EOC week 6: Deeper meaning of the film BIG

The film Big demonstrated a couple different marketing research methods. In one scene you’ll see Tom Hanks running around the toy store the company he works for owns and makes the toys for. As he’s running around playing what looks to be laser tag, he runs into his boss, the owner of the company. The boss says how he’s there every Saturday doing his own market research. This shows actual field research, not anything controlled. They were able to study the consumers in the presence of the toys they make in a natural setting. The other form of research methods used throughout the movie is a controlled method. A group of selected kids are brought into a room with only one, one sided window and a door. In this room the children are given select toys to play with and then are watch and studied on how they act and play with each individual toy. Not a very comfortable setting if you ask me. So in my eyes, I see the first method being used to be the better of the two methods. For this example, putting a group of children in a room to test toys, you’re going to get untrustworthy information. The boss understood this and that’s why Tom Hanks ran into him while playing around the toy store.