Business Ethics Classes for this term ended with a documentary " The inconvenient Truth" by the noble laureate, Mr Al Gore. He is a wonderful orator and the things which he said had all of us moved. During, the fag end of the video, he demonstrated us an example. Suppose, a frog is put in boiling water, it would jump out of the jar immediately. On the other hand, if you put it in lukewarm water, and then gradually increase the temperature, the frog will not notice the change in temperature, and hence keep sitting on jar, and ultimately will lose its life.
After the lecture, i tried to extend this idea into the other realms of life. Somehow, i have the feeling that this concept affects the human behaviour and particularly the consumer behaviour to a large extent. I searched for some literature in the library, and then I came across the term “Just Noticeable Difference ( JND) coined by Weber in early 20th century. To put in simple terms, suppose you are watching 2 light beams of same intensity ( Say 100 W) and then intensity of one is varied,then after how much variation of the intensity, will you observe the difference in the intensity of 2 light beams. This variance, is sometimes also called the differential threshold of JND.
Many of us know that it exists, but still we never give much of a thought to it. This is one of the concept which are used by companies to manipulate ( or sometimes say fool customers). Here, I would like to quote the example of FMCG companies, because the products in this category are generally the low involvement products with the price being the key determining factor in the decision making process of a consumer. Companies, by the way of packaging, by promotion mixes create a clutter of products with JND often less than the threshold level. So, when a consumer goes out to buy toothpaste, he is often subjected to the choice of 80g of pepsodent for Rs 25 and 100g of Colgate at Rs 30. Now, by packaging them cleverly, Pepsodent reduces the JND between these 2 products. So, consumer tends to behave that both the products are almost the same. Now, the key determining factor for them is the price, and here they will go for the one which is quoting lesser price (Pepsodent in this case). Even though, by buying Pepsodent they are paying more Rs/g than Colgate.
JND concept is also leveraged by the companies, which over a time try to evolve as per the business environment. Particularly, for the strongly positioned brands, a sudden transition could be Hara-kiri... so they change over a period of time, in which every time the gradual change is less that the differential hold of JND.If you get a chance to see the logo of Pepsi, in last 10 years, you will definitely notice the difference. But as everything has another face, this concept is also utilized , particularly in rural India, by the companies which copy and fake the well known products. By closely resembling names, packaging, and promotion mix, they hold the change below the JND level, and thus fooling the consumers.
Apart from business, JND is part and parcel of human life. When you meet some one after a year or two generally the reaction is "tu to bahut lamba ho gaya yaar". While his family members would not be noticing the gradual change. I use to visit mussorie very frequently, and one of my favourite place is kempty falls. Every year or so, i go there and enjoy the scenic beauty. Last year, i went after a gap of 3 years, and i was shocked to see the condition of kempty fall. When i enquired about the reason, it was due to a reservoir which had been building there for last 10 years, gosh!! i hardly noticed that.
This can also be leveraged in relationships, when things start getting wrong, initially we do not notice the gradual damage to the relation, unless it reaches to JND Level. After that, it is very difficult to resurrect a relation. Thus in relationships, we should be conscious in keeping our JND threshold level low, so that we could read the distress signals, in their primitive stages. For the time being, yours truly signing off, wishing you a wonderful time.. muaaah !!!!..
