffic across northern and western Europe (2010) Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns after widespread protests calling for his resignation (2011)

(1978 ) choice of first polish pope John Paul II.  Martial law in Poland ( 1981) Falklands War begins (1982) First election for president in Poland (1990). Bill Clinton becomes President of USA (1993) Poland in NATO (1999) Two planes fly in to the World Trade Centre in New York (2001) Euro notes and coins are issued for the first time in countries across Europe (2002) Facebook is founded (2004) Death pope John Paul II 2 April 2005 Barack Obama becomes the first African American President of the United States (2009) Plane with half of polish government crashed in  Smolensk. 96 politics died including polish president.  (2010) Volcanic ash from one of several eruptions beneath Eyjafjallajökull, an ice cap in Iceland, begins to disrupt air traffic across northern and western Europe (2010) Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns after widespread protests calling for his resignation (2011)

Older people will have different values than younger people. It comes from the experience they have had in their life. Event just the time line shows that my dad because of his age has had in his life many more experience. These experiences have touched him many things. I asked about his values now after all this events. At the first place are peace, freedom, family and health.

VALS survey give the results of what kind of person you are. According to the VALS survey at the first point I’m experiencer and my secondary type is innovator.

“The primary VALS type represents your dominant approach to life. The secondary classification represents a particular emphasis you give to your dominant approach.”

From my opinion this survey is very helpful to find out the strong sites of you and help you choose the most important values for you.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

-          Lasa (2009) Understanding your core values – at work and at play. [online] Available from: http://www.lasadev.com/newsletters/newsletter_14.htm

-          Ries & Trout (1982) The Psychology Of Consumer Behaviour, p -39

-          William L. Reese (2000), Values, Great Britain, pp-24-25

-          Sidney B. Simon (1995) values clarification Warner Books, United States