Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being [14 ed.] 0137865090, 9780137865093

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Consumer Behavior Buying, Having, and Being Fourteenth Edition

Michael R. Solomon Saint Joseph’s University

Cristel Antonia Russell Pepperdine University

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ISBN-10: 0-13-786509-0 ISBN-13:978-0-13-786509-3

To Gail, as always.

M.S. To Michael, thank you for the honor and opportunity.

C.A.R.

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BRIEF CONTENTS Section

1

Foundations of Consumer Behavior  3

Chapter 1 Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior  4 Chapter 2 Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet  26

Section

2

Making Sense of the World  59

Chapter 3 Perceiving and Making Meaning  60 Chapter 4 Learning, Remembering, and Knowing  89 Chapter 5 Motivation  125

Section

3

Buying and Having: Choosing and Using Products  153

Chapter 6 Attitudes and How to Change Them  154 Chapter 7 Deciding  193 Chapter 8 Buying, Using, and Disposing  221

Section

4

 eing: Using Products to Create and Communicate B Identity  251

Chapter 9 Identity and the Self  252 Chapter 10 Personality, Values, and Lifestyles  285 Chapter 11 Social and Cultural Identity  320

Section

5

Belonging  357

Chapter 12 How Groups Define Us  358 Chapter 13 Social Class and Status  395 Chapter 14 Culture  421 Appendix A: Data Cases  455 Appendix B: Careers in Consumer Research  468 Appendix C: Consumer Research Methods  471 Appendix D: Sources of Secondary Data  477 Glossary  481 Indexes  502

v

CONTENTS Section 1 Foundations of Consumer Behavior  3

1

Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior  4

Consumer Behavior: People in the Marketplace  5 What Is Consumer Behavior?  5 A Branded World  7 Understanding Consumers Is Good Business  8

Consumers, Society, and Technology: A Moving Target  9 Social Media: The Horizontal Revolution  9 Artificial Intelligence and The Metaverse  10 “Big Data” and Data Analytics  10 Welcome to the Metaverse!  11 Globalization of Brands and Cultural Practices  12 Proactive Consumers and User-Generated Content  12 Consumer Trends: Keeping Up with the Culture That Won’t Stand Still  13

PESTLE: The Economic Environment  30 Disabled Consumers  30 Consumed Consumers  31

PESTLE: The Social Environment  32 PESTLE: The Technological Environment  34 Data Privacy  34 Data Accuracy  35 Identity Theft  36 Pushing the Envelope  37 Technology Addictions  37

PESTLE: The Legal Environment  40 Governmental Regulations and Agencies  40 Consumers Behaving Badly  41

PESTLE: The Natural Environment  44 The SHIFT: Changing Consumer Behavior for the Better  47 The “Tree-Huggers”  47 Chapter Summary  48 • Key Terms  49 Review  50 • Consumer Behavior Challenge  50 Case Study Face It – Facial Recognition Is Coming to a Walgreens Near You  52 Notes  54

Consumption: From Problem to Solution?  15 What Do We Need—Really?  15 Toward Responsible Consumption and Responsible Business  15

Multiple Perspectives on the Study of Consumer Behavior  17 What Disciplines Study Consumer Behavior?  17 Where Do We Find Consumer Researchers?  20 The Philosophy of This Book  20 Chapter Summary  20 • Key Terms  21 Review  22 • Consumer Behavior Challenge  22 Case Study Alexa—What Is Consumer Behavior?  23 Notes  24

2

Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet  26

Section 2 Making Sense of the World  59

3

Perceiving and Making Meaning  60

Sensation  60 Sensory Marketing  62 Augmented and Virtual Reality: Welcome to the Metaverse  68

The Stages of Perception  69 Stage 1: Exposure  70 Stage 2: Attention  73 Stage 3: Interpretation  76

What Is the “Right” Thing?  27

Semiotics: The Meaning of Meaning  79

PESTLE: The Political Environment  28

Who Owns Brand Meanings?  80

Consumer Activism  28 Corporate Activism  29 Slacktivism  30

vi

Marketers Position Brands  80 But Ultimately Brand Meanings Live in Consumers’ Minds  81



Contents

Chapter Summary  81 • Key Terms  82 Review  83 • Consumer Behavior Challenge  83 Case Study The Metaverse Is Marketing’s Brave New World  84 Notes  85

4

Consumer Needs  129 Utilitarian and Hedonic Needs  129 How Can We Understand Needs?  130 How “Needy” Are You? Individual Differences in Motivation  132

Setting and Reaching Goals  133

Learning, Remembering, and Knowing  89

How Do We Learn?  89 Behavioral Learning Theories  90 Classical Conditioning  90 Marketing Applications of Classical Conditioning Principles  92 Instrumental Conditioning  95 Marketing Applications of Instrumental Conditioning Principles  97

Cognitive Learning Theory  98 Observational Learning  98 How Kids Develop Cognitive Skills  99 Marketing Applications of Cognitive Learning Principles  101

Remembering  101 How Our Brains Encode Information  102 What Makes Us Forget?  104 What Helps Us To Remember?  105 How Do We Measure Consumers’ Memories for Marketing Messages?  108 Problems with Memory Measures  109 Memory Lapses, Biases, and False Memories  109 Marketing Applications of Consumers’ Memories  109

How Do We Organize What We Know?  110 Levels of Knowledge  112 How Do We Put Products into Categories?  112 “If They Own This, They Must Own That”: Consumption Constellations  113 Marketing Applications of Consumers’ Knowledge Structures  114 Chapter Summary  116 • Key Terms  116 Review  117 • Consumer Behavior Challenge  118 Case Study Kidfluence and Kidfluencers – Marketing to Children Responsibly  119 Notes  121

5

vii

Motivation  125

The Motivation Process: Why Ask Why?  126 Push or Pull? Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation  126 Motivational Drive  127 Self-Regulation  128

Goal Conflicts  133 Goal Framing Affects Goal Completion  135

Consumer Involvement  137 Types of Involvement  139 Chapter Summary  144 • Key Terms  144 Review  145 • Consumer Behavior Challenge  145 Case Study Game On! Using Gamification to Engage with Consumers  146 Notes  148

Section 3 Buying and Having: Choosing and Using Products  153

6

Attitudes and How to Change Them  154

The Power of Attitudes  155 Attitudes (Generally) Guide our Behavior  155 Attitudes, Fast and Slow: Cognitive and Affective Components  156 “I Know It”: Cognitive Focus  157 “I Feel It”: Affective Focus  159 Oops! Attitudes Aren’t as Simple as We Thought  160

How Do We Form Attitudes?  162 Commitment  162 The Consistency Principle  163 Balance Theory  164

Persuasion: How Do Marketers Change Attitudes?  165 Sell the Steak or the Sizzle?: The Elaboration Likelihood Model  166 Persuasion Knowledge: Talking Back to Marketers  168

Crafting Persuasive Communications Strategies  169 Decisions, Decisions: Tactical Communications Options  170 The Source  171 The Message  175 The Medium  181 Chapter Summary  182 • Key Terms  183 Review  184 • Consumer Behavior Challenge  184 Case Study Anti-Smoking Advertising—Can You Be Scared into Quitting?  187 Notes  188

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Contents

7

Deciding  193

Fast or Slow Thinking?  194 Rational (Slow) Decision Making  195

Section 4 Being: Using Products to Create and Communicate Identity  251

Steps in the Rational Decision-Making Process  195

Fast Thinking and Rules of Thumb  204 Behavioral Biases  204 Heuristics and Mental Accounting: Take the Shortcut  205

The Unseen Power of Context Effects: Framing, Priming, and Nudging  206 Framing   207 Priming  207 Nudging  209

Online Decision Making  210 Search Engine Optimization  210 The Power of Customer Reviews  211 Cybermediaries  212 Chapter Summary  213 • Key Terms  214 Review  214 • Consumer Behavior Challenge  214 Case Study P&G and the Moments of Truth – Just How Many Moments Are There?  217 Notes  218

8

Buying, Using, and Disposing  221

The Shopping Experience  222 Shop ’Til You Drop?  222 In-Store Decision Making  227 Are You Satisfied?  229

E-Commerce and the Digital World  230 From Bricks to Clicks  231 Shopping Apps and In-Store Tech  231 Digital Currencies  232 Online Commerce: Raising the Bar  233 Liquid Consumption  233

New Ways to Have and Use: Ownership and the Sharing Economy  235 The Thrill of Thrifting  236

The Climate Crisis  236 Product Disposal  236 Recycling and the Underground Economy  237

The Dark Side of Buying and Using  239 Addictive and Compulsive Behavior  239 Chapter Summary  241 • Key Terms  242 Review  242 • Consumer Behavior Challenge  243 Case Study RH — Revolutionizing Physical Retailing  245 Notes  246

9

Identity and the Self  252

The Self  252 The Self-Concept and Self-Esteem  253 The Self and Others  253 The Malleable Self  255

We Consume to Express Our Identities  258 The Extended Self  258

New Ways to Express Identity  260 Compensatory Consumption  260 Anti-Consumption as Self-Defining  260 Embodied Cognition  261 Our Digital Selves  261

Gender and Consumer Behavior  263 Gender Socialization and Gender Roles  263 Gender Differences in Consumer Behavior  263 Toward Greater Gender Fluidity  265 The Quest for Gender Justice and Equality  266

The Body  267 Ideals of Beauty and Stereotypes  267 Body Positivity: Enter the Fatshionistas  271 Body Decoration and Mutilation  272 The Mechanized Body  274 The Quantified Self  275 Chapter Summary  276 • Key Terms  276 Review  277 • Consumer Behavior Challenge  277 Case Study Retailer Torrid: Empowering Women of all Sizes  279 Notes  280

10

Personality, Values, and Lifestyles  285

Personality  285 How Can We Measure Personality?  286 Trait Theory  289

Values  292 Belief Systems  292 Values Related to Things  293 Values Related to Money  295 Values Related to Time  295 How Can We Understand Values?  297 The Means–End Chain Model  297 Syndicated Surveys  298



Contents

Lifestyles and Consumer Identity  298 From What to Why: Psychographics  301

The Roles Brands Play in Our Lives  305 The Brand Personality  305 How Do We Get to “Know” a Brand?  306 The Meaning Transfer Model  307 Brand Resonance  307 Archetypes (Again)  307 Spokescharacters  308 Congruence between Consumer and Brand  310 Lifestyle Brands and Lifestyle Brand Constellations  310 Selling Authenticity  312 Brand Storytelling  312 Chapter Summary  313 • Key Terms  314 Review  314 • Consumer Behavior Challenge  315 Case Study Beyoncé’s Beyhive—Honeybees and Killer Bees in Love with their Queen  315 Notes  317

Chapter Summary  344 • Key Terms  345 Review  346 • Consumer Behavior Challenge  346 Case Study Hyundai’s OKAY Campaign: Driving Toward Diverse Markets  350 Notes  351

Section 5 Belonging  357

12

How Groups Define Us  358

Sources of Group Influences  359 Reference Groups  359 Social Norms: How Groups Change Our Behavior  361 Differences in Susceptibility to Influence  364

Word of Mouth  364

11

Social and Cultural Identity  320

The Dynamics of Social Identity  321 Facets of Social and Cultural Identity  321 The Dynamics of Identity  321 Salient Identity Cues  322 Threats to Social Identity  322 Intersectionality  324

The Family  324 The Meaning of Family  324 Going Nuclear? The Structure of Households Evolves  324 The Family Life Cycle  326 Parenting and Consumer Behavior  327

Age and Generations  329 Teenagers  329 “Tweens”  330 Consumers Aging Gracefully: Retirement and Beyond  331 Age Cohorts  332

Ethnic and Racial Identities  336 Ethnic and Racial Identity  336 Ethnic and Racial Diversity in the U.S.  337 Showing Respect: Ethnic and Racial Symbols  339

Religious and Political Identity  340 Religion and Consumption  340 Marketing to Muslims  341 Political Identity  341

Community (Geographic and Place-Based Subcultures)  342 Geodiversity  342

Viral Marketing and Buzz Building  365 Negative WOM  365 Buzz Gone Bad  367 Information Flows in Social Networks: Who Knows Whom?  367 Who Influences Us: Opinion Leaders and Social Media Influencers  370

Who Influences Us: Collective Decision Making  375 The Collective Decision Making Process  375 The Intimate Corporation: Collective Decision Making in Households  376 Collective Decision Making in Organizations  378

Who Influences Us: Consumer Communities  380 Consumer Collectives  380 A Culture of Participation  380 Brand Communities  381 Support Groups  383 Gaming Communities  384 Chapter Summary  384 • Key Terms  385 Review  386 • Consumer Behavior Challenge  387 Case Study Lush is Trying to Find an Authentic Voice Online  389 Notes  390

13

Social Class and Status  395

What Is Social Class?  395 Social Class Provides a Set of Resources  396 Social Distinction, Taste, and Habitus  398 Online Capital  398

ix

x

Contents

“Is That a Yoga Mat?” Taste Cultures and Codes  399 How Do We Measure Social Class?  400

Social Class Structures  401 Social Stratification  401 Social Mobility  402 Some Key Factors That Influence Consumer Behavior within and across Social Classes  404

Social Status and Consumption  406 To Whom Do We Compare Ourselves?  406 Status Symbols  407 The Meaning of “Luxury”  410

The Diffusion of Innovations  437 How Do We Decide to Adopt an Innovation?  437 What Determines Whether an Innovation Will Diffuse?  440 The Diffusion of Consumption Practices  441 The Fashion System  442 Consumers as Sources of Innovations  444 Chapter Summary  445 • Key Terms  445 Review  446 • Consumer Behavior Challenge  446 Case Study Twist, Lick, and Dunk! Does It Make Oreos Taste Better?  448 Notes  450

Social Inequality, Poverty, and Social Justice  411 The Bottom of the Pyramid: Low-Income Consumers  411 The Role of Consumption in Social Justice: Walk the Walk  412 Social Responsibility  413 Chapter Summary  413 • Key Terms  414 Review  414 • Consumer Behavior Challenge  415 Case Study Are Dollar Stores Really Cheaper?  416 Notes  417

14

Culture  421

Appendices

A

Case 1: Analyzing the Athletic Shoe Market  455 Case 2: Evolving Trends in Fitness and French Fries  458 Case 3: Cats, Kibble, and Commercials  460 Case 4: Going Global with Juice  464

Careers in Consumer

B Research 

Cultural Systems  421 Dimensions of Culture  423 How We Learn about Our Culture  423 Cultural Meaning Creation and Movement  425 Myths  426

Consumption Rituals  428 Rituals and Community  428 Ritual Artifacts and Scripts  429

Products Are Vessels of Cultural Meanings  434 Sacred and Profane Products  434 Global Consumer Culture  436

Data Cases  455

468

C

Consumer Research Methods  471

D

Sources of Secondary Data  477

Glossary  481 Indexes  502

PREFACE Professors often refer to the Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being textbook as “a classic.” But even classics can benefit from a good overhaul! The 14th edition of this textbook did not just get a paint job and new window coverings; it got a major upgrade, from top to bottom, from front to end. Virtually every chapter has been reworked to its core: stretched, twisted, flexed, and altogether pepped up. How and where did this classic textbook get this infusion of new energy? A new coauthor. Welcome to the Solomon and Russell edition. Cristel Russell is an award-winning consumer researcher. With over 80 peerreviewed publications—including many in the most prestigious journals, such as the Journal of Consumer Research—and 250 presentations at both academic and practitioners’ conferences, Cristel knows how to conduct and explain research. She loves to approach questions from multiple perspectives and approaches, and she conducts all kinds of consumer research studies, from experiments to surveys to qualitative interviews. Cristel also knows how to vet good research: She serves as associate editor and is on the boards of several of the field’s premier journals. She is also an experienced teacher of this topic, having taught consumer behavior courses on four continents and across a variety of class sizes, modalities, and programs. The Solomon-Russell collaboration is harmonious: The soul is intact, and you will find the same conversational tone and humor that earned Michael Solomon’s book so many accolades. But the body is strengthened and revitalized: Cristel kickstarted a thorough revision from every angle and every direction. As a result, the content is a crisp, fresh, and organized structure of the latest, hottest, but also most complex facets of consumer behavior. We did not shy away from any of the important sociocultural issues that have shaped the consumers’ world over the past few years. We also continue the book’s long tradition of embracing multiple perspectives and approaches, which have also been central to both Michael’s and Cristel’s own academic research portfolios. The five key elements (Figure FM.1) that make this book different from other consumer behavior texts, as well as different from the previous edition of this textbook are: flow, focus, intentionality, freshness, and attention to practice.

What’s New and Notable in This Edition 1. The textbook has a new flow. As you’ll see in Figure 1.1, the textbook still contains 14 chapters, but the flow of chapters is different. Section 1 centers students on the core perspectives and issues that inform consumer behavior. Chapter 1 sets the intention for the textbook and the course, and Chapter 2 orients the reader to all the ethical facets and issues that shape our consumption environment. Section 2 includes three chapters on sensing and knowing. Section 3 tackles the processes of persuasion, decision making, choosing, and using. Section 4 addresses being through the many facets of personality and identity. Finally, Section 5 taps into belonging by discussing the social, class, and cultural elements that shape consumer behavior. 2. The book is unapologetically consumption focused. This edition is not about what marketers can or may do to consumers; it is squarely about consumers.

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Preface

Flow

Attention to Practice

Focus

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Freshness

Intentionality

Figure FM.1   Five Elements

Of course, we recognize the many managerial implications of consumer behavior (if you don’t have customers, you don’t have a business!), but the focus of every chapter is on understanding consumers and how these actions affect them. 3. Throughout the book, you will notice an intentional focus on the crucial issues that affect us today: climate change and its implications in terms of consumption choices and societal concerns such as diversity, social justice, etc. We hope you will also note our determination to ramp up our focus upon inclusion and representation. We teach the stuff: It’s easy to fall back on examples that are most familiar to us. But it’s undeniably true that many of our students over the years primarily see people in marketing communications who don’t look like them. We thoroughly scrubbed the entire textbook, case selection, and examples, as well as visuals, to ensure diversity and broader representation that more realistically reflects today’s complex cultural environment. 4. Freshness: Out with the old, in with the new. The new authorship collaboration was the perfect opportunity for a major cleanup to incorporate fresh ideas. While we continue to pay homage to the classic studies that continue to inform our understanding of consumers today, we made a dedicated, exhaustive effort to update every chapter. The result is easy to see. The majority of references in each chapter are from the past five years. There is a slew of new easy-toprocess tables and figures to organize the content in visually accessible ways. Even the appendices have gotten a full revamp. As has always been the case with this textbook, topics and examples are chosen carefully so as to engage the “typical” student who regards anything that happened before, say, 2021, as ancient history.



Preface

xiii

5. Continued attention to practice. We are both published academic researchers. But we also know academics must talk the talk of practitioners. As regular contributors to Forbes (Michael) and Psychology Today (Cristel) and because of our work with a multitude of real marketers, we are always attuned to what’s happening in consumers’ worlds. We explain to thousands of readers why and how changes in technology or sociopolitical events affect consumers’ behavior. This attention to practice is also reflected in the book’s integration of industry data. Thus, you’ll find a large number of studies that companies and survey firms have conducted to support the academic data. This edition also includes updated end-of-section assignments with data provided by GfK, one of the world’s largest marketing research firms. These allow students to “get their hands dirty” by actually working with real information that they can manipulate and use to do a deep dive into real-world problems. The book marries a strong theoretical and empirical foundation with the practical applications of these insights to the everyday practice of marketing. Thoughtful discussion and application questions at the end of each chapter also encourage students to integrate what they have learned with what is going on around them in the real world. 6. More visuals, organizing frameworks, and synthesis tables. Across the book, you will see many new figures to provide visual roadmaps for the reader. You will also see added tables that offer lots of information but in a more efficient and effective fashion. 7. Every chapter features new call-out “Buying, Having, Being” boxes to illustrate the content with current issues that affect consumer well-being, business practice, or the world as we know it.

Chapter-by-Chapter Updates Chapter 1 Buying, ­Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior

The chapter sets the tone for the book with a new vignette related to the textbook cover, a renewed focus on consumers and the types of research methods and approaches that inform our understanding of consumer behavior, as well as a new table illustrating research questions about the metaverse from these different perspectives. Notable new key terms: artificial intelligence (AI), brand, consumer centricity, consumption, content points, cultural distinctiveness, horizontal revolution, identity, metaverse, paradigms, transmedia storytelling

Chapter 2 Consumer ­Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet

The chapter was entirely reorganized around the elements of the PESTLE framework. A new table was introduced to present the elements of PESTLE. Six new call-out boxes were created to set the tone of the book: Topics of those boxes range from hunger among college students to the growing use of facial recognition in business practice as well as ethical concerns, like greenwashing and wokewashing. Notable new key terms: algorithm bias, artificial intelligence, brand purpose, cancel ­culture, circular economy, conscious consumerism, consumer activism, corporate ­sociopolitical activism (CSA), corporate social irresponsibility (CSI), data breach, data privacy, eco-wakening, fast fashion, financial literacy, food insecurity, genetic data, infodemic, prosocial behaviors, social justice, wokewashing

Chapter 3 Perceiving and Making Meaning

The chapter was updated to incorporate all the latest insights about visual perception and semiotics, along with new illustrations and a synthesis table. In addition, a new section about consumers’ active role in shaping brand perceptions and meanings was included. Notable new key terms: brand antifragility, contamination, contestations, cross-modal effect, hedonic escalation, inference, materiality, metacognitive inference, multiscreening, pre-attentive processing, psychological ownership, relational processing

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Preface

Chapter 4 Learning, Remembering, and Knowing

The chapter’s new title reflects the addition of a new objective and section on knowledge. This section gathers some of the content previously dispersed in other sections (like semantic network) and incorporates new content related to knowledge and expertise. We streamlined the content of some formerly dense sections (e.g., memory) and included more recent studies in the context of social media, gaming, and advergaming studies. We incorporated more examples from social media, digital media, and new forms of marketing communications (product placements, sponsorships, etc.) in both text and visuals and relied more heavily on illustrative examples from public health campaigns. Finally, we integrated mindfulness into this chapter. The figures in the chapter are new and updated. Notable new key terms: advertising weariness, category exemplars, consumption constellations elaboration, evaluative conditioning, expertise, false memory, hybrid products, knowledge, knowledge structure, memory efficacy, memory markers, memory preservation, mindfulness, motivated forgetting, nodes, product placement, semantic network, sonic branding, stimulus generalization, theory of mind, willfully ignorant memory

Chapter 5 Motivation

The chapter was reorganized around a new model linking motivation to goals and accompanied by a new figure (5.1). We’ve added new coverage of motivation as intrinsic or extrinsic and goal setting to the chapter. We also updated Maslow’s pyramid to reflect the latest version with six levels, including self-transcendence. Affect-related content was removed and relocated to later chapters. Notable new key terms: achievement motivation, autonomy, biohacking, body positive, competence, conscientiousness, external incentives, extrinsic motivation, frame, grit, implemental mindset, intrinsic motivation, metamotivation, mere urgency effect, mortality salience, nonconscious goals, outcome-oriented mindset, prevention vs. promotion motivation, quantified self movement, self-determination theory, self-regulation, terror management theory

Chapter 6 Attitudes and How to Change Them

The chapter about attitude/persuasion received a major overhaul. It’s now organized around a new figure (6.1), which connects persuasion processes to attitude and in turn to behavior. A new section on crafting persuasive strategies involves decisions about the source, the message, and the medium. Updated sections on the structure of attitudes include discussions of ambivalence and implicit versus explicit attitudes. We also updated persuasion models to include new sections on narrative persuasion and persuasion knowledge. We revised and updated the ELM figure and created a new table summarizing emotional and rational appeals in advertising. Ten new boxes were added to reflect current debates about persuasion, such as the narrative power of online reviews or the “fear of God” effect. Notable new key terms: advertainment, affect, ambivalence, central vs. peripheral route, counterargument, covert advertising, disclosures, emotions, explicit vs. implicit attitudes, fast vs. slow persuasion, halo effect, mental imagery, mood congruency, narrative ­persuasion, narrative transportation, narrativity, neuromarketing, persuasion knowledge model, social desirability bias, sponsored content, supportive arguments, two-sided messages, valence

Chapter 7 Deciding

The chapter was reorganized to begin with a discussion of fast and slow thinking. This new coverage of two systems that underpin how consumers make decisions (slow and fast) also includes an entirely new set of research on system 1 and system 2. A new table provides a simple review of decision-making heuristics. Notable new key terms: behavioral biases, binary bias, choice overload, digital selling assistants, drunk shopping, fast thinking, homo economicus, homo ludens, maximization, opportunity costs, paradox of choice, slow thinking, standard economic model, temporal framing, utility



Preface

Chapter 8 Buying, Using, and Disposing

xv

This chapter on owning, using, and disposing includes new coverage of the virtualization of our lives and the impact of the sharing economy on owning. In recognition of some of the consumption-related issues the world faces, the chapter also addresses how the climate change crisis makes us think differently about buying, using, and disposing, and it addresses the dark side of buying and using in a thorough and up-to-date review of maladaptive consumer behaviors. Notable new key terms: Bitcoin, blockchain, cart abandonment rate, contamination, customer journey methodology, dark design, hedonic vs. utilitarian, hoarding, identity negotiation, liquid consumption, mental computation strategies, moral disgust, NFTs (nonfungible tokens), recommerce, secondary market, squander sequence, thrifting, unboxing

Chapter 9 Identity and the Self

Chapter 9 begins the new section on being. We crafted an entirely revamped chapter to discuss identity and the self in all of its complexities. The chapter is organized around the self-concept, consumption as an expression of our identity, gender identity, and our bodies as an important component of our identities. Figure 9.1 has a new look with levels of the extended self represented as four layers around the individual in the innermost circle. Notable new key terms: anti-consumption, bigorexia, FOMO (fear of missing out), genetic data, independent vs. interdependent self, LGBTQ+, patriarchal masculinity, role identities, self-concept clarity, self-construal, self-enhancement, self-image-consistent product perceptions

Chapter 10 Personality, Values, and Lifestyles

Chapter 10 discusses personality, values, and lifestyles, and now also includes coverage of brands. The personality section is wholly revamped with a briefer section on psychiatric perspectives and deeper insights into trait theory, including a new table with a description of the Big Five Inventory of personality dimensions and consumer behavior examples. The values section is organized around three themes of things, time, and money as represented in a new figure (10.2). The branding section includes a new discussion of brand narratives. Notable new key terms: agreeableness, authenticity, backstory, brand narrative, Big Five Inventory, cultivation theory, deceleration, dichotomous thinking, entity vs. incremental theorists, extroversion, fresh start mindset, identity-based motivation, JOMO (Joy of ­Missing Out), lifestyle brand, meaning transfer process, need for touch, neuroticism, openness to experience, psychological time, religiosity, saving orientation, self-congruity, spending orientation, timestyle, trait reactance

Chapter 11 Social and ­Cultural Identity

This whole new chapter delves into social identity. As a counterpart to Chapter 9, this chapter addresses the larger social and cultural environments that affect our identity. The chapter is organized per a new figure with six key facets of identity that shape who we are and how we express ourselves with the consumption choices we make: our family, our age groups and generations, our race/ethnicity, our religion and politics, and where we live. Notable new key terms: affiliation, age cohort, autonomy, baby boomer, boomerang kids, consumer identity renaissance, consumption practices, cosmopolitanism, cultural ­distinctiveness, cultural mindsets, diversity seeking, emotion profile, ethnic identification, extended family, family identity, family life cycle (FLC), household, identity ­mindsets, identity synergy, ingroup bias, life course model, material parenting, mature market, normative respectability, nuclear family, political orientation, PRIZM, racial stigma, respectability, social identity, social identity priming, social identity threat, subculture, tweens, urban identification

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Chapter 12 How Groups Define Us

This chapter on social influences and collectives has been entirely restructured and revamped. The first part of the chapter focuses on reference groups and now incorporates the role of social norms and the latest research on associative and dissociative groups and norms. A new section on collective influences picks up on decision making from ­Chapter 9 to tackle the roles and processes within collectives, such as a family (the section on family was updated and expanded) and an organization (the section on B2B was updated and streamlined). Also, the latest research on consumer collectives is synthesized and organized in a new section. Notable new key terms: activism, associative vs. dissociative norms, associative vs. dissociative reference group, consensus language, consumer collectives, counterspace, customer relationship management (CRM), influencer marketing, mere virtual p­ resence, movements, negativity spiral, paradoxical social dynamics, perceived typicality, social default, social empowerment, social media firestorms, susceptibility to personal influence, ties, user-generated social media, virtual support communities, word of mouse

Chapter 13 Social Class and Status

Chapter 13 on social class and status is completely new and restructured. The first part of the chapter offers a completely overhauled perspective on taste, social class, and social class structures in accordance with sociological perspectives. We provide a new figure (13.1) to explain social class as a set of resources. The next part of the chapter tackles more psychological research on social status and ways in which consumers signal their status. Finally, we include a discussion of social justice efforts to combat inequality. Notable new key terms: aspirational class, class consciousness, digital divide, d­ ownward vs. upward comparison, downward vs. upward mobility, embodied cultural capital, ­economic capital, evolutionary perspective, health disparities, hedonic treadmill, maturity, optimal distinctiveness theory, power distance belief, proxies, purpose-driven consumers, reverse signaling, social change, social distinction, social status, socioeconomic status, status pivoting, status seeking, status threat, subjective socioeconomic status, symbolic capital, taste regime, virtue signaling

Chapter 14 Culture

Chapter 14 has been updated, both in terms of academic literature and in terms of organizing figures and streamlining (e.g., the section on fashion was trimmed to the most essential elements). New sections on myth, new boxes (including one on the tightness–looseness of social norms), and a broader section on cultural meaning are included in the chapter. In this section, the cultural meaning transfer model is updated to account for the feedback loop (Figure 14.1). The final section on diffusion features a new organizing figure (14.4), which illustrates the ingredients for a successful innovation. The chapter concludes with an acknowledgement of the increasingly active role of consumers (co-creation, crowdsourcing) in consumption as well as product development. New key terms: acculturation, adoption rates, country-of-origin (COO), crowdsourcing, cultural appropriation, enculturation, ethnocentrism, extraordinary beliefs, individualism, indulgence vs. restraint, long-term orientation, masculinity, power distance, practice ­diffusion, practices, tightness–looseness (strength of social norms), uncertainty avoidance, value co-creation, wisdom of crowds

Appendix A: Data Cases Appendix B: Careers in Consumer Research Appendix C: Consumer Research Methods Appendix D: Sources of Secondary Data

Appendices have been updated and expanded: Appendix A contains three updated data cases. Appendix B now has a list of typical job descriptions to help students evaluate different career options. Appendix C is a more detailed primer on all the different research methods for studying consumers. Appendix D was ­completely revamped and recognized with an enhanced list of secondary data sources.



Solving Learning and Teaching Challenges The book continues to offer a wide variety of teaching aids that help students to understand the chapter contents—and also to appreciate how these issues relate to decisions both marketers and consumers make in the real world. These special features include new boxes we call “Buying, Having, and Being” that offer vivid reallife examples of chapter content. The cases at the end of chapters feature well-known brands and companies, such as Amazon, Hyundai, and even the singer Beyoncé; they give students an opportunity to see key consumer behavior concepts at work in real-life settings. End-of-chapter sections we call “Discuss and Apply” provide many provocative questions and project ideas to further engage your class. We also provide updated data exercises in Appendix A, in partnership with the global research firm GfK, that encourage your students to “get their hands dirty” by working with real consumer data to make course concepts come alive.

Developing Employability Skills This book will help your students to better understand how consumers decide among product options, and in particular, they will appreciate the many subtle forces at work on each of us as decision makers. But in the process, they will also become better marketers because they will see the “big picture” of how a consumer scenario relates to larger forces in our lives—and also how their actions as marketers have the potential either to improve lives or, in situations where marketing decisions or executions go bad, to diminish quality of life. We also provide updated Career Appendices that elaborate on the types of jobs available to consumer behavior specialists and how they can play this role in different ways within an organization. Also, we encourage you to check out the resources in the MyLab course that reinforce the book’s content—especially the mini-­ simulations that give students opportunities to practice decision making and see the outcome of their decisions in real-life scenarios.

MyLab Marketing for Consumer Behavior 14e MyLab Marketing lets instructors create a course that best fits the unique needs of their students and their curriculum. Each MyLab course has a foundation of interactive course-specific content—created by authors who are experts in their field—that can be tailored and assigned as needed. Digital tools activate learning, to more fully engage student learners and help them prepare for class. Videos and podcasts, interactive images and figures, Dynamic Study Modules, Mini-Simulations, cases, short quizzes and more enhance students’ understanding of core topics as they progress through the course. MyLab Marketing also provides data that allows instructors to see how their students are doing in the course, as they go, so they can decide what to teach and how best to teach it.

Preface

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For this Fourteenth Edition, MyLab Marketing includes:

• An enhanced, dynamic eTextbook that features interactive photos and figures, short focus questions, and current event features. • New and updated Video Assignments and Podcast Assignments help students connect key course concepts to real-world events. • Mini-Simulations and Team Mini-Simulations put students in the role • •

of professional marketers and give them the opportunity to apply course concepts and develop decision-making skills through real-world business challenges. New and updated Student Edition Case Study Assignments include auto-graded multiple-choice assessments for each of the end of chapter Case Studies included in the 14th Edition. Additional Case Study Library assignments are included at the end of select chapters, including both text and video cases that challenge students to apply critical thinking to current business examples.

• New and updated Warm Ups, Study Plan questions, and Chapter Quizzes check students’ understanding of key chapter concepts. • Updated Dynamic Study Modules use the latest developments in cognitive science to help students study by adapting to their performance in real time. • New and updated Marketing Metrics Assignments are auto-graded, algorithmic assignments that let students practice their analytic skills and improve their understanding of the quantitative aspects of marketing. Visit www.pearson.com/mylab/marketing to learn more about MyLab Marketing



Preface

Instructor Teaching Resources This edition’s program comes with the following teaching resources. Supplements available to instructors at https://www.pearson.com/

Features of the Supplement

Instructor’s Manual

• Chapter-by-chapter summaries • Examples and activities not in the main book • Teaching outlines • Teaching tips • Solutions to all questions and problems in the book

Test Bank

4,000 multiple-choice, true/false, short-answer, and graphing questions with these annotations: • Difficulty level (1 for straight recall, 2 for some analysis, 3 for complex analysis) • Type (multiple-choice, true/false, short-answer, essay) • Topic (the term or concept the question supports) • Learning outcome • AACSB learning standard (written and oral communication; ethical understanding and reasoning; analytical thinking; integration of real-world business experiences; interpersonal relations and teamwork; diverse and multicultural work; reflective thinking; application of knowledge)

Computerized TestGen

TestGen allows instructors to: • Customize, save, and generate classroom tests. • Edit, add, or delete questions from the Test Item Files. • Analyze test results. • Organize a database of tests and student results.

PowerPoints

Slides include all the graphs, tables, and equations in the textbook. PowerPoints meet accessibility standards for students with disabilities. Features include, but are not limited to: • Keyboard and Screen Reader access • Alternative text for images • High color contrast between background and foreground colors

Acknowledgements Thanks for the tremendous support we received from our Pearson team, including (in alphabetical order) Nayke Heine, Yasmita Hota, and Lynn Huddon, as well as production team members Meghan DeMaio and Carie Keller. George Allen at Asbury University and Deirdre Guion Peoples wrote some amazing new cases, and Meghan Pierce at La Salle University made thoughtful updates to the Data Case Assignments in Appendix A. A special thanks to Matthew Farmer at Utah Valley University, who helped us identify and synthesize the current research literature. Michael R. Solomon Cristel Antonia Russell

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Michael R. Solomon

xx

Michael R. Solomon, PhD, is the Dirk Warren ’50 Sesquicentennial Chair and Professor of Marketing in the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Before joining the Saint Joseph’s faculty in the fall of 2006, he was the Human Sciences Professor of Consumer Behavior at Auburn University. Prior to that, he was chair of the Department of Marketing in the School of Business at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Professor Solomon began his academic career in the Graduate School of Business Administration at New York University (NYU), where he also served as Associate Director of NYU’s Institute of Retail Management. He earned his BA degrees in psychology and sociology magna cum laude at Brandeis University and a PhD in social psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1996 he was awarded the Fulbright/FLAD Chair in Market Globalization by the U.S. Fulbright Commission and the Government of Portugal, and he served as Distinguished Lecturer in Marketing at the Technical ­University of Lisbon. He held an appointment as Professor of Consumer Behaviour at the University of Manchester (United Kingdom) from 2007 to 2013. Professor Solomon’s primary research interests include consumer behavior and lifestyle issues; branding strategy; the symbolic aspects of products; the psychology of fashion, decoration, and image; services marketing; marketing in virtual worlds; and the development of visually oriented online research methodologies. He has published numerous articles on these and related topics in academic journals, and he has delivered invited lectures on these subjects in Europe, Australia, Asia, and Latin America. His research has been funded by the American Academy of ­Advertising, the American Marketing Association, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the ­International Council of Shopping Centers, and the U.S. Department of Commerce. He currently sits on the editorial or advisory boards of the Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Critical Studies in Fashion and Beauty, and Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education, and he served an ­ cience. elected six-year term on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Marketing S In a 2022 ranking of contributions of top scientists in Business and M ­ anagement since 2014 by Research.com, he is #466 in the U.S. and #1,032 in the world. Professor Solomon is a frequent contributor to mass media. His feature articles have appeared in such magazines as Psychology Today, Gentleman’s Quarterly, and Savvy. He has been quoted in numerous national magazines and newspapers, including Advertising Age, Adweek, Allure, Elle, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Mirabella, Newsweek, the New York Times, Self, Time, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. He frequently appears on television and speaks on radio to comment on consumer behavior issues, including appearances on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Inside Edition, Newsweek on Air, the Entrepreneur Sales and Marketing Show, CNBC, Channel One, the Wall Street Journal Radio Network, the WOR Radio Network, and National Public Radio. He consults to numerous companies on consumer behavior and marketing strategy issues, and he often speaks to business groups throughout the United States and overseas. He recently directed Nielsen’s revamp of its global brands model that assesses clients’ brand equity around the world. In addition to this text, Professor Solomon is coauthor of the widely used textbook Marketing: Real People, Real Choices. His recent trade book, The New Chameleons: How to Engage with Consumers Who Defy Categorization, won the NYC Big Book Award for Marketing/Sales in 2022. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife Gail.



Cristel Antonia Russell, PhD, is Professor of Marketing at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA. She was previously professor at American University in Washington, DC, at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and at San Diego State University in California. She has also held visiting positions at universities including Université de Lyon, Paris Sorbonne, and Paris Dauphine, and she is currently affiliate faculty at Audencia Business School in Nantes, France. She has taught Consumer Behavior around the globe, from HEC Paris to Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Cristel grew up in Europe, born to a Spanish father and a French mother. She completed her undergraduate international business degree at ESSCA, a French business school where the final year consisted of a study abroad, which she completed at Southern Illinois University, where she also completed an MBA. Cristel went on to the University of Arizona in Tucson to complete a PhD in marketing. Cristel is an experienced consumer researcher. As of 2023, she has published over 80 articles in academic journals from premier business outlets, such as the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS), as well as interdisciplinary health and policy journals, such as Addiction and Psychological Services. Her journal articles are widely cited, and she ranks amongst the world’s most prolific consumer researchers. Cristel’s research spans many facets of consumer behavior and draws on multiple methodological approaches. She uses experiments with eye-tracking and biometric measures to study the psychological processes of attention, memory, and persuasion in the context of advertising messages and those embedded in entertainment, such as product placements. She researches the social influences of celebrities and of traditional and social media on young audiences with a variety of approaches, including field studies and large national surveys. She uses in-depth interviews and other qualitative techniques to explain, among many things, how consumers engage with brands, how they relate to new technologies, or why they rewatch movies or reread books. Cristel’s research on the influence of marketing on youth has received funding from the United States’ National Institutes of Health and France’s Institut National du Cancer. She also collaborates with military research institutes to study problematic consumption amongst soldiers and veterans. Her interdisciplinary research with a focus on implementable policy solutions earned her a Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Union for a project on media literacy for at-risk youth. Cristel serves on many scientific and journal boards. She is currently Area Editor for the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS) and Senior Associate Editor for the Journal of Advertising, and she is on the editorial review board of the Journal of Consumer Research. She also chairs the social sciences panel of Belgium’s research foundation (the FWO). After 10 years as the executive secretary of the Consumer Culture Theory Consortium, she was elected to its board. Cristel’s research is often featured in prominent media outlets, such as the Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, and she has an active blog on Psychology Today called The Savvy Consumer. In addition to her professor “day job,” Cristel is a passionate fitness instructor, teaching a variety of group fitness classes from strength training to step, aerobics, and cardio kickboxing and . . . you might have guessed . . . yoga. In fact, in addition to presenting research at academic conferences, she also serves as their wellness coordinator. So now you know why there are a lot of references to health and wellness in this 14th edition!

About the Authors

Cristel A. Russell

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Section

1

Foundations of Consumer Behavior This introductory section provides an overview of the field of consumer behavior (CB). In Chapter 1, we look at how consumers influence the market and at how marketers influence us. We describe the discipline of consumer behavior and some of the different approaches to understanding what makes consumers tick. In Chapter 2, we look at the broad issue of well-being and both the positive and negative ways the products we use affect us, and we discuss the many ethical, social, and cultural issues that marketers must confront.

Chapters Ahead Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior

Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet

3

1

Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES   When you finish reading this chapter, you should be able to: 1-1 Summarize how the consumption of goods, services, experiences, and ideas is a major part of our lives. 1-2 Identify and discuss the technological and sociocultural trends that require constant monitoring to understand consumer behavior.

1-3 Explain how consumption both contributes to the world’s problems and provides solutions. 1-4 Describe the many disciplines and perspectives that inform our understanding of consumer behavior.

“D

Source: Fizkes/Shutterstock

4

ownward dog? Why in the world would I ever want to do something stupid like that?” Gail is thumbing through some Instagram posts on her smartphone as she waits for her accounting professor to show up to class. Her roommates have been on this yoga kick for months now, and they don’t show any signs of stopping. They keep telling her it’s great for stress reduction—especially with midterms coming up. Gail’s been meaning to do something about that (other than “stress eating” which she’s very good at). But it’s been hard to motivate herself to try a class. She’s basically an introvert, and she doesn’t relish the idea of other people watching her while she struggles into awkward body poses. But on the other hand, yoga seems to be what anyone who’s anyone is taking up and Gail doesn’t want to seem “uncool” to her friends and classmates. And you get to wear some fashionable athleisure outfits (preferably not produced with child labor!). That settles it—Gail resolves to make time before her awesome consumer behavior class to stop by Lululemon and check out those leggings everyone is buying. If she’s going to make a spectacle of herself contorting on the floor, at least she’ll do it in style. Still, she draws the line at the salamba shirshasana, or yoga headstand. A fashionista has her limits, after all.

Chapter 1  •  Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior



OBJECTIVE 1-1 Summarize how the consumption of goods, services, experiences, and ideas is a major part of our lives.

Consumer Behavior: People in the Marketplace

This book is about people like Gail—and you. It concerns the products and services we buy and use and the ways these fit into our lives. This introductory chapter describes some important aspects of the field of consumer behavior and some reasons why it’s essential to understand how people interact with the marketing system. For now, though, let’s return to one “typical” consumer: Gail, the business major. The preceding vignette allows us to highlight some aspects of consumer behavior that we will cover in the rest of the book. Gail is a consumer like the rest of us. The information around her, both in the real world and online, contributes to her perceptions of the world. The sensory inputs from looking, hearing, smelling, and maybe touching help her make sense of what’s going on around her. As intriguing as that yoga class seemed, she must reconcile her needs for interaction and belongingness with her introvert self. These feelings and thoughts will ultimately guide her decisions and behaviors. Some of her decisions will be well thought out, while others may be more impulsive and even self-destructive. Her identity, both self (who she is as a person) and social (the groups that help to define her), is a collection of her motivations, life circumstances, and choices. Of course, Gail’s sociocultural environment has a huge impact—the priorities of the society in which she lives, her ethnicity, her self-definition in terms of gender, her online activities, and other factors help to drive what is important to her. Not surprisingly, many of these factors relate directly to Gail’s knowledge of brands and which ones “speak” to her. Our allegiances to sneakers, musicians, and even soft drinks help us define our place in modern society, and these choices also help each of us to form bonds with others who share similar preferences. So, it’s on to downward dog after all.

What Is Consumer Behavior? The field of consumer behavior covers a lot of ground: It is the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires and to define and express their identities. Consumers take many forms, ranging from a 10-year-old child who begs their parent for a smartphone to an executive in a large corporation who helps to decide on a multimillion-dollar computer system. The items we consume include anything from canned peas to a massage, democracy, Juicy jeans, a virtual reality experience, K-pop music, or a celebrity like Taylor Swift. The needs and desires we satisfy range from hunger and thirst to love, status, and even spiritual fulfillment. Our consumption choices, the brands we use, the activities in which we engage, and the groups to which we belong are all expressions of our unique identity. Also, as we’ll see throughout this text, people get passionate about a broad range of products. Whether it’s vintage Air Jordans, that perfect yoga mat, or the latest computer tablet, there’s no shortage of brand fans who will do whatever it takes to find and buy what they crave.

The expanded view of consumer behavior embraces much more than the study of what and why we buy; it also focuses on how consumers use products and services. In this case, a hotel in Dubai promotes responsible behavior. Source: Courtesy of Marco Polo Hotel/Dubai; Brandcom Agency.

5

6

Section 1  •  Foundations of Consumer Behavior

Consumption Is a Process Consumer behavior is dynamic: It is an ongoing process that extends much beyond the moment a consumer hands over money or a credit card and in turn receives some good or service. Consumption refers to all facets of the consumer behavior process, which include how we observe and make sense of the world around us, how we choose and purchase things, and how we communicate our identity and sense of self in society. Figure 1.1 illustrates all the facets of consumer behavior that we will address in this book.

What Does It Mean to Consume? People buy products not for what they do, but for what they mean.1 This principle, one of the most fundamental premises of the modern field of consumer behavior, does not imply that a product’s basic function is unimportant but rather that the roles products (and services) play in our lives extend well beyond the tasks they perform. All things being equal, we choose the brand that has an image (or even a personality!) consistent with our underlying needs and desires and aligned with our identity. The deeper meanings of consumption may help it to stand out from other similar goods and services. Our consumption choices help us define our identity. Identity is a multilayered concept that involves our personal self and our social self. As we will see, many factors like our age, gender, and ethnic and racial background affect our sense of self. Where we live, how we grew up, and what social media we use all shape our individual identities. Plus, the way we feel about ourselves, the things we value, the things we like to do in our spare time—all these factors help to determine which products will push our buttons and even those that will make us feel better. SECTIONS

CHAPTERS 1 Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction

1

Foundations of Consumer Behavior

2

Making Sense of the World

3

Buying and Having: Choosing and Using Products

6 Attitudes and How to Change Them

4

Being: Using Products to Create and Communicate Identity

9 Identity and the Self

5

to Consumer Behavior 2 Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet

3 Perceiving and Making Meaning 4 Learning, Remembering, and Knowing 5 Motivation

7 Deciding 8 Buying, Using, and Disposing

10 Personality, Values, and Lifestyles 11 Social and Cultural Identity 12 How Groups Define Us

Belonging

Figure 1.1  The Plan of the Book

13 Social Class and Status 14 Culture



Chapter 1  •  Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior

7

A Branded World Every day Gail encounters information about many competing products and services. Some of these don’t capture her attention at all, whereas others are just a turnoff because they don’t relate to “looks,” people, or ideas with which she identifies. But others are very important to her because they help her to express a part of who she is—a sociable college student, responsible steward of the environment, fashionista, or whatever else matters to her. A brand enables consumers to identify a particular company, product, or individual. It uses identifying markers to tell potential buyers not only what it does but also what it means and perhaps even the cultural values it stands for.2 For example, Nike makes shoes and other athletic equipment, People often purchase a product because they like its image or but the brand’s role in our culture goes much farther than because they feel its “personality” somehow corresponds to their that. The famous “swoosh” logo is everywhere, and legions own. Conversely, they may avoid a brand that clashes with their identity or beliefs. For example, many Nike supporters decided of “sneakerheads” pay impressive sums to collect vintage to boycott the brand after the Kaepernick incident, while other Nike shoes. The Nike brand also links to controversial social consumers deliberately switched to Nike to show their support. issues, such as child labor (the company’s supply chain has Source: Eric Risberg/AP Images reportedly used child labor in the past) and the Black Lives Matter movement (the company took an early and vocal stand on behalf of the former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who was fired for showing his support for the cause on the football field).3 Whether it’s the Super Bowl, Christmas shopping, national health care, newspaper recycling, CBD oil, body piercing, vaping, tweeting, or online video games, marketers play a significant role in our view of the world and how we live in it. And we increasingly live in a branded world, where advertisers promote events and places of all kinds. This cultural impact is hard to overlook, although many people do not seem to realize how much marketers influence their preferences for movie and musical heroes; the latest fashions in clothing, food, and decorating choices; and even the physical features that they find attractive or ugly in people. For example, consider the product icons that companies use to create an identity for their products. Many imaginary creatures and personalities, from the Pillsbury Doughboy to the Jolly Green Giant, at one time or another were central figures in popular culture. In fact, it is likely that more consumers could recognize such characters than could identify past presidents, business leaders, or artists. Although these figures never really existed, many of us feel as if we “know” them, and they certainly are effective spokescharacters for the products they represent. In addition to visual cues like the famous Nike Swoosh, the taste, texture, or smell of an item influences Consumers form strong loyalties with their favorite brands or our evaluations of it. Similarly, a good website helps stores. If necessary, many are willing to camp out for a new people to feel, taste, and smell with their eyes. We may product introduction, much like they would for scarce tickets at a be swayed by the shape and color of a package on the big concert. store shelf, as well as by more subtle factors, such as the Source: Jeffrey Blackler/Alamy Stock Photo.

8

Section 1  •  Foundations of Consumer Behavior

symbolism in a brand name, the imagery an ad uses, or even in the choice of a cover model for a magazine. These judgments are affected by—and often reflect— how a society feels people should define themselves at that point in time. Many product meanings lurk below the surface of packaging and advertising; we’ll discuss some of the methods marketers and social scientists use to discover or apply these meanings. Like Gail, we shape our opinions and desires based on a mix of voices from around the world, which is becoming a much smaller place because of rapid advancements in communications and transportation systems. In today’s global culture, consumers often prize products and services that “transport” them to different places and allow them to experience the diversity of other cultures—even if only to watch others brush their teeth on YouTube.

Understanding Consumers Is Good Business The bottom line for managers, advertisers, and other marketing professionals: Understanding consumer behavior is good business. The basic marketing concept that you (hopefully) remember from your basic marketing class states that organizations exist to satisfy needs. Marketers can satisfy these needs only to the extent that they understand the people or organizations that will use the products and services they sell. Voila! That’s why we study consumer behavior. Successful companies understand that needs are a moving target. No organization—no matter how renowned for its marketing prowess—can afford to rest on its laurels. Everyone needs to keep innovating to stay ahead of changing customers and the marketplace. BMW is a great example. No one (not even rivals like Audi or Mercedes-Benz) would argue that the German automaker knows how to make a good car (although they may not agree with the company’s claim to be “the ultimate driving machine”). Still, BMW’s engineers and designers know they must understand how drivers’ needs will change in the future—even those loyal owners who love the cars they own today. The company is highly sensitive to such key trends as:

• A desire for environmentally friendly products • Increasingly congested roadways and the movement by •

BMW anticipates changes in consumer behavior as it develops electric car models like the i8 that satisfy dual desires for style and environmental responsibility. Source: Ritu Manoj Jethani/Shutterstock

some cities, such as London and New York, to impose fees on vehicles in central areas New business models that encourage consumers to rent products only while they need them rather than buying them outright

BMW’s response: The company committed more than $1 billion to develop electric BMWi models, such as its new i3 commuter car and i8 sports car. These futuristic-looking vehicles are largely made from lightweight carbon fiber to maximize the distance they can go between battery charges, and 25 percent of the interior plastic comes from recycled or renewable raw materials. In addition, BMW partnered with the Daimler AG group (Mercedes, etc.) to offer the Share Now carsharing service that boasts over four million members worldwide.4 That’s forward thinking.

Chapter 1  •  Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior



OBJECTIVE 1-2 Identify and discuss the technological and sociocultural trends that require constant monitoring to understand consumer behavior.

Consumers, Society, and Technology: A Moving Target

Today many of us take for granted things that our grandparents only dreamed about. We instantly access people, places, and products with the click of a link. Many consumers travel to remote countries in a day rather than the weeks or months our ancestors needed if they ever left their places of birth at all. Most of us now live in urban centers that bustle with people from many countries and that offer exotic foods from around the world. The United Nations defines a megacity as a metropolitan area with a total population of more than 10 million people. By 2011, there were already 20 such areas in the world. Researchers estimate that by 2030 three out of five people will live in cities.5 This concentration in urban centers, combined with population growth in developing countries and increasing demands for modernization by billions of people in booming economies such as China, India, and Brazil, is both a blessing and a curse. Quality of life for many everyday citizens is better than even that of the elite who lived several centuries ago (even kings bathed only once a month). On the other hand, millions live in squalor, children around the world go to bed hungry, and we all feel the effects unbridled growth contribute to pollution of our air, soil, and water. As we’ll see later in the text, all these issues relate directly to our understanding of consumer behavior—and to the impact companies and customers have on our future and the world that we will leave to our children.

Social Media: The Horizontal Revolution Word of mouth has always been a major force, but the explosion of social media takes “word of mouse” to a whole new level because it has created a horizontal revolution: Communications no longer just flow top-down from companies and established media to passive recipients (consumers). Today, they also flow across regular users (hence the word horizontal above, in case you were wondering). Social media refers to the online means of communication, conveyance, collaboration, and cultivation among interconnected and interdependent networks of people, communities, and organizations enhanced by technological capabilities and mobility. Every day the influence of social media expands as more people join online communities. These include platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook (for older folks?), and LinkedIn (for professional networking). The odds are good (really good) that you use one or more of these platforms on a regular basis. After all, about 81 percent of the total population of the U.S. (about 270 million of us) currently are active on social media.6 OK, you have our permission to take a 30-second break so you can check your social for updates . . .  It’s fair to say that 24/7 access to smartphones and other social media devices has kindled a fascination among many of us with documenting exactly what we’re doing and sharing the exciting news with others. A meal in a nice restaurant doesn’t get touched until the diner posts a photo of it on Instagram. We may not learn that the person we’re dating has broken up with us until we see they have changed their relationship status on Facebook. Today some of us wear tiny cameras that allow us to create a lifelog of every event we experience throughout the day.7 There’s little doubt that the digital revolution is one of the most significant influences on consumer behavior, and the impact of the internet will continue to

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expand as more and more people around the world log in. Many of us are avid surfers, and it’s hard to imagine a time when texting, tweeting, TikToking, or pinning favorite items on Pinterest weren’t a regular part of daily life.

Artificial Intelligence and The Metaverse But our lives are about to change even more: We’re entering a new era of the Internet of Things (IoT). This term refers to the growing network of interconnected devices embedded in objects that speak to one another. Analysts estimate that there are 14.4 billion connected devices out there now, with 27 billion expected by 2025.8 You can see the impact of the IoT all around you, from the advent of autonomous vehicles (self-driving cars) to the “smart home” products that can automatically adjust your thermostat, control your windows, and even turn on your oven before you get home.9 Automation creates new ways for consumers to live their lives, from how they connect with other people to how they express themselves and expand their minds.10 We are also witnessing a revolution in M2M (machineBe on the lookout for service robots that perform many functions to-machine communication) that will profoundly change humans normally carry out—such as waiting on customers. our lives. Self-driving cars are just the tip of the iceberg.11 Source: Pack-Shot/Shutterstock Artificial intelligence (AI) applications that get better over time via machine learning already interact with us in the form of voice recognition software in digital assistants like Siri and Alexa; in systems that process insurance Buying, Having, Being claims, trade stocks, and diagnose exotic illnesses; as well as in marketing applications that help advertisers to improve the precision of their ad placements, help businesses The Digital Native increase the speed with which they can deliver goods to their customers, and even If you’re a typical student, you help salespeople to predict which responses to consumers’ queries are more likely to probably can’t recall a time when result in a purchase.12 the internet was just a static, oneway platform that transmitted text and a few sketchy images. And believe it or not, in the last century, even that crude technique didn’t exist. You may have read about this in a history class: People actually handwrote letters to each other and waited for printed magazines to arrive in their mailboxes to learn about current events! The term digital native originated in a 2001 article to explain a new type of student who was starting to turn up on campus. These people grew up “wired” in a highly networked, always-on world where digital technology had always existed.13 Fast forward to today, where 87 percent of American teens own an iPhone and non-school related screen time jumped from 3.8 hours per day before the pandemic to 7.7 hours today. Are you a digital native?

“Big Data” and Data Analytics Walmart stores massive amounts of information on the 100 million people who visit its stores each week, and the company uses these data to fine-tune its offerings. For example, when the company analyzed how shoppers’ buying patterns react when forecasters predict a major hurricane, it discovered that people do a lot more than simply stock up on flashlights. Sales of strawberry Pop-Tarts increased by about 700 percent, and the top-selling product of all was . . . beer. Based on these insights, Walmart loads its trucks with toaster pastries and six-packs to stock local stores when a big storm is approaching.14 At this very moment (and every moment thereafter until we croak), we are all generating massive amounts of information that hold tremendous value for marketers. You may not see it, but we are practically buried by data that come from many sources—sensors that collect climate information, the comments you and your friends make on your favorite social media sites, the credit card transactions we authorize, and even the GPS signals in our smartphones that let organizations know where most of us are pretty much anytime day or night. This incredible amount of information has created a new field that causes tremendous excitement among marketing analysts (and other math geeks). The collection and analysis of extremely large datasets is called Big Data, and you’ll be hearing a lot more about it in the next few years. Hint: If you have aptitude or interest in quantitative topics, this will be a desirable career path for you.

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In addition to the huge volume of information marketers now must play with, its velocity (speed) also enables companies to make decisions in real time that used to take months or years. For example, one group of researchers used the GPS phone signals that were coming from Macy’s parking lots on Black Friday to estimate whether the department store was going to meet or exceed its sales projections for the biggest shopping day of the year—before the stores even reported their sales. This kind of intelligence allows financial analysts and marketing managers to move quickly as they buy and sell stocks or make merchandising decisions. It’s safe to say this data explosion is profoundly changing the way we think about consumer behavior. Companies, nonprofits, political parties, and even governments sift through massive quantities of information that enable them to make precise predictions about what products we will buy, what charities we will donate to, what candidates we will vote for, and what levers they need to push to make this even more likely to happen. Walmart alone collects more than 2.5 petabytes of data every hour from its customer transactions (the equivalent of about 20 million filing cabinets’ worth of text).15

Welcome to the Metaverse! It’s hard to ignore all the talk about the Metaverse over the past few years—especially since Facebook rebranded itself as Meta, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company’s goal to “help bring the metaverse to life.” There’s been a lot of hype, but what exactly is the metaverse? Most definitions center on these elements:16

• It exists in the physical world, but it also involves immersive environments, often • •

•

(but not always) using virtual- or augmented-reality technology. Inhabitants of a “virtual world” often create a unique identity in the form of an avatar, and this character may not be at all like the person’s IRL (in-real-life) identity. It’s “always on” and operates in real time. It’s built on a virtual economy—most likely based upon cryptocurrency and digital goods and assets, including nonfungible tokens (NFTs), which are digital assets with unique identification codes and metadata that distinguish them from one another. Unlike cryptocurrencies (fungible tokens), each NFT is completely unique and only one person can own it. This makes these assets very attractive to people who buy and sell artwork, sports memorabilia, and other physical objects that otherwise have the potential to be duplicated.17 It allows people to possess virtual identities that don’t necessarily correspond to who they are IRL. They can interact with peers, create content, and at times build their own (virtual) worlds.

To pay homage to its founder’s 200th birthday, Louis Vuitton released a mobile game on the Roblox platform. It follows a game character through six worlds as it collects 200 candles. Of course, you start by adorning your character in Louis Vuitton threads. To add to the excitement, the designers placed 30 NFTs created by the artist Beeple for players to find.18 If you think that name is weird, for what it’s worth, Mike Winkelmann (the artist’s real name) earned notoriety (and perhaps envy) when he sold an NFT of a JPG file composed of 5,000 individual images for the highest price recorded—$69.3 million (yes, million). That’s more than masterpieces by many famous artists.19 Source: Supamotion/Shutterstock

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Globalization of Brands and Cultural Practices We live in a hyperconnected and increasingly global world: Especially as the pandemic subsided, many of us compensated by traveling even more than before. Worldwide destinations welcomed about 117 million visitors in 2022, up from a paltry 41 million the year before when most of us stayed home.20 More people than ever before are leaving the familiarity of their home culture to live, even if for a short period, in a different cultural environment. In this world of increasing global mobility, two countervailing forces drive consumer behavior: The desire to belong and the drive for cultural distinctiveness, or the feeling of being different and separated from the surrounding cultural environment.21 On the one end, consumers have a natural in-group bias: They prefer culturally related brands that meet their desire to connect with “home” and their home culture. But on the other end, consumers can feel a sense of cultural distinctiveness that drives them to seek out brands that represent other cultural groups. Global brands that are sold across many countries and cultures benefit from little variation across countries because economies of scale make it cheaper and easier to use the same message in multiple markets. Some large corporations, such as Coca-Cola, have successfully crafted a single, international global image for their flagship brands. Still, even the soft-drink giant must make minor modifications to the way it presents itself in each culture. Although Coke commercials are largely standardized, the company permits local agencies to edit them so they highlight close-ups of local faces.22

Proactive Consumers and User-Generated Content Probably the biggest phenomenon of the 20th century is the degree to which consumers want organizations to market with them rather than market to them. Today many of us want to be a lot more proactive—instead of sitting idly in front of the TV waiting for marketers to tell them what they want, a lot of people are creating their own ads and submitting new product ideas, reviews, and other suggestions to the companies that matter to them.

UGC Rules! This helps to explain the explosion of user-generated content (UGC), where everyone can voice their opinions about products, brands, and companies on blogs, podcasts, and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. We can even film our own commercials that thousands view on sites like YouTube. This important trend helps to define the era of Web 2.0: The rebirth of the internet from its original roots as a form of one-way transmission from producers to consumers to a social, interactive medium. What drives this desire by everyday consumers to be directors, writers, and actors (even in bad TikTok videos)? Obviously, technology is one reason—today we have the tools to easily create videos, photos, and sound clips that look “professional.” But another important factor speaks to the gap between the content that customers want to see from organizations and the content that they’re getting. A recent survey found that while almost all marketers (92 percent) believe the content they create resonates with their customers, half of consumers believe that most companies do not create content that resonates with them. While marketers believe their content is about twice as authentic as user-generated content, consumers overwhelmingly believe the opposite.23

Consumer Creation in the Transmedia Environment Another important development in the consumer ecosystem is the shift from traditional media to the more integrated system called transmedia. Transmedia refers to the web



Chapter 1  •  Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior

of media from traditional media platforms, like magazines and television, to more novel and emergent ones, like digital media, videogames, and the metaverse. Transmedia challenges traditional views of popular culture—the music, movies, sports, books, celebrities, and other forms of entertainment that the mass market produces and consumes—because we can access these forms of entertainment in so many ways and in so many forms. Marketing messages are communicated synchronously through transmedia in the form of transmedia storytelling, which refers to telling a story across multiple platforms and formats. In turn, consumers access brand and marketing messages synchronously across transmedia, and this variety of contact points allows them to engage with content in a such a variety of ways that it amounts to a make-your-own-journey.24

Consumer Trends: Keeping Up with the Culture That Won’t Stand Still Understanding consumer behavior means staying on top of consumer trends. This term does not just refer to specific brands or styles that may be in vogue today but also to underlying values that drive consumers toward certain products and services and away from others. As we’ll see, these values evolve over time. For example, some analysts argue that our focus on acquiring physical objects is shifting toward the consumption of experiences instead. This consumer trend is consistent with research that shows experiential purchases provide greater happiness and satisfaction The Matrix was the first transmedia brand, with the because they allow us to connect with others in an increasingly simultaneous release of the film, a game, and a website. impersonal society. Source: © Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection Why is it so important to understand consumer trends? Very simply, a brand that aligns with a dominant value stands a much better chance of success. Because companies often need substantial lead time to launch a new product or reposition an existing one, it’s crucial to track not just where consumers are but where they’re going. That way you can be there to greet them when they arrive. Consumer trend forecasting is big business, and many organizations devote huge resources to monitoring the “bleeding edge” of consumer behavior. Companies like Mintel, Euromonitor, and GfK publish consumer trend reports that alert clients to what the companies view as basic changes in customers’ priorities. It can seem at times that there are as many consumer trends as there are trend watchers, and sometimes their predictions create a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, Pantone publishes an influential color forecasting report that many manufacturers use to guide their choices of future color palettes for cars, clothing, house paints, and other products. Since so many companies heed these predictions, perhaps it’s not too surprising to find the very hues Pantone predicted on store shelves (Very Peri, a shade of blue with red and violet undertones, was the Color of the Year for 2022). It’s an amazing time to study consumer behavior. In so many ways, our basic assumptions about how companies and people relate to one another are being disrupted. Throughout this text, we’re going to learn about the “bleeding edge” of consumer behavior; the many ways that these relationships change on an almost daily basis.

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These are some of the important consumer trends that we believe will impact marketing strategies in the near future:

• Sharing economy: A continued blurring of the boundary between producers and •

• • •

• • • • •

consumers, as everyday people take on the roles of hoteliers, taxi drivers, and even advertising agencies. We will see a de-emphasis on the value of owning products such as automobiles and power tools as opposed to leasing them on an as-needed basis. Authenticity and personalization: An aversion to corporate “hype,” as consumers place a premium on knowing the lineage of the companies they patronize. Consumers also will demand more individualized experiences rather than buying mass-market products and services. There will be an increase in “artisanal” products and continuing growth of the “maker movement,” augmented by wider availability of 3D-printing technologies. Shoppers are willing to pay more for an item when they know exactly where it comes from, and they are assured that “real people” have thoughtfully selected the things from which they choose. Blurring of gender identity and gender roles: The continuing movement away from “gender binarism” as gender identity becomes more fluid and more people do not identify themselves as male or female. Diversity and multiculturalism: Racial and ethnic divisions will blur as people are exposed to other groups both in person (e.g., at the workplace) and online. Intermarriage rates continue to accelerate; a growing number of countries (including the United States) no longer adhere to strict categories when they ask citizens to identify racial and ethnic identity.25 Social shopping: The traditional lone decision maker will become harder to find, as ready access to product reviews and others’ immediate feedback on potential purchases turns many buying situations into committee decisions. Large numbers of people already say they almost always consult online reviews before they buy something new. We will see continued growth of video as the go-to medium for posting and sharing. Income inequality: The gap between rich and poor will continue to grow in the United States, which will exacerbate pressure toward a dual society of haves (in gated communities) and have-nots. Healthy and ethical living: A continued focus on wellness, physical fitness, and environmental sustainability. This priority is likely to divide along social class lines, as growing economic inequality makes it difficult for less affluent consumers to afford healthy and sustainable products. Simplification: A movement away from hyperchoice and toward decluttering one’s life and possessions. There will be more priority on experiences rather than acquiring things. Interconnection and the Internet of Things: The rapid growth of AI will facilitate the popularity of products such as wearable computers that monitor physical activity and offer many other functions. We will see growth in the consumer trend of smart homes. Anonymity: Data hacking, cyberbullying, and advertising tracking will fuel a desire for “the right to be forgotten.” Consumers will flock to platforms like Snapchat that don’t retain posts or that allow users to create alternative identities. There will be greater emphasis on regulating online businesses as public utilities and on forcing advertisers to reveal when they have paid for online advertising. Consumer trends are a moving target. Keep ahead to keep up!

Chapter 1  •  Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior



OBJECTIVE 1-3 Explain how consumption both contributes to the world’s problems and provides solutions.

Consumption: From Problem to Solution?

As we’ll see in the next chapter, a number of critics argue that consumption is the source of many of the world’s problems: Growing mental and physical health problems, climate change, addiction, and other issues that threaten our quality of life as individuals and as a society. They claim that modern marketing practices make these problems worse because they create unhealthy needs that people then try to satisfy.

What Do We Need—Really? One large survey explored some profound questions: How can we predict whether someone will be happy? How does that feeling relate to living a meaningful life? The researchers concluded that happiness is linked to satisfying wants and needs, whereas meaningfulness relates to activities that express oneself and impact others in a positive way. Not surprisingly, people whose needs were satisfied were happier, but the findings went beyond that connection:

• Happiness was linked to being a taker rather than a giver, whereas meaningfulness went with being a giver rather than a taker. • Happy people are more likely to think in the present rather than dwelling on the past or contemplating the future. • Respondents who reported higher levels of worry, stress, and anxiety were less •

happy but had more meaningful lives. They spend a lot of time thinking about past struggles and imagining what will happen in the future. They are likely to agree that taking care of children and buying gifts for others reflect who they are. The researchers concluded that “happiness without meaning characterizes a relatively shallow, self-absorbed or even selfish life, in which things go well, needs and desires are easily satisfied, and difficult or taxing entanglements are avoided.”26

The distinction between a “happy” and a “meaningful” life brings up an important question: What is the difference between needing something and wanting it? The answer to this deceptively simple question explains a lot of consumer behavior! A need is something a person must have to live or to achieve a goal. A want is a specific manifestation of a need that personal and cultural factors determine. For example, hunger is a basic need that all of us must satisfy; a lack of food creates a tension state that a person is motivated to reduce. But the way they choose to do that can take a lot of forms: One person’s “dream meal” might include a cheeseburger, fries, and double-fudge Oreo cookies, whereas another might go for sushi followed by vegan and gluten-free chocolate cake balls.

Toward Responsible Consumption and Responsible Business No doubt there’s some truth to these criticisms of consumption’s effects on society. But it’s just as easy to argue that consumption can also be the source of solutions to a better world. A greener planet will require that consumers make better, more environmentally sound choices. Solving the housing crisis will likely involve creative solutions to home ownership and a greater variety of housing options.

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Patagonia has long been recognized for its’ responsible marketing practices. In one well-known campaign, the company actually urged customers to purchase used garments rather than buying a new one – even if it’s made by them. Source: © 2011 Patagonia, Inc

Chapter 1  •  Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior



For businesses also, responsible marketing is about merging consumer centricity, a focus on meeting consumers’ needs, with making a positive impact on our communities—both in the small sense (local communities) and in the broad sense (our planet). OBJECTIVE 1-4 Describe how many disciplines and perspectives inform our understanding of consumer behavior.

Multiple Perspectives on the Study of Consumer Behavior

By now it should be clear that the field of consumer behavior encompasses many things, from the simple purchase of a carton of milk to the selection of a complex, networked computer system; from the decision to donate money to a charity to devious plans to rip off a company. And it should be evident that the environment in which consumers live is everchanging. There’s an awful lot to understand, and many ways to go about it. Given the complexity of consumer behavior and the many forms and facets of consumption, it is clear we need multiple perspectives to fully understand it (or at least, to come close!).

What Disciplines Study Consumer Behavior? Many different perspectives shape the field of consumer research. Indeed, it is hard to think of a field that is more interdisciplinary. You can find people with training in a wide range of disciplines—from neuroscience to anthropology—doing consumer research. Universities, manufacturers, museums, advertising agencies, and governments employ consumer researchers. Consumer researchers have formed many academic groups, such as the Association for Consumer Research, the Society for Consumer Psychology, and the Consumer Culture Theory movement. To gain an idea of the diversity of interests of people who do consumer research, consider the list of professional associations that sponsor the field’s major journal, the Journal of Consumer Research: The American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, the American Statistical Association, the Association for Consumer Research, the Society for Consumer Psychology, the International Communication Association, the American Sociological Association, the Institute of Management Sciences, the American Anthropological Association, the American Marketing Association, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the American Association for Public Opinion Research, and the American Economic Association. That’s a mixed bag to be sure. Clearly there are a lot of researchers from diverse backgrounds who are into the study of consumer behavior. So, which is the “correct” discipline to explore these issues? You might remember a children’s story about the blind men and the elephant. The gist of the story is that each man touched a different part of the animal and, as a result, the descriptions each man gave of the elephant were quite different. This analogy applies to consumer research as well. Depending on the training and interests of the researchers studying it, they will approach the same consumer phenomenon in different ways and at different levels. Table 1.1 illustrates how we can approach a complex and emerging topic such as the metaverse from a range of perspectives. We’ll take a closer look at some of the diverse methods researchers use to study consumer behavior in Appendix C.

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TABLE 1.1    Interdisciplinary

Research Issues in Consumer Behavior

Disciplinary Focus

Metaverse Potential Research Issues

Cognitive psychology (perception, learning, and memory processes)

How do consumers process brands they encounter in the metaverse? How do they recognize and interpret the brand based upon the modality (audio or visual) that carries the information? What makes a brand impression in the metaverse more likely to stick over time?

Clinical psychology

How do metaverse experiences affect consumers’ mental health? For example, does constant exposure to photos of “perfect” people diminish a viewer’s self-esteem?

Behavioral economics

Do consumers respond to monetary incentives and spend their money differently in a virtual world than in the physical world?

Social psychology

Are consumers more likely to follow others’ brand recommendations when they occur in a virtual world instead of the physical world?

Sociology

How do avatar brand communities form and develop inside the metaverse?

Semiotics & literary criticism

How does the metaverse environment shape the meanings of the brands that consumers encounter in that space?

Computer Science

How would consumers interact with computer interfaces that allow them to control applications with their eyes?

Anthropology

How do people observe cultural myths and rituals while in avatar form in the metaverse?

Figure 1.2 provides a glimpse of some of the core disciplines that inform our understanding of consumer behavior. Disciplines listed in the top half of the figure represent a focus on the individual consumer (micro issues), and those in the lower half of the figure are more interested in the collective activities that occur among larger groups of people (macro issues).

A Micro Focus On the micro side, we find researchers who understand the brain and its inherent processes. Researchers identify how we process information or how messages of different types change our opinions and behaviors. Foundations for these perspectives come from the following disciplines:

• Cognitive psychology: This discipline focuses on the • Marketing ethnographers spend time with real consumers to inform their clients about what people need or want based upon observations in natural settings. Source: Master1305/Shutterstock.

•

study of internal mental processes—that is, what happens inside your brain, including perception, memory, attention, language, problem-solving, and learning.27 Neuroscience: This discipline focuses more deeply inside the brain and nervous system. Neuroscientists use tools like brain scanning, which measures neural activity, and physiological tracking, which measures eye movement.28 Judgment and decision making (JDM): As its name signals, this discipline studies all the complexities of human judgments and decisions.29

Chapter 1  •  Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior



Cognitive Psychology

Neuroscience

Judgment and Decision-Making

Behavioral Economics

Social Psychology

Buying, Having, and Being SECTION 1

SECTION 2

SECTION 3

SECTION 4

SECTION 5

Foundations of Consumer Behavior

Making Sense of the World

Buying and Having: Choosing and Using Products

Being: Using Products to Create and Communicate Identity

Belonging

History

Semiotics, Literary Theory

Computer Science

Sociology

Figure 1.2  The Core Disciplines That Inform Research on Consumer Behavior

classical and • Behavioral economics: A branch of economics that extends from neoclassical economics and integrates insights from psychology.30 • Social psychology: This branch of psychology focuses31 (not surprisingly!) on the social factors that affect individual or group behavior.

A Macro Focus On the macro side, we find researchers who regard consumption from a social and cultural point of view, drawing on sociology and anthropology. Researchers embrace a variety of topics that range from how the media shapes our conceptions of our bodies or how disadvantaged people cope with poverty to how Harley-Davidson riders participate in an active community of bike lovers.32

• Sociology: This discipline focuses on the study of group33 behavior, including the structures and institutions that govern human behavior. • Anthropology: This discipline comparatively examines culture, society, and34 human difference from the perspective of the individual embedded in a collective.

A Diverse Focus A wide array of other disciplines also inform consumer research, such as:

• Semiotics and literary criticism: The humanities can provide rich insights into • •

the meanings inherent in text. Semiotics, the study of meanings and symbols, and literary criticism, the systematic and organized analysis and evaluation of texts, offer tools to deconstruct and extract the meanings inside ads, social media posts, and even entire marketing campaigns.35 Computer science: The increasing role of technology in our lives brings the need to integrate knowledge from computer science, the study of computers and computational systems, to understand consumer behavior.36 History: The discipline of history studies the past and critically examines these source materials to assess consumption trends over time and the factors that shape them.37 For instance, consumer researchers critically analyze historical records to understand how markets change and how cultural trends and practices evolve over time.

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Anthropology

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Where Do We Find Consumer Researchers? Where do we find consumer researchers? Just about anywhere we find consumers. Consumer researchers work for manufacturers, retailers, marketing research firms, governments, and nonprofit organizations—and of course colleges and universities. You’ll find them in laboratories, running sophisticated experiments that involve advanced neural imaging machinery, or in malls, interviewing shoppers. They may conduct focus groups or run large-scale polling operations. For example, when an advertising agency began to work on a new campaign for retailer JCPenney, it sent staffers to hang out with more than 50 women for several days. They wanted to really understand the respondents’ lives, so they helped them to clean their houses, carpool, cook dinner, and shop. As one of the account executives observed, “If you want to understand how a lion hunts, you don’t go to the zoo—you go to the jungle.”38

The Philosophy of This Book This textbook embraces the multidisciplinary nature of the study of consumer behavior. Understanding complex real-world consumption phenomena requires a plurality of methods and theoretical approaches.39 So, in each chapter, we weave in insights from multiple paradigms, which refer to ways of thinking about and studying a phenomenon. For instance, when explaining the processes of attitude change  (Chapter 6), we review classic persuasion models from social psychology but also incorporate the sociocultural and narrative (storytelling) processes at play. When we cover the role of social class in consumption (Chapter 13), we review the “pure” sociological perspective on class, which adopts a societal lens and analyzes the symbolic systems that shape class and status groups but also weaves in developments from social psychology on status signaling, which takes a psychological approach to how individuals process and respond to status cues. Multiple flavors? Yes, and you’ll taste them all in this course!

CHAPTER SUMMARY Now that you have finished reading this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Summarize how the consumption of goods, services, experiences, and ideas is a major part of our lives. Consumer behavior is the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires and to define and express their identities. The items we consume include anything from canned peas to a massage, democracy, Juicy jeans, a virtual reality experience, K-pop music, or a celebrity like Taylor Swift. The needs and desires we satisfy range from hunger and thirst to love, status, and even spiritual fulfillment.

Consumption refers to all facets of the consumer behavior process, which includes how we observe and make sense of the world around us, how we choose and purchase things, and how we use consumption to communicate our identity and our sense of self in society. One of the fundamental premises of the modern field of consumer behavior is that people buy products not for what they do but for what they mean. This principle does not imply that a product’s basic function is unimportant but rather that the roles products (and services) play in our lives extend well beyond the tasks they perform. Our consumption choices help us define our identity. Identity is a multilayered concept that involves our personal self and our social self.

Chapter 1  •  Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior



2. Identify and discuss the technological and sociocultural trends that require constant monitoring to understand consumer behavior. There’s little doubt that the digital revolution is one of the most significant influences on consumer behavior, and the impact of the internet will continue to expand as more and more people around the world log in. Communications no longer just flow top-down from companies and established media to passive recipients (consumers). Today, they also flow across regular users. Social media refers to the online means of communication, conveyance, collaboration, and cultivation among interconnected and interdependent networks of people, communities, and organizations enhanced by technological capabilities and mobility. Every day the influence of social media expands as more people join online communities. As part of our online activity, we are all generating massive amounts of information that hold tremendous value for marketers, especially as our devices increasingly connect to one another as part of the Internet of Things (IoT). The collection and analysis of extremely large datasets is called Big Data. This data explosion is profoundly changing the way we think about consumer behavior. Companies, nonprofits, political parties, and even governments sift through massive quantities of information that enable them to make precise predictions about what products we will buy, what charities we will donate to, what candidates we will vote for, and what levers they need to push to make this even more likely to happen. The metaverse describes an environment we will very possibly inhabit in the near future, where activities in the physical and digital worlds are integrated into an immersive user experience. Increasingly the content we encounter is

from brands that have become a part of global culture. Understanding consumer behavior means staying on top of consumer trends. Important trends include the sharing economy, diversity and multiculturalism, authenticity, and sustainability. 3. Explain how consumption both contributes to the world’s problems and provides solutions. Many critics argue that consumption is the source of many of the world’s problems: Growing mental and physical health problems, climate change, addiction, and other issues that threaten our quality of life as individuals and as a society. They claim that modern marketing practices make these problems worse because they create unhealthy needs that people then try to satisfy. It’s just as easy to argue that consumption can also be the source of solutions to a better world. A greener planet will require that consumers make better, more environmentally sound choices. Solving the housing crisis will likely involve creative solutions to home ownership and a greater variety of housing options. For businesses also, responsible marketing is about merging consumer centricity, a focus on meeting consumers’ needs, with making a positive impact on our communities—both in the small sense (local communities) and in the broad sense (our planet). 4. Describe how many disciplines and perspectives inform our understanding of consumer behavior. Many different perspectives shape the field of consumer research. You can find people with training in a wide range of disciplines—from neuroscience to anthropology—doing consumer research. Universities, manufacturers, museums, advertising agencies, and governments employ consumer researchers.

KEY TERMS Artificial intelligence (AI), 10 Autonomous vehicles, 10 Big Data, 10 Brand, 7 Consumer behavior, 5 Consumer centricity, 17 Consumer trends, 13 Consumption, 6 Contact points, 13 Cultural distinctiveness, 12 Digital native, 10

21

Horizontal revolution, 9 Identity, 6 In-group bias, 12 Internet of Things, (IoT), 10 Lifelog, 9 M2M (machine-to-machine communication), 10 Machine learning, 10 Megacity, 9 Metaverse, 11 Need, 15

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs), 11 Paradigms, 20 Popular culture, 13 Responsible marketing, 17 Social media, 9 Transmedia, 12 Transmedia storytelling, 13 User-generated content (UGC), 12 Want, 15 Web 2.0, 12

22

Section 1  •  Foundations of Consumer Behavior

REVIEW 1-1 Provide a definition of consumer behavior. 1-2 What is Big Data? 1-3 What is popular culture, and how does this concept relate to marketing and consumer behavior?

1-5 This chapter states “people often buy products not for what they do but for what they mean.” Explain the meaning of this statement and provide an example.

1-4 Name two different disciplines that study consumer behavior. How would their approaches to the same issue differ?

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHALLENGE DISCUSS

1-6 As consumers increasingly interact with one another in digital form, what are the ramifications for realworld human relationships? 1-7 What aspects of consumer behavior would interest a financial planner? A university administrator? A graphic arts designer? A social worker in a government agency? A nursing instructor? 1-8 Critics of targeted marketing strategies argue that this practice is discriminatory and unfair, especially if such a strategy encourages a group of people to buy a product that may be injurious to them or that they cannot afford. For example, community leaders in largely minority neighborhoods have staged protests against billboards promoting beer or cigarettes in these areas. However, the Association of National Advertisers argues that banning targeted marketing constitutes censorship and thus is a violation of the First Amendment. What are your views regarding this issue? 1-9 The chapter discussed a study that compared and contrasted people who lead “happy” lives versus those who lead “meaningful” lives. How does this distinction relate to the way you decide to spend your time and money? How does it relate to consumer behavior more generally?40 1-10 A book bemoans the new wave of consumergenerated content, labeling it “the cult of the amateur.” It compares the social networking phenomenon to the old story about the monkeys: If you put an infinite number of monkeys in a room with an infinite number of typewriters, eventually they will (by hitting keys randomly) reproduce all the major

works of literature. In other words, most of the usergenerated content is at about the same level, and the future of professionally produced, quality work is in doubt.41 Do you agree or disagree with this assertion? 1-11 A few years ago, a publicity campaign for a late-night cartoon show backfired when it aroused fears of a terrorist attack and temporarily shut down the city of Boston. The effort consisted of one-foot-tall blinking electronic signs with hanging wires and batteries that marketers used to promote the Cartoon Network TV show Aqua Teen Hunger Force (a surreal series about a talking milkshake, a box of fries, and a meatball). The signs were placed on bridges and in other high-profile spots in several U.S. cities. Most depicted a boxy, cartoon character giving passersby the finger. The bomb squads and other police personnel required to investigate the mysterious boxes cost the city of Boston more than $500,000—and a lot of frayed nerves.42 Is there a line between attention-getting publicity stunts and activities that should be illegal or forbidden? 1-12 List the three stages in the consumption process. Describe the issues that you considered in each of these stages when you made a recent important purchase. 1-13 This chapter states that people play different roles and that their consumption behaviors may differ depending on the particular role they are playing. State whether you agree or disagree with this statement, giving examples from your personal life. Try to construct a “stage set” for a role you play, specifying the props, costumes, and script that you use to play a role (e.g., job interviewee, conscientious student, party animal).

Chapter 1  •  Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior



23

APPLY

1-14 Talk to car owners and probe to see what (if any) relationships they have with their vehicles. Do these feelings correspond to the types of consumer/product attachments we discussed in this chapter? How are these relationships acted on? (Hint: See whether any of the respondents give their cars a nickname or whether they “decorate” them with personal items.) To give you some additional insight, check out a YouTube video titled I Love My Car! that originally aired on the TV show My Strange Addiction. 1-15 The specific way we choose to satisfy a need depends on our unique history, learning experiences, and cultural environment. For example, two classmates

CASE STUDY

may feel their stomachs rumble during a lunchtime lecture. If neither person has eaten since the night before, the strength of their needs (hunger) would be about the same. However, the ways each person goes about satisfying this need might be quite different. Conduct this exercise with classmates: “As you probably know, a prisoner who is sentenced to die traditionally gets to choose their ‘last meal.’ If you had to do this (let’s hope not), describe your last meal in detail.” Compare the responses you get, especially among people from different ethnic or cultural backgrounds. What similarities and differences emerge?

Alexa—What Is Consumer Behavior?

Amazon’s Echo is the market leader in smart speakers, with a nearly 72 percent market share.43 Powered by the Alexa digital assistant software, customers use the Echo to listen to music, as an alarm clock, as a tool for getting answers to questions, and even as a source of jokes to brighten their day. Alexa and competitive products are also becoming a major factor in consumer decision making that may radically change the relationship between brands and their customers. First released to the general public in 2015, the Echo is a small desktop speaker that users place in their bedroom, living room, or kitchen—sometimes all three. Users interact with it by calling out “Alexa” followed by a question or command. Through its basic functionality, the unit responds to commands to play music, report the weather, or to read your appointments for the day.44 A wider array of capabilities is provided through the installation of “skills”—third party apps that use Alexa to accomplish tasks. Amazon says there are more than 30,000 of these and that four out of five registered customers have used at least one.45 Need to find a breed of dog that behaves in apartments? Purina can help with their Ask Purina skill. Tide Stain Remover will help you remove that spot on your favorite shirt. And you can just shout out to Campbell’s Kitchen skill and a helpful assistant will read you a recipe while you cook!46 While it operates primarily on the Amazon Echo, Alexa can run on a variety of devices, including in selected automobiles. Alexa fits into a broader category of technology known as AI (artificial intelligence) assistants. This category includes tools such as Apple’s Siri, Microsoft Cortana, and Google Assistant, the latter of which is available on 400 million devices.47 In one way, Alexa and her humanoid friends simply provide another way to access

the internet—by voice instead of keystrokes. However, the embedded AI capabilities combined with the human touch of voice command / voice response are significant differences that are changing the game for brand marketing—and not necessarily in positive ways. AI assistants offer consumers savings in time by automatically ordering routine items and by evaluating the many options for nonroutine purchases, making logical choices based on algorithms or customer-defined criteria. For example, shopping for shoes can be fun, but choosing the perfect electric toothbrush can be painful. The AI assistant can do the heavy lifting for you, sorting through reviews and ratings and picking out the toothbrush that best fits your needs at a price you can afford. Through its understanding of your needs, its access to the full spectrum of product options, and its algorithms, your trusty AI assistant provides the trifecta of shopping pleasure: convenience, lower costs, and risk reduction. The rise of AI assistants as a dominant channel has important implications for brand management. We often buy the same brand repeatedly to lower the risk of a bad decision. If consumers start to trust Alexa with product choices, brands lose an important benefit. Loyalty can be very fleeting and more dependent upon being in sync with the algorithms of the AI assistant than with the positioning in the mind of the customer. Brand loyalty–building activities, such as understanding/filling needs, assuring quality, and focusing on customer interests, may be better performed by AI. Customer satisfaction becomes a more sophisticated proposition in a world dominated by AI assistants. Much of marketing research is focused on understanding the levels and dimensions of satisfaction; what if AI platforms could do a better job of assessing—and projecting—satisfaction than

24

Section 1  •  Foundations of Consumer Behavior

the consumers themselves? Smart assistants could be able to anticipate, for example, how much room in a car an auto shopper would sacrifice for improved fuel efficiency. In the age of AI, promotion will likely be directed more to “push” activities (focused on the distribution channel) than “pull” activities (focused on the consumer). This is not so different from convincing retailers to put products on their shelves. Except now that “shelf” is digitally embedded in the algorithm of an AI assistant. In this environment, the power of the AI assistants increases significantly, most notably for Amazon, which now has a long list of its own “private label” brands.48 This could also radically change the amount of promotion devoted to advertising, particularly of the imageoriented variety. Alexa may not care whether she purchases the same shampoo as all the cool AI assistants buy. The personal touch that the ability to interact with a human and humanlike voice provides is another important aspect of the use of AI assistants. The movie Her explored the connection that could exist with a computer-generated voice-only being.49 Although that was a fictional account, research has found that that some AI assistant users are passionate about their devices, with over 30 percent reporting that Alexa or Google Assistant is “like a friend to me.”50 Could that feeling affect your trust in the recommendations of the AI assistant?

So, does Alexa know consumer behavior, and, even more important, will she and her AI friends drive it? AI assistants are still in an early stage of adoption. Although hundreds of millions of consumers could use AI via Google, only one in five U.S. consumers has access to a smart speaker and just over 2 percent make a purchase daily. The majority of Alexa users have never used any of the 30,000 skills available.51 As use of AI assistants grows, the “Age of Alexa” will likely involve hits and misses for brand marketers who must determine the optimal strategy for taking advantage of this new technology. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

CS 1-1 Choose two of your favorite brands and devise an idea for an Alexa “skill” that consumers could find useful. How would these skills help sell more of the brands’ products and/or increase customer loyalty? CS 1-2 How can brands remain relevant in the Age of Alexa? What strategies should brand managers employ to continue to influence consumer purchase decisions if consumers become more reliant on AI assistants? CS 1-3 What kinds of products or brands will most likely be either negatively or positively affected by an increased use of AI assistants? Explain your answer.

NOTES 1. Sidney J. Levy, Brands, Consumers, Symbols and Research: Sidney J. Levy on Marketing (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1999), 203–12. 2. Will Kenton, “Brand,” Investopedia, March 24, 2022, https://www.investopedia .com/terms/b/brand.asp, accessed August 6, 2022. 3. Julie Creswell, Kevin Draper, and Sapna Maheshwari, “Nike Nearly Dropped Colin Kaepernick before Embracing Him,” New York Times, March 26, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/sports/nike-colin-kaepernick.html, accessed August 6, 2022. 4. “Car2go and DriveNow Join Forces for New Car-Sharing Firm,” AirQualityNews, March 1, 2019, https://airqualitynews.com/2019/03/01/car2go-and-drivenowjoin-forces-for-new-car-sharing-firm/, accessed August 6, 2022. 5. “Megacities,” http://webs.schule.at/website/megacities/megacities_index_ en.htm. 6. “US Social Media Statistics 2022,” The Global Statistics, https://www .theglobalstatistics.com/united-states-social-media-statistics/, accessed July 3, 2022. 7. Bianca Bosker, “Nice to Meet You. I’ve Already Taken Your Picture,” Huffington Post, February 10, 2014, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/narrativeclip_n_4760580?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000046; “Lifelogging,” Lifestream Blog, http://lifestreamblog.com/lifelogging/. 8. Mohammad Hasan, “State of IoT 2022: Number of Connected IoT Devices Growing 18% to 14.4 Billion Globally,” IOT Analytics, May 18, 2022, https:// iot-analytics.com/number-connected-iot-devices/, accessed August 6, 2022. 9. Chuck Martin, “Connected Devices Projected to Reach 20 Billion This Year; PC Takes a Back Seat,” MediaPost, October 29, 2017, https://www .mediapost.com/publications/article/309442/connected-devices-projected-toreach-20-billion-th.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_ content=readnow&utm_campaign=105882&hashid=eVVwVNz5JMib0 Noa-eSr9QuVlK0. 10. Thomas P. Novak and Donna L. Hoffman, “Automation Assemblages in the Internet of Things: Discovering Qualitative Practices at the Boundaries of Quantitative Change,” Journal of Consumer Research (2022), https://doi .org/10.1093/jcr/ucac014. 11. Daniel Burrus, “The Internet of Things Is Far Bigger Than Anyone Realizes,” Wired, November 2014, https://www.wired.com/insights/2014/11/ the-internet-of-things-bigger/.

12. Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, “The Business of Artificial Intelligence,” Harvard Business Review, July 2017, https://hbr.org/ cover-story/2017/07/the-business-of-artificial-intelligence. 13. Marc Prensky, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,” On the Horizon 9, no. 5 (October 2001): 1–6. 14. Constance L. Hayes, “What WalMart Knows about Customers’ Habits,” New York Times, November 14, 2004, https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/14/ business/yourmoney/what-walmart-knows-about-customers-habits.html. 15. Lisa Arthur, Big Data Marketing: Engage Your Customers More Effectively and Drive Value (New York: Wiley, 2013); “5 Ways Walmart Uses Big Data to Help Customers,” Walmart, August 7, 2017, https://blog.walmart.com/ innovation/20170807/5-ways-walmart-uses-big-data-to-help-customers. 16. “Marketing in the Metaverse: An Opportunity for Innovation and Experimentation,” McKinsey Quarterly, May 24, 2022, https://www.mckinsey .com/business-functions/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/marketingin-the-metaverse-an-opportunity-for-innovation-and-experimentation, accessed August 6, 2022. 17. Rakesh Sharma, “Non-Fungible Token (NFT),” Investopedia, June 22, 2022, https://www.investopedia.com/non-fungible-tokens-nft-5115211, accessed August 6, 2022. 18. Dani Gibson, “5 brands already boldly embracing the metaverse,” TheDrum .com (January 17, 2022), https://www.thedrum.com/news/2022/01/17/5brands-already-boldly-embracing-the-metaverse, accessed August 6, 2022. 19. Kara Weisenstein, “The Most Expensive NFT Ever Just Sold for a Whopping $69 Million,” MIC, March 11, 2021, https://www.mic.com/p/who-is-beeplewhy-did-his-nft-just-sell-for-69-million-65874594, accessed August 6, 2022. 20. “Tourism Recovery Gains Momentum as Restrictions Ease and Confidence Returns,” UNWTO, June 3, 2022, https://www.unwto.org/news/tourismrecovery-gains-momentum-as-restrictions-ease-and-confidence-returns, accessed August 9, 2022. 21. Carlos J. Torelli, Rohini Ahluwalia, Shirley Y.Y. Cheng, Nicholas J. Olson, and Jennifer L. Stoner, “Redefining Home: How Cultural Distinctiveness Affects the Malleability of In-Group Boundaries and Brand Preferences,” Journal of Consumer Research 44, no. 1 (2017): 44–61.



Chapter 1  •  Buying, Having, and Being: An Introduction to Consumer Behavior

22. Daniel Codella, “The Winning Coca-Cola Formula for a Successful Campaign,” Wrike, April 6, 2021, https://www.wrike.com/blog/winning-cocacola-formula-successful-campaign/, accessed August 9, 2022. 23. “Stackla Survey Reveals Disconnect between the Content Consumers Want & What Marketers Deliver,” Business Wire, February 20, 2019, https://www .businesswire.com/news/home/20190220005302/en/Stackla-Survey-RevealsDisconnect-Content-Consumers-Marketers, accessed August 6, 2022. 24. Stéphanie Feiereisen, Dina Rasolofoarison, Cristel A. Russell, and Hope Jensen Schau, “One Brand, Many Trajectories: Narrative Navigation in Transmedia,” Journal of Consumer Research 48, no. 4 (2021): 651–681, https://doi .org/10.1093/jcr/ucaa046. 25. Gretchen Livingston and Anna Brown, “ Intermarriage in the U.S. 50 Years after Loving V. Virginia,” Pew Research Center, May 18, 2017, https:// www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/05/18/1-trends-and-patterns-inintermarriage/, accessed August 9, 2022. 26. Roy F. Baumeister, Kathleen D. Vohs, Jennifer L. Aaker, and Emily N. Garbinsky, “Some Key Differences between a Happy Life and a Meaningful Life,” Journal of Positive Psychology 8 (2013): 505–16 27. Deborah Roedder John and Lan Nguyen Chaplin, “Children as Consumers: A Review of 50 Years of Research in Marketing,” in APA Handbook of Consumer Psychology, ed. L. R. Kahle, T. M. Lowrey, and J. Huber (American Psychological Association, 2022), 185–202, https://doi.org/10.1037 /0000262-007. 28. Eben Harrell, “Neuromarketing: What You Need to Know,” Harvard Business Review, January 23, 2019, https://hbr.org/2019/01/neuromarketingwhat-you-need-to-know. 29. For a recent example of biases from a JDM perspective: David P. Daniels, Daniella Kupor, “The Magnitude Heuristic: Larger Differences Increase Perceived Causality,” Journal of Consumer Research (2022), https://doi .org/10.1093/jcr/ucac035. 30. Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk,” Econometrics 47 (1979): 263–91, doi: 10.2307/1914185. 31. For a recent set of experiments in the social psychology tradition, see Fangyuan Chen, Jaideep Sengupta, and Jianqing (Frank) Zheng (2022), “When Products Come Alive: Interpersonal Communication Norms Induce Positive Word of Mouth for Anthropomorphized Products,” Journal of Consumer Research (2022), https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucac027. 32. Eric J. Arnould and Craig J. Thompson, “Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty Years of Research,” Journal of Consumer Research 31, no. 4 (2005): 868–82; Russell W. Belk and John F. Sherry, eds., “Consumer Culture Theory,” Research in Consumer Behavior 11 (2007). 33. Bernd Schmitt, J. Joško Brakus, and Alessandro Biraglia, “Consumption Ideology,” Journal of Consumer Research 49, no. 1 (2022): 74–95, https://doi.org/ 10.1093/jcr/ucab044. 34. Samuelson Appau and David K. Crockett, “Wealth in People and Places: Understanding Transnational Gift Obligations,” Journal of Consumer Research (2022), ucac028, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucac028; Michael B. Beverland,

35. 36. 37.

38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43.

44. 45. 46. 47.

48. 49. 50. 51.

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Giana M. Eckhardt, Sean Sands, and Avi Shankar, “How Brands Craft National Identity,” Journal of Consumer Research 48, no. 4 (2021): 586–609. S. Umit Kucuk, “A Semiotic Analysis of Consumer-Generated Antibranding,” Marketing Theory 15, no. 2 (2015): 243–64, https://doi .org/10.1177/1470593114540677. Rhonda Hadi and Ana Valenzuela, “Good Vibrations: Consumer Responses to Technology-Mediated Haptic Feedback,” Journal of Consumer Research 47, no. 2 (2020): 256–71, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucz039. Terrence Witkowski (2018), A History of American Consumption Threads of Meaning, Gender, and Resistance, Routledge; Mikkel Nøjgaard (2022), “The Value-Translation Model of Consumer Activism: How Consumer Watchdog Organizations Change Markets,” Journal of Consumer Research, ucac025, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucac025. Suzanne Vranica, “Ad Houses Will Need to Be More Nimble, Clients Are Demanding More and Better Use of Consumer Data, Web,” Wall Street Journal, January 2, 2008: B3. Hans Baumgartner, Simon J. Blanchard, and David Sprott, “The Critical Role of Methodological Pluralism for Policy-Relevant Empirical Marketing Research,” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 41, no. 3 (2022): 203–05. Roy F. Baumeister, Kathleen D. Vohs, Jennifer L. Aaker, and Emily N. Garbinsky, “Some Key Differences between a Happy Life and a Meaningful Life,” Journal of Positive Psychology 8 (2013): 505–16. Andrew Keen, The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet Is Killing Our Culture (New York: Currency, 2007). “Boston Officials Livid Over Ad Stunt,” New York Times, February 1, 2007, www.newyorktimes.com. Greg Sterling, “Survey: Amazon Echo Owners Spend $400 per Year More Than Prime Subscribers on Amazon,” Marketing Land, January 3, 2018, https:// marketingland.com/survey-amazon-echo-owners-spend-400-per-year-primesubscribers-amazon-231351. David Nield, “20 Helpful Amazon Echo Voice Commands for You to Try,” Popular Science, April 4, 2017, https://www.popsci.com/20-amazon-echovoice-commands/. Daisuke Wakabayashi and Nick Wingfield, “Alexa, We’re Still Trying to Figure Out What to Do with You,” New York Times, January 15, 2018, https://www .nytimes.com/2018/01/15/technology/virtual-assistants-alexa.html. “Alexa Marketing Stack,” Alexa, https://try.alexa.com/marketing-stack/; Ricki Harris, “Alexa Wants to Talk to Your Kids,” Wired, December 16, 2017, https:// www.wired.com/story/future-amazon-alexa-advertising-2018/. Niraj Dawar, “Marketing in the Age of Alexa,” Harvard Business Review, May 2018, https://hbr.org/2018/05/marketing-in-the-age-of-alexa. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Tara Johnson, “Amazon’s Private Label Brands | The Complete List,” CPC Strategy, July 5, 2017, https://tinuiti.com/blog/amazon/amazons-privatelabel-brands/.

2

Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES   When you finish reading this chapter, you should be able to: 2-1 Define business ethics and identify the elements that comprise the PESTLE framework.

2-5 Describe the technological changes that are creating new challenges for consumer protection.

2-2 Summarize how the political environment affects consumer decision making.

2-6 Explain how the legal environment influences consumer behavior.

2-3 Discuss how the economic landscape affects consumers’ access to the marketplace.

2-7 Describe how consumer behavior directly impacts the environment.

2-4 Explain the ways marketers respond to social issues to shape consumer behavior.

I

Source: Ground Picture/Shutterstock.

26

f there’s one silver lining from the pandemic for Abriella, it’s learning how much more comfortable it feels to wear “soft” clothing made for lounging around the house. But she managed to wear out her sweats during the lockdown, so it’s time to splurge on a new, comfy sweatshirt. Abriella’s also a new convert to online shopping, so she starts to surf the web for options. Oops, a Google search for “women’s sweatshirts” yields about 2.6 million links, so that strategy isn’t going to work too well. During a Zoom call, her colleague Jayden mentions that Patagonia is doing some amazing things to “give back” to the planet. Jayden can’t stop talking about the company’s self-imposed Earth tax it calls 1% for the Planet. This money provides support to environmental nonprofits that work to improve our air, land, and water. And, Patagonia even encourages less consumption by selling used items in its WornWear ­p rogram. 1 This ­initiative really resonates with Abriella because she believes that every c ­ onsumer’s choices have ramifications for the rest of us. She happily places an online order for a Women’s Re-Tool Snap-T® Pullover (at about 12 the price of a new ­garment). She’s actually looking forward to her next Zoom call with Jayden (unlike most ­videochats!) to let him know that she’s doing her part to save the planet—and still stay comfortable.

Chapter 2  •  Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet



OBJECTIVE 2-1 Define business ethics and identify the elements that comprise the PESTLE framework.

27

What Is the “Right” Thing?

Regardless of whether they do it intentionally, some marketers do violate their bonds of trust with consumers. In some cases, these actions are illegal, as when a manufacturer deliberately mislabels the contents of a package. Or a retailer may adopt a “bait-and-switch” selling strategy that lures consumers into the store when it offers inexpensive products with the sole intent to get them to switch to higher-priced goods. In other cases, marketing practices have detrimental effects on society even though they are not explicitly illegal. Some companies erect billboards advertising alcohol and tobacco products in low-income neighborhoods; others sponsor commercials that objectify women as they pander to male viewers. Business ethics are rules of conduct that guide actions in the marketplace; these are the standards against which most people in a culture judge what is right and what is wrong, good or bad. These universal values include honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, respect, justice, integrity, concern for others, accountability, and loyalty. Companies that score high in customer satisfaction often benefit from a big competitive advantage—especially when so many firms skimp on the attention they pay to customers. A five-year study of customer satisfaction in the Canadian banking industry provides typical results: Banks that provided better service commanded a larger “share of wallet” than did others (i.e., their customers entrusted them with a larger proportion of their money).2 It’s hard to divorce consumer behavior from most of what goes on around us. The consumption choices we make are central to many of the big issues we read about and debate every day. These range from human rights and humane working conditions to the safety of what we eat, the future of our environment, and our relationships with governments, corporations, and other organizations. But consumer behavior can also be the solution to many of Consumers increasingly are concerned about the impact of the crises we face. This chapter is organized around the widely marketing activities on important issues like social justice. used PESTLE framework (see Table 2.1). We’ll consider the Source: Janine Wiedel Photolibrary/Alamy Stock Photo.

TABLE 2.1    The

Factors explored:

PESTLE Framework

P

E

S

T

L

E

Political

Economic

Social

Technological

Legal

Environmental

Consumer activism and slacktivism

Market access and literacy

Social justice and cancel culture

Data privacy

Governmental regulations and agencies

Conscious consumerism

Culture jamming

Human trafficking and “red markets”

Social marketing

Corporate sociopolitical activism

Transformative consumer research

Data accuracy and algorithm bias Data security Social media addiction Cyberbullying

Corrective advertising Consumer theft and counterfeiting

Brand purpose Circular economy and fast fashion Green marketing Prosocial behavior

28

Section 1  •  Foundations of Consumer Behavior

crucial relationships between consumer behavior and the complex world in which we live by examining Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental issues.3 We’ll also consider the repercussions of consumers’ choices on businesses. OBJECTIVE 2-2 Summarize how the political environment affects consumer decision making.

PESTLE: The Political

Environment

In the politically charged environment we inhabit, consumers make choices based on their beliefs and values—and they vote with their wallets. Through their brand and product choices, consumers make statements to companies about the types of products they want and how, when, and where (or even if) they want to learn about those products. A growing number of consumers wants to know more about the companies they buy from—are the c­ ontents accurately labelled? Does the manufacturer treat its workers humanely? Will the product damage the environment? In one typical study, the researchers gave subjects a description of a coffee company that either used or did not use fair trade principles to buy its beans. They found that participants were willing to pay an additional $1.40 for a pound of coffee if it was ethically sourced and were negative about the company if it did not adhere to these principles. The study obtained similar results for shirts that were made with organic cotton.4 What is especially encouraging is that younger consumers express this preference even more strongly: About three-quarters of them feel this way, and 81 percent of them expect their favorite companies to declare publicly what they are doing to make the world a better place.5 Note: Every budding consumer researcher needs to remember the maxim “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” In other words, when study respondents say they would do something under certain conditions, that’s not a guarantee that they’ll follow through. But, it’s a start.

Consumer Activism

Movies and ads that lampoon advertising messages, are examples of culture jamming, which is a strategy to disrupt efforts by the corporate world to dominate our cultural landscape. The movement believes that culture jamming will change the way information flows; the way institutions wield power; the way TV stations are run; and the way the food, fashion, automobile, sports, music, and culture industries set their agendas.7 Source: Everett Collection, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo.

Consumer activism, where consumers band together to attack what they view as unsafe or otherwise harmful, is not new. In the U.S., the publication of books such as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962), which attacked the irresponsible use of pesticides, and Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed (1965), which exposed safety defects in General Motors’ Corvair automobile, have encouraged activists to work for change. Many people have a vigorous interest in consumer-related issues, ranging from environmental concerns—such as global warming and climate change, toxic waste, and so on—to addiction or excessive violence and sex on television and in the ­lyrics of popular rock and rap songs. These concerns remain today as movements like Black Lives Matter and NinetyToZero (an organization of top executives and academics founded in 2021 to reduce the 90 percent racial wealth gap between white and black Americans) heighten consumers’ awareness of inequities in our society.6



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Consumers get creative when they want to vent their feelings about companies they don’t like. Source: Michael Matthews/Alamy Stock Photo.

Corporate Activism In the “old days” of marketing (like a decade ago), it was quite rare for a company to get out front on an inflammatory issue, for fear this would turn off a lot of loyal customers. For every activist marketer like Ben & Jerry’s or Patagonia, there were thousands of companies that worked really hard to stay out of the conversation. Fast forward to today: The explosion of social activism we’ve encountered both in the U.S.A. and in many other parts of the world over the past few years has encouraged some companies to engage in corporate sociopolitical activism (CSA), where they deliberately take a stand on a controversial issue. This reversal comes at a time when many company stakeholders, including customers, expect companies to take stands on sociopolitical issues, like LGBTQIA2S + rights, voting rights, or R ­ ussia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.8 Delta Airlines cut ties with the National Rifle Association after a deadly school shooting. Nike stood alongside football player Colin Kaepernick when he took a knee during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and in support of Black Lives Matter. The organization Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP), which monitors these activities, reported that during the peak of the pandemic in 2020, funding from companies “investing in society” increased by 41 percent. And ironically (despite the evident lack of trust in marketers), business is now the most trusted institution in America, as customers increasingly look to the private sector to help with deep-seated social issues.9 But does social activism impact the (financial) bottom line? When Nike took a public stand on NFL players’ rights to kneel during the national anthem, some analysts predicted that more conservative customers would abandon the company in droves amid calls for a boycott—but as it turns out, Nike’s revenues actually increased by 10 percent for the year! As a business professor commented, “The demo that is willing to spend $200 on Nike sneakers is not the demo that’s going to boycott them because of Kaepernick.”10 Nonetheless, the jury is still out on how consumers will treat companies that take a controversial stand on a social issue. A recent analysis of the stock market performance of companies that engaged in CSA found that this type of activity is a double-edged Nike took a very controversial stand to support Colin K ­ aepernick’s efforts sword.11 Investors tended to react negatively to CSA for racial justice. efforts that deviate from the value of key stakeholders Source: © Richard B. Levine/Alamy Stock Photo.

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Section 1  •  Foundations of Consumer Behavior

but positively to those efforts that align with them. So, it looks like one unintended consequence of CSA may be that it also contributes to the polarization in our society by turning people on and off to a cause depending upon their prior political beliefs.

Slacktivism When an organization wants to encourage people to contribute to its cause in some way, it seems like a good idea to provide an initial token display of support, such as a T-shirt people can wear, a petition they can sign, or a Facebook group they can join. Makes sense, right? Not necessarily. Some critics are worried about the phenomenon they term slacktivism: small and relatively meaningless expressions of support for important causes, such as liking a charity on Facebook rather than making a donation or volunteering. One study found that if the initial display is visible to others, this public behavior can actually reduce the likelihood that the person will contribute beyond that. Under some circumstances, the need to make a positive impression on others is satisfied by the public display, so the person exhibits slacktivism and doesn’t bother to do anything else to support the cause.12

OBJECTIVE 2-3 Discuss how the economic landscape affects consumers’ access to the marketplace.

PESTLE: The Economic Environment

Many of us take for granted that we are free to shop anywhere we want or that we can easily learn about our purchase options—everything we need is just a click of a mouse away, right? In reality, however, large numbers of people can’t make this claim. For one reason or another, their market access (i.e., their ability to find and purchase goods and services) is limited because of physical, mental, economic, or social barriers. A well-functioning, equitable society requires that everyone has equal access to products, services, and information in the marketplace. Yet we frequently see cases where individuals or groups face either perceived or real barriers to certain market offerings. The lack of access has many detrimental psychological consequences for those who experience it. A study found that people who are repeatedly denied access to a market offering (securing a mortgage or a rental lease agreement) feel more powerless and, as a result, are more likely to disengage from the market and to choose harmful market options (e.g., high-interest-rate loans).13 Thus, market access denial is a vicious cycle, and strategies are required to break this harmful pattern.

Disabled Consumers

As the number of people using wheelchairs increases, the market for ­adaptive clothing that provides a broader range of apparel options grows as well.

Source: Photo courtesy of Smart Adaptive Clothing.

The World Health Organization estimates that more than 10 million adult Americans live with a disability, and it puts the number of disabled people globally at over one billion! These numbers continue to grow as populations age and we see a surge in chronic health conditions.14 About 11 million American adults have a condition that makes it difficult for them to leave home to shop, so they rely almost exclusively on catalogs and the internet to purchase products. The many people who have limited mobility may also be unable to gain easy access to entertainment venues, educational institutions, and other locations. In addition, bodily limitations or disfigurements may result in real or imagined stigmatization, so self-concept and interpersonal relationships may prove challenging.15

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People with disabilities in the U.S. alone control approximately $645 billion in disposable income (yes, billion). 16 However, most companies pay remarkably little attention to the unique needs of this vast group. People who rely on wheelchairs for mobility often encounter barriers when they try to enter stores, move around the aisles, or enter dressing rooms that are too narrow to accommodate a chair. Others have mental illnesses, such as excessive anxiety in public places. These issues touch many of us; for example, 15 ­percent of Vietnam and 1991 Gulf War veterans have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and 20 percent of veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq have received care at a Veterans Affairs (VA) facility for the disorder since their return home. Large numbers of children also encounter difficulties with market access, whether offline or online.

Consumed Consumers Consumed consumers are people who are used or exploited, willingly or not, for commercial gain in the marketplace. Here are some examples:

Buying, Having, Being

• Human trafficking and forced labor – The U.S. government estimates that

Hungry College Students

• •

25 ­million people are subjected to human trafficking and forced labor. These illegal activities that use people against their will generate about $150 billion annually.17 Organ, blood, and hair donors – There is a lively global red market for body parts—by one estimate, the annual value of organ trafficking globally ranges from $840 million to upward of $1.7 billion.18 Babies for sale – Several thousand surrogate mothers have been paid to be medically impregnated and carry babies to term for infertile couples. A fertile woman between the ages of 18 and 25 can “donate” one egg every three months and rake in $7,000 each time. Over eight years, that’s 32 eggs for a total of $224,000.19 In one case in Germany, police arrested a couple when they tried to auction their eight-month-old son on eBay. The parents claimed that the offer, which read “Baby—collection only. Offer my nearly new baby for sale because it cries too much. Male, 70 cm long,” was just a joke.20

Food Deserts

Is the classmate who sits next to you going hungry? Very possibly. Believe it or not, 38 percent of college students in the U.S. identify as food insecure, and fully 56 percent of first-generation students have this problem. Minority students are especially hard hit: Black students are twice as likely to be food insecure.24 These students lack access to a steady supply of healthy food (and that doesn’t count all the “junk food” some students Hoover up to counter those late-night munchies). More than 700 colleges in the U.S. run food pantries for food insecure students. And it gets worse: 14 percent of students at four-year colleges are homeless!25

No, it has more to do with sandwiches than with sand: The Department of Agriculture defines a food desert as a census tract where 33 percent of the population or 500 ­people, whichever is less, live more than a mile from a grocery store in an urban area or more than 10 miles away in a rural area. Limited access to healthy choices can lead to poor diets and higher levels of obesity and other diet-related disease, but healthy food options in these communities are hard to find or are unaffordable. Researchers estimate that in the United States about 23.5 million people live in food deserts.21 Times were tough for a lot of people before the pandemic hit—44 percent of Americans reported that they live paycheck to paycheck. But the virus made things even worse, so now that number has risen to 63 percent. For some, this means making a difficult choice. The organization Feeding America reports that 31 percent of us must choose between paying for food versus education.22 Many people experience food insecurity, where they have limited access to a healthy Food insecurity is a problem for many college students. diet on a daily basis.23 Source: Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald/Getty Images.

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Literacy

Buying, Having, Being Consumer Researchers Who Talk the Talk AND Walk the Walk Is it enough to document a consumer issue, or should researchers try to improve the problem as well? Some consumer researchers are organizing not only to study but also to rectify what they see as pressing social problems in the marketplace. This perspective is called participatory action research (PAR), or ­transformative consumer research (TCR). It promotes research projects that include the goal of helping people or bringing about social change. Scientists who subscribe to this perspective view consumers as collaborators who work with them to realize change rather than as a “phenomenon” on which to conduct research. Adherents of TCR work with at-risk populations—such as children, the disadvantaged, or the disabled—or address such topics as materialism, consumption of dangerous products, and compulsive consumption.31 As the emerging TCR perspective shows, the field of consumer behavior can help to improve our lives as consumers. Social ­marketing strategies use the techniques that marketers normally employ to sell beer or detergent instead to encourage positive behaviors, such as increased literacy, and to discourage negative activities, such as drunk driving.32 Many researchers help to evaluate or create public policies to ensure that products are labeled accurately, to certify that people can comprehend important information in advertising messages, or to prevent children from being exploited by program-length toy commercials that masquerade as television shows.

The Latin phrase caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”) implies that it’s the consumer’s responsibility to decide whether marketing messages are accurate. But that’s a tall order, especially in today’s complicated media environment. Media literacy describes the extent to which a consumer can critically evaluate the messages they receive from the web, TV, and every other communications source that tries to persuade us.26 It’s our job to critically evaluate this information—but not everyone has the skills to do that. This task is even more difficult in the age of Google, where many of us assume that whatever comes up in a Google search or on Wikipedia is completely true and accurate. (Hint: Not by a long shot.) And that’s also true for financial literacy: the degree to which a person understands key financial concepts and possesses the ability and confidence to manage personal finances through appropriate short-term decision making and sound longrange financial planning, while staying mindful of life events and changing economic conditions.27 That’s a big challenge for many of us, and the pandemic’s disruptive effect on the economy hasn’t made the task any easier. Unfortunately, some of us have an even bigger problem with written information about what we buy: We can’t read it in the first place. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that about one in seven U.S. adults is functionally illiterate.28 This term describes a person whose reading skills are not adequate to carry out everyday tasks, such as reading the newspaper or the instructions on a pill bottle. Almost half of the United States population read below a sixth-grade level. This limitation impedes market access for a couple of reasons: First, illiterate or “low-literate” consumers are at a disadvantage because they encounter difficulty in learning about the best purchase options. Second, they may experience feelings of shame or embarrassment that make them avoid market situations where they will be forced to reveal their illiteracy.29 For example, some of these people (whom researchers term social isolates) may cope with the stigma of illiteracy by choosing not to eat at a restaurant with an unfamiliar menu or by not purchasing a product with a label they can’t fully read. Low-literate consumers rely heavily on visual cues, including brand logos and store layouts, to navigate retail settings, but they often make mistakes when they select similarly packaged products (for example, brand line extensions). They also encounter problems with numeracy (understanding numbers); many low-literate people have difficulty knowing, for example, whether they have enough money to purchase the items in their cart, and unethical merchants may cheat them out of the correct amount of change. Not surprisingly, these challenges create an emotional burden for low-literate consumers, who experience stress, anxiety, fear, shame, and other negative emotions before, during, and after they shop.30

OBJECTIVE 2-4 Explain the ways marketers respond to social issues to shape consumer behavior.

PESTLE: The Social Environment

The 2020s have seen a proliferation of social causes that affect the marketplace in fundamental ways. In response to social justice movements, such as Black Lives Matter, companies are taking a close look at what their brands and marketing communications look like. In 2020, the Uncle Ben’s and Aunt Jemima brands, whose imagery was rooted in racial stereotypes of black people, retired their long-time



Chapter 2  •  Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet

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mascots and changed their names to Ben’s Original and Pearl Milling Company (the name of the company that first produced the pancake mix).33 Cancel culture refers to the phenomenon of the public calling out companies for missteps and recommending that consumers boycott the guilty brands. It’s clear that many consumers today are especially interested in choosing brands that support causes they find personally relevant. These causes include medical cures and disease prevention, social change, faith-based initiatives, and animal and child welfare.34 A brand’s philanthropic activities can influence shopper behavior and ultimately purchase decisions. Consumer research convincingly shows that, when all other things are equal, people are likely to choose a brand that gives back to the community. Cause marketing is a popular strategy that aligns a company or brand with a cause to generate business and societal benefits. Indeed, one survey reported that three out of five consumers bought a product or service in the previous year because of its association with a cause. An executive observed, “As a whole, Americans do have a heightened sensitivity to how they can help make a difference.”35 Many firms today try to integrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) into their business models. CSR describes processes that encourage the organization to make a positive impact on the various stakeholders in its community, including consumers, employees, The negative racial stereotype of Uncle Ben was recently and the environment. retired as the brand was renamed Ben’s Original. When a company does a good thing (even when that good thing Source: Rosamar/Shuterstock. is unrelated to their core business), their reputation improves, their consumers’ goodwill also increases, and in turn so do consumers’ evaluations of the company’s product through what researchers have called a benevolent halo effect.36 But beware: This effect vanishes when consumers sense that good behavior is motivated by self-interest rather than a genuine desire to give back. That’s why it’s really crucial to demonstrate good faith. Researchers have found that consumers especially appreciate companies’ CSR efforts in response to natural disasters (like avalanches or hurricanes), which are less controllable than human-caused calamities. This consumer appreciation is even greater when companies make in-kind donations, like food or clothing, rather than monetary ones.37 In-kind donations show that companies genuinely care and are not just trying to benefit from the cause. The shoe company TOMS is well-known for its promise to New research shows that consumers also increasingly hold give a child in need a pair of shoes for every pair it sells. Source: Ccpixx photography/Shutterstock. companies accountable for their corporate social irresponsibility (CSI).38 Analyzing over 1,000 CSI events reported in 77 leading media outlets in the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France over a seven-year period, researchers found clear evidence that the damage, in terms of how much a company’s shares dropped in the U.S. stock market, was especially high when a CSI event is widely covered in the news media. Some factors further accentuated the damage, like when an irresponsible event happened domestically but was caused by a foreign brand.

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Section 1  •  Foundations of Consumer Behavior

OBJECTIVE 2-5 Describe the technological changes that are creating new challenges for consumer protection.

PEST LE: The Technological Environment New technologies disrupt our lives—for better and for worse. We seem to live on Zoom and social media platforms like TikTok. When we contact a company with a question or a problem, it’s quite possible we’ll deal with a non-human on the other end. Virtual reality and other elements of “the Metaverse” (see Ch. 1) transform our very definition of reality. As humans and robots start to coexist (Saudi Arabia actually granted citizenship to a robot named Sophia a few years ago), some people eagerly look forward to a better world made easier by automation, while others bemoan what we’re giving up (like our privacy) as tech solutions continue to evolve.39

Data Privacy Do you love the convenience of clicking a link and instantly accessing a website to shop for the merch you love? How about when you “mysteriously” get a pop-up ad on your phone soon thereafter for the exact same item? It’s timely, relevant . . . and perhaps a bit disturbing. We love our technology (when it Saudi Arabia awarded citizenship to Sophia, a (Japanese-made) works!), but many of us are leery about data privacy; that is, robot. Source: Anton Gvozdikov/Shutterstock. we’re wary of opening the door to our private lives so that big tech companies can enter at will. One of the biggest ethical issues many marketers face today relates to how much they can—or should—know about their customers. Virtually anyone who surfs the internet or who carries a cell phone (especially a smartphone with GPS capability) shares reams of personal information with all sorts of companies (whether they know it or not). The pandemic gave companies even greater access to online data because so much more of our activities shifted to the online world: work, school, socialization, conferences, workshops, church. From Zoom recordings to Slack chats to studentteacher interactions, data about these daily activities and communications are up for grabs, unless consumers are careful.40 These connections may come back to bite marketers—in one recent survey, more than half of respondents said they found personalized ads to be “creepy.” 41 Governments are trying to come to the rescue and implement data protection policies. For instance, the European Union instituted the General Data Protection Regulation, which requires websites to provide visible notice regarding private information they collect through cookies and to give consumers the choice to disagree to such tracking. While these policies are good in theory, there always seem to be ways to bypass regulations as these notices often have very little visibility. Indeed, a recent study that analyzed 360 randomly selected websites found that over a third of them do not even have a cookie notice—even though they use cookies—and that those websites that do have notices do not display them clearly or visibly enough to make a difference.42 So these notice requirements may not be enough to give consumers a sense of power over their personal data. In fairness, most platforms disclose most or all of what they intend to do with your data, but how many of us actually read “the fine print” that’s often conveniently tucked away in an obscure section of the user agreement? We can run, but it’s getting harder and harder to hide: A professor demonstrated just how easy it is to find people

Chapter 2  •  Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet



online if you know what you’re doing. In one study, he showed that it was possible to deduce portions of a person’s Social Security number from nothing but a photograph posted online.43 A recent study of how consumers view technology revealed the paradox that technology is empowering but also creates vulnerabilities.44 In that study, consumers created collages to represent how they live with technology. The collages revealed that technology has permeated all facets of consumer journeys and created both dreams and nightmares in that realm. On the one hand, consumers love the convenience of tech tools like geo-localization, and they appreciate customized promotional offers delivered directly to their phones at exactly the right time. On the other hand, once consumers realize that this enchanting world is only possible because of deceptive and invasive practices that create material and psychological dependence, they begin to view this empowerment as a latent vulnerability.45 Recently, researchers conducted a comprehensive review on how consumers try to reduce this vulnerability.46 Not surprisingly, they find that consumers care a great deal about online privacy, but perhaps more surprisingly, the review also shows that consumers take many actions to protect it: They may remove or mask their digital footprints, or take steps to prevent access to their social media profiles. Yet, individual actions alone are not sufficient, and more coordinated policy interventions are necessary to regulate how firms collect private online data and what they do with it.

Data Accuracy Especially in the wake of the tumultuous 2020 presidential election and the pandemic, the failure of social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, to police “fake news” content prompted many to reconsider how “free” information should be. The internet’s reach makes it incredibly easy to spread rumors, false “facts,” and even conspiracy theories:

• Microsoft founder Bill Gates is using the COVID-19 vaccine to implant microchips in everyone so he can track their movements.

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Buying, Having, Being Your Face Here Other technologies also threaten our privacy even while they make marketing efforts more efficient. Facebook introduced a “Tag Suggestions” feature that uses facial recognition to identify a user’s friends in photos they upload and automatically suggests nametags for them. Other programs, like Picasa, also incorporate facial recognition technology. This handy little tool removes the need to keep typing the same friends’ names into photo albums. But is there a dark side to this capability? Because facial recognition analyzes and stores people’s unique facial measurements, it may come with some serious privacy risks. For example, in the near future, it will be possible for marketers to identify people as they walk down the street—and link their faces to relevant information, such as credit scores and medical records. Some firms already offer smart billboards that detect the gender and age of a passerby and show that person relevant ad messages. For now, these boards don’t analyze emotions or other personal characteristics, but what if they could detect a feeling like sadness and offer the person a message about antidepressants?47 What is the tradeoff between meeting needs quickly versus sharing your most intimate information with marketers?

A collage that a research participant made shows how pervasive technology is in a customer journey: notifications, phone calls, and promotions popping up at any time of the day can turn what otherwise would seem dreamy into a nightmare.48 Source: CélineDel Bucchia et.al (2021), “Empowerment as Latent Vulnerability in TechnoMediated Consumption Journeys,” Journal of Business Research, 124 (January), 629–651.

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Section 1  •  Foundations of Consumer Behavior

sacrificing children (as • Democrats and Hollywood celebrities are ritually 49 “exposed” by the shadowy QAnon movement). • Advertisers embed “hidden” messages in ads to manipulate people into buying things (more on this in the next chapter!).

Although these allegations and many others have virtually ZERO evidence to support them, the theories persist. Indeed, in 2021 Amazon was forced to remove a slew of QAnon merchandise promoting the movement from its Marketplace. So, how do we know what’s “true” anymore? This is a huge problem: in fact, when it comes to medical issues, the World Health Organization now calls this glut of false information an infodemic that causes confusion and unhealthy risk-taking.50 The issue is more complicated than it seems because a message may contain a mixture of accurate and erroneous information that makes it difficult to separate fact from fiction. That means we’re all obligated to do our homework by referring to multiple sources and perhaps verifying a story on websites like FactCheck.org and Snopes.com. Even so, because it’s so easy to post “fake news” and make it look credible, perhaps we need to take almost everything we read with a grain of salt. This issue underscores a huge problem that marketers face today: trust. The avalanche of false information “poisons the well” for the large majority of organizations that try to be accurate. According to one survey, only 3 percent of consumers consider salespeople to be trustworthy, while another found that only 4 percent of them trust ads.51 Table 2.2 summarizes the different forms that “misinformation” may take.

Identity Theft Identity theft occurs when someone steals your personal information and uses it without your permission. They may charge items on a credit card or perhaps access medical services via your health benefits. Identity theft is the most common consumer complaint, according to the Federal Trade Commission. In many cases, criminals TABLE 2.2     Poisoning

the Well: Types of Misinformation

Satire or Parody

Misleading Content

Imposter Content

Fabricated Content

No intention to cause harm but has potential to fool

Misleading use of information to frame an issue or individual

When genuine sources are impersonated

New content is 100% false, designed to device and do harm

False Connection

False Context

Manipulated Content

When headlines, visuals or captions don’t support the content

When genuine content is shared with false contextual information

When genuine information or imagery is manipulated to deceive

Claire Wardle, “Fake News. It’s Complicated,” First Draft, February 16, 2017, https://firstdraftnews.org/articles/fake-news-complicated/, accessed February 21, 2022.



Chapter 2  •  Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet

get access to sensitive information in data breaches, where they hack into an organization’s computers. There have been more than 12,000 of these digital invasions since 2005, including highprofile ones at major companies such as Equifax, Yahoo!, Target, Sony Pictures, and even NASA. In 2020 alone, consumers around the world lost about $56 billion to scammers.52 And, as any victim knows, the financial aspects are not the only pain points because cancelling credit cards or otherwise correcting the situation can result in huge hassles.53 Identity thieves get more sophisticated every day. They used to be content with stealing wallets and “dumpster diving” to obtain account numbers. Today, we increasingly fall prey to high-tech phishing scams in which people receive Identity theft is a huge problem for consumers today. fraudulent emails that ask them to supply account informaSource: Brian A Jackson/Shutterstock. tion. In addition, millions of computers are hijacked without any trace by botnets, or a set of computers penetrated by malicious software known as malware that allows an external agent to control their actions. Locational privacy is a related issue. Every one of us who walks around with a phone transmits their approximate location, and those of us with GPS-enabled phones leave nothing to chance. In addition, many cars now have GPS devices that can share their location with a centralized service. We can purchase GPS trackers to “chip” our kids, aged relatives, or wayward pets. Some insurance companies offer steep discounts to drivers who use GPS tracking technology. The companies provide a small tracker in the car that reports driving habits and, in some cases, even whether the driver is cruising through unsafe neighborhoods. Other services allow anxious parents to track a teenager’s driving and provide a “report card” on use of the family car.54

Pushing the Envelope Artificial intelligence is also creating new opportunities and challenges for consumers and consumer protection. This term describes computer systems like ChatGPT that are able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision making, language translation and perhaps term paper writing by students. While AI may be more effective at augmenting rather than replacing humans in sales transactions or customer service interfaces, the automation of tasks and exchanges based on consumer data also opens up new issues related to privacy, bias, and ethics.55 It turns out that even “impartial” computers can make inaccurate decisions if the input they receive is flawed in some way. Analysts call this algorithm bias. For example, facial recognition programs are best at detecting white faces, and AI-based conversational chatbots can introduce a racist or sexist conversation in the system if they mimic “natural” dialogues people have in the physical world.56 Genetic data is the latest frontier in private data potentially mineable for marketing purposes. Fuelled by advances in molecular genetics (and heavy direct-toconsumer marketing!), the genetic testing industry has exploded. As of 2020, more than 30 million people have taken a personalized DNA test. These massive privately owned genetic databases prompt researchers and firms alike to question whether and how such data should be used to gain insights into consumers and consumer behavior.57 Are there inherited personality traits that make us more or less likely to buy stuff?

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Technology Addictions Though we usually equate substance abuse with addiction to alcohol, drugs, or nicotine, it seems we can become dependent on almost anything—there is even a Chapstick Addicts support group with 250 active members!58 Consumer addiction is a physiological or psychological dependency on products or services. Many companies profit from selling addictive products or from selling solutions for kicking a bad habit.59 Online gambling is the latest frontier and the most controversial one: Not only is the currency consumers use to gamble intangible (you cannot touch it), but the gambling options come so fast that gamblers quickly lose control.60 A Chinese man got so upset about the amount of time his adult son spent playing video games that he took a novel approach: He hired “digital hit men” in the form of other gamers to kill off all of his son’s characters in the games.61 How is that for “tough love”? Psychologists compare social media addiction to chemical dependency, to the point of inducing symptoms of withdrawal when users are deprived of their fix. As one noted, “Everyone is a potential addict—they’re just waiting for their drug of choice to come along, whether heroin, running, junk food, or social media.”62 In 2018, the World Health Organization classified “gaming ­disorder” as an official disease.63 Entrepreneurs are looking at novel ways to “detox” smartphone users. One designer created a series of “substitute phones” that help people put down the real thing.64 They allow people to mimic real actions—like swiping, zooming, and scrolling—to wean users from smartphones. Maybe more of us need this kind of “intervention”—a Gallup survey reported that 41 percent of American smartphone owners check their phone every few minutes. Another survey found that 71 percent of Americans aged 18 and over sleep with their phones.65 Oops, time for a fix? Indeed, a survey reported one in three smartphone owners would rather give up sex than their phones!66 And, as many of us realize, this fixation grows by the “enablers” around us as they exhibit the same behavior. Indeed, one study documented that college students are much more likely to pull out their phones when someone with whom they were sitting has just done so.67 Other problems arise when people become overly involved in playing online games or posting on social network sites:

• In the United Kingdom, a 33-year-old widowed mother let her two dogs starve

• •

to death and neglected her three kids after becoming hooked on the online game Small World. A judge banned her from going on the internet. The woman slept only two hours a night as she played the virtual reality game (in which dwarves and giants battle to conquer the world) almost nonstop for six months. Her ­children— aged 9, 10, and 13—had no hot food and “drank” cold baked beans from tins. When the family’s two dogs died from neglect, she left their bodies rotting in the dining room for two months.68 A U.S. woman pled guilty to a charge of second-degree murder in the death of her three-month-old son. The 22-year-old mother lost her temper when her child began crying while she was playing FarmVille on Facebook; she shook the baby until he died. Cyberbullying refers to the “willful and repeated harm inf licted through the use of computer, cell phones, and other electronic devices.”69 One study reported that one in five middle school students in the United States were subject to cyberbullying. As one seventh-grade girl observed, “It’s easier to fight online, because you feel more brave and in control. On Facebook, you can be as mean as you want.”70 The pandemic forced us to spend even more time online, and not surprisingly this transformation just accelerated

Chapter 2  •  Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet



A government website focuses on the problem of cyberbullying. Source: StopBullying.gov, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

the frequency of these attacks. One large survey reported that almost 1 2 of U.S. internet users experienced some kind of online harassment since 2020, while over 20 percent of children have been bullied online.71 The problem has gotten so bad that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services even has a website to combat it: stopbullying.gov.72

A French organization combats the sexual abuse of children by online predators. Source: Courtesy of Innocence en Danger.

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OBJECTIVE 2-6 Explain how the legal environment influences consumer behavior.

PESTLE: The Legal Environment

Concern for the welfare of consumers has been an issue since at least the beginning of the 20th century.After Upton S ­ inclair’s 1906 book The ­Jungle exposed the awful conditions in the Chicago ­meatpacking industry, Congress was prompted to pass important pieces of legislation—the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 and the Federal Meat Inspection Act a year later—to protect consumers. In recent years, we’ve seen the U.S. government pump over $1 trillion into aid for individuals and ­businesses who were impacted by COVID.73 More than a century later, activists continue to voice concerns about a range of issues, such as child labor, exploitative advertising, and genetically engineered food.74 President John F. Kennedy issued the “Declaration of Consumer Rights” in 1962. These include the right to safety, the right to be informed, the right to redress, and the right to choice. The 1960s and 1970s were a time of consumer activism as consumers began to organize to demand better-quality products (and to boycott companies that did not provide them).

Governmental Regulations and Agencies Partly due to consumers’ efforts, the U.S. government established many federal agencies to oversee consumer-related activities. These include the Department of Agriculture, the Federal Trade Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the EPA. A summary of some important consumer legislation enacted since that time appears in Table 2.3. You can find other information about consumer-related issues at consumerreports.org and cpsc.gov (the Consumer Product Safety Commission). Table 2.4 lists major U.S. regulatory agencies and what they do. One of the most important ones for consumers is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); it polices advertising claims as well as the contents of edible products and pharmaceuticals. For example, as part of an FDA crackdown on consumer drug advertising, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals launched a $20 million corrective advertising campaign for Yaz, the most popular birth control pill in the United States. This term means that the company must inform consumers that previous messages were wrong or misleading. The TV commercials, which ran during prime-time shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and on cable networks, warned that nobody should take Yaz hoping that it will also cure pimples or premenstrual syndrome. Bayer was required to run these ads to correct previous messages after regulators decided the earlier ads overstated the drug’s ability to improve women’s moods and clear up acne.75 Advertisers, retailers, and manufacturers typically try to police themselves to ensure that their messages and products are not harmful or inaccurate. In addition to good intentions, they have a practical reason to do so: They don’t want governments to do it for them. Indeed, sometimes these efforts even seem to go a bit over the top. Consider, for example, a ruling by the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which is one of these industry watchdogs. Acting on a complaint by rival Kimberly-Clark, P&G must add little flecks of cartoon toilet paper to the backsides of its Charmin cartoon bears in future ads for its toilet paper. Although P&G supported its claim that Charmin leaves “fewer pieces behind” than the Cottonelle brand (and showed the results of its test on the brand’s website), the NAD decided that the test “did not accurately reflect the results consumers normally see and experience.”76

Chapter 2  •  Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet



The popular contraceptive drug Yaz was required to run corrective advertising to address exaggerated or inaccurate claims. Source: Correctiveadvertising.blogspot.com/2009/11/.

Consumers Behaving Badly A few years ago, a crowd assembled for a big holiday sale at a Walmart store in New York. When the doors opened, the crowd trampled a temporary worker to death as people rushed to grab discounted merchandise off the store shelves. A lawsuit filed on behalf of the man’s survivors claimed that in addition to providing inadequate security, the retailer “engaged in specific marketing and advertising techniques to specifically attract a large crowd and create an environment of frenzy and mayhem.”78 In subsequent years, there have been additional incidents of trampling and even gunfire, as people frantically jockey for position to scoop up the big sales. Just how far will consumers go to secure a bargain? Despite the best efforts of researchers, government regulators, and concerned industry people, sometimes we are our own worst enemies. We think of individuals as rational decision makers, who calmly do their best to obtain products and services that will maximize the health and well-being of themselves, their families, and their society. In reality, however, consumers’ desires, choices, and actions often result in negative consequences to individuals and the society in which they live. Some of these actions are relatively benign, but others have more onerous consequences. Harmful consumer behaviors, such as excessive drinking or cigarette smoking, stem from social pressures. The cultural value many of us place on money encourages activities such as shoplifting and insurance fraud. Exposure to unattainable

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TABLE 2.3    Sample

of Federal Legislation to Enhance Consumers’ Welfare

Year

Act

Purpose

1953

Flammable Fabrics Act

Prohibits the transportation of flammable fabrics across state lines.

1958

National Traffic and Safety Act

Creates safety standards for cars and tires.

1958

Automobile Information Disclosure Act

Requires automobile manufacturers to post suggested retail prices on new cars.

1966

Fair Packaging and Labeling Act

Regulates packaging and labeling of consumer products. (Manufacturers must provide information about package contents and origin.)

1966

Child Protection Act

Prohibits sale of dangerous toys and other items.

1967

Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act

Requires cigarette packages to carry a warning label from the Surgeon General.

1968

Truth-in-Lending Act

Requires lenders to divulge the true costs of a credit transaction.

1969

National Environmental Policy Act

Established a national environmental policy and created the Council on Environmental Quality to monitor the effects of products on the environment.

1972

Consumer Products Safety Act

Established the Consumer Product Safety Commission to identify unsafe products, establish safety standards, recall defective products, and ban dangerous products.

1975

Consumer Goods Pricing Act

Bans the use of price maintenance agreements among manufacturers and resellers.

1975

Magnuson-Moss Warranty-Improvement Act

Creates disclosure standards for consumer product warranties and allows the Federal Trade Commission to set policy regarding unfair or deceptive practices.

1990

The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act

Reaffirms the legal basis for the Food and Drug Administration’s new rules on food labeling and established a timetable for the implementation of those rules.

1998

Internet Tax Freedom Act

Established a moratorium on special taxation of the internet, including taxation of access fees paid to America Online and other internet service providers.

2010

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

Prompted by the recession that began in 2008, intends to promote the financial stability of the United States by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system, to end “too big to fail,” to protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts, and to protect consumers from abusive financial services practices.

2016

Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016

Passed in response to a number of incidents where companies tried to stifle negative online user reviews by including a “gag clause” in a contract that threatens legal action or monetary damages when customers say bad things about the company. The bill allows the FCC and individual states to take action against companies that try this tactic.

2021

Consumer Protection and Recovery Act

This legislation authorizes the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to expand its protection of consumers from fraud in the marketplace by empowering the Federal Trade Commission to seek legal and monetary relief for victims.77

ideals of beauty and success creates dissatisfaction with our bodies or our achievements. We will touch on many of these issues later in this text, but for now, let’s review some dimensions of the “dark side” of consumer behavior.

Consumer Theft and Fraud Who among us has never received an email offering us fabulous riches if we help to recover a lost fortune from a Nigerian bank account? Of course, the only money changing hands will be yours, if you fall for the pitch from a so-called advance-fee fraud artist. These con artists have successfully scammed many victims out of hundreds of millions of dollars. However, a small but intrepid group of “counterscammers” sometimes give these crooks a taste of their own medicine by pretending to fall for a scam and humiliating the perpetrator. One common strategy is to trick the con artist into posing for pictures while holding a self-mocking sign and then posting these photos on internet sites. Both online and offline, fraud is rampant.

Chapter 2  •  Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet



TABLE 2.4    U.S.

43

Regulatory Agencies and Responsibilities

Regulatory agency

Responsibilities

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)

Protects the public from potentially hazardous products. Through regulation and testing programs, the CPSC helps firms make sure their products won’t harm customers.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Develops and enforces regulations aimed at protecting the environment. Such regulations have a major impact on the materials and processes that manufacturers use in their products and thus on the ability of companies to develop products.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Regulates telephone, radio, and television. FCC regulations directly affect the marketing activities of companies in the communications industries, and they have an indirect effect on all firms that use broadcast media for marketing communications.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

Enforces laws against deceptive advertising and product labeling regulations. Marketers must constantly keep abreast of changes in FTC regulations to avoid costly fines.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Enforces laws and regulations on foods, drugs, cosmetics, and veterinary products. Marketers of pharmaceuticals, over-thecounter medicines, and a variety of other products must get FDA approval before they can introduce products to the market.

Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)

Regulates interstate bus, truck, rail, and water operations. The ability of a firm to efficiently move products to its customers depends on ICC policies and regulation.

Stealing from stores is the most common scam. Someone commits a retail theft every five seconds. Shrinkage is the industry term for inventory and cash losses from shoplifting and employee theft. This is a massive problem for businesses that gets passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices (about 40 percent of the losses can be attributed to employees rather than shoppers). Indeed, shoplifting is the fastestgrowing crime in the United States. The National Retail Federation (NRF) states that loss of inventory related to theft, shoplifting, error, or fraud reduces retailers’ bottom line by $46.8 billion—or about 1.33 percent of sales.79 The most frequently stolen products are tobacco products, athletic shoes, logo and brand-name apparel, designer jeans, and undergarments. And what about shoppers who commit fraud when they abuse stores’ exchange and return policies? Some big companies, such as Guess, Staples, and Sports Authority, use new software that lets them monitor a shopper’s track record of bringing items back. They are trying to crack down on serial wardrobers who buy an outfit, wear it once, and return it; customers who change price tags on items, then return one item for the higher amount; and shoppers who use fake or old receipts when they return a product. Retail analysts estimate that about $2 billion of merchandise that shoppers return after the holiday season alone is for fraudulent reasons.80

Unauthorized Knock-Offs “Hey buddy, wanna buy a Rolex?” Counterfeiting, where companies or individuals sell fake versions of real products to customers (who may or may not be aware of the switch), is the largest criminal enterprise in the world. Analysts estimate that sales of knockoffs run between $1.7 trillion and $4.5 trillion a year—more than revenues linked to either human trafficking or drugs.81 Many of us think of counterfeiters as people who sell faux designer handbags or watches on the street, but in fact the problem is much more widespread—and often deadly. About 200,000 people in China die per year because they ingest fake pharmaceuticals.82 Researchers have found one good route to potentially discourage purchases of counterfeit products: Generate a feeling of what they term moral disgust.83 In an experiment, researchers found that participants who were told that the luxury pen they

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Section 1  •  Foundations of Consumer Behavior

were given to use in a writing task was counterfeit then used more disgust-related words in the writing task. In a second experiment, participants who were informed that their computer mouse was a counterfeit performed worse in a game of virtual table tennis!

OBJECTIVE 2-7 Describe how consumer behavior directly impacts the environment.

PESTL E: The Natural Environment

Almost everyone today is concerned about saving our planet. Worries about climate change, entire species going extinct, widespread exposure to carcinogens and harmful bacteria, and many other life-anddeath issues are front and center. The consumer’s focus on personal health is merging with a growing interest in global health. Some analysts call this new perspective that encourages us to make positive decisions throughout the buying process conscious consumerism. Examples of these choices might include buying used clothing, choosing natural toiletries, or eating Fairtrade chocolate. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines sustainability as being “based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and wellbeing depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations.”84 Momentum has been building for some time around the need to claim a brand ­purpose—a reason to exist beyond making money— and sustainability efforts are fulfilling that need for many businesses. The World Wildlife Federation describes this growth in awareness as eco-wakening—it’s happening among consumers in both developed and emerging economies.85 In one survey that was conducted in the middle of the pandemic, 66 percent of all respondents, and 75 percent of millennial respondents, said they consider sustainability when they decide what to buy. 86 And this focus pays off for companies that listen: Unilever’s portfolio of 18 “sustainable living” brands is growing 50 percent faster than its other brands.87 A sustainable business model is not just about “do-gooder” efforts that reduce a company’s carbon footprint or the amount of plastic that goes into landfills. Indeed, about 6 out of every 10 companies that convert to a sustainable business model report that they have profited financially as well.88 For example, Ørsted is a Danish electricity company that completely transformed its core business from being a coal-intensive energy producer to a focus on renewable energy sources. By divesting from fossil fuels and investing in offshore wind power, Ørsted reduced carbon emissions by 83 percent and still managed to boost profits.89 While some individual companies like Ørsted, Patagonia, and Native deodorant make heroic efforts toward sustainability, will this be enough to save us from environmental disasters down the road? Every action helps, but most likely we need to revisit the fundamental ways we use—and get rid of—natural resources. For example, apparel Environmental activist Greta Thunberg’s passion has fueled businesses (and fashionistas) have been seduced by the allure of fast a global movement in which consumers are urging governfashion—inexpensive garments that are manufactured and replaced ments and corporations to address the climate change crisis. Source: SOPA Images Limited/Alamy Stock Photo. quickly to keep up with fast-changing trends to feed the ever-changing

Chapter 2  •  Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet



tastes of shoppers at stores like H&M and Zara. The problem: These here-today, in-the-landfill-tomorrow garments require vast amounts of water—roughly 3,000 liters to make just one cotton shirt. The dyeing process releases toxic chemicals into what’s left of our water supply.90 And because these items aren’t made to last, they quickly degrade and have to be replaced with the next fast fashion goodie. One promising economic model is the circular economy (CE).91 Instead of the linear economy, which is on continual expansion through stimulation of mass production, mass consumption, and rapid disposal, the CE model proposes that sustainable growth can happen only through ongoing reutilization of resources and materials with the ultimate goal of generating zero waste. Circularity is “restorative and regenerative by design.” The circular economy model makes it easier for consumers to understand how to behave sustainability because sustainability becomes more concrete.92 But we have a long way to go! According to the Circularity Gap Report presented at the World Economic Forum, the world is only 8.6 percent “circular,” which means that 91.4 percent of resources used for consumption are being squandered.93 Sometimes the “solution” is part of the problem! For example, although we may benefit from drinking water instead of sugary beverages, by one estimate the energy (and subsequent climate change) used to produce the plastic bottles they come in is equivalent to filling them one-quarter full with oil. In addition, the bottles may be transported thousands of miles on gas-guzzling cargo ships, and then the discarded bottles can take thousands of years to decompose.94 And to add insult

Raw Materials

Native deodorant is a popular choice for some ­consumers because of its focus on sustainability. Source: Emma’sPhotos/Shutterstock.

Design

Recycling

Production, Remanufacturing Circular Economy

Distribution Residual Waste

Collection

Figure 2.1  The Circular Economy

Source: Sensvector/Shutterstock and Nikolae/Shutterstock.

Consumption, use, reuse, repair

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Section 1  •  Foundations of Consumer Behavior

to injury, recently it has been discovered that the “pure” water itself may contain microbits of plastic from the bottle. Sustainability is a tough goal, but many organizations work hard to get as close to it as they can—and consumers around the world increasingly take notice. Many of us are much more mindful of these issues when we shop and when we make decisions about the foods we eat, the clothes we wear, the buildings in which we live and work, and the cars we drive. Green marketing describes a strategy that involves the development and promotion of environmentally friendly products and a focus on this attribute when the manufacturer communicates with customers. One barrier to increased acceptance: Many consumers believe that sustainable products are of inferior quality—but recent research evidence Airinum is one company that is tapping into a desire for functional debunks this myth.95 yet stylish protective wear as concerns grow about the effects of air pollution on consumers’ health. Reusable grocery bags are growing in popularity as Source: Photo by Alexander Bello for Airinum www.airinum.com. Copyright Airinum AB. a simple environmental and socially conscious choice to reduce our reliance on disposable plastic bags. And it works! A study focused on what happens when shoppers are encouraged to bring your own bags (BYOB) showed that it can change their shopping behaviors.96 Analyzing loyalty card scanner data from a grocery store in California, the researchers found that shoppers who brought their own bag were more likely to buy environmentally friendly organic foods. Interestingly, they also found that those shoppers were more likely to Remember the good old “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval?” For a mere $495, a company can submit a product for testing, and it receives the Seal if it does what it claims.97 Wouldn’t it be nice to have a similar setup to validate a product’s claim to be environmentally friendly? When companies encourage consumers to choose sustainable products, it can be a tough slog to show them which brands comply with environmental regulations and earth-friendly processes. So, why not “certify” these products and allow them to display a label that shows they are one of the “good guys”? In fact, that’s happening in spades, but ironically some wellmeaning consumers might encounter “sticker shock” when they try to choose acceptable products. It’s not so easy as just looking to see whether or not a familiar certification is on a package: There are 455 eco-label systems worldwide!98 And some big manufacturers and retailers even offer their own labels, such as SC Johnson’s Greenlist and Eco-Scale by the Whole Foods grocery chain.99 Perhaps down the road the system to identify the polluters will simplify as competing certification systems consolidate. But for now, happy hunting! Source: Omelchenko/Shutterstock.

Chapter 2  •  Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet



stick indulgent foods in those bags, perhaps a sign that we tend to reward ourselves for our own good behavior! In the end, and despite all the social, cultural and environmental changes our world faces, consumers’ prosocial behaviors may be the answer. 100 This term describes actions that benefit others and the world around us, including charitable giving and other donation behaviors (such as blood or organ donation), volunteering, ethical purchasing, and consumer activism.

The SHIFT: Changing Consumer Behavior for the Better The SHIFT framework sums up the actions marketers need to take in order to promote prosocial behavior by identifying five key drivers:101 1. 2. 3. 4.

Social Influence – Use social pressure and norms to encourage behavior. Habits – Encourage formation of prosocial habits. Individual Self – Appeal to identity, self-interest, and personality traits. Feelings and Cognition – Employ different frames and emotional appeals in the appropriate situations and contexts. 5. Tangibility – Make clear what the prosocial behavior accomplishes (e.g., who benefits, self-efficacy). We can see Driver #1 (Social Influence) in action in a study that involved more than 2,000 hotel guests. When guests made a specific commitment at check-in to hang their towels for reuse to reduce laundry waste (and received a lapel pin to symbolize their commitment), the number of towels guests actually hung increased by more than 40 percent. The researchers estimated the savings at one hotel at over $50,000 and nearly 700,000 gallons of water.102

The “Tree-Huggers” As we saw in Chapter 1, it is typical to find that a relatively small number of consumers account for a large amount of the action with regard to a certain consumption

The Chipotle food chain caters to the growing priority consumers place upon ethicallygrown food. Source: Used with Permission from Chipotle.

47

Buying, Having, Being Wokewashing? Talk about poisoning the well: Greenwashing occurs when companies make false or exaggerated claims about how environmentally friendly their products are. Wokewashing is the same thing: companies making false or inauthentic claims to be “woke.”103 Think about the old story of the “boy who cried wolf ”: Consumers simply don’t believe most of the green claims companies make about their brands. Almost onefourth of U.S. consumers say they have “no way of knowing” whether a product is green or actually does what it claims. Their skepticism is probably justified: According to one report, more than 95 percent of consumer companies that market as “green” make misleading or inaccurate claims. Another survey found that the number of products that claim to be green has increased by 73 percent since 2009—but of the products investigated, almost one-third had fake labels, and 70 ­percent made green claims ­without offering any proof to back them up.104 One survey reported that 71 percent of respondents say they will stop buying a product if they feel they’ve been misled about its environmental impact, and 37 percent are so angry about greenwashing that they believe this justifies a complete boycott of everything the company makes.105 Greenwashing has impacted many well-known companies. For example, Walmart agreed to pay $1 million to settle claims that allege the nation’s largest retailer sold plastic products it misleadingly labeled “biodegradable” or “compostable” in violation of California law.106

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Section 1  •  Foundations of Consumer Behavior

activity or purchase. This certainly is true when we look at people who walk the walk, in addition to talking the talk, about modifying their behaviors to help the environment. Marketers point to a segment of consumers who are especially likely to choose sustainable products and services: the Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability segment, or LOHAS. These so-called “Lohasians” (others refer to this segment as cultural ­creatives) represent a great market for products such as organic foods, energy-­ efficient appliances, and hybrid cars, as well as alternative medicine, yoga lessons, and ­ecotourism. One organization that tracks this group estimates that they make up one in four adult Americans and spend about $290 billion per year on sustainable products and services.107

CHAPTER SUMMARY Now that you have finished reading this chapter, you should be able to:

3. Discuss how the economic landscape affects consumers’ access to the marketplace.

1. Define business ethics and identify the elements that comprise the PESTLE framework.

Our relationships with companies and other organizations are complex, and many issues that impact quality of life relate directly to marketing practices. In addition to changes in income due to unforeseen events like the pandemic, market access can be a problem because many people are unable to navigate the marketplace as a result of disabilities, illiteracy, or other conditions.

Business ethics are rules of conduct that guide actions in the marketplace; these are the standards against which most people in a culture judge what is right and what is wrong, good or bad. Marketers must confront many ethical issues, especially ones that relate to how much they make consumers “want” things they don’t need or are not good for them. It is both ethically and financially smart to maximize customer satisfaction. In some cases, external bodies such as the government or industry associations regulate businesses to ensure that their products and advertising are safe, clear, and accurate. Consumer behavior researchers may play a role in this process and those who do transformative consumer research (TCR) may even work to bring about social change. Companies also play a significant role in addressing social conditions through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and social marketing campaigns that promote positive behaviors. 2. Summarize how the political environment affects consumer decision making. In the politically charged environment we inhabit, consumers make choices based on their beliefs and ­values—and they vote with their wallets. Through their brand and product choices, consumers make statements to companies about the types of products they want and how, when, and where (or even if) they want to learn about those products. The explosion of social activism we’ve encountered both in the U.S. and in many other parts of the world over the past few years has encouraged some companies to take a stand on controversial issues.

4. Explain the ways marketers respond to social issues to shape consumer behavior. The 2020s have seen a proliferation of social causes that affect the marketplace in fundamental ways. In response to social justice movements, companies are taking a close look at what their brands and marketing communications look like. Cause marketing is a popular strategy that aligns a company or brand with a cause to generate business and societal benefits. Many firms today try to integrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) into their business models; this encourages an organization to make a positive impact on the various stakeholders in its community, including consumers, employees, and the environment. 5. Describe the technological changes that are creating new challenges for consumer protection. Many of us are leery about opening the door to our private lives so that big tech companies can enter at will. One of the biggest ethical issues many marketers face today relates to how much they can—or should—know about their customers, including even their genetic data. New technologies also make it fairly easy to disseminate content that may or may not be “real” or accurate. Artificial intelligence creates new opportunities and challenges for consumers and consumer protection, but the automation of tasks and exchanges based on consumer data also

Chapter 2  •  Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet



opens up new issues related to privacy, bias, and ethics. Other tech-related challenges include addiction to social media, identity theft, and cyberbullying. 6. Explain how the legal environment influences consumer behavior. Concern for the welfare of consumers has been an issue since at least the beginning of the 20th century. Today, activists continue to voice concerns about a range of issues such as child labor, exploitative advertising, and genetically engineered food. Partly due to consumers’ efforts, the U.S. government established many federal agencies to oversee consumer-related activities. These include the Department of Agriculture, the Federal Trade Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the EPA. Consumers also are at fault for engaging in illegal or borderline activities, such as shoplifting, vandalism, and counterfeiting. 7. Describe how consumer behavior directly impacts the environment. Worries about climate change, entire species going extinct, widespread exposure to carcinogens and

harmful bacteria, and many other life-and-death issues are front and center. The circular economy model proposes that sustainable growth can happen only through ongoing reutilization of resources and materials with the ultimate goal of generating zero waste. A green marketing strategy involves the development and promotion of environmentally friendly products and a focus on this attribute when the manufacturer communicates with customers. Momentum has been building for some time around the need to claim a brand purpose—a reason to exist beyond making money—and sustainability efforts are fulfilling that need for many businesses. This “eco-wakening” is happening among many consumers in both developed and emerging economies. The SHIFT framework sums up the actions marketers need to take in order to promote prosocial behavior by identifying five key drivers, such as social influence and tangibility. The LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) market segment is growing in size and influence as consumers become more sensitized to a brand’s impact on the environment.

KEY TERMS Adaptive clothing, 30 Algorithm bias, 37 Artificial intelligence, 37 Benevolent halo effect, 33 Botnets, 37 Brand purpose, 44 Bring your own bags (BYOB), 46 Business ethics, 27 Cancel culture, 33 Cause marketing, 33 Circular economy, 45 Conscious consumerism, 44 Consumed consumers, 31 Consumer activism, 28 Consumer addiction, 38 Corporate social irresponsibility (CSI), 33 Corporate social responsibility (CSR), 33 Corporate sociopolitical activism (CSA), 29

Corrective advertising, 40 Counterfeiting, 43 Culture jamming, 28 Cyberbullying, 38 Data breaches, 37 Data privacy, 34 Eco-wakening, 44 Fast fashion, 44 Financial literacy, 32 Food desert, 31 Food insecurity, 31 Functionally illiterate, 32 General Data Protection Regulation, 34 Genetic data, 37 Green marketing, 46 Greenwashing, 47 Identity theft, 36 Infodemic, 36 Latent vulnerability, 35

49

Locational privacy, 37 LOHAS, 48 Market access, 30 Media literacy, 32 Moral disgust, 43 PESTLE framework, 27 Phishing, 37 Prosocial behaviors, 47 Red market, 31 Serial wardrobers, 43 Shrinkage, 43 Slacktivism, 30 Social justice, 32 Social marketing, 32 Social media addiction, 38 Sustainability, 44 Transformative consumer research (TCR), 32 Wokewashing, 47

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Section 1  •  Foundations of Consumer Behavior

REVIEW 2-1 What are business ethics, and why is this an important topic? 2-2 Give two examples of important legislation that affects U.S. consumers. 2-3 What is a circular economy? 2-4 What is eco-wakening, and what are the likely consequences for consumer behavior? 2-5 Define social marketing, and give an example of this technique.

2-6 What is the primary difference between transformative consumer research and other kinds of consumer research? 2-7 Why is market access an important aspect of consumer well-being? What are some important reasons why consumers can experience limited market access? 2-8 What is greenwashing, and why is it a problem for marketers?

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHALLENGE DISCUSS

2-1 In today’s wired world, consumers can run, but we can’t hide: If someone wants to know where we are or where we’ve been, the data are there for the asking. As with web tracking, there is value here: We can easily identify by looking at hundreds or even thousands of reviews the best sushi place within a block of our current location, or perhaps get a heads up on that policeman with the radar gun who is hiding behind that billboard up the highway. However, this is a mixed blessing if this information gets into the wrong hands. Consumers need to make tough tradeoffs between convenience and constant surveillance. The chapter notes that marketing has a huge credibility problem today; most consumers simply don’t trust what marketers say or do. What steps can a marketer take to restore this trust? 2-2 Internet addiction has been a big headache in South Korea for several years, where 90 percent of homes connect to cheap, high-speed broadband. Many young Koreans’ social lives revolve around the “PC bang,” dimly lit internet parlors that sit on practically every street corner. A government study estimates that up to 30 percent of South Koreans younger than 18 are at risk of internet addiction. Many already exhibit signs of actual addiction, including an inability to stop themselves from using computers, rising levels of tolerance that drive them to seek ever-­longer sessions online, and withdrawal symptoms such as anger and craving when they can’t log on. Some users have literally dropped dead from exhaustion after playing online games for days on end.108 How big a problem is internet addiction here in the United States? Should parents and educators actively police how much time kids spend online, or if they do so are

they preventing young people from interacting with their peers in the ways they want? 2-3 Should scientists who study consumer behavior remain impartial, or is it appropriate for them to become involved in the topics they research, like those who adhere to the transformative consumer research perspective? 2-4 Today many consumers pursue a “decluttering lifestyle.” Should marketers encourage this trend toward simplicity even though it stresses buying less stuff that marketers sell? What marketing opportunities do you foresee if this trend spreads? 2-5 Because of higher competition and market saturation, marketers in industrialized countries try to develop third-world markets. Asian consumers alone spend $90 billion a year on cigarettes, and U.S. tobacco manufacturers push relentlessly into these markets. We find cigarette advertising, which often depicts glamorous Western models and settings, just about everywhere—on billboards, buses, storefronts, and clothing—and tobacco companies sponsor many major sports and cultural events. Some companies even hand out cigarettes and gifts in amusement areas, often to preteens. Should governments allow these practices, even if the products may be harmful to their citizens or divert money that poor people should spend on essentials? If you were a trade or health official in a third-world country, what guidelines, if any, might you suggest to regulate the import of luxury goods from advanced economies? 2-6 A case involving the Wendy’s fast-food chain made national headlines when a woman claimed she found a finger in her bowl of chili. The restaurants became



Chapter 2  •  Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet

the butt of jokes (some said they served nail clippers with their food instead of forks), and sales dropped dramatically at the company’s franchises. This forced layoffs and reduced hours for many employees— until the woman was arrested for fraud.109 Consumers commonly file lawsuits against companies to claim damages if a product or service didn’t work as expected. In some cases, the defendant just settles the suit to make it go away because it costs more to mount a defense than to just pay damages. Are there too many frivolous lawsuits? Does our justice system adequately meet the needs of both consumers and companies in how it awards damages? 2-7 Nonprofit organizations routinely rely on generous corporate donations, and it’s common to name facilities after benefactors. The Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio is no exception; its name recognizes the insurance company’s $50 million donation. Now the hospital has added the Abercrombie & Fitch Emergency Department and Trauma Center and there is also the Limited Too & Justice Main Lobby. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood opposes this partnership. The group’s director commented, “Abercrombie & Fitch is really among the worst of corporate predators. A company with such cynical disregard for children’s well-being shouldn’t be able to claim the mantle of healing . . . . And, personally, I find it very concerning that they named their hospital after an insurance company.”110 What do you think? Is this over the line, or does it matter where the money comes from as long as the end result is beneficial? 2-8 From time to time, advertisers use dark humor to get their messages across, as when a lonely calorie, repairman, or robot considers suicide. Or an ad may imply that shoppers are “mentally ill” if they pay retail prices. Are these appeals a legitimate way to communicate a message; if so, under what circumstances? 2-9 The chapter discusses the positive and negative potential effects of corporate sociopolitical activism (CSA). What’s your feeling—should a company link itself to a social cause, or should it remain neutral? 2-10 Fifty-four million dollars for a pair of missing pants? A judge in Washington, D.C., made headlines when he filed a $54 million lawsuit against his neighborhood dry cleaner because it lost a pair of his pinstriped suit pants. He claimed that a local consumer protection law entitled him to thousands of dollars for each day over nearly four years in which signs at the shop promised “same day service” and “satisfaction guaranteed.” The suit dragged on for several months,

51

but at the end of the day, the plaintiff went home with empty pockets.111 And some people claim we have too many lawsuits in this country! Should our legal system allow for lawsuits that encourage consumers to sue companies over complaints like this? 2-11 A woman in New Zealand apparently died from drinking too much Coca-Cola. Her family said she drank about 2.2 gallons of the beverage every day for years. Prior to her death, she had several rotten teeth removed, and she gave birth to a baby who was born without any tooth enamel. The 31-year-old mother of eight died following a cardiac arrhythmia after consuming more than two pounds of sugar and 970 mg of caffeine a day. Coca-Cola noted that the coroner’s report, while singling out its product as a probable cause of death, stated that the company “cannot be held responsible for the health of consumers who drink unhealthy quantities of the product.”112 What’s your take on this—should companies be held liable if their customers misuse what they sell? 2-12 A hot-button topic right now involves efforts to curb child obesity by encouraging advertisers to limit the messages they send to kids about foods that are high in sodium, saturated fat, and added sugars. Under new federal rules, even the scoreboards in high school gyms will have to advertise only healthy foods. Several large cities, including New York City and Philadelphia, have tried to prevent the sale of large sizes of sugary drinks to fight obesity. Public health advocates hail these attempts, whereas others argue that they would transform the United States into a “Nanny State” that imposes on our freedom to choose to consume whatever we like. Should city, state, and federal governments dictate what (legal) products people should consume, even when the population’s health is at stake?113 2-13 Companies and organizations in the United States spend billions of dollars to acquire and manage consumer data, such as credit information and transaction histories. Well-off consumers obviously hold great appeal to marketers because they have greater buying potential. Today companies have the ability to offer a more attractive deal to higher-value customers to win their business. The flip side of this process is that they can potentially discriminate against lowincome people who won’t qualify for lower prices. And in most cases, companies don’t permit consumers to access their database to learn what they know about them.114 Is it fair to stratify consumers in this way so that some get access to more attractive options than others?

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Section 1  •  Foundations of Consumer Behavior

APPLY

2-14 Will consumers trade lower prices for less privacy? Car owners now can let insurance companies monitor their driving, using a new technology, in exchange for lower rates. Customers who sign up for Progressive’s TripSense program get a device the size of a Tic Tac box to plug into their cars. The device tracks speed and how many miles are driven at what times of day. Every few months, customers unplug the device from the car, plug it into a computer, download the data, and send the data to the company. Depending on results, discounts will range from 5 to 25 percent. In Great Britain, a major insurer is testing a program called Pay as You Drive. Volunteers in the program get a device the size of a large smartphone installed in their cars. The gadget uses global positioning satellite technology to track where the car goes, constantly sending information back to the insurance company. Cars that spend more time in safer areas will qualify for bigger discounts.115 Of course, the potential downside to these efforts is that the insurance companies may be able to collect data on where you have driven, how long you stayed in one location, and so on. Conduct a poll of 10 drivers of various ages in which you describe these programs and ask respondents if they would participate to receive a discount on their insurance premiums. What reasons do they give—pro and con?

CASE STUDY

2-15 Many college students “share” music by downloading clips. Interview at least five people who have downloaded at least one song or movie without paying for it. Do they feel they are stealing? What explanations do they offer for this behavior? Try to identify any common themes as a result of these interviews. If you were devising an ad campaign to discourage free downloading, how might you use what you have learned to craft a convincing message? 2-16 If you’re not happy with a product or service, is it worthwhile to complain? In one study, business majors wrote complaint letters to companies. When the firm sent a free sample in response, this action significantly improved how the students felt about it. This didn’t happen, however, when they only received a letter of ­apology—but no swag. Even worse, students who got no response reported an even more negative image than before. This shows that any kind of response is better than none.116 Interview people you know who have had negative experiences with stores or manufacturers. What action (if any) did they take, and what happened? Are they more or less likely to patronize the offending company as a result?

Face It – Facial Recognition Is Coming to a Walgreens Near You

If you are like millions of other smartphone users, you regularly open your phone by simply looking at it. The same software that saves you seconds typing in your passcode is now being used to make marketing more personalized through innovative applications of this advanced technology, known as facial recognition. One of the companies that employs this technology is Walgreens, the second largest pharmacy retailer in the U.S.117 Facial recognition uses cameras and software to map a person’s face and compare it with information in a database that uses sophisticated algorithms. Many uses of this technology are similar to the smartphone application, in which a user is authenticated for purposes of access to a computer system or a building. A more sophisticated level of the technology, facial analysis, seeks to draw conclusions about gender, age, race, and even emotions.118 Much of the conversation about facial recognition has focused on its use in law enforcement, with concerns

about the level of identification accuracy, particularly with the faces of women and people of color. Early versions of the technology had high error rates and even after significant improvement, a 2019 study showed that some software incorrectly identified African American and Asian people 10 to 100 times more often than white men. This inaccuracy has been attributed to the process of “training” the early versions of the algorithms using images of celebrities that were more often white and male.119 Facial recognition companies are working to improve accuracy, but some major companies, like Microsoft, Amazon, and IBM, have chosen either to pause or end the distribution of facial recognition technology to law enforcement while these problems are addressed.120 Facial recognition technologies provide innovative marketing uses, many focused on the shopper experience in brick-and-mortar stores. At Walgreens, cooler doors are now full-size screens that display photos of the products



Chapter 2  •  Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet

inside. Hidden cameras can determine your age, gender, and the products you’re looking at—along with your emotional response to what you’re seeing. Based on that information, the display changes to a personalized offer the system’s algorithm believes you will like. The system also considers information like time of day. Close to dinner time? How about a DiGiorno pizza to go with your six pack of Miller Coors?121 Other retailers have found new uses of the technology. A furniture chain changed the age of its floor staff after its software determined that customers coming into the store were younger than expected.122 Mastercard uses faces to speed the payment process with its “smile to pay” system.123 Sophisticated facial analysis can detect shoppers’ feelings about products or displays. And when a VIP enters a store, facial recognition can alert staff, allowing them to greet the customer by name and to recommend products based on the buyer’s purchase history.124 Advertising can also be enhanced by facial analysis. Rather than relying on expressed opinions in focus groups, advertisers can get unbiased and unreserved emotional reactions to proposed ads in a noninvasive manner.125 In addition to in-store ads like those at Walgreens, companies are experimenting with interactive outdoor billboards. At London’s famed Piccadilly Circus, a giant billboard changes content based on the gender, age, and even the emotions of those passing by.126 Billboard provider Quividi says its technology can determine gender with 90 percent precision and age within a five-year bracket and can notice emotional responses within five categories from “very happy to very unhappy.” One company has installed interactive tablets in rideshare vehicles to deliver ads dynamically based on facial analysis coupled with location data.127 Some consumers are concerned about the growing use of this technology. One study found that only 32 percent of consumers were comfortable with the use of facial recognition by private companies, and 54 percent did not agree with its use for gauging response to ad displays.128 While many of the applications do not identify a person by name, there is the opportunity to misuse the data gathered. Questions have also been raised about the fundamental idea that emotions can be accurately assessed through facial expressions. A 2019 review of the scientific literature found no reliable evidence for that link.129 There is currently no federal regulation that limits companies’ use of facial recognition, but three states—Illinois, Texas, and Washington—have passed bills regarding this, and other states are considering doing so.130 The Illinois law requires written consent for a company to “collect, capture, purchase, receive, disclose, or disseminate biometric

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information” and gives a victim a right to collect damages from the offending party, up to $5,000 per incident. The Texas law does not allow citizens to take action, but the government can impose a penalty of up to $25,000 for each violation.131 Washington state does not explicitly include facial recognition in its law regarding notice and consent for use of biometric data, but class action lawsuits are testing the limits of the regulations.132 Several lawsuits have resulted in sizable settlements from major companies charged with violating these state laws, including $92 million by TikTok and $650 million by Facebook (now Meta), with a key issue being the use of biometric data without users’ consent.133 Most consumers have become accustomed to a high level of recognition in the online world, where our navigation from website to website is tracked through small data files known as “cookies.” Our movement around the internet and the info we enter allows marketers to offer specific products and promotional messaging they believe will be appealing. Facial recognition and analysis are moving the cookie concept to the physical world, using observed information to customize offers and messages.134 The big difference is that online, users are often asked to consent to the use of cookies; an equivalent permission system does not exist in most public spaces, but users of the technology can at least inform consumers of the use of that technology, giving them the option not to enter a store, for example.135 The creators of facial recognition technology are racing to improve its accuracy and to expand its use. In 2021, the market size for this technology was over $5 billion, and it’s expected to grow to $12.67 billion by 2028.136 Consumers and legislators will determine whether that growth is realized as they decide whether the gains in convenience, personalized service, and messaging are worth the potential loss of privacy. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

CS 2-1 Compare the use of facial recognition in marketing with other tools of one-to-one marketing, like online cookies or databases that contain detailed personal information gleaned from a variety of sources. How is facial recognition the same or different? CS 2-2 Some retailers use facial recognition to alert staff to the arrival of known shoplifters. What are the pros and cons of this application of the technology? CS 2-3 What steps could companies take to use facial recognition technology ethically? In your answer, consider options for informed consent in various contexts: retail stores, outdoor billboards, and tablets in rideshare vehicles.

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Chapter 2  •  Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet

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62. Erik Sass, “Woman Kills Baby for Interrupting FarmVille,” Social Media & Marketing Daily, October 28, 2010, www.mediapost.com/ publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=138502&nid=120184. 63. Lulu Chang, “Gaming Disorder Is Now Officially a Mental Condition, According to the WHO,” Digital Trends, December 25, 2017, www.digitaltrends.com/ gaming/who-gaming-disorder/. 64. “Fake Substitute Phones Help Curb Smartphone Addiction,” Canvas8, December 18, 2017, www.canvas8.com/signals/2017/12/18/substitute-phones.html, accessed March 18, 2022. 65. Alexandra Ma, “A Sad Number of Americans Sleep with Their Smartphone in Their Hand,” Huffington Post, June 6, 2015, www.huffingtonpost .com/2015/06/29/smartphone-behavior-2015_n_7690448.html. 66. Bob Al-Greene, “Late-Night Gadget Use Damages Your Sleep Cycle,” Mashable, November 19, 2012, http://mashable.com/2012/11/19/-gadgets-sleep/. 67. Emily Price, “Cellphone Addiction May Be Contagious, Study Finds,” Mashable, October 3, 2012, http://mashable.com/2012/12/03/ cell-phone-addiction-contgious/. 68. Chris Pollard, “A Cruel World,” The Sun (U.K.), September 13, 2010, www .diigo.com/cached?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fsol%2Fhom epage%2Fnews%2F3135278%2FMum-addicted-to-Small-World-neglectedkids-and-let-dogs-starve-to-death.html. 69. Quoted in http://cyberbullying.us/. 70. Quoted in Jan Hoffman, “Online Bullies Pull Schools into the Fray,” New York Times, June 27, 2010, www.newyorktimes.com/2010/06/28/style/28bully. html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&emc=eta1. 71. “Cyberbullying: Twenty Crucial Statistics for 2022,” Security.org, January 4, 2022, https://www.security.org/resources/cyberbullying-facts-statistics/, accessed February 22, 2022. 72. www.stopbullying.gov, accessed February 21, 2022. 73. https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/coronavirus, accessed February 25, 2022. 74. Robert V. Kozinets and Jay M. Handelman, “Adversaries of Consumption: Consumer Movements, Activism, and Ideology,” Journal of Consumer Research 31 (December 2004): 691–704; cf. also Paul C. Henry, “How Mainstream Consumers Think about Consumer Rights and Responsibilities,” Journal of Consumer Research 37, no. 4 (2010): 670–687. 75. Natasha Singer, “A Birth Control Pill That Promised Too Much,” New York Times, February 10, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/business/ worldbusiness/11iht-11pill.20100508.html. 76. Jack Neff, “NAD to Charmin: No Bare Bear Bottoms: P&G Must Show Some Pieces of TP on Bruin’s Bums,” Ad Age, August 12, 2010, https://adage.com/ article/adages/advertising-p-g-show-pieces-charmin-bears/145379. 77. H.R. 2668 - Consumer Protection and Recovery Act (April 20, 2021), https:// www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr2668, accessed February 22, 2022. Note: As of this writing, it is not clear if this bill will pass in the Senate. 78. Aditi Mathur, “Black Friday Turns Deadly; Hundreds Left Unconscious, Injured and Trampled,” International Business Times, November 29, 2011, https://www.ibtimes.com/black-friday-turns-deadly-hundreds-left-­ unconscious-injured-trampled-graphic-videos-375868; Jack Neff, “Lawsuit: Marketing Blamed in Wal-Mart Trampling Death,” Ad Age, December 4, 2008, www.adage.com; www.Freerepublic.Com/Focus/F-News/2142920/Posts. 79. TJ McCue, “Inventory Shrink Cost the US Retail Industry $46.8 Billion,” Forbes, January 31, 2019, https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2019/01/31/ inventory-shrink-cost-the-us-retail-industry-46-8-billion/?sh=df2b4dc6b701, accessed February 23, 2022. 80. “Consumer Returns in the Retail Industry,” National Retail Federation, 2015, https://nrf.com/sites/default/files/Images/Media%20Center/NRF%20 Retail%20Return%20Fraud%20Final_0.pdf. 81. U.S. Intellectual Property and Counterfeit Goods – Landscape Review of Existing/Emerging Research, United States Patent and Trademark Office (February 2020), https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USPTO-Counterfeit.pdf, accessed March 18, 2022. 82. “Counterfeit Goods: A $461 Billion Problem,” CBS News, April 18, 2016, www.cbsnews.com/news/counterfeit-goods-a-461-billion-problem/; Leo Burnett, “Behind New System to Blunt Counterfeiting in China ‘1-Tag’ Lets Consumers Authenticate Products and Avoid Potentially Hazardous Ripoffs,” Ad Age Global, January 31, 2011, http://adage.com/article/global-news/ leo-burnett-creates-system-stop-counterfeiting-china/148571/. 83. Moty Amar, Dan Ariely, Ziv Carmon, and Haiyang Yang, “How Counterfeits Infect Genuine Products: The Role of Moral Disgust,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 28, no. 2 (2018): 329–43. 84. Quoted in “What Is Sustainability?” United States Environmental Protection Agency, www.epa.gov/sustainability/basicinfo.htm. 85. Cristianne Close, “The Global Eco-Wakening: How Consumers Are Driving Sustainability,” World Economic Forum, https://www.weforum.org/ agenda/2021/05/eco-wakening-consumers-driving-sustainability/, accessed February 25, 2022.

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Section 1  •  Foundations of Consumer Behavior

86. The State of Fashion 2020, McKinsey, https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/ mckinsey/industries/retail/our%20insights/the%20state%20of%20fashion%20 2020%20navigating%20uncertainty/the-state-of-fashion-2020-final.pdf, accessed February 25, 2022. 87. “Americans Expect Brands to Be Consistently Eco-Friendly,” Canvas8, January 29, 2018. 88. “5 Lessons from the Companies Making Sustainability More Profitable Than Ever,” Fast Company, February 5, 2013, www.fastcoexist.com/1681339/5lessons-from-the-companies-making-sustainability-more-profitable-thanever. 89. Samantha Todd, “Who Are the 100 Most Sustainable Companies of 2020?,” Forbes, January 21, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthatodd/2020/01/21/who-are-the-100-most-sustainable-companies-of2020/?sh=4fdc8e2914a4, accessed February 23, 2022. 90. Ngan Le, “The Impact of Fast Fashion on the Environment,” Princeton Student Climate Initiative, July 20, 2021, https://psci.princeton.edu/tips/2020/7/20/theimpact-of-fast-fashion-on-the-environment, accessed February 25, 2022. 91. Mark Esposito, Terence Tse, and Khaled Soufani, “Introducing a Circular Economy: New Thinking with New Managerial and Policy Implications,” California Management Review 60, no. 3 (2018): 5–19. Gutentag, Jolie and Cristel Antonia Russell (2023), “Selling Sustainability: Can Circular Economy Message Framing Motivate Consumers to Behave Sustainably?” Journal of the Association of Consumer Research, forthcoming. 92. Ellen MacArthur Foundation, “Towards a Circular Economy: Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition,” 2012, https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/ towards-a-circular-economy-business-rationale-for-an-accelerated-transition. 93. Circle Economy, The Circularity Gap Report 2020, 2020, https://www .circularity-gap.world/2020, accessed February 25, 2022. 94. Mary-Luise Blue, “What Is the Carbon Footprint of a Plastic Bottle?” Sciencing, April 25, 2017, https://sciencing.com/carbon-footprint-plastic-bottle-12307187.html; “The Story of FIJI Water—A Green and Fair Product?,” Sinking Islands, September 22, 2014, https://sinkingislands.com/2014/09/22/ the-story-of-fiji-water-a-green-and-fair-product/. 95. Alexander Chernev and Sean Blair, “When Sustainability Is Not a Liability: The Halo Effect of Marketplace Morality,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 31, no. 3 (2021): 551–69. 96. Uma R. Karmarkar and Bryan Bollinger (2015), “BYOB: How Bringing Your Own Shopping Bags Leads to Treating Yourself and the Environment,” Journal of Marketing 79, no. 4 (2015): 1–15. 97. Kat Stafford, “How to Apply for the Good Housekeeping Seal,” Bizfluent, September 26, 2017, https://bizfluent.com/how-6148725-apply-good-housekeeping-seal.html, accessed February 23, 2022. 98. www.ecolabelindex.com/, accessed February 24, 2022. 99. www.scjohnson.com/en/commitment/focus-on/greener-products/greenlist .aspx, accessed February 24, 2022; www.wholefoodsmarket.com/eco-scaleour-commitment, accessed February 24, 2022. 100. Katherine White, Rishad Habib, and Darren W. Dahl, “A Review and Framework for Thinking about the Drivers of Prosocial Consumer Behavior,” Journal of the Association for Consumer Research 5, no. 1 (2020): 2–18. 101. Katherine White, Rishad Habib, and David J. Hardisty, “How to SHIFT Consumer Behaviors to Be More Sustainable: A Literature Review and Guiding Framework,” Journal of Marketing 83, no. 3 (2019): 22–49. 102. Katie Baca-Motes, Amber Brown, Ayelet Gneezy, Elizabeth A. Keenan, and Leif D. Nelson, “Commitment and Behavior Change: Evidence from the Field,” Journal of Consumer Research 39, no. 5 (2013): 1070–84. 103. Jessica Vredenburg, Sommer Kapitan, Amanda Spry, and Joya A. Kemper, “Brands Taking a Stand: Authentic Brand Activism or Woke Washing?,” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 39, no. (2020): 444-60, doi:10.1177/0743915620947359. 104. Wendy Koch, “‘Green’ Product Claims Are Often Misleading,” USA Today, October 26, 2010, http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/ post/2010/10/green-product-claims. 105. Mark Dolliver, “Thumbs Down on Corporate Green Efforts,” Adweek, August 31, 2010, https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/thumbs-downcorporate-green-efforts-103174/; Sarah Mahoney, “Americans Hate Faux Green Marketers,” Marketing Daily, March 25, 2011, www.mediapost.com/ publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=147415&nid=125122. 106. Jessica Lyons Hardcastle, “‘Greenwashing’ Costing Walmart $1 Million,” Environment + Energy Leader, February 3, 2017, www.environmentalleader.com/2017/02/greenwashing-costing-walmart-1-million/. 107. “The Era of Ethical Consumerism Is Here: How to Market to LOHAS Consumers Ethos,” Ethos, July 21, 2017, http://blog.ethos-marketing.com/blog/ how-to-market-to-lohas. 108. Martin Fackler, “In Korea, a Boot Camp Cure for Web Obsession,” New York Times, November 18, 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/ technology/18rehab.html.

109. “Woman in Wendy’s Finger Case Is Arrested,” New York Times, April 22, 2005, www.newyorktimes.com. 110. Natalie Zmuda, “Children’s Hospital in Hot Water Over Corporate Sponsorships, Critics Dismayed by Association with Racy Retailer Abercrombie & Fitch,” Ad Age, March 12, 2008, https://adage .com/article/news/children-s-hospital-hot-water-corporate-sponsorships/125672. 111. Ariel Sabar, “In Case of Missing Trousers, Aggrieved Party Loses Again,” New York Times, June 26, 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/26/ us/26trousers.html. 112. Matt Cantor, “Woman Dies after Downing 2 Gallons of Coca-Cola Daily,” USA Today, February 12, 2013, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/12/ coca-cola-soda-death/1912491/?morestories=obnetwork. 113. “Michelle Obama Announces New Rules for Advertising Junk Food at Schools,” New York Daily News, February 25, 2014, www.nydailynews.com/news/ politics/michelle-obama-announces-new-rules-advertising-junk-food-schools-­ article-1.1701140; www.nannystate.com/; Janet Adamy, “Tough New Rules Proposed on Food Advertising for Kids,” Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2011, https:// www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704330404576291091782255946. 114. Natasha Singer, “A Vault for Taking Charge of Your Online Life,” New York Times, December 8, 2012, www.newyorktimes.com/2012/12/09/business/ company-envisions-vaults-for-personal-ddata.html. 115. Kevin Maney, “Drivers Let Big Brother in to Get a Break,” Ethics (August 9, 2004): 1B. 116. Gary L. Clark, Peter F. Kaminski, and David R. Rink, “Consumer Complaints: Advice on How Companies Should Respond Based on an Empirical Study,” Journal of Services Marketing 6 (Winter 1992): 41–50. 117. Adam J. Fein, “The Top 15 U.S. Pharmacies of 2021: Market Shares and Revenues at the Biggest Companies,” Drugchannels.net, accessed July 8, 2022, https://www.drugchannels.net/2022/03/the-top-15-us-pharmacies-of2021-market.html. 118. Parmy Olson, “The Quiet Growth of Race-Detection Software Sparks Concerns over Bias,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), August 14, 2020, https:// www.wsj.com/articles/the-quiet-growth-of-race-detection-software-sparksconcerns-over-bias-11597378154. 119. Lauren Debter, “Retailers Quietly Deploying Controversial Technology to Combat Crime Spree,” Forbes, January 31, 2022, https://www.forbes.com/ sites/laurendebter/2022/01/31/retailers-quietly-deploying-controversial-­ technology-to-combat-crime-spree/?sh=138c52417689. 120. Harold Li, “Facial Recognition Isn’t Ready for the Mainstream,” Forbes, November 5, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/11/05/were-ready-for-mainstream-facial-recognition-but-is-it-readyfor-us/?sh=6587a84822f2. 121. Katharine Schwab, “It’s Not Just Google or Facebook: The Freezer Aisle Is Ad Targeting You Now,” Fast Company, February 6, 2019, https:// www.fastcompany.com/90302382/its-not-just-google-or-facebookthe-freezer-aisle-is-ad-targeting-you-too. 122. Parmy Olson, “The Quiet Growth of Race-Detection Software Sparks Concerns over Bias,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), August 14, 2020, https:// www.wsj.com/articles/the-quiet-growth-of-race-detection-software-sparksconcerns-over-bias-11597378154. 123. Rahul Verma, “Mastercard’s Newly Launched Face Recognition Payment System Is Already Raising Accuracy Concerns,” Business Insider India, May 27, 2022, https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/mastercard-launchesnew-face-recognition-payment-system-now-accuracy-raises-concerns/articleshow/91831651.cms. 124. “How Facial Recognition Will Change Smart Retail,” FaceMe (blog), CyberLink, March 25, 2021, https://www.cyberlink.com/faceme/insights/ articles/363/reimagine-retail-with-facial-recognition. 125. David Wood, “Facial Recognition Advertising: The Future Is Here,” Alfi, July 22, 2021, https://www.getalfi.com/advertising/facial-recognitionadvertising-future-is-here/. 126. PA, “The Piccadilly Circus Lights Will Show Adverts Based on Nearby Cars and People,” Jersey Evening Post, March 31, 2022, https://www.jerseyeveningpost.com/uncategorised/2022/03/31/the-piccadilly-circus-lights-will-showadverts-based-on-nearby-cars-and-people/. 127. David Wood, “Facial Recognition Advertising: The Future Is Here,” Alfi, July 22, 2021, https://www.getalfi.com/advertising/facial-recognitionadvertising-future-is-here/. 128. Jenny Chang, “30 Facial Recognition Statistics You Must Learn: 2022 Market Share & Data Analysis,” Financesonline.com, April 12, 2021, https:// financesonline.com/facial-recognition-statistics/. 129. Kate Crawford, “Artificial Intelligence Is Misreading Human Emotion,” Atlantic Monthly, April 27, 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ archive/2021/04/artificial-intelligence-misreading-human-emotion/ 618696/.



Chapter 2  •  Consumer Ethics, the Marketplace, and the Planet

130. Esther Fung, “Shopping Centers Exploring Facial Recognition in Brave New World of Retail,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), July 2, 2019, https://www .wsj.com/articles/shopping-centers-exploring-facial-recognition-in-brave-newworld-of-retail-11562068802. 131. “StackPath,” Womblebonddickinson.com, accessed July 11, 2022, https://www.womblebonddickinson.com/us/insights/alerts/ facial-recognition-new-trend-state-regulation. 132. Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, “Washington Becomes Third State to Enact Biometric Privacy Law,” Privacy & Information Security Law Blog, June 1, 2017, https://www.huntonprivacyblog.com/2017/06/01/ washington-becomes-third-state-enact-biometric-privacy-law/. 133. Anni Burchfiel, “TikTok Data Privacy Settlement: What Happened?,” TokenEx, accessed July 11, 2022, https://www.tokenex.com/blog/ab-tiktok-data-privacysettlement-what-happened; Lauren Silva, “Texas Sues Meta, Seeks Billions in

57

Damages Over Alleged Illegally Obtained Facebook Biometrics,” Top Class Actions, February 16, 2022, https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/­ lawsuit-news/facebook-class-action-lawsuit-and-settlement-news/texas-sues-metaseeks-billions-in-damages-over-alleged-illegally-obtained-­facebook-biometrics/. 134. Parmy Olson, “The Quiet Growth of Race-Detection Software Sparks Concerns over Bias,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), August 14, 2020, https:// www.wsj.com/articles/the-quiet-growth-of-race-detection-software-sparksconcerns-over-bias-11597378154. 135. Suzanne Taylor, “The Two Faces of Facial Recognition,” Forbes, February 7, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/02/07/ the-two-faces-of-facial-recognition/?sh=62cf92c7558d. 136. Help Net Security, “Facial Recognition Market to Reach $12.67 Billion by 2028,” Help Net Security, March 10, 2022, https://www.helpnetsecurity .com/2022/03/10/facial-recognition-market-2028/.

Section

2

Making Sense of the World In this section, we focus on the internal dynamics of consumers. Each of us is to some degree “self-contained” in how we receive information about the outside world. We are constantly confronted by advertising messages, products, and other people—not to mention our own thoughts about ourselves—that affect how we make sense of the world and, of course, what and how we choose to buy. Each chapter in this section looks at an aspect of consumers that may be “invisible” to others but is important to our understanding of how they make choices. Chapter 3 describes the process of perception, or the way we absorb and interpret information from the outside world to give meanings to products, brands, and other people. Chapter 4 focuses on how we store this information and how it contributes to our existing knowledge about and understanding of the world. Chapter 5 looks at motivation—why we do what we do—and how our needs and goals drive us.

Chapters Ahead Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Perceiving and Making Meaning

Learning, Remembering, and Knowing

Chapter 5

Motivation

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3

Perceiving and Making Meaning

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES   When you finish reading this chapter, you should be able to: 3-1 Explain how consumer behavior is often shaped by sensory appeals that are often unnoticed. 3-2 Outline the three-stage process of perception that translates raw stimuli into meaning.

3-3 Discuss how the field of semiotics helps us understand how consumers create meaning out of symbols. 3-4 Describe how consumers play an active role in shaping brand meanings.

T

he European vacation has been wonderful, and this stop in Lisbon is no exception. Still, after two weeks of eating his way through some of the continent’s finest pastry shops and restaurants, Jamal’s getting a bit of a craving for his family’s favorite snack—a good old American box of Oreos and an ice-cold carton of milk. Unbeknownst to his partner, Badr, he had stashed away some cookies “just in case”; this was the time to break them out. Now all he needs is the milk. On an impulse, Jamal decides to surprise Badr with a mid-afternoon treat. He sneaks out of the hotel room while she’s napping and finds the nearest grosa. When he heads to the store’s small refrigerated section, though, he’s puzzled—no milk here. Undaunted, Jamal asks the clerk, “Leite, por favor?” The clerk quickly smiles and points to a rack in the middle of the store piled with little white square boxes. No, that can’t be right—Jamal resolves to work on his Portuguese. He repeats the question, and again he gets the same answer. Finally, he investigates, and sure enough, he sees that the labels say they contain something called Ultra High Temperature (UHT) milk. Nasty! Who in the world would drink milk out of a little box that’s been sitting on a warm shelf for who knows how long? Jamal dejectedly returns to the hotel, his snack-time fantasies crumbling like so many stale cookies.

Source: LensKiss/Shutterstock.

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OBJECTIVE 3-1 Explain how consumer behavior is often shaped by sensory appeals that are often unnoticed.

Sensation

Products and commercial messages often appeal to our senses, but because of the profusion of these messages, we don’t notice most of them. Although it’s news to Jamal, many people in the world do drink milk out of a box every day. UHT, pasteurized milk that has been heated until the bacteria that cause it to spoil are destroyed, can last for



Chapter 3  •  Perceiving and Making Meaning

5 to 6 months without refrigeration if unopened. The milk tastes slightly sweeter than fresh milk, but otherwise it’s basically the same. Shelf-stable milk is particularly popular in Europe, where there is less refrigerator space in homes and stores tend to carry less inventory than in the United States. Seven out of 10 Europeans drink it routinely. Manufacturers keep trying to crack the U.S. market as well, though analysts doubt their prospects. To begin with, milk consumption in the United States is declining steadily as teenagers choose soft drinks instead, even though the Milk Industry Foundation pumped $44 million into an advertising campaign to promote milk drinking (“Got Milk?”). Beyond that, it’s hard to convince Americans to drink milk out of a box. In focus groups, U.S. consumers say they have trouble believing the milk is not spoiled or unsafe. In addition, they consider the square, quart-sized boxes more suitable for dry food. Nonetheless, many schools and fast-food chains do buy UHT milk because of its long shelf life.1 Although Americans may not think twice about drinking a McDonald’s McFlurry made with shelf-stable milk, it’s still going to be a long, uphill battle to change their minds about the proper partner for a bagful of Oreos. Whether we experience the taste of Oreos, the sight of a Chloé perfume ad, or the sound of Dua Lipa’s voice on her latest single, we live in a world overflowing with sensations. Wherever we turn, a symphony of colors, sounds, and odors bombards us. Some of the “notes” in this symphony occur naturally, such as the loud barking of a dog, the shades of the evening sky, or the heady smell of a rose bush. Others come from people: The person who plops down next to you in class might wear swirling tattoos, bright pink pants, and exude such an inebriating sweet smell of body lotion that you have a hard time concentrating. Marketers certainly contribute to this commotion. Consumers are never far from pop-up ads, product packages, sponsored posts on their social media feed, commercials in the middle of their music playlist, and billboards along the freeways or in the metro—all clamoring for our attention. Even movie theatres are getting into the act; some are installing moving seats, scent machines, and compressed air blasts to simulate the feeling of bullets flying by.2 Especially after the COVID lockdowns, artistic venues, museums, and theatres all are trying to craft ever more sense-stimulating experiences to attract audiences. For instance, the Tate Museum in London developed the Tate Sensorium: Sensory designers worked alongside exhibit curators to create a multisensory augmentation of the museum’s artwork in which new technologies emotionally stimulate its visitors via all five senses—patrons could taste, smell, and touch the art in addition to looking at it.3 Sometimes we go out of our way to experience “unusual” sensations: feeling a thrill from bungee jumping, playing virtual reality games, or going to theme parks such as Universal Studios, which (at least until COVID shut it down) offered “Fear  Factor  Live” attractions where vacationers could swallow gross things or perform stomach-churning stunts.4 However, only a select few try to cram down as many peanut butter and banana sandwiches, Moon Pies, or cheesesteaks as (in)humanly possible in events sponsored by Major League Eating/Federation of Competitive Eating (MLE/FCE). Other sensationseekers happily blast teeth-rattling Meek Mill cuts from their booming car speakers. Each of us copes with this sensory bombardment by paying attention to some stimuli and tuning out others. And the messages to which we do pay attention often wind up affecting us differently from what the sponsors intended; we each put our personal “spin” on things as we assign meanings consistent with our own unique experiences, biases, and desires. This chapter focuses on the process of how we absorb sensations and then use these to interpret the surrounding world. Sensation refers to the biochemical signals that our senses send to our brain for processing.5 Our sensory receptors (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, fingers, and skin) capture

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basic stimuli such as light, color, sound, odor, and texture and send those responses to the brain. Perception is the process by which people select, organize, and interpret these sensations. The study of perception, then, focuses on what we add to these raw sensations to give them meaning. Our brains receive external stimuli, or sensory inputs, on several channels. We may see a billboard, hear a jingle, feel the softness of a cashmere sweater, taste a new flavor of ice cream, or smell the interior of a new car. These inputs are the raw data that begin the perceptual process. Sensory data from the external environment (e.g., hearing a tune on the radio) can generate internal sensory experiences; a song might trigger a consumer’s memory of the first ride they took in their first car, the touch of the wheel in their excited hands. Marketers’ messages are more effective when they appeal to several senses. For example, in a recent study, one group read ad copy for potato chips that only mentioned the taste, whereas another group’s ad copy emphasized the product’s smell and texture in addition to its taste. The participants in the second group came away thinking the chips would taste better than did those whose ad message focused only on taste.6 Each product’s unique sensory qualities help it to stand out from the competition, especially if the brand creates a unique association with the sensation. The OwensCorning Fiberglass Corporation was the first company to trademark a color when it used bright pink for its insulation material; it adopted the Pink Panther as its spokescharacter.7 Harley-Davidson tried (unsuccessfully) to trademark the distinctive sound a “hog” makes when it revs up. The numerous legal battles that companies wage to protect their brand’s sensory qualities demonstrate how important these characteristics can be in the battle for consumers’ loyalties.

Sensory Marketing When guests at Omni luxury hotels enter the lobby, the signature scent of lemongrass and green tea hits them. The signature scent of lemongrass and green tea hits them as they enter the lobby. In their rooms, they find eucalyptus bath salts and Sensation Bars, which are minibars stocked with unique items, such as mojito-flavored jellybeans and miniature Zen gardens. Welcome to the new era of sensory marketing, where companies think carefully about the impact of sensations on our product experiences. From hotels to carmakers to brewers, companies recognize that our senses help us decide which products appeal to us—and which ones stand out from a host of similar offerings in the marketplace. In this section, we’ll take a closer look at how some smart marketers use our sensory systems to create a competitive advantage.

Vision Sure, Apple’s products usually work well—but that’s not why many people buy them. Sleek styling and simple, compact features telegraph an aura of modernity, sophistication, and just plain “cool.” Marketers rely heavily on visual elements in advertising, store design, and packaging. Given that we increasingly interact with the world in digital spaces, visual perception is even more crucial to websites, app designers, e-commerce platforms, and online advertisers. All five main elements of visual perception are essential to marketers: illuminance, shape, surface color, materiality, and location.8

• Illuminance refers to the amount of light we perceive on an object. For instance, •

brighter lighting tends to make people more alert, which in turn encourages healthier food choices.9 Shape is the perceived space occupied by an object in the perceptual field as comprised by the outer boundaries of that object.

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• Surface color affects how people perceive an object. Consumers perceive a prod• •

uct to be larger when it is presented in a highly saturated color that captures their attention to a greater extent than a paler hue. As a result, they’re even willing to pay more for the saturated version even though both sizes are in fact the same.10 Materiality refers to the visual texture and reactance of the exterior surface of an object. Location is the positioning, orientation, spacing, and movement of an object in relation to other objects within an area.

Colors may even influence our emotions more directly. Evidence suggests that some colors (particularly red) create feelings of arousal and stimulate appetite, and others (such as blue) create more relaxing feelings. American Express launched its Blue card after its research found that people describe the color as “providing a sense of limitlessness and peace.”11 Advertisements of products presented against a backdrop of blue are better liked than the same ads shown against a red background, and cross-cultural research indicates a consistent preference for blue whether people live in Canada or Hong Kong.12 People who complete tasks when the words or images appear on red backgrounds perform better when they must remember details; however, they excel at tasks requiring an imaginative response when the words or images are displayed on blue backgrounds. Olympic athletes who wear red uniforms are more likely to defeat competitors in blue uniforms, and men rate women who wear red as more attractive than those who wear blue. In one study, interior designers created bars decorated primarily in red, yellow, or blue and invited people to choose one to hang out in. More people chose the yellow and red rooms, and these guests were more social and active—and ate more. In contrast, partygoers in the blue room stayed longer.13 Perhaps the moral is: Get your prof to give you multiple-choice exams on red paper, essays on blue paper, and then celebrate afterward in a yellow room! Some reactions to color come from learned associations (which we’ll tackle in the next chapter). In Western countries, black is the color of mourning, whereas in some Eastern countries, notably Japan, white plays this role. We now know that perceptions of a color depend on both its physical wavelength and how the mind responds to that stimulus. Yellow is in the middle of wavelengths the human eye can detect, so it is the brightest and attracts attention. The Yellow Pages originally were colored yellow to heighten the attention level of bored telephone operators.15 Indeed, colors evoke such strong emotional reactions that some people who want to break their smartphone addictions turn their phone screens to grayscale to make them less stimulating.16 Of course, fashion trends strongly influence our color preferences, so it’s no surprise that we tend to encounter a “hot” color on clothing and in home designs in one season that another color replaces the next season (as when the fashionistas proclaim,

We associate the color black with power. Teams in a variety of sports who wear black uniforms consistently rank near the top of their leagues in penalties during the season.14 Source: Paolo Bona/Shutterstock.

The choice of a color palette is a key issue in package design. Companies used to arrive at these choices casually. For example, EasyJet paints its jets orange to project a fun, playful image. As Table 3.1 shows, these decisions help to “color” our expectations of what’s inside the package.17 Source: Senohrabek/Shutterstock.

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TABLE 3.1    Marketing

Applications of Colors

Color

Associations

Marketing Applications

Yellow

Optimistic and youthful

Used to grab window shoppers’ attention

Red

Energy

Often seen in clearance sales

Blue

Trust and security

Banks

Green

Wealth

Used to create relaxation in stores

Orange

Aggressive

Call to action: subscribe, buy or sell

Black

Powerful and sleek

Luxury products

Purple

Soothing

Beauty or anti-aging products

Source: Data from Leo Widrich, “Why Is Facebook Blue? The Science Behind Colors in Marketing,” Fast Company (May 6, 2013).

“Brown is the new black!” or fans of the TV series counter with, “No, Orange Is the New Black”). These styles do not happen by accident; most people don’t know (but now you do) that a handful of firms produce color forecasts that manufacturers and retailers buy so they can be sure they stock up on the next hot hue. For example, Pantone, Inc. (one of these color arbiters) identified Viva Magenta as the Color of the Year for 2023. Reflecting the world’s steady recovery from the Pandemic, the company lyrically describes the color as “... a shade rooted in nature descending from the red family and expressive of a new signal of strength. Viva Magenta is brave and fearless, and a pulsating color whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration, writing a new narrative.”18 In addition to color, other dimensions of visual aesthetics affect the inferences consumers make about a product. Recent research found evidence of an aesthetic bias: Product designs that are deemed more attractive lead us to think the product will also be more useful.19 In fact, a product design can be so attractive that we mistake its appearance as a signal that the product has better functionality, even when no such information about functionality is available! The conclusion: It is easier than ever to cheaply produce products that look aesthetically pleasing but have poor functionality. Fast fashion, anyone?

Dollars and Scents Odors stir emotions or create a calming feeling. They invoke memories or relieve stress. In one study for instance, researchers experimentally associated a specific scent to either pens or facial tissues and found that the scent association made it easier for people who took part in the experiment to remember features of the product as much as two weeks later.20 As scientists continue to discover the powerful effects of smell on behavior, marketers come up with ingenious ways to leverage these connections. This form of sensory marketing takes interesting turns as manufacturers find new ways to put scents into products, including men’s suits, lingerie, detergents, and aircraft cabins. And this just in: Burger King in Japan sells a “Flame Grilled” fragrance to customers who want to smell like a Whopper.21 One study found that consumers who viewed ads for either flowers or chocolate and who also were exposed to flowery or chocolaty odors spent more time processing the product information and were more likely to try different alternatives within each product category.22 Another reported that subjects showed higher recall of a test brand’s attributes if it was embedded with a scent—and this effect persisted as long as two weeks after the experiment.23 Retailers like Hugo Boss often pump a “signature”



Chapter 3  •  Perceiving and Making Meaning

scent into their stores. One study reported that “warm scents,” such as vanilla or cinnamon, as opposed to “cool scents,” such as peppermint, enhance shoppers’ purchases of premium brands.24 Some of our responses to scents result from early associations that call up good or bad feelings, and that explains why businesses explore connections among smell, memory, and mood.25 Researchers for Folgers found that for many people the smell of coffee summons up childhood memories of their mothers cooking breakfast, so the aroma reminds them of home. The company turned this insight into a commercial in which a young man in an army uniform arrives home early one morning. He goes to the kitchen, opens a Folgers’ package, and the aroma wafts upstairs. His mother opens her eyes, smiles, and exclaims, “He’s home!”26

Sound Music and other sounds affect people’s feelings and behaviors. Researchers are finding, for example, that (as we all probably knew already) when people drink beer and listen to music that’s consistent with that brand’s identity, they enjoy the beverage more.27 Apple Music and the speaker manufacturer Sonos conducted a study of 30,000 music listeners (note: consider the source here!) and found that music made household chores and other activities more enjoyable. When people listened to music, they literally moved closer to one another. Couples spent 37 percent more “awake time” in bed. And respondents were 18 percent more likely to say the words, “I love you.”28 Pitch.  Music can intensify emotional reactions to commercials, or slow or speed shop-

pers’ pace inside stores. Now, new research shows that certain perceptual characteristics of music, like pitch, can even cue morality and thus make us behave better. For instance, a recent study found that hearing high-pitched music, compared to lowerpitched music, led people to be more disciplined in their choices and ultimately make healthier choices, such as selecting lower calorie foods or engaging in health-boosting activities.29 Apparently high-pitched music is one way to make people behave better! Pitch also helps consumers make inferences about the size of a product: Lower pitch in voice or music leads consumers to make a larger product size.30 This pitchsize effect occurs because we tend to visualize what we hear: It’s a cross-modal effect where two different sensory systems influence one another, so when we hear low-pitched sound or music, we tend to visualize a larger object because large objects in real life do tend to produce lower-pitched sounds. In a series of studies, researchers had people listen to radio commercials with either high- or low-pitched voices advertising a sandwich, and people who heard the low-pitched voice imagined the sandwich to be larger. They also did the same study with a laptop and found, again, that the laptop producing a sound clip at a lower pitch was perceived as being physically larger. So, when it comes to size, pitch does matter! Sound Symbolism.  Some marketers who come up with brand names pay attention

to sound symbolism, or the process by which the way a word sounds influences our assumptions about what it describes and attributes, such as size. For example, consumers are more likely to recognize brand names that begin with a hard consonant, like a K (Kellogg’s) or P (Pepsi). We also tend to associate certain vowel and consonant sounds (or phonemes) with perceptions of large and small size. Mental rehearsal of prices containing numbers with small phonemes results in overestimation of price discounts, whereas mental rehearsal of prices containing numbers with large phonemes results in underestimation.31 One study even found that the sound symbolism in a stock’s ticker symbol helped to predict the company’s performance during its first year of trading.32

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Touch Pretend for a moment that you are shopping online for a sweater. You navigate to www.landsend.com, scroll through the cardigans, and pause at one that appeals to you. You click the sweater for more information. A larger photo appears, and the caption reads: “Imagine holding this sweater, feeling the soft, 100% cotton in your hands.” What if you did as instructed? Would your perception of the sweater be any different than if you had not imagined feeling it? We tend to want to touch objects, although typing or using a mouse are skills we have to learn. The proliferation of touchscreens on computers, ATM machines, digital cameras, GPS devices, and e-readers is an outgrowth of the natural user interface philosophy of computer design. This approach incorporates habitual human movements that we don’t have to learn. Sony decided to offer touchscreens on its e-readers after its engineers repeatedly observed people in focus groups automatically swipe the screen of its older, nontouch models. Touchscreens also appear on exercise machines, in hospitals, at airport check-in terminals, and on Virgin America airplanes.33 It seems that encouraging shoppers to touch a product encourages them to imagine they own it, and researchers know that people value things more highly if they own them: This is known as the endowment effect. One set of researchers reported that when participants simply touched an item (an inexpensive coffee mug) for 30 seconds, they had a greater level of attachment to the product; this connection, in turn, boosted what they were willing to pay for it.34 Indeed, the power of touch even translates Consumers who participate in the creation of a product may to online shopping, where touchscreens create a stronger experience a feeling of psychological ownership – even if a few parts feeling of psychological ownership compared to prodare left over when they’re done! Source: Tirachard Kumtanom/Shutterstock. ucts consumers explore using a touchpad or a mouse.35 Some anthropologists view our experience of touch much like a primal language, one we learn well before writing and speech. Indeed, researchers are starting to identify the important role the haptic (touch) sense plays in consumer behavior. Haptic senses appear to moderate the relationship between product experience and judgment confidence. This confirms the commonsense notion that we’re surer about what we perceive when we can touch it (a major problem for those who sell products online). Individuals who score high on a “need for touch” (NFT) scale are especially sensitive to the haptic dimension. These people respond positively to such statements as:

• When walking through stores, I can’t help touching all kinds of products. • Touching products can be fun. • I feel more comfortable purchasing a product after physically examining it.36 Sensations that reach the skin, whether from a luxurious massage or the bite of a winter wind, stimulate or relax us. Researchers even have shown that touch can influence sales interactions. In one study, diners whom waitstaff touched gave bigger tips, and the same researchers reported that food demonstrators in a supermarket who lightly touched customers had better luck in getting shoppers to try a new snack product and to redeem coupons for the brand.37 On the other hand, an accidental touch from a stranger (especially a male) leads to more negative evaluations of products a shopper encounters in a store.38 The COVID-19 pandemic made consumers especially leery to touch products in stores and even more leery to touch or be touched by other people. In general,

Chapter 3  •  Perceiving and Making Meaning



researchers have found that people like a product less and are less likely to buy it if another person has touched it earlier. Many studies have found evidence of this contamination effect: Consumers are less likely to want a T-shirt left on the return rack in a waiting room than the exact same T-shirt on the normal shopping rack. This contamination effect is stronger if the contaminator is in physical proximity.39 And contamination even happens when the only thing left is evidence of prior touch, such as when shelf displays are messy and disorganized.40 No wonder so many stores have sales attendants constantly reorganizing shelves ­during shopping hours! Some Japanese companies take the importance of touch a step farther via their practice of Kansei engineering, a philosophy that translates customers’ feelings into design elements. The designers of the Mazda Miata embraced a ­Japanese archery concept called Jinba Ittai. This phrase describes the experience of a mounted soldier as they become one with their mount—the horse learns to adjust his gait to enable the rider/soldier to release an arrow, so that even a slight shift in weight will cause the horse to react. Both horse and rider are united in one shared experience.43 That’s the feeling the designers hoped to create for buyers of the Japanese sportscar. FYI: After extensive research, they discovered that making the stick shift exactly 9.5 centimeters long conveys the optimal feeling of sportiness and control.44 The classic, contoured Coca-Cola bottle also attests to the power of touch. The bottle was designed approximately 90 years ago to satisfy the request of a U.S. bottler for a soft-drink container that people could identify even in the dark.

Taste Our taste receptors obviously contribute to our experience of many products. So-called “flavor houses” develop new concoctions to please the changing palates of consumers. Scientists are right behind them as they build new devices to test these flavors. Alpha M.O.S. sells a sophisticated electronic tongue for tasting, and the company is working on what its executives call an electronic mouth, complete with artificial saliva, to chew food and to dissect its flavor. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo use the tongue to test the quality of corn syrups, and BristolMyers Squibb and Roche use the device to formulate medicines that don’t taste bitter.45

During the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers were either not allowed or not willing to touch products. Indeed, surveys show that the majority of consumers prefer to shop at stores that offer contact-free payment options.41 But how can you tell whether an avocado is ripe enough without touching it? Many grocery stores started putting ripeness labels on their fruits and other food items to help consumers know the ripeness without having to touch. Source: Patti McConville/Alamy Stock Photo.

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Buying, Having, Being Haptically Attuned – and in Touch Recent research found that consumers are more responsive to marketing messages when the devices that deliver those messages to them also provide haptic feedback.42 To study this process, the researchers developed a mobile app through which they could control how people received messages from them. Throughout the day, the participants would receive a message every hour giving them a random message encouraging them to exercise, eat healthier, etc. The next day, participants whose messages were accompanied by a vibration reported moving more, eating healthier, etc. The researchers concluded that haptic vibrations or motions made the devices feel more personal and the interactions with them more intentional, so consumers were more likely to comply with the recommendations. Vibrating messages can make us more compliant (or at least wake us up)!

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Obviously, taste is a huge driver behind the $46 billion Americans spend on food and beverages in a year.46 Every day, legions of “foodies” embark on a quest for new flavors and dining experiences. A growing recognition that eating is a more complicated multisensory experience than just stuffing some Oreos down your throat is launching a new field of study called gastrophysics. This focus on the science of eating considers how physics, chemistry, and, yes, perception influence how we experience what we put in our mouths. For example, scientists report that while tomato juice is not a terribly popular beverage (at least without a vodka accompaniment), it accounts for over 25 percent of the drinks passengers order on airplanes. The reason? All foods are a combination of five basic tastes: sweetness, sourness, bitterness, saltiness, and umami Taste gives us important feedback about food products. (a savory taste). Umami is a meaty or brothy sensation we get in Source: OBEYphoto/Shutterstock. diverse foods such as mushrooms, tomatoes, and even breast milk. It turns out that exposure to high levels of noise dulls our ability to taste sweet things, so people instead prefer to ingest a dose of umami when they fly.47 All our senses interact with one another to influence taste: People think that potato chips with a louder crunch taste better, and they don’t like food that’s served on red plates. Just as we can habituate to visual stimuli, we can get used to taste. But researchers have found evidence of the opposite effect: that each additional bite of food can be increasingly pleasurable.48 They call this hedonic escalation and find that this escalation is especially likely when a food is made of a complex combination of Buying, Having, Being flavors and when we are motivated to identify more of those flavors in each bite. Foods that mix salty, sweet, and fatty flavors provide the opportunity for each taste Don’t Stand for This! or sip to trigger a new sensation, so we continue to enjoy and always seek more (think Beyond the traditional five sensory salty caramels . . . yum!). systems (visual, olfactory, haptic, auditory, and gustatory), some researchers argue for a “sixth sensory system.” They’re referring to the vestibular system, which is responsible for balance and posture.49 A series of studies in which participants were told to take different postures, such as sitting versus standing, showed that standing (versus sitting) postures induce greater physical stress on the legs, feet, and back. This extra stress decreased sensory sensitivity, which dulls our senses so that we cannot taste our food as well. Pleasant-tasting food and drinks tasted worse and participants ate and drank less of them when they were standing than when they were sitting. So if you’re planning to eat something that tastes good, sit down! Restaurants and food trucks should provide adequate seating if they want their food to taste better to customers.

Augmented and Virtual Reality: Welcome to the Metaverse The sensations we receive from the physical world can be overwhelming, but are you ready to deal with digital sensations as well? Augmented reality (AR) refers to media that superimpose one or more digital layers of data, images, or video over a physical object. AR has moved far beyond the early days, when moviegoers slipped on clumsy three-dimensional (3D) glasses to watch a movie. Today, AR has invaded many spheres from gaming to shopping. Even advertising messages can be augmented to generate more immersive, interactive, lifelike environments. Research shows that augmented reality ads generate greater physiological arousal, more powerful emotional responses, and ultimately greater willingness to pay for whatever is being advertised.50 AR can be used in retail settings to facilitate product evaluation prior to purchase and to test its impact on sales. Recent research found that shoppers who are unfamiliar with a product and who experience it via AR buy more, presumably because AR reduces uncertainty and increases confidence in purchasing the product, as it makes us more likely to try riskier options.51 The future of AR shopping remains to be seen, but it is clear that it can provide an engaging alternative for consumers who want to try products such as makeup or furniture virtually before they commit. Who needs to schlep a heavy couch to four different positions in a room when you can see what it will look like in each place on your screen?

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AR can be used in retail settings to facilitate product evaluation prior to purchase and to test its impact on sales. Recent research found that shoppers who are unfamiliar with a product and who experience it via AR are more likely to buy it. Presumably, AR reduces uncertainty and increases confidence in purchasing the product as it makes us more likely to try riskier options.

Source: Tan, Yong-Chin, Sandeep R. Chandukala, and Srinivas K. Reddy (2022), “Augmented Reality in Retail and Its Impact on Sales,” Journal of ­Marketing, 86(1), 48–66.

AR apps open new worlds of information (and marketing communications). Do you want to test drive a Range Rover SUV using your smartphone?53 Would you like to read the bio of the singer you see on a CD cover? Who painted that cool mural in your local bar? How much did that house you were looking at eventually sell for? Just point your smartphone at each and the information will be superimposed on your screen. AR is about to be big business: Analysts project that revenue from AR apps will hit $26 billion by 2025.54 The imminent explosion of virtual reality (VR) technology in the consumer market is also driving the integration between physical sensations and digital information. Unlike AR that delivers a combination of both sensory experiences, VR provides a totally immersive experience that transports the user into an entirely separate 3D environment. Facebook purchased the Oculus VR company in 2014, and this was just the first step in what promises to be an avalanche of commercially available VR technology from major companies, including Samsung, Sony, and Google. Worldwide revenues from VR applications are projected to exceed $12 billion by 2024.55 OBJECTIVE 3-2 Outline the threestage process of perception that translates raw stimuli into meaning.

The Stages of Perception

At least within the next few years, you’ll probably live in AR through your smartphone or tablet. Apps like Google Goggles (for Android phones) and Layar (for Android and Apple devices) impose a layer of words and pictures on whatever you see in your phone’s viewer. Microsoft’s HoloLens technology blends holograms with what you see in your physical space so that you can manipulate digital images—for example, a user who wants to assemble a piece of furniture or fix a broken sink can actually “see” where each part connects to the next through the goggles.52

Source: Rommel Canlas/123RF. Like computers, we undergo stages of information processing in which we input and store stimuli. Unlike computers, though, we do not passively process whatever information happens to be present. In the first place, we notice only a small number of the stimuli in our environment, simply because there are so many different ones out there vying for our attention. Of those we do notice, we attend to an even smaller number—and we might not process the stimuli that do enter consciousness objectively. Everyone interprets the meaning of a stimulus in a manner consistent with their own unique biases, needs, and experiences. As Figure 3.1 shows, these three stages of exposure, attention, and interpretation make up the process of perception.

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Figure 3.1  An Overview of the Perceptual Process Source: Inna Kharlamova/Shutterstock.

SENSORY STIMULI Sights

Sounds

Eyes

Ears

Smells

Tastes

Textures

Mouth

Skin

SENSORY RECEPTORS Nose

EXPOSURE

ATTENTION

INTERPRETATION

Stage 1: Exposure Exposure occurs when a stimulus comes within the range of someone’s sensory receptors. Consumers concentrate on some stimuli, are unaware of others, and even go out of their way to ignore some messages. We notice stimuli that come within range for even a short time—if we so choose. However, getting a message noticed in such a short time (or even in a longer one) is no mean feat.

Sensory Thresholds Before we consider what people may choose not to perceive, let’s consider what they are capable of perceiving. By this we mean that stimuli may be above or below a person’s sensory threshold, which is the point at which it is strong enough to make a conscious impact in their awareness. If you have ever blown a dog whistle and watched your pooch respond to a sound you cannot hear, you won’t be surprised to learn that there are some stimuli that people simply can’t perceive. Some of us pick up sensory information that others, whose sensory channels have diminished because of disability or age, cannot. The science of psychophysics focuses on how people integrate the physical environment into their personal, subjective worlds. It sounds like a great name for a rock band, but the absolute threshold refers to the minimum amount of stimulation a person can detect on a given sensory channel. The sound a dog whistle emits is at too high a frequency for human ears to pick up, so this stimulus is beyond our auditory absolute threshold. The absolute threshold is an important consideration when we design marketing stimuli. A highway billboard might have the most entertaining copy ever written, but this genius is wasted if the print is too small for passing motorists to see it. In contrast, the differential threshold refers to the ability of a sensory system to detect changes in or differences between two stimuli. The minimum difference we can detect between two stimuli is the just noticeable difference (j.n.d.). The dual issues of if and when consumers will notice a difference between two stimuli is relevant to many marketing situations. Sometimes a marketer may want to



Chapter 3  •  Perceiving and Making Meaning

ensure that consumers notice a change, such as when a retailer offers merchandise at a discount. In other situations, the marketer may want to downplay the fact that it has made a change, such as when a store raises a price, or a manufacturer reduces the size of a package. When a brand tries to modernize its logo, it must walk a fine line because consumers tend to get tired of old-fashioned designs, but they still want to be able to identify the familiar product. Figure 3.2 shows the evolution of the (mythical) Betty Crocker character over time. A consumer’s ability to detect a difference between two stimuli is relative. A whispered conversation that might be unintelligible on a noisy street can suddenly become public and embarrassingly loud in a quiet library. It is the relative difference between the decibel level of the conversation and its surroundings, rather than the absolute loudness of the conversation itself, that determines whether the stimulus will register. In the 19th century, a psychophysicist named Ernst Weber found that the amount of change required for the perceiver to notice a change systematically relates to the intensity of the original stimulus. The stronger the initial stimulus, the greater a change must be for us to notice it. This relationship is Weber’s Law. Consider how Weber’s Law works for a product when it goes on sale. If a retailer believes that a markdown should be at least 20 percent for the reduction to make an impact on shoppers, it should cut the price on a pair of socks that retails for $10 to $8 (a $2 discount) for shoppers to realize a difference. However, a sports coat that sells for $100 would not benefit from a $2 discount; the retailer would have to mark it down $20 to achieve the same impact. As the cost of raw materials skyrockets because of shortages caused by natural disasters such as the pandemic, some companies try to camouflage price increases as they shrink the size of packages instead of charging more. Sometimes marketers use code words to announce a change: They may label the smaller packages as “green” because there is less plastic or cardboard in a smaller box, more “portable” when Figure 3.2  Betty Crocker Evolves Over Time

Source: Retro AdArchives/Alamy Stock Photo.

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they squeeze products into little carry bags, or “healthier” because smaller amounts translate into fewer calories. For example, Kraft brought out “Fresh Stacks” packages for its Nabisco Premium saltines and Honey Maid graham crackers. Each holds about 15 percent fewer crackers than the standard boxes for the same price. But Kraft notes that because the new packages include more sleeves of crackers, they are more portable—and the company notes that as an added benefit the smaller boxes supply crackers that will be fresher when you get around to eating them. A packaging expert noted that, typically, when the economy recovers, companies respond with a new “jumbo-size” product that is usually even more expensive per ounce. Then the process begins again: “It’s a continuous cycle, where at some point the smallest package offered becomes so small that perhaps they’re phased out and replaced by the medium-size package, which has been shrunk down.”56 There’s even a term to describe this: shrinkflation.57

The Myth of Subliminal Perception

A lot of consumers (and marketing students) believe that logos containing “hidden” messages like this one are subliminal. Indeed, you have to look closely to see that the letters B and R for Baskin Robbins are surrounding the numbers 31—the number of flavors the ice cream chain sells. But if you can see it or hear it (even with some effort), it’s NOT subliminal! Source: Jatuporn Chainiramitkul/Shutterstock.

The 1950s and 1960s were the heyday of the widespread belief that marketers were inserting subtle messages into movies and TV shows. This idea was later debunked, but a lot of people nonetheless continue to believe that subliminal persuasion is common. Source: Walter Daran/ The Chronicle Collection/Getty Images.

Most marketers want to create messages above consumers’ thresholds so people will notice them. Ironically, a good number of consumers instead believe that marketers design many advertising messages so they will be perceived unconsciously, or below the threshold of recognition. Another word for threshold is limen, and we term stimuli that fall below the limen subliminal. Subliminal perception refers to a stimulus below the level of the consumer’s awareness. This topic has captivated the public for more than 50 years, even though there is virtually no proof that this process has any effect on consumer behavior. A survey of U.S. consumers found that almost two-thirds believe in the existence of subliminal advertising, and more than one-half are convinced that this technique can get them to buy things they do not really want.58 ABC rejected a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) commercial that invited viewers to slowly replay the ad to find a secret message, citing the network’s long-standing policy against subliminal advertising. KFC argued that the ad wasn’t subliminal at all because the company told viewers about the message and how to find it. The network wasn’t convinced.59 Like the KFC ad, most examples of subliminal advertising that people “discover” are not subliminal at all—on the contrary, the images are quite apparent. Remember, if you can see it or hear it, it’s not subliminal; the stimulus is above the level of conscious awareness. Nonetheless, the continuing controversy about subliminal persuasion has been important in shaping the public’s beliefs about advertisers’ and marketers’ abilities to manipulate consumers against their will. A kerfuffle generated by a McDonald’s Happy Meal toy illustrates that we tend to see or hear what we are looking for: When the company released a toy Minion (from the popular Despicable Me movie series), some outraged parents stated it was sending a “subliminal message” to their children. They claimed that it spoke gibberish that sounded a lot like “what the” and a word that rhymes with duck. McDonald’s response: “Minions speak ‘Minionese’ which is a random combination of many languages and nonsense



Chapter 3  •  Perceiving and Making Meaning

words and sounds . . . . Any perceived similarities to words used within the English language is purely coincidental.”60

The Truth: Pre-Attentive Processing Whereas subliminal advertising is largely a myth, there is plenty of scientific evidence for the process called pre-attentive processing: We are able to process information and develop positive brand responses even when we are not directly or deliberately paying attention to a brand message. Researchers found that visuals or emotionally strong words that are on the periphery of what we’re actually looking at can make us think about them, even when we’re not aware that we saw them.61 This type of unconscious processing explains why many advertisers are placing ads next to content in print media or in our social media feeds.

Stage 2: Attention As you sit in a lecture, you might find your mind wandering (yes, even you!). One minute you are concentrating on the professor’s words, and the next you catch yourself daydreaming about the upcoming weekend (and sneaking the obligatory peek at your Instagram page). Suddenly, you tune back in as you hear your name being spoken. Fortunately, it’s a false alarm—the professor has called on another “victim” who has the same first name. But she’s got your attention now. Attention refers to the extent to which processing activity is devoted to a particular stimulus. As you know from sitting through both interesting and “less interesting” lectures, this allocation can vary depending on both the characteristics of the stimulus (i.e., the lecture itself) and the recipient (i.e., your mental state at the time). Although we live in an “information society,” we can have too much of a good thing. Consumers often experience sensory overload; we are exposed to far more information than we can process. In our society, much of this bombardment comes from commercial sources, and the competition for our attention steadily increases. Here’s a fact: American adults spend almost half of every day interacting with media.62 Indeed, they devote 44 percent of the total minutes available in a day to watching screens. As you might guess, media usage spiked even higher during the pandemic lockdown years.63 The average adult is exposed to about 3,500 pieces of advertising information every single day—up from about 560 per day 30 years ago. That means the fight for your attention—or what some marketers refer to as an eyeball economy—gets tougher every day. In fact, recent research shows that the mere presence of one’s phone near us results in brain drain: a deficit of cognitive resources.64 Even when we can resist the temptation to check our phones, keeping these devices nearby, even silent and no vibrations, reduces available cognitive capacity. Turns out your phone eats up an increasingly large portion of your brain power, even when it is set to silent or even turned off! So don’t just put down your phone, put it away!

Multitasking Pedtextrian. Text-walker. Wexting. Whatever you call it, walking while texting is becoming a public health problem. Due to a spike in pedestrian deaths, Honolulu became the first city to outlaw this practice.65 Paying attention to where you’re going seems so . . . 2008. Today we consume three times as much information each day as people did in 1960. We constantly shift attention: Computer users at work change windows or check email or other programs nearly 37 times an hour. Computer users visit an average of 40 websites a day.66

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Getting the attention of young people in particular is a challenge—as your professor probably knows! A large proportion of teens report that they engage in multitasking, where they process information from more than one medium at a time as they alternate among their cell phones, TVs, and laptops. What impact does all this multitasking have on consumers’ ability to absorb, retain, and understand information? One possible consequence: These bursts of stimulation provoke the body to secrete the hormone dopamine, which is addictive. When we go without these squirts, we feel bored. Some scientists warn that our cravings for more stimulation distract us from more prolonged thought processes and reduce our ability to concentrate (don’t text and drive!). Researchers find that heavy multitaskers have more trouble focusing, and they experience more stress. One study found that people who are interrupted by email report significantly more stress than those who are allowed to focus on a task.67 Multiscreening, using another media screen while watching television, is a very common form of multitasking. The research firm Deloitte reports that 90 percent of television viewers today multitask while they watch TV.68 Researchers who synthesized all research testing the effect of multiscreening concluded that multiscreening has dramatic effects on advertising effectiveness: It reduces our attention to ads but also makes us counterargue them less, which, as we will see in Chapter 8, can actually make the ads more persuasive.

Distractions! We are often exposed to ads while doing something else, like reading a blog or watching a game (or maybe sitting in class?). How do these diversions influence the way the ad affects us? Recent research finds that when a background ad distracts us, we tend to infer that the advertised product is interesting. This is because when an ad distracts us from another activity, we infer that the advertised brand must be interesting (otherwise why would it have distracted our attention?). Evidence of this metacognitive inference came from a study in which participants browsed the internet while listening to background music and were later asked if they wanted to view the official Instagram account for a brand that was advertised between songs.69

Rich Media Marketers constantly search for ways to break through the clutter and grab people’s attention. Some tactics are straightforward, such as when manufacturers try to get their brands shelved at eye level in a store and toward the center of a display because they know that is where shoppers are most likely to look.70 In the online world, advertisers keep innovating ways to get visitors to watch their messages. One of the most popular today is rich media—the use of animated GIF files or video clips to grab viewers’ attention. LowerMyBills.com is notorious for its endless loops of silhouetted dancers and surprised office workers, whereas other ads spring into action when you move the cursor over them. AG Jeans, for example, allows you to build an outfit on your phone. Other rich media are online versions of familiar TV commercials that sit frozen on the website until you click them. Teaser ads, much like those you see on TV that give you a taste of the story but make you return later for the rest, also turn Burger King uses rich media to get consumers’ attention. up on websites.71 Source: S3studio/Getty Images.

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Because the brain’s capacity to process information is limited, consumers are selective about what they pay attention to. The process of perceptual selection means that people attend to only a small portion of the stimuli to which they are exposed. Consumers pick and choose among stimuli to avoid being overwhelmed. But how do we choose? Both personal and stimulus factors help to decide.

Getting Attention Marketers work hard to test and create messages and packages that will have a better chance to cut through the clutter. For example, when researchers used infrared eye-tracking equipment to measure what ads consumers look at, they found that visually complex ads are more likely to capture attention.72 In general, we are more likely to notice stimuli that differ from others around them (remember Weber’s Law). A message creates contrast in several ways:

Is this dress white and gold, or blue and black? Many people engaged in a fierce online debate about the answer. Which colors do you see? Hint: The company that made the dress describes it on its website as “Royal Blue.” Source: Amina Khan/National Science Foundation.

• Size – The size of the stimulus itself in contrast to that of the competition helps • •

•

to determine whether it will command attention. Readership of a magazine ad increases in proportion to the size of the ad.73 Color – As we’ve seen, color is a powerful way to draw attention to a product or to give it a distinct identity. Black & Decker developed a line of tools it called DeWalt to target the residential construction industry. The company colored the new line yellow instead of black; this made the equipment stand out against other “dull” tools.74 Position – Not surprisingly, we stand a better chance of noticing stimuli that are in places where we’re more likely to look. That’s why the competition is so heated among suppliers to have their products displayed in stores at eye level. In magazines, ads that are placed toward the front of the issue, preferably on the right-hand side, also win out in the race for readers’ attention. (Hint: The next time you read a magazine, notice which pages you’re more likely to spend time looking at.)75 A study that tracked consumers’ eye movements as they scanned telephone directories also illustrated the importance of message position. Consumers scanned listings in alphabetical order, and they noticed 93 percent of quarter-page display ads but only 26 percent of plain listings. Their eyes were drawn to color ads first, and these were viewed longer than black-and-white ones. In addition, subjects spent 54 percent more time viewing ads for businesses they ended up choosing, which illustrates the influence of attention on subsequent product choice.76 Another study reported that advertisers can increase brand recall and choice if they change the location of brand logos and product depictions across ad exposures.77 And products that are located in the center of a person’s field of vision are more likely to receive attention.78 Position also is important in online advertising. Sophisticated eye-tracking studies clearly show that most search engine users view only a limited number of search results. When the typical shopper looks at a search page, their eye travels across the top of the search result, returns to the left of the screen, and then travels down to the last item shown on the screen without scrolling. Novelty – Stimuli that appear in unexpected ways or places tend to grab our attention. Packages that “stand out” visually on store shelves have an advantage, especially when the consumer doesn’t have a strong preference for brands in the category and they need to make rapid decisions.79 One solution is to put ads in

Buying, Having, Being Mind If I Interrupt? One study indicates that novelty in the form of interruptions actually intensifies our experiences. According to this research, people actually enjoy TV shows more when commercials interrupt them. A group of undergraduates watched an episode of an old sitcom (Taxi) with which they were unfamiliar. Half viewed the original broadcast, which included ads for a jeweler, a lawyer, and other businesses; the other half saw the show with all commercials deleted. Students who saw the original gave it higher evaluations. The researchers found a similar pattern when they interrupted people who were getting a massage. In contrast, subjects reported that the irritating sound of a vacuum cleaner was even worse when they got a break from listening to it and then had to hear it resume! The researchers interpret these results as the outcome of adaptation: We experience events more intensely at first but then get used to them. When we experience an interruption and then start over, we revert to the original intensity level.80

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unconventional places, where there will be less competition for attention. These places include the backs of shopping carts, walls of tunnels, floors of sports stadiums, and, yes, even public restrooms.81 An outdoor advertising agency in London constructs huge ads in deserts and farm fields adjacent to airports so that passengers who look out the window can’t help but pay attention. It prints the digital ads on pieces of PVC mesh that sit on frames a few inches above the ground.82

Losing Attention As riveting as a sight or sound may be, over time we may no longer notice it nearly as much as when we were first exposed to it. Why is this? One factor is adaptation, which is the degree to which consumers continue to notice a stimulus over time. The process of adaptation occurs when we no longer pay attention to a stimulus because it is so familiar. A consumer can “habituate” and require increasingly stronger “doses” of a stimulus to notice it. A commuter who is en route to work might read a billboard message when the board is first installed, but after a few days, it simply becomes part of the passing scenery. Several factors can lead to adaptation:

Buying, Having, Being Pay Attention to That Warning! A recent study used eye tracking and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess how much people paid attention to and comply with security warnings—the kind that pop up on our electronic devices to warn us about privacy permission.83 The researchers tracked participants’ responses over the course of a five-day workweek and used these advanced techniques to provide neural insights into the process of habitation. Their studies provide clear evidence that the more people are exposed to a warning, the less they pay attention to it and the less they comply with it. In other words, they habituate to the warnings. However, the researchers also found that simply changing the appearance of the warning reduced habituation: A design that changes often works better than a static design. So if you want your message to continue to be effective, it’s important to keep varying it.

• Intensity – Less-intense stimuli (e.g., soft sounds or dim colors) habituate because they have less sensory impact. • Discrimination – Simple stimuli habituate because they do not require attention to detail. • Exposure – Frequently encountered stimuli habituate as the rate of exposure increases. • Relevance – Stimuli that are irrelevant or unimportant habituate because they fail to attract attention.

Stage 3: Interpretation Now that a person has noticed a stimulus and allocated cognitive resources to pay attention to it, the final stage of interpretation kicks in. This is a crucial step, where the perceiver decides what this stimulus means. All of a marketer’s efforts to construct and deliver a message that will break through the clutter and focus the customer’s attention will be for nothing if the receiver misunderstands (or can’t understand) the intended message. The meaning we assign to a stimulus depends on the schema, or set of beliefs, to which we assign it. This in turn leads us to compare the stimulus to other similar ones we encountered in the past. As a result, interpretation is very much based on our subjective experiences, our cultural background, our personal sensitivities, our expectations, etc. Two people can see or hear the same event, but their interpretation of it can be as different as night and day, depending on what they had expected the stimulus to be. In one study, children aged three to five who ate McDonald’s French fries served in a McDonald’s bag overwhelmingly thought they tasted better than those who ate the same fries out of a plain white bag. Even carrots tasted better when they came out of a McDonald’s bag—more than half the kids preferred them to the same carrots served in a plain package! Ronald would be proud.84 Another experiment demonstrated how our assumptions influence our experiences; in this case, the study altered beer drinkers’ taste preferences simply by telling



Chapter 3  •  Perceiving and Making Meaning

them different stories about a specific brew’s ingredients. The researcher offered bar patrons free beer if they would participate in a taste test (guess what: few refused the offer). Participants tasted two beers each, one a regular draft of Budweiser or Samuel Adams and the other the same beer with a few drops of balsamic vinegar added. Although most beer aficionados would guess that vinegar makes the drink taste bad, in fact, 60 percent of the respondents who did not know which beer contained the vinegar preferred the doctored version to the regular one! But when tasters knew in advance which beer had vinegar in it before they took a swig, only one-third preferred that version.85 The location of a product’s image on a package also influences the way our brains make sense of it. For example, due to what we have learned about the law of gravity (heavy objects sink and light objects float), we assume that products that are lower down in a frame weigh more than products that appear higher in a frame. In addition, objects on the right of a frame appear heavier than products that appear on the left of a frame. This interpretation results from our intuition about levers: We know that the farther away an object is from a lever’s fulcrum, the more difficult it is to raise the item. Because we read from left to right, the left naturally becomes the visual fulcrum and thus we perceive objects on the right as heavier. Manufacturers should bear these package schematics in mind because they may influence our feelings about the contents in a package for better or worse. Think, for example, about a diet food marketer who wants shoppers to regard menu items as lighter in calorie count.86 Identifying and evoking the correct schema is crucial to many marketing decisions, because this determines what criteria consumers will use to evaluate the product, package, or message. Extra Strength Maalox Whip Antacid flopped even though a spray can is an effective way to deliver the product. To consumers, aerosol whips mean dessert toppings, not medication.88 When a college cafeteria gave menu items descriptive labels so that diners had more information about each option and could more easily categorize it (e.g., Traditional Cajun Red Beans with Rice versus Red Beans with Rice, Satin Chocolate Pudding versus Chocolate Pudding), sales increased by more than 25 percent.89 As we’ll see in Chapter 10, products often assume a “brand personality” because we tend to assign them common human traits, such as sophistication or sexiness. In other words, we anthropomorphize objects when we think of them in human terms, and this thought process may encourage us to evaluate products using schemas we apply to classify other people. A recent study illustrates how this works: Subjects saw an advertisement with a picture of a car that had been modified to make it appear as though it was either “smiling” or “frowning.” In some cases, the text of the ad was written in first person, to activate a human schema, whereas others saw the same ad written inthird person. When the human schema was active, those who saw the “smiling” car rated it more favorably than when they saw a “­frowning” car.90 One factor that determines how we will interpret a stimulus is relational processing; this happens when we process a stimulus in relation to the relationships it has with other events, sensations, or images in memory. When RJR Nabisco introduced a version of Teddy Grahams (a children’s product) for adults, it used understated packaging colors to reinforce the idea that the new product was for grown-ups. But sales were disappointing. Nabisco changed the box to bright yellow to convey the idea that this was a fun snack, and buyers’ more positive association between a bright primary color and taste prompted adults to start buying the cookies.91

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Buying, Having, Being Leave Something to the Imagination? Sometimes not seeing makes things more exciting, because we have to search for the missing pieces in order to decide what the object means. Recent research found that when consumers can see only a portion of an aesthetic product, their reaction to the product depends on their curiosity to see the item completed and the inferences they make about what the full item would actually look like.87 Greater curiosity results in more positive reactions to the partially concealed product. But there were some limits to this effect: first, you must reveal at least half of the product so people can get a sense of what they’re looking at. Second, it works only when the product is attractive enough to make people curious about what the full item would look like. This is a very clever technique: A subtle shift in how much of a product is visible in an ad or product listing can affect consumers’ preferences. Concealing some (but not most) of a product’s appearance piques our curiosity and makes the process of interpretation more enjoyable.

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The stimuli we perceive often are ambiguous. It’s up to us to determine the meaning based on our past experiences, expectations, and needs. A classic experiment demonstrated the process of “seeing what you want to see”: Princeton and Dartmouth students separately viewed a movie of a particularly rough football game between the two rival schools. Although everyone was exposed to the same stimulus, the degree to which students saw infractions and the blame they assigned for those they did see depended on which college they attended.92 As these results show, we tend to project our own desires or assumptions onto products and advertisements. This interpretation process can backfire for marketers. Planters LifeWe recognize patterns of stimuli, such as familiar words. In this Savers Company found this out when it introduced Planters Austrian ad, consumers will tend to see the word “kitchen” even Fresh Roast, a vacuum-packed peanuts package. The idea though the letters are scrambled. was to capitalize on consumers’ growing love affair with Source: Demner, Merlicek & Bergmann Werbegesellschaft mbH. fresh-roast coffee by emphasizing the freshness of the nuts in the same way. A great idea—until irate supermarket managers began calling to ask who was going to pay to clean the peanut gook out of their stores’ coffee-grinding machines.93

Interpretational Biases: The Eye of the Beholder Our brains tend to relate incoming sensations to others already in memory, based on some fundamental organizational principles. These principles derive from Gestalt psychology, a school of thought based upon the notion that people interpret meaning from the totality of a set of stimuli rather than from any individual stimulus. The German word Gestalt roughly means whole, pattern, or configuration, and we summarize this term as “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” A piecemeal perspective that analyzes each component of the stimulus separately can’t capture the total effect. The Gestalt perspective provides several principles that relate to the way our brains organize stimuli:

• The closure principle states that people tend to perceive an incomplete picture

• •

as complete. That is, we tend to fill in the blanks based on our prior experience. This principle explains why most of us have no trouble reading a neon sign even if several of its letters are burned out. The principle of closure is also at work when we hear only part of a jingle or theme. Marketing strategies that use the closure principle encourage audience participation, which increases the chance that people will attend to the message. The similarity principle tells us that consumers tend to group together objects that share similar physical characteristics. Green Giant relied on this principle when the company redesigned the packaging for its line of frozen vegetables. It created a “sea of green” look to unify all its different offerings. The figure-ground principle states that one part of a stimulus will dominate (the figure), and other parts recede into the background (the ground). This concept is easy to understand if you think literally of a photograph with a clear and sharply focused object (the figure) in the center. The figure is dominant, and the eye goes straight to it. The parts of the configuration a person will perceive as figure or ground can vary depending on the individual consumer, as well as other factors. Similarly, marketing messages that use the figure-ground principle can make a stimulus the focal point of the message or merely the context that surrounds the focus.

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• Joint vs. separate presentation refers to whether prod-

ucts are presented as a group or independently of one another.94 Presenting products together makes it easier for consumers to create a mental image of what a consumption episode with the products together would look like. Especially when the jointly presented products are complementary (cheese and crackers; an outdoor table and an umbrella), it is easier for consumers to form a cohesive picture of what the consumption episode would look like.

OBJECTIVE 3-3 Discuss how the field of semiotics helps us understand how consumers create meaning out of symbols.

Semiotics: The Meaning of Meaning

Many company logos use the figure-ground principle. Do you see the arrow embedded inside the FedEx logo? Source: Harry Thomas Flower/Shutterstock.

As we’ve seen, when we try to “make sense” of a marketing stimulus, we interpret it considering our prior associations. Much of the meaning we take away influences what we make of the symbolism we perceive. After all, on the surface, many marketing images have virtually no literal connection to actual products. What does a cowboy have to do with a bit of tobacco rolled into a paper tube? How can a celebrity such as basketball player LeBron James or singer Rihanna enhance the image of a soft drink or a fast-food restaurant? The field of semiotics can help us understand how consumers interpret the meanings of symbols. This discipline studies the correspondence between signs and symbols, and their roles in how we assign meanings.95 Semiotics is a key link to decoding consumer behavior, because consumers use products to express their social and cultural identities. From a semiotic perspective, every marketing message has three basic components: an object, a sign (or symbol), and an interpretant. The object is the product that is the focus of the message (e.g., an Apple laptop). The sign is the sensory image that represents the intended meanings of the object (e.g., the partially bitten apple). The interpretant is the meaning we derive from the sign (e.g., cool, creative). Figure 3.3 diagrams this relationship. Note that this meaning depends a lot upon a person’s prior knowledge and experiences. For example, not all consumers associate the Apple logo with the story of Adam and Eve and taking a bite from the apple of knowledge (at the expense of innocence). According to semiotician Charles Sanders Peirce, signs relate to objects in one of three ways: They can resemble objects, connect to them, or tie to them conventionally. An icon is a sign that resembles the product in some way (e.g., the Ford Mustang has a galloping horse on the hood). An index is a sign that connects to a product because they share some property (e.g., the pine tree on some of Procter & Gamble’s Spic and Span cleanser products conveys the shared property of fresh scent). A symbol is a sign that relates to a product by either conventional or agreed-on associations (e.g., the Rock of Gibraltar that is part of Prudential’s logo provides the conventional association with stability and strength that it carries [or hopes to carry] over to the company’s approach to insurance).96 A lot of time, thought, and money go into creating brand names and logos that clearly communicate a product’s image (even when a name like Exxon is generated by a computer!). Starbucks removed the words Starbucks Coffee as it introduced a new logo that features only the famous mermaid character. The CEO explained this change means the company is thinking “beyond coffee.”97

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OBJECT (BRAND): Nike Classic Cortez

Buying, Having, Being What Does Your Emoji Say about You? The small digital icons we call emojis allow the sender to express feelings using a semiotic shorthand. Because they are visual, they allow us to communicate with those who don’t speak our language. Many of us use Bitmoji or Snapchat software to craft our own versions. By one estimate, we send over six billion every day! Remember, these symbols are interpreted in the minds of the beholder. So sometimes the message gets interpreted in unanticipated ways. Emojis are so prominent and easy to use that marketing researchers are even using them in their questionnaires instead of traditional words that describe an emotion.98

INTERPRETANT (MEANING): Chicano Streetwear, resilience

SIGN: Swoosh

Figure 3.3  Semiotic Relationships

Source: Sean Saldana, “An oral history of the Nike Cortez, 50 years after its release”.

Source: M_Videous/Shutterstock.

Marketers are getting in on the act as well. There is even an emoji for “safe sex”—a tiny condom that the manufacturer Durex launched. A campaign to persuade the organization that sets standards for emojis has prompted more than 210 million mentions on Twitter. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Starbucks, Disney, and more than a dozen other companies have each paid Twitter more than $1 million for designs combined with various kinds of ads. During a recent Super Bowl, people who used the hashtag #PepsiHalftime got a reply that included a soda can emoji with musical notes floating out from it. Domino’s Pizza lets people order a pie by tweeting a pizza slice emoji. IHOP Restaurants even redesigned its logo in the emoji style. But you can take it too far: Chevrolet confused many people when the company sent out a news release written entirely in emojis.99

Semiotics helps us to understand relations among a product like Nike footwear, unique elements or signs like the Nike swoosh, and abstract meanings like “resilience.” Source: Albo/Shutterstock.

OBJECTIVE 3-4 Describe how consumers play an active role in shaping brand meanings.

Who Owns Brand Meanings?

So, we know that we often interpret a product stimulus considering what we’ve learned about a product category and the characteristics of existing brands. Brand managers work hard to shape consumers’ perceptions of their brand by carefully selecting a brand’s functional attributes (e.g., its features, its price, and so on) and by carefully selecting the symbolic associations they would like consumers to make (the images and words used in their ads, the design of the brand’s website, etc.).

Marketers Position Brands When a marketer understands how consumers think about a set of competing brands, it can use these insights to develop a positioning strategy, which is a fundamental component of a company’s marketing efforts as it uses elements of the marketing mix

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(i.e., product design, price, distribution, and marketing communications) to influence consumers’ interpretation of its meaning in the marketplace relative to its competitors. For example, although consumers’ preferences for the taste of one product over another are important, this functional attribute is only one component of product evaluation. Marketers can use many dimensions to carve out a brand’s position in the marketplace. These include:100

• Lifestyle. Hairbrella designed a whole line of hair protection products, from sleep caps to rain hats. • Price leadership. L’Oréal sells its Noisôme brand face cream in upscale beauty • • • • • • •

shops, whereas its Plenitude brand is available for one-sixth the price in discount stores—even though both are based on the same chemical formula.101 Attributes. Bounty paper towels are “the quicker picker-upper.” Product class. The Tesla is an all-electric car. Competitors. NJM Insurance is the “no jingles or mascots” company. Occasions. Wrigley’s gum is an alternative at times when smoking is not permitted. Users. Levi’s Dockers target men in their 20s to 40s. Quality. At Ford, “Quality is job 1.” Country of origin. Jeep, Coca-Cola, and Levi’s are American brands.

But Ultimately Brand Meanings Live in Consumers’ Minds We’ll look more closely at issues such as brand image in later chapters, but for now it’s important to keep in mind that customers are not just buying a product or service; they are buying a story. And this meaning-making may have more to do with what consumers do with the brand than what a brand communicates by its color, packaging, or styling. Indeed, to quote Intuit’s co-founder Scott Cook: “A brand is no longer what we (the companies) tell the consumer it is. It is what consumers tell each other it is.” The meaning of brands lives in consumers’ minds. It is reflected in what they do and say about the brand. And consumers are increasingly comfortable with owning the brand: They use brands to communicate their personal identity or to connect with other kindred spirits to share their love (or hate) for what marketers sell.102 Social media make it all the easier for consumers to express what they think about the brand, whether good or bad, and these consumer-generated messages about the brand are even more powerful and influential than the ones marketers are sending.103 A recent comprehensive review of consumer research on branding concludes that consumers’ constant contestations of brand meanings—where they question and modify what the product or service symbolizes—are a source of strength and even of antifragility, the ability to grow when faced with stressors.104 Consumers’ active role in shaping brand meanings keeps brands alive and dynamic.

CHAPTER SUMMARY Now that you have finished reading this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Explain how consumer behavior is often shaped by sensory appeals that are often unnoticed. Marketing stimuli have important sensory qualities. We rely on colors, odors, sounds, tastes, and even

the “feel” of products when we evaluate them. Not all sensations successfully make their way through the perceptual process. Many stimuli compete for our attention, and we don’t notice or accurately interpret most of them.

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2. Outline the three-stage process of perception that translates raw stimuli into meaning. Perception is the process by which physical sensations, such as sights, sounds, and smells, are selected, organized, and interpreted. The eventual interpretation of a stimulus allows it to be assigned meaning. A perceptual map is a widely used marketing tool that evaluates the relative standing of competing brands along relevant dimensions. Although evidence that subliminal persuasion is effective is virtually nonexistent, many consumers continue to believe that advertisers use this technique. Some of the factors that determine which stimuli (above the threshold level) do get perceived include the amount of exposure to the stimulus, how much attention it generates, and how it is interpreted. In an increasingly crowded stimulus environment, advertising clutter occurs when too many marketing-related messages compete for attention. We don’t attend to a stimulus in isolation. We classify and organize it according to principles of perceptual organization. A Gestalt, or overall pattern, guides these principles. Specific grouping principles include closure, similarity, and figure-ground relationships. The final step in the process of perception is interpretation. Symbols help us make sense of the world by providing

us with an interpretation of a stimulus that others often share. The degree to which the symbolism is consistent with our previous experience affects the meaning we assign to related objects. 3. Discuss how the field of semiotics helps us understand how consumers create meaning out of symbols. A semiotic analysis involves the correspondence between stimuli and the meaning of signs. The intended meaning may be literal (e.g., an icon such as a street sign with a picture of children playing). Or it may be indexical if it relies on shared characteristics (e.g., the red in a stop sign means danger). Meaning also can be conveyed by a symbol in which an image is given meaning by convention or by agreement of members of a society (e.g., stop signs are octagonal, whereas yield signs are triangular). 4. Describe how consumers play an active role in shaping brand meanings. Marketers try to communicate meanings about their brands by positioning their products or services with cues that they hope consumers will interpret in the intended manner. But ultimately meanings reside in consumers’ minds, so brand meanings take a life of their own in the market.

KEY TERMS Absolute threshold, 70 Adaptation, 76 Aesthetic bias, 64 Antifragility, 81 Attention, 73 Augmented reality (AR), 68 Brain drain, 73 Closure principle, 78 Color forecasts, 64 Color palette, 63 Contamination effect, 67 Contestations, 81 Contrast, 75 cross-modal effect, 65 Differential threshold, 70 Emojis, 80 Endowment effect, 66 Exposure, 70 Eyeball economy, 73 Figure-ground principle, 78 Gastrophysics, 68

Gestalt, 78 Haptic, 66 Hedonic escalation, 68 Illuminance, 62 Index, 79 Inferences, 77 Interpretant, 79 Just noticeable difference (j.n.d), 70 Kansei engineering, 67 Location, 63 Materiality, 63 Metacognitive inference, 74 Multiscreening, 74 Multitasking, 74 Natural user interface, 66 Need for touch (NFT), 66 Object, 79 Perception, 62 Perceptual selection, 75 Pitch-size effect, 65 Positioning strategy, 80

Pre-attentive processing, 73 Psychological ownership, 66 Psychophysics, 70 Relational processing, 77 Rich media, 74 Schema, 76 Semiotics, 79 Sensation, 61 Sensory marketing, 62 Sensory overload, 73 Sensory threshold, 70 Shape, 62 Shrinkflation, 72 Sign, 79 Similarity principle, 78 Sound symbolism, 65 Subliminal perception, 72 Surface color, 63 Symbol, 79 Vestibular system, 68 Weber’s Law, 71

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REVIEW 3-1 How does the sense of touch influence consumers’ reactions to products?

3-7 List the three semiotic components of a marketing message, giving an example of each.

3-2 Identify and describe the three stages of perception.

3-4 Does subliminal perception work? Why or why not?

3-8 What do we mean by the concept of augmented reality? Give an example that is not discussed in the chapter. How does this concept differ from virtual reality?

3-5 Describe two factors that can lead to stimulus adaptation.

3-9 What is a positioning strategy? What are some ways marketers can position their products?

3-6 “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Explain this statement.

3-10 “Brand meanings live in the minds of consumers.” Explain this statement.

3-3 What is the difference between an absolute threshold and a differential threshold?

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHALLENGE DISCUSS

3-11 The slogan for the movie Godzilla was “Size does matter.” Should this be the slogan for the United States as well? Many marketers seem to believe so. The average serving size for a fountain drink has gone from 12 ounces to 20 ounces. An industry consultant explains that the 32-ounce Big Gulp is so popular because “people like something large in their hands. The larger the better.” Some cities (most notably New York) have tried to ban sales of sugary drinks greater than 24 ounces but so far unsuccessfully.105 Hardee’s Monster Burger, complete with two beef patties and five pieces of bacon, weighs in at 63 grams of fat and more than 1,000 calories. The standard for TV sets used to be 19 inches; now it’s 32 inches and growing. Hulking sport utility vehicles (SUVs) have replaced tiny sports cars as the status vehicle of the new millennium. What’s up with our fascination with bigness? Is

this a uniquely U.S. preference? Do you believe that “bigger is better”? Is this a sound marketing strategy? 3-12 Augmented reality applications may reach the level of sophistication where we observe almost everything through the screen of our smartphones to receive an “enhanced” experience. Do you view this as a positive development or a problem? 3-13 The chapter notes that marketers may elect to shrink the amount of product it sells and maintain the same price rather than raise the price. Is this ethical? 3-14 Define a schema and provide an example of how this concept is relevant to marketing. 3-15 Many studies have shown that our sensory detection abilities decline as we grow older. Discuss the implications of the absolute threshold for marketers who want to appeal to the older consumer.

APPLY

3-16 Interview three to five friends about their perceptions of energy drinks. Construct a perceptual map for each set of products. Based on your map of energy drinks, do you see any areas that are not adequately served by current offerings? 3-17 Using magazines archived in the library (or available online), track the packaging of a specific brand over time. Find an example of gradual changes in package design that may have been below the j.n.d. 3-18 Visit a set of websites for one type of product (e.g., personal computers, perfumes, laundry detergents, or athletic shoes) and analyze the colors and other design principles they employ. Which sites “work”

and which don’t? Why? Look through a current magazine and select one ad that captures your attention over the others. Explain why this ad attracts you. 3-19 Find ads that use the techniques of contrast and novelty. Give your opinion of the effectiveness of each ad and whether the technique is likely to be appropriate for the consumers the ad targets. 3-20 Assume that you are a consultant for a marketer who wants to design a package for a new premium chocolate bar targeted to an affluent market. What recommendations would you provide in terms of such package elements as color, symbolism, and graphic design? Give the reasons for your suggestions.

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DIGGING IN WITH DATA See “Data Case 1: Analyzing the Athletic Shoe Market” in Appendix A for an opportunity to work with real consumer data and apply this chapter’s concepts to real world problems.

CASE STUDY

The Metaverse Is Marketing’s Brave New World

Neal Stephenson’s 1992 dystopian novel Snow Crash envisioned a place where people use virtual reality (VR) headsets to interact in an online world, a place he called the metaverse.106 With advancements in computing, artificial intelligence, and VR headset technology, this science fiction realm is becoming a reality (at least a virtual one) and some adventurous marketers are finding ways to advertise, sell, and build their brands in this new virtual world. The metaverse refers to virtual worlds that allow users to play games and participate in events using a digital persona known as an avatar.107 In its current manifestation, the metaverse is not a single connected/interoperable universe but rather several separate entities, each with its own set of rules for access, membership, and monetization.108 Consulting firm McKinsey & Company predicts that the metaverse will encompass five categories of daily activities: gaming, fitness, socializing, remote learning, and commerce.109 It is that last category that has motivated an array of companies to stake a claim in the metaverse, including Nike, Wendy’s, Ferrari, Forever 21, Vans, Gucci, and Chipotle.110 Chipotle is a good example of a company that participates in the metaverse in creative ways that mimic its IRL (in real life) marketing.111 The fast food company bought real estate on metaverse gaming platform Roblox and opened a virtual restaurant designed to look like its location in Denver. Gamers on Roblox who successfully rolled a virtual burrito earned “Burrito Bucks” redeemable for real food at an IRL Chipotle.112 That and another game attracted six million unique users—many who signed up for Chipotle’s rewards program.113 “This is a place we want to play,” said Chris Brandt, chief marketing officer at Chipotle. This promotion and this initiative that we have with Roblox . . . really blur that line between the real world and the metaverse.”114 The merging of these two worlds (virtual and physical) is a major goal of metaverse marketing, but some revenue opportunities are created exclusively within the metaverse. Many of these come in the form of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) that certify the ownership of digital art using blockchain technology.115 Concert tickets have been sold for events held in the metaverse with artists Alicia Keys, Travis Scott, Future, and others performing as avatars of themselves for adoring avatar fans who (via VR) can jump

onto the stage to dance with the band.116 These artists are also happy to sell you concert “merch,” including clothing for your avatar.117 NFT fashion is a major category in metaverse marketing with retailers like Gap, which offered virtual hoodies for your avatar at a price of $2 to $11.118 One of the metaverse platforms, Decentraland, sponsored a Metaverse Fashion Week, a four-day event covered by Vogue magazine that featured brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Perry Ellis, Dolce & Gabbana, and Estée Lauder.119 Gucci has jumped into this new world with Gucci Town, a virtual concept store on the Roblox platform. 120 The company recently hit a metaverse milestone when it sold a digital version of a Gucci purse for more than it would sell for in real life!121 The metaverse offers many advertising opportunities, both for products sold in the metaverse and their IRL counterparts. Virtual billboards can be constantly changing and highly personalized, and they could allow virtual customers to “enter” the billboard and find themselves in a virtual store where they can try on clothing featured in the ad.122 Less direct promotion is available through product placement in VR games or other virtual entertainment. The immersive experiences these platforms enable provide an exciting new medium for brand storytelling, and ad agencies, including MediaHub, Media.Monks, and Droga5, have set up shop in the metaverse to assist.123 These brand stories are frequently told by influencers, and a whole crop of virtual ones are ready to go to work in the metaverse. Brands including Calvin Klein, Balmain, and Samsung have partnered with existing computer-generated (CG) digital influencers and Prada has created its own CG influencer named Candy. You may have heard of Lil Miquela, a CG influencer with 3 million Instagram followers.124 She welcomes you to her new metaverse space, Villa M, stating, “It’s a place to learn, grow, and connect together on a deeper level. Can’t wait for everyone to meet me there!” What will consumer behavior be like in the metaverse? The perceptual process (see Figure 3.1) is still at play, but some sensory stimuli—like smells, tastes, and textures— are no longer available, while others—like sights and

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sounds—are on virtual steroids, with new tools for getting and holding attention. Evaluating product quality (one factor in assessing the value of a brand) becomes more challenging for products that do not exist in the physical world.125 The anonymity the metaverse allows could facilitate the creation of different consumer personas that may be more or less likely to engage in status signaling (discussed in Chapter 13) or other purchase behaviors that occur in the physical world.126 There is also the possibility that some consumers will prefer the virtual world to the physical one, with implications not only for social interaction in society but for engagement with brands’ physical products.127 The future for metaverse marketing looks promising with McKinsey & Company predicting global spending in the metaverse could reach as high as $5 trillion by 2030.128 But experts in this new field caution that brands will have to adapt to market successfully in this new virtual world. “Just because you are an iconic brand in the physical world, doesn’t mean it transfers over into the metaverse,” says Akash Nigam, CEO and founder of avatar agency Genies. “Someone needs to reinvent your brand with the metaverse in mind. These brands will ultimately start from scratch, reinvent their

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digital goods in a more fantastical way, and exceed boundaries for what is feasible in the physical world.”129 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

CS 3-1 What marketing opportunities could exist for global marketing in the metaverse? What potential obstacles would have to be overcome to make global marketing successful? CS 3-2 The visual and auditory capabilities in the metaverse enable creativity but could also lead to sensory overload. How can companies avoid this negative phenomenon, particularly in a virtual environment that is minimally under the control of any individual marketer? CS 3-3 Most brands in the metaverse will probably also exist IRL (In Real Life). How can brands use metaverse initiatives to increase sales of IRL products? What steps should marketers take to ensure that metaverse promotions do not damage the overall brand identity, impacting IRL sales?

NOTES 1. Lisa Leake, “Why Some Milk Is Not Refrigerated (and an Explanation of UHT),” July 31, 2013, www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/07/31/uht-whysome-milk-is-not-refrigerated/, accessed March 18, 2022. 2. Brooks Barnes, “To Lure Young, Movie Theaters Shake, Smell and Spritz,” New York Times, November 29, 2014, www.newyorktimes.com/2014/11/30/ business/media/to-lure-young-movie-theaters-shake-smell-and-spritz.html. 3. Chi Thanh Vi, Damien Ablart, Elia Gatti, Carlos Velasco, Marianna Obrist. “Not Just Seeing, but Also Feeling Art: Mid-Air Haptic Experiences Integrated in a Multisensory Art Exhibition,” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 108 (2017): 1–14, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. ijhcs.2017.06.004. 4. Susan and Simon Venes, “Universal Orlando Shutters ‘Fear Factor Live’ Show for Good,” Attractions Magazine, October 20, 2021, https://attractionsmagazine .com/universal-orlando-shutters-fear-factor-live-show-for-good/. 5. Aradhna Krishna, “An Integrative Review of Sensory Marketing: Engaging the Senses to Affect Perception, Judgment and Behavior,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 22, no. 3 (2012): 332–51. 6. Ryan S. Elder and Aradhna Krishna, “The Effects of Advertising Copy on Sensory Thoughts and Perceived Taste,” Journal of Consumer Research 36, no. 5 (2010): 748–56. 7. Glenn Collins, “Owens-Corning’s Blurred Identity,” New York Times, August 19, 1994, D4. 8. Aditi Bajaj and Samuel D. Bond, “Beyond Beauty: Design Symmetry and Brand Personality,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 28, no. 1 (2018): 77–98; Adriana V. Madzharov, Suresh Ramanathan, and Lauren G. Block, L. G., “The Halo Effect of Product Color Lightness on Hedonic Food Consumption,” Journal of the Association for Consumer Research 1, no. 4 (2016): 579–91. 9. Dipayan Biswas, Courtney Szocs, Roger Chacko, and Brian Wansink, B, “Shining Light on Atmospherics: How Ambient Light Influences Food Choices,” Journal of Marketing Research 54, no. 1 (2017): 111–23. 10. Henrik Hagtvedt and S. Adam Brasel, “Color Saturation Increases Perceived Product Size,” Journal of Consumer Research 44, no. 2 (2017): 396–413. 11. Adam Bryant, “Plastic Surgery at AmEx,” Newsweek, October 4, 1999, 55. 12. Amitava Chattopadhyay, Gerald J. Gorn, and Peter R. Darke, “Roses Are Red and Violets Are Blue—Everywhere? Cultural Universals and Differences in Color Preference among Consumers and Marketing Managers” (unpublished manuscript, University of British Columbia, Fall 1999); Joseph Bellizzi and Robert E. Hite, “Environmental Color, Consumer Feelings, and Purchase Likelihood,” Psychology & Marketing 9 (1992): 347–63; Ayn E. Crowley,

13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

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“The Two-Dimensional Impact of Color on Shopping,” Marketing Letters 4 (January 1993); Gerald J. Gorn, Amitava Chattopadhyay, Tracey Yi, and Darren W. Dahl, “Effects of Color as an Executional Cue in Advertising: They’re in the Shade,” Management Science 43, no. 10 (October 1997): 1387–1400, https:// doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.43.10.1387. Pam Belluck, “Reinvent Wheel? Blue Room. Defusing a Bomb? Red Room,” New York Times, February 5, 2009, www.newyorktimes.com. Mark G. Frank and Thomas Gilovich, “The Dark Side of Self and Social Perception: Black Uniforms and Aggression in Professional Sports,” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 54 (1988): 74–85. Marc Gobé, Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People (New York: Allworth Press, 2001). Nellie Bowles, “Is the Answer to Phone Addiction a Worse Phone?” New York Times, January 12, 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/01/12/technology/grayscalephone.html. Nick Carson, “20 Outstanding Uses of Colour in Branding,” Creative Bloq, December 7, 2020, https://www.creativebloq.com/branding/amazing-usescolour-6133196, accessed February 17, 2022. https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year-2022. Crolic, Cammy, Yanmei Zheng, JoAndrea Hoegg, and Joseph W. Alba, “The Influence of Product Aesthetics on Consumer Inference Making,” Journal of the Association for Consumer Research 4, no. 4 (2019): 398–408. Krishna, Aradhna, May O. Lwin, and Maureen Morrin, “Product Scent and Memory,” Journal of Consumer Research 37, no. 1 (2010): 57–67. The Associated Press, “Burger King to Offer Fragrance, Eau De Whopper,” New York Times, March 20, 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/03/21/business/ burger-king-to-offer-fragrance-eau-de-whopper.html. Deborah J. Mitchell, Barbara E. Kahn, and Susan C. Knasko, “There’s Something in the Air: Effects of Congruent or Incongruent Ambient Odor on Consumer Decision-Making,” Journal of Consumer Research 22 (September 1995): 229–38; for a review of olfactory cues in store environments, see also Eric R. Spangenberg, Ayn E. Crowley, and Pamela W. Henderson, “Improving the Store Environment: Do Olfactory Cues Affect Evaluations and Behaviors?” Journal of Marketing 60 (April 1996): 67–80. Krishna Aradhna, May O. Lwin, and Maureen Morrin, “Product Scent and Memory,” Journal of Consumer Research 37, no. 1 (2010): 57–67. Adriana V. Madzharov, Lauren G. Block, and Maureen Morrin, “The Cool Scent of Power: Effects of Ambient Scent on Consumer Preferences and Choice Behavior,” Journal of Marketing 79, no. 1 (January 2015): 83–96, http://dx.doi.org/10.1509/jm.13.0263.

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25. Pam Scholder Ellen and Paula Fitzgerald Bone, “Does It Matter If It Smells? Olfactory Stimuli as Advertising Executional Cues,” Journal of Advertising 27 (Winter 1998): 29–40. 26. Jack Hitt, “Does the Smell of Coffee Brewing Remind You of Your Mother?” New York Times Magazine, May 7, 2000, 73–77. 27. “Music Influences How Much You Enjoy Your Beer,” Canvas8, August 3, 2016, www.canvas8.com/signals/2016/08/03/music-beer-taste.html. 28. John Paul Titlow, “How Music Changes Your Behavior at Home,” Fast Company, February 10, 2016, www.fastcompany.com/3056554/ how-music-changes-our-behavior-at-home. 29. Xun (Irene) Huang and Aparna A. Labroo, “Cueing Morality: The Effect of High-Pitched Music on Healthy Choice,” Journal of Marketing 84, no. 6 (2020):130–43. 30. Michael L. Lowe and Kelly L. Haws, “Sounds Big: The Effects of Acoustic Pitch on Product Perceptions,” Journal of Marketing Research 54, no. 2 (2017): 331–46. 31. Bruce G. Vanden Bergh, Janay Collins, Myrna Schultz, and Keith Adler, “Sound Advice on Brand Names,” Journalism Quarterly 61, no. 4 (1984): 835–40; Eric Yorkston and Geeta Menon, “A Sound Idea: Phonetic Effects of Brand Names on Consumer Judgments,” Journal of Consumer Research 31 (June 2004): 43–51; Keith S. Coulter and Robin A. Coulter, “Small Sounds, Big Deals: Phonetic Symbolism Effects in Pricing,” Journal of Consumer Research 37, no. 2 (2010): 315–28. 32. L. J. Shrum, Sarah Roche, and Tina M. Lowrey, “What’s in a Name: Sound Symbolism of Stock Ticker Symbols Predict Stock Performance,” in June Cotte and Stacy Wood, eds., NA—Advances in Consumer Research 42 (Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research, 2014): 654–55. 33. Ditte Hvas Mortensen, “Natural User Interfaces – What are They And How do You Design User Interfaces that Feel Natural?,” Interaction Design Foundation, https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/natural-userinterfaces-what-are-they-and-how-do-you-design-user-interfaces-that-feelnatural, accessed May 9, 2022. 34. “You Can Look—But Don’t Touch,” Science Daily, January 20, 2009, www .sciencedaily.com; Joann Peck and Suzanne B. Shu, “The Effect of Mere Touch on Perceived Ownership,” Journal of Consumer Research 36, no. 3 (2009): 434–47. 35. Joann Peck, Victor A. Barger, and Andrea Webb, “In Search of a Surrogate for Touch: The Effect of Haptic Imagery on Perceived Ownership,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 23, no. 2 (2013): 189–96; S. Adam Brasel and James Gips, “Tablets, Touchscreens, and Touchpads: How Varying Touch Interfaces Trigger Psychological Ownership and Endowment,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 24, no. 2 (2014): 226–33. 36. Joann Peck and Terry L. Childers, “Individual Differences in Haptic Information Processing: The ‘Need for Touch’ Scale,” Journal of Consumer Research 30, no. 3 (2003): 430–442. 37. Jacob Hornik, “Tactile Stimulation and Consumer Response,” Journal of Consumer Research 19 (December 1992): 449–58. 38. Brett A. S. Martin, “A Stranger’s Touch: Effects of Accidental Interpersonal Touch on Consumer Evaluations and Shopping Time,” Journal of Consumer Research 39, no. 1 (June 2012): 174–84. 39. Jennifer J. Argo, Darren W. Dahl, and Andrea C. Morales, “Consumer Contamination: How Consumers React to Products Touched by Others,” Journal of Marketing 70 (2006): 81–94. 40. Iana A. Castro, Andrea C. Morales, and Stephen M. Nowlis, “The Influence of Disorganized Shelf Displays and Limited Product Quantity on Consumer Purchase,” Journal of Marketing 77, no. 4 (2013): 118–33. 41. “The Future of Contactless Payments Is Already Here,” Synchrony, December 16, 2021, https://www.synchrony.com/thefuture-of-contactless-payments-isalready-here.html. 42. Rhonda Hadi and Ana Valenzuela (2020), “Good Vibrations: Consumer Responses to Technology-Mediated Haptic Feedback,” Journal of Consumer Research, 47(2), 256–71. 43. “What Is the Meaning of Jinba Ittai?” Hall Mazda, August 26, 2019, https:// www.hallmazdamilwaukee.com/blog/what-is-the-meaning-of-jinba-ittai/, accessed March 18, 2022. 44. Material adapted from a presentation by Glenn H. Mazur, QFD Institute, 2002. 45. John Tagliabue, “Sniffing and Tasting with Metal and Wire,” New York Times, February 17, 2002, www.newyorktimes.com. 46. www.statista.com/outlook/253/100/food-beverages/worldwide#marketrevenue, accessed March 18, 2022. 47. Charles Spence, Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating (New York, NY: Viking, 2017). 48. Cammy Crolic and Chris Janiszewski, “Hedonic Escalation: When Food Just Tastes Better and Better,” Journal of Consumer Research 43, no. 3 (2016): 388–406. 49. Dipayan Biswas, Courtney Szocs, and Annika Abell, “Extending the Boundaries of Sensory Marketing and Examining the Sixth Sensory System: Effects of Vestibular Sensations for Sitting versus Standing Postures on Food Taste Perception,” Journal of Consumer Research 46, no. 4 (2019): 708–24.

50. Rumen Pozharliev, Matteo De Angelis, and Dario Rossi, “The Effect of Augmented Reality versus Traditional Advertising: A Comparison between Neurophysiological and Self-Reported Measures,” Marketing Letters 33 (2021): 113–28, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-021-09573-9. 51. Yong-Chin Tan, Sandeep R. Chandukala, and Srinivas K. Reddy, “Augmented Reality in Retail and Its Impact on Sales,” Journal of Marketing 86, no. 1 (2022): 48–66. 52. www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us. 53. I-Hsien Sherwood, “New Banner Ad from Jaguar Land Rover Lets You Test Drive a Car from Your Phone,” Campaign, June 2, 2017, www.campaignlive.co.uk/ article/new-banner-ad-jaguar-land-rover-lets-test-drive-car-phone/1435358. 54. https://www.statista.com/statistics/282453/mobile-augmented-realitymarket-size/. 55. https://www.statista.com/topics/2532/virtual-reality-vr/. 56. Quoted in Stephanie Clifford and Catherine Rampell, “Food Inflation Kept Hidden in Tinier Bags,” New York Times, March 28, 2011, www.newyorktimes. com/2011/03/29/business/29shrink.html. 57. Edgar Dworsky, “Shrinkflation: 6 Products with Smaller Packages in 2022,” MoneyTalksNews, March 9, 2022, https://www.moneytalksnews .com/slideshows/5-product-packages-that-have-been-downsized-or-upsized/, accessed March 19, 2022. 58. Michael Lev, “No Hidden Meaning Here: Survey Sees Subliminal Ads,” New York Times, May 3, 1991, D7. 59. “ABC Rejects KFC Commercial, Citing Subliminal Advertising,” Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2006, www.wsj.com. 60. Quoted in Claire Groden, “Potty-Mouthed Minions Wreak Happy Meal Havoc,” Fortune, July 9, 2015, http://fortune.com/2015/07/09/ minions-mcdonalds-happy-meal/. 61. Stewart A. Shapiro and Jesper H. Nielsen, “What the Blind Eye Sees: Incidental Change Detection as a Source of Perceptual Fluency,” Journal of Consumer Research 39, no. 6 (2013): 1202–18. 62. The Nielsen Total Audience Report: Q3 2018, March 3, 2019, https://www .nielsen.com/us/en/insights/report/2019/q3-2018-total-audience-report/, accessed February 18, 2022. 63. “Media Use in the U.S.–Statistics & Facts,” Statista, November 2, 2021, https:// www.statista.com/topics/1536/media-use/#topicHeader__wrapper, accessed February 18, 2022. 64. Adrian F. Ward, Kristen Duke, Ayelet Gneezy, and Maarten W. Bos (2017), “Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity,” Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2(2), 140–54. 65. Tanya Mohn, “Reading This While Walking? In Honolulu, It Could Cost You,” New York Times, October 23, 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/business/ honolulu-walking-and-texting-fine.html. 66. Stephanie Castillo, “Teens Told They Need to ‘Focus on the Task at Hand’ Make a Case for Multitasking,” Medical Daily, October 10, 2014, www.medicaldaily. com/teens-told-they-need-focus-task-hand-make-case-multitasking-306721; Matt Richtel, “Attached to Technology and Paying a Price,” New York Times, June 6, 2010, www.newyorktimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brain.html. 67. Emma Innes, “Is Your Inbox Making You Ill? Reading Work Emails Causes Your Blood Pressure and Heart Rate to Soar,” Daily Mail, June 4, 2013, www .dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2335699/Is-inbox-making-ill-Reading-workemails-causes-blood-pressure-heart-rate-soar.html#ixzz3Tii7BFks. 68. Geoffrey Weiss, “Study: 70% Of Americans Binge Watch TV, Averaging 5 Episodes Per Sitting,” Tubefilter, March 23, 2016, https://www.tubefilter. com/2016/03/23/deloitte-study-binge-watching-social-media-multitasking/, accessed March 18, 2022. 69. Daniel M. Zane, Robert W. Smith, and Rebecca Walker Reczek, “The Meaning of Distraction: How Metacognitive Inferences from Distraction during Multitasking Affect Brand Evaluations,” Journal of Consumer Research 46, no. 5 (2020): 974–94; https://newsroom.accenture.com/industries/global-mediaindustry-analyst-relations/accenture-research-finds-listening-more-difficult-intodays-digital-workplace.htm, accessed March 19, 2022. 70. Selin Atalay, H. Onur Bodur, and Dina Rasolofoarison, “Shining in the Center: Central Gaze Cascade Effect on Product Choice,” Journal of Consumer Research 39, no. 4 (December 2012): 848–66. 71. https://gimbal.com/project/ag-jeans/. 72. Rik Pieters, Michel Wedel, and Rajeev Batra, “The Stopping Power of Advertising: Measures and Effects of Visual Complexity,” Journal of Marketing 74 (September 2010): 48–60. 73. Roger Barton, Advertising Media (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964). 74. Suzanne Oliver, “New Personality,” Forbes, August 15, 1994, 114. 75. Adam Finn, “Print Ad Recognition Readership Scores: An Information Processing Perspective,” Journal of Marketing Research 25 (May 1988): 168–77. 76. Gerald L. Lohse, “Consumer Eye Movement Patterns on Yellow Pages Advertising,” Journal of Advertising 26 (Spring 1997): 61–73. 77. Stewart A. Shapiro and Jesper H. Nielsen, “What the Blind Eye Sees: Incidental Change Detection as a Source of Perceptual Fluency,” Journal of Consumer Research 39, no. 6 (2013): 1202–18.



78. Selin Atalay, H. Onur Bodur, and Dina Rasolofoarison, “Shining in the Center: Central Gaze Cascade Effect on Product Choice,” Journal of Consumer Research 39, no. 4 (2012): 848–66. 79. Milica Milosavljevic, Vidhya Navalpakkam, Christof Koch, and Antonio Rangel, “Relative Visual Saliency Differences Induce Sizable Bias in Consumer Choice,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 22, no. 1 (2012): 67–74. 80. Benedict Carey, “Liked the Show? Maybe It Was the Commercials,” New York Times, March 2, 2009, http://topics.NewYorkTimes.com/topics/reference/ timestopics/people/c/benedict_carey/index.html. 81. Chris Sherman, “A New F-Word for Google Search Results,” Search Engine Watch, March 8, 2005, http://searchenginewatch.com/3488076. 82. Michael R. Solomon and Basil G. Englis, “Reality Engineering: Blurring the Boundaries Between Marketing and Popular Culture,” Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising 16, no. 2 (Fall 1994): 1–18; Michael McCarthy, “Ads Are Here, There, Everywhere: Agencies Seek Creative Ways to Expand Product Placement,” USA Today, June 19, 2001, 1B. 83. Anthony Vance, Jeffrey L. Jenkins, Bonnie Brinton Anderson, Daniel K. Bjornn, and C. Brock Kirwan, “Tuning Out Security Warnings: A Longitudinal Examination of Habituation through fMRI, Eye Tracking, and Field Experiments,” MIS Quarterly 42, no. 2 (2018): 355–80. 84. Nicholas Bakalar, “If It Says McDonald’s, Then It Must Be Good,” New York Times, August 14, 2007, www.newyorktimes.com. 85. Benedict Carey, “Knowing the Ingredients Can Change the Taste,” New York Times, December 12, 2006, www.newyorktimes.com. 86. Xiaoyan Deng and Barbara E. Kahn, “Is Your Product on the Right Side? The ‘Location Effect’ on Perceived Product Heaviness and Package Evaluation,” Journal of Marketing Research 46, no. 6 (December 2009): 725–38. 87. Julio Sevilla and Robert J. Meyer, “Leaving Something for the Imagination: The Effect of Visual Concealment on Preferences,” Journal of Marketing 84, no. 4 (2020): 109–26. 88. Robert M. McMath, “Image Counts,” American Demographics (May 1998): 64. 89. Brian Wansink, James Painter, and Koert van Ittersum, “Descriptive Menu Labels’ Effect on Sales,” Cornell Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly (December 2001): 68–72. 90. Pankaj Aggarwal and Ann L. McGill, “Is That Car Smiling at Me? Schema Congruity as a Basis for Evaluating Anthropomorphized Products,” Journal of Consumer Behavior 34 (December 2007): 468–79. 91. Anthony Ramirez, “Lessons in the Cracker Market: Nabisco Saved New Graham Snack,” New York Times, July 5, 1990, D1. 92. Albert H. Hastorf and Hadley Cantril, “They Saw a Game: A Case Study,” Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology 49 (1954): 129–34; see also Roberto Friedmann and Mary R. Zimmer, “The Role of Psychological Meaning in Advertising,” Journal of Advertising (1988): 31–40. 93. Robert M. McMath, “Chock Full of (Pea)nuts,” American Demographics (April 1997): 60. 94. Min Zhao and Lan Xia, “Joint or Separate? The Effect of Visual Presentation on Imagery and Product Evaluation,” International Journal of Research in Marketing 38, no. 4 (2021): 935–52. 95. David Glen Mick, “Consumer Research and Semiotics: Exploring the Morphology of Signs, Symbols, and Significance,” Journal of Consumer Research 13 (September 1986): 196–213. 96. Arthur Asa Berger, Signs in Contemporary Culture: An Introduction to Semiotics (New York: Longman, 1984); David Glen Mick, “Consumer Research and Semiotics,” 196–213; Charles Sanders Peirce, in Charles Hartshorne, Paul Weiss, and Arthur W. Burks, eds., Collected Papers (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1931–1958); cf. also V. Larsen, D. Luna, and L. A. Peracchio, “Points of View and Pieces of Time: A Taxonomy of Image Attributes,” Journal of Consumer Research 31, no. 1 (2004): 102–111. 97. Steven Heller, “A Makeover for the Starbucks Mermaid,” New York Times, January 8, 2011, www.newyorktimes.com/2011/01/09/weekinreview/09heller. html. 98. Sara R. Jaeger, Leticia Vidal, and Gastón Ares, “Should Emoji Replace Emotion Words in Questionnaire-Based Food-Related Consumer Research?,” Food Quality and Preference 92 (2021): 104121, https://doi.org/10.1016/j .foodqual.2020.104121. 99. Robert D. Hof, “Picture This: Marketers Let Emojis Do the Talking,” New York Times, March 6, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/03/07/business/media/picturethis-marketers-let-emojis-do-the-talking.html. 100. Adapted from Michael R. Solomon, Greg W. Marshall, and Elnora W. Stuart, Marketing: Real People, Real Choices, 10th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2020). 101. William Echikson, “Aiming at High and Low Markets,” Fortune, March 22, 1993, 89. 102. Vanitha Swaminathan, Alina Sorescu, Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp, Thomas Clayton Gibson O’Guinn, and Bernd Schmitt, “Branding in a Hyperconnected World: Refocusing Theories and Rethinking Boundaries,” Journal of Marketing 84, no. 2 (2020): 24–46, https://doi.org/10.1177/0022242919899905.

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103. Hao Shen and Jaideep Sengupta, “Word of Mouth versus Word of Mouse: Speaking about a Brand Connects You to It More Than Writing Does,” Journal of Consumer Research 45 no. 3 (2018): 595–614, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucy011. 104. Daniel Dietrich and Cristel A. Russell, “A Framework of Brand Contestation: Toward Brand Antifragility,” Journal of Consumer Research 48, no. 4 (2021): 682–708, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucab053. 105. Michael M. Grybaum, “Judge Blocks New York City’s Limits on Big Sugary Drinks,” New York Times, March 11, 2013, www.newyorktimes. com/2013/03/12/nyregion/judge-invalidates-bloombergs-soda-ban.html. 106. Cecilia D’Anastasio, “The Metaverse Is Simply Big Tech, but Bigger,” Wired, November 4, 2021, https://www.wired.com/story/big-tech-metaverseinternet-consolidation-business/. 107. Ann-Marie Alcántara, “Marketers Explore Metaverse Worlds,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), March 2, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ marketers-explore-metaverse-worlds-11646218800. 108. Nina Aghadjanian, “These Brands Are Betting Big on the Metaverse,” AList, February 26, 2022, https://www.alistdaily.com/digital/brands-enterthe-metaverse/. 109. Ann-Marie Alcántara and Patrick Coffee, “Metaverse Spending to Total $5 Trillion in 2030, McKinsey Predicts,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), June 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/metaverse-spending-to-total-5-trillionin-2030-mckinsey-predicts-11655254794?mod=flipboard. 110. Geri Mileva, “20 Brands Leaping into the Metaverse,” Influencer Marketing Hub, April 21, 2022, https://influencermarketinghub.com/metaverse-brands/; Ann-Marie Alcántara and Patrick Coffee, “Metaverse Spending to Total $5 Trillion in 2030, McKinsey Predicts,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), June 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/metaverse-spending-to-total5-trillion-in-2030-mckinsey-predicts-11655254794?mod=flipboard. 111. “What the Metaverse Means for Brands and Branding,” Advertising Week, March 24, 2022, https://advertisingweek.com/what-the-metaverse-means-forbrands-and-branding/. 112. Ann-Marie Alcántara, “Restaurants’ Virtual Stores Test Consumers’ Appetite for Metaverse Marketing,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), April 5, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/restaurants-virtual-stores-test-consumersappetite-for-metaverse-marketing-11649160001. 113. Ann-Marie Alcántara and Patrick Coffee, “Metaverse Spending to Total $5 Trillion in 2030, McKinsey Predicts,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), June 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/metaverse-spending-to-total5-trillion-in-2030-mckinsey-predicts-11655254794?mod=flipboard. 114. Ann-Marie Alcántara, “Restaurants’ Virtual Stores Test Consumers’ Appetite for Metaverse Marketing,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), April 5, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/restaurants-virtual-stores-test-consumersappetite-for-metaverse-marketing-11649160001. 115. “Metaverse Marketing—Everything Brands Need to Know about Virtual Worlds,” Ad Age, January 20, 2022, https://adage.com/article/digital-marketingad-tech-news/metaverse-faq-marketing-everything-brands-need-know-aboutvirtual-worlds/2394221. 116. Elias Ahonen, “Concerts in the Metaverse Could Lead to a New Wave of Adoption,” Cointelegraph Magazine, December 27, 2021, https://cointele graph.com/magazine/2021/12/27/vr-animal-concerts-metaverse-lead-nextwave-crypto-adoption. 117. Ralph Rozema, “How Virtual Concerts in the Metaverse Can Inspire Brands,” Candid, accessed July 10, 2022, https://www.candidplatform.com/en/news/ platform-news/all-platform-news/marketing/how-virtual-concerts-in-the-­ metaverse-can-inspire-brands.html. 118. Kristi Waterworth, “6 Businesses That Have Bought Land in the Metaverse.” Nasdaq, accessed July 10, 2022, https://www.nasdaq.com/ articles/6-businesses-that-have-bought-land-in-the-metaverse. 119. Ann-Marie Alcántara, “Marketers Explore Metaverse Worlds,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), March 2, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ marketers-explore-metaverse-worlds-11646218800. 120. Webb Wright, “5 Brands Winning in the Metaverse,” The Drum, June 1, 2022, https://www.thedrum.com/news/2022/06/01/5-brands-winning-the-metaverse. 121. “What Brands Should Know about the Metaverse,” Ad Age, August 2, 2021, https://adage.com/article/digital-marketing-ad-tech-news/ what-brands-should-know-about-metaverse/2354506. 122. Ben Plomion, “A Giant Leap for Advertising Kind: How the Metaverse Could Lead to a Next-Gen Brand Experience,” Forbes, May 16, 2022, https://www .forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2022/05/16/a-giant-leapfor-advertising-kind-how-the-metaverse-could-lead-to-a-next-gen-brandexperience/. 123. “Advertising in the Metaverse Explained: It’s a Jungle out There,” XR Today, December 31, 2021, https://www.xrtoday.com/virtual-reality/advertisingin-the-metaverse-explained-its-a-jungle-out-there/; Asa Hiken, “Metaverse Marketing—Everything Brands Need to Know about Virtual Worlds,” Ad Age, January 20, 2022, https://adage.com/article/digital-marketing-ad-technews/metaverse-faq-marketing-everything-brands-need-know-about-virtualworlds/2394221.

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124. Tomas Oscar Andrén, “How Influencer Marketing Will Change in the Metaverse,” Forbes, June 6, 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/ 2022/06/06/how-influencer-marketing-will-change-in-the-metaverse/. 125. Advertising Week, “What the Metaverse Means for Brands and Branding,” Advertising Week, March 24, 2022, https://advertisingweek.com/ what-the-metaverse-means-for-brands-and-branding/. 126. Chris Butler, “Identity Problems Get Bigger in the Metaverse,” O’Reilly Media, March 15, 2022, https://www.oreilly.com/radar/identity-problemsget-bigger-in-the-metaverse/; “What the Metaverse Means for Brands and Branding,” Advertising Week, March 24, 2022, https://advertisingweek.com/ what-the-metaverse-means-for-brands-and-branding/.

127. Sarah E. Needleman, “The Amazing Things You’ll Do in the ‘Metaverse’ and What It Will Take to Get There,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), October 16, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-amazing-things-youll-do-in-themetaverse-and-what-it-will-take-to-get-there-11634396401. 128. Ann-Marie Alcántara and Patrick Coffee, “Metaverse Spending to Total $5 Trillion in 2030, McKinsey Predicts,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), June 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/metaverse-spending-to-total5-trillion-in-2030-mckinsey-predicts-11655254794?mod=flipboard. 129. “What Brands Should Know about the Metaverse,” Ad Age, August 2, 2021, https://adage.com/article/digital-marketing-ad-tech-news/ what-brands-should-know-about-metaverse/2354506.

4

Learning, Remembering, and Knowing CHAPTER OBJECTIVES   When you finish reading this chapter, you should be able to: 4-1 Describe how conditioning results in learning. 4-2 Summarize how we learn about products and consumption practices by observing others’ behavior.

4-3 Explain how our brains process and store information about brands in our memory. 4-4 Discuss how knowledge about brands is organized in our brains.

A

h, Sunday morning! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and Joe is feeling groovy! He puts on his vintage Levi’s 501 jeans (circa 1968) and his Beatles T-shirt and saunters down to the kitchen. He’s just returned from his college reunion. Just being back at his old campus haunts brought up tons of memories. When he walked into the familiar business school lobby, he found that he was able to remember names of former classmates, a few professors, and even some of the classes he took so many years ago as if it was yesterday. Time to hit Facebook to follow up on some of the old classmates he saw at the party—for sure his old posse hasn’t discovered Instagram (much less TikTok) quite yet! Joe cranks up the Lava Lamp, throws a Grateful Dead record on the turntable (ah, the sublime joys of vinyl), and sits back on his Barcalounger as he clutches a huge bowl filled to the brim with his all-time favorite cereal, Cap’n Crunch. He reaches for his laptop—let the memories begin! OBJECTIVE 4-1 Describe how conditioning results in learning.

How Do We Learn?

Learning refers to the acquisition of information, behaviors, or abilities. Learning can happen through direct experience but also by observing others.1 And it can happen passively or actively. We learn even when we don’t try: We recognize many brand names and hum many product jingles, for example, even for products we don’t personally use. We call this casual, unintentional acquisition of knowledge incidental learning. Learning is an ongoing process. Our knowledge about the world constantly updates as we are exposed to new stimuli and as we receive ongoing feedback that allows us to modify our behavior when we find ourselves in similar situations later. The concept of learning covers a lot of ground, ranging from a consumer’s simple association between a stimulus, such as a product logo (e.g., Lululemon), and a response (e.g., “being comfortable and stylish”) to a complex series of cognitive activities (e.g., writing an essay on learning for a consumer behavior exam). Psychologists who study learning advance several theories to explain the learning process. These theories range from those that focus on simple stimulus–response connections

Source: David South/Alamy Stock Photo

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(behavioral theories) to perspectives that regard learning as a set of internal mental ­processes that acquire and construct knowledge from observing what others say and do (cognitive theories). It’s important for marketers to understand these theories as well because basic learning principles are at the heart of many consumer purchase decisions.

Behavioral Learning Theories Behavioral learning theories assume that learning takes place as the result of responses to external events. Psychologists who subscribe to this viewpoint do not focus on internal thought processes. Instead, they approach the mind as a “black box” and emphasize the observable aspects of behavior. The observable aspects consist of things that go into the box (the stimuli or events perceived from the outside world) and things that come out of the box (the responses, or reactions to these stimuli). Two major approaches to learning represent this view: classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning. According to the behavioral learning perspective, the feedback we receive as we go through life shapes our experiences. Similarly, we respond to brand names, scents, jingles, and other marketing stimuli because of the learned connections we form over time. People also learn that actions they take result in rewards and punishments; this feedback influences the way they will respond in similar situations in the future. Consumers who receive compliments on a product choice will be more likely to buy that brand again, whereas those who get food poisoning at a new restaurant are not likely to patronize that restaurant in the future.

Classical Conditioning As you can see in Figure 4.1, classical conditioning occurs when a stimulus that elicits a response is paired with another stimulus that initially does not elicit a response on its own. Over time, this second stimulus causes a similar response because we associate it with the first stimulus. Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist who conducted research on digestion in animals, first demonstrated this phenomenon in dogs. Pavlov induced classically conditioned learning when he paired a neutral stimulus (a bell) with a BEFORE CONDITIONING

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

Unconditioned response (UCR)

Neutral stimulus

DURING CONDITIONING

Repeated exposures

Unconditioned response (UCR)

Figure 4.1  How Classical Conditioning Works

No response

AFTER CONDITIONING

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

Source: Designs Stock/Shutterstock; William Perugini/Shutterstock; Alexander Lysenko/Shutterstock.

Conditioned response (CR)



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stimulus known to cause a salivation response in dogs (he squirted dried meat powder into their mouths). The powder was an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) because it was naturally capable of causing the response. Over time, the bell became a conditioned stimulus (CS); it did not initially cause salivation, but the dogs learned to associate the bell with the meat powder and began to salivate at the sound of the bell only. The drooling of these canine consumers because of a sound, now linked to feeding time, was a conditioned response (CR). This basic form of classical conditioning that Pavlov demonstrated primarily applies to responses to visual and olfactory cues that induce hunger, thirst, sexual arousal, and other basic drives. When marketers consistently pair these cues with conditioned stimuli, such as brand names, consumers may learn to feel hungry, thirsty, or aroused when they encounter these brand cues at a later point. Recent developments in conditioning research show that learning is even more effective through evaluative conditioning.2 Instead of associating the UCS with a single activating stimulus, the UCS is paired with a series of different stimuli that all trigger the same type of emotional response. For instance, a study showed that pairing a Belgian beer with a series of images of people having fun across several activities such as skiing led to stronger and longer lasting conditioning effects: The participants believed the beer was also more fun when they encountered it in these situations. Conditioning effects are more likely to occur after the conditioned (CS) and unconditioned (UCS) stimuli have been paired a number of times.3 Repeated exposures—repetition— increase the strength of stimulus–response associations and prevent the decay of these associations in memory. Some Apple does a great job of placing its brands in the hands of research indicates that the intervals between exposures may likeable characters in TV shows and movies. In this scene from the influence the effectiveness of this strategy as well as the type of popular TV show, Superstore, you can clearly see the company’s medium the marketer uses; the most effective repetition stratbrand logo on the product. Source: Trae Patton/©NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection egy is a combination of spaced exposures that alternate in terms of media that are more and less involving, such as television advertising complemented by print media.4 And it turns out that due to the process of evaluative conditioning, a marketer can associate a brand with a diverse set of images or associations that all trigger the same emotional reaction. This is also a great way to create longer-lasting associations. For instance, if you want people to associate a brand with warm feelings, you might feature puppies in one ad, a cozy fire in a log cabin in a different ad, and a laughing baby in another ad. In this way, people associate your brand with “warm fuzzy feelings” rather than just “cute puppies” or “laughing babies.” Many classic advertising campaigns consist of product slogans that companies repeat so often they are etched in consumers’ minds. Conditioning will not occur or will take longer if the CS is only occasionally paired with the UCS. One result of this lack of association is extinction, which happens when the effects of prior conditioning diminish and finally disappear. This can occur when a product is overexposed in the marketplace so that its original allure is lost. The Izod Lacoste polo shirt, with its distinctive crocodile crest, The Izod Lacoste polo shirt, with its distinctive crocodile rescued itself from extinction. Source: Edward Berthelot /Contributor crest, is a good example. When the once-exclusive crocodile

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started to appear on baby clothes and many other items, it lost its cachet. Other contenders, such as the Ralph Lauren polo player, successfully challenged it as a symbol of casual elegance. Now that Izod is being more careful about where its logo appears, the brand is starting to regain its “cool” in some circles.

Marketing Applications of Classical Conditioning Principles Behavioral learning principles apply to many consumer phenomena, such as when a marketer creates a distinctive brand image or links a product to an underlying need. The transfer of meaning from an unconditioned stimulus to a conditioned stimulus explains why “made-up” brand names, such as Marlboro, Coca-Cola, or Adidas, exert such powerful effects on consumers. The association between the Marlboro man and the cigarette is so strong that in some cases the company no longer even bothers to include the brand name in its ads that feature the cowboy riding off into the sunset. Indeed, recent research shows that these linkages cement early on; scans of children show how the pleasure and appetite centers of their brains light up when they view fast-food-company advertising images such as the McDonald’s logo.5 When researchers pair nonsense syllables (meaningless sets of letters) with such evaluative words as beauty or success, the meaning transfers to the fake words. This change in the symbolic significance of initially meaningless words shows that simple associations can condition even complex meanings, and the learning that results can last a long time.6 These associations are crucial to many marketing strategies that rely on the creation and perpetuation of brand equity, in which a brand has strong positive associations in a consumer’s memory and commands a lot of loyalty as a result.7

Marketing Applications of Repetition

Wear-out and weariness are not only an issue for marketers but also for public health practitioners who often rely on warnings: The more people are exposed to warnings, the less they pay attention to them. One solution is to create variations of the same basic message. A large study of warnings on cigarette packaging conducted across 10 European countries found that wear-out was not as strong when the warnings combined texts and pictures compared to text-only warnings.10 Based on those findings, it’s probably a good idea to regularly change the images we use in such warnings to help reduce wear-out and keep the warnings effective. Source: Kim Steele/Alamy Stock Photo

One advertising researcher argued that any more than three exposures to a marketing communication are wasted. The first exposure creates awareness of the product, the second demonstrates its relevance to the consumer, and the third reminds them of the product’s benefits.8 However, even this bare-bones approach implies that we need repetition to ensure that the consumer sees or hears (and processes) the message at least three times. As we’ve seen, this exposure is by no means guaranteed, because people tend to tune out or distort many marketing communications. Marketers who attempt to condition an association must ensure that the consumers they target will be exposed to the stimulus enough times to make it “stick.” A study that scrutinized the large body of research on advertising repetition found that recall of a message increases linearly with every exposure but levels off after eight exposures.9 However, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Consumers can become so used to hearing or seeing a marketing stimulus that they no longer pay attention to it, a problem we call advertising wear-out. And it gets worse: Too much exposure to the same message can create advertising weariness,



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where consumers react even more negatively to the repeated message and become less interested in the brand being advertised. A study of digital advertising for a financial service provider that examined nearly one million exposures across ten thousand internet users found that a quarter of consumers showed weariness: They visited the advertised website less often the more they were exposed to the ad.11 Overkill!

Marketing Applications of Classical Conditioning Principles: The Halo Effect at Work Advertisements often pair a product with a positive stimulus to create a desirable association. Various aspects of a marketing message, such as music, humor, or imagery, can affect conditioning. In a classic study, subjects who viewed a slide of pens paired with either pleasant or unpleasant music were more likely later to select the pen that appeared with the pleasant music.12 Think about how you feel when you hear a text coming on your Slack channel or the buzz of your phone when a message drops.

Burt’s Bees established a positive reputation in categories like skincare and lip balms, which then allowed the company to offer other variations. Source: Retro AdArchives /Alamy Stock Photo

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But there’s another important reason for the importance of classical conditioning in marketing: Stimulus generalization refers to the tendency of stimuli similar to a CS to evoke similar, conditioned responses. For example, Pavlov noticed in subsequent studies that his dogs would sometimes salivate when they heard noises that only vaguely resembled a bell, such as keys jangling. People also react to other, similar stimuli in much the same way they responded to the original stimulus; we call this generalization a halo effect. Strategies that marketers base on stimulus generalization include: Family branding—Many products capitalize Bentley is among many luxury carmakers that successfully licenses its name on the reputation of a company name. Companies in other product categories.13 such as Campbell’s, Heinz, and General Electric Source: Courtesy of Bentley Motors Limited. rely on their positive corporate images to sell a variety of product lines. On the other hand, this strategy can come back to bite you if one of your operating units hits a bump in the road (one of the reasons that Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta).14 Product line extension—Marketers add related products to an established brand. Dole, which we associate with fruit, introduced refrigerated juices and juice bars, whereas Sun Maid went from raisins to raisin bread. Licensing—Companies often “rent” well-known names, hoping that the learned associations they have forged will “rub off” onto other kinds of products. Zippo Manufacturing Co., long known for its “windproof” cigarette lighters, markets a men’s fragrance—and no, it doesn’t smell like lighter fluid.15 The National Football League puts team logos on, well, just about everything.16 Bentley lends its name to We clearly appreciate the value of a halo effect when we look colognes, furniture, skis, handbags, and even a hotel suite at universities with winning sports teams: Loyal fans snap up that costs $10,500 a night at the St. Regis hotel in New York. merchandise, from clothing to bathroom accessories, emblazoned The Ferrari prancing horse logo pops up on chess sets, Tod’s with the school’s name. loafers, and Oakley sunglasses.17 Source: Justin Sullivan /Getty Images Look-Alike Packaging—Distinctive packaging designs create strong associations with a particular brand. Companies that make generic or private-label brands and want to communicate a quality image often exploit this linkage with look-alike packaging, or putting their products in packages like those of popular brands.18 A drugstore’s bottle of private-brand mouthwash that is deliberately packaged to resemble Listerine mouthwash may evoke a similar response among consumers, who assume that this “me-too” product shares other characteristics of the original. Indeed, consumers in one study of shampoo brands tended to rate those with similar packages as similar in quality and performance as well.19 How does this strategy affect consumers’ perceptions of the original brand? In general, copying actually helps the copycat brand, as long as the imitator doesn’t make grandiose claims that it can’t fulfill.20 Consumers also find it less unfair and more acceptable when the copycat brand imitates another brand’s theme (like the freshness of Alpine milk theme in the Milka chocolate brand) rather than the brand’s



Chapter 4  •  Learning, Remembering, and Knowing

perceptual features (like the lilac color scheme of the Milka brand or the Starbucks mermaid design).21 This “piggybacking” strategy can cut both ways: When the quality of the me-too product turns out to be lower than that of the original brand, consumers may exhibit even more positive feelings toward the original. However, if they perceive the quality of the two competitors to be about equal, consumers may conclude that the price premium they pay for the original is not worth it.22

Consumer Confusion Of course, this strategy can make a lot of work for lawyers if the copycat brand gets too close to the original. Marketers of distinctive brands work hard to protect their designs and logos, and each year companies file numerous lawsuits in so-called Lanham Act cases that hinge on the issue of consumer confusion: How likely is it that one company’s logo, product design, or package is so similar to another that the typical shopper would mistake one for the other? Levi Strauss has sued almost 100 other apparel manufacturers that it claims have borrowed its trademark pocket design of a pentagon surrounding a drawing of a seagull in flight or its distinctive tab that it sews into its garments’ vertical seams.23 Recently, a theme park called Evermore in Utah sued singer Taylor Swift because she titled her 2020 album with the same name.24 Companies with a well-established brand image can promote the unique attributes of their brand—hence the constant reminders for American Express Travelers Cheques: “Ask for them by name.” However, a brand name that a firm uses so widely that it is no longer distinctive becomes part of the public domain and competitors are free to borrow it: Think of well-worn names such as aspirin, cellophane, yo-yo, escalator, and even google (which started as a noun and is now also a verb). This high degree of acceptance can be a tough barrier to jump when you’re a competitor: Even though Lyft launched before Uber, it still lags in terms of brand awareness and continues to work hard to become top of mind ahead of Uber when we need a ride.25

Instrumental Conditioning Instrumental conditioning (or operant conditioning) occurs when we learn to perform behaviors that produce positive outcomes and avoid those that yield negative outcomes. We most closely associate this learning process with the psychologist B. F. Skinner, who demonstrated the effects of instrumental conditioning by teaching pigeons and other animals to dance and play Ping-Pong, when he systematically rewarded them for desired behaviors.27 Whereas responses in classical conditioning are involuntary and simple, we make those in instrumental conditioning deliberately to obtain a goal, and these may be more complex. We may learn the desired behavior over a period of time as a shaping process rewards our intermediate actions. For example, the owner of a new store may award prizes to shoppers who simply drop in; she hopes that over time they will continue to drop in and eventually even buy something. Also, whereas classical conditioning involves the close pairing of two stimuli, instrumental learning occurs when a learner receives a reward after they perform the desired behavior. In these cases, learning takes place over time, while the learner attempts and abandons other behaviors that don’t get reinforced. A good way to remember the difference is to keep in mind that in instrumental learning the person makes a response because it is instrumental to gain a reward or avoid a punishment. Over time, consumers come to associate with people who reward them and to choose products that make them feel good or satisfy some need.

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Buying, Having, Being Make Some Noise with Tinder’s Sound Signature Classical conditioning works so well with sound that many brands have embraced sonic branding, the association of a sound with their brand.26 How do you feel when you hear the classic sound of your HBO 2.0, or Netflix application? Sonic branding is so popular that marketing agencies are specializing in creating sound signatures for brands. The dating app Tinder, for instance, got a new sonic signature based on research to identify the most appropriate sounds to capture its three essential brand characteristics: its lighthearted and fun element (percussive and bright tones), its surprise (quick tempo), and its emphasis on fresh and young (game-like feel). The combination of those three sound elements created Tinder’s new sonic signature. Now, whenever you hear the sound, you immediately feel the very sense of excitement, fun, and surprise that Tinder strategically associated with “We have a match!”

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Instrumental conditioning occurs in one of three ways:

Positive reinforcement occurs after consumers try new products and like them. Source: Adene Sanchez / E+/Getty Images

1. When the environment provides positive reinforcement in the form of a reward, this strengthens the response, and we learn the appropriate behavior. For example, a food blogger who gets compliments after posting a new way of saving leftover guacamole and keeping it fresh and tasty (without turning yucky brown) will be more likely to post about similar topics in the future. 2. Negative reinforcement also strengthens responses so that we learn the appropriate behavior. A YouTuber who gets a lot of thumbs down or negative comments to a video post will quickly learn what not to upload. 3. In contrast to situations where we learn to do certain things to avoid unpleasantness, punishment occurs when unpleasant events follow a response (such as when our friends ridicule us if we use an off-putting Zoom background). We learn the hard way not to repeat these behaviors.28

To help you understand the differences among these ­mechanisms, keep in mind that reactions from a person’s e­ nvironment to their behavior can be either positive or negative, and that marketers can either apply or remove these outcomes (or anticipated outcomes). That is, under conditions of both positive reinforcement and punishment, the person receives a reaction when they do something. In contrast, negative reinforcement occurs when the person avoids a negative outcome—the removal of something negative is pleasurable and hence is rewarding.

REINFORCEMENT

PUNISHMENT

ADDING something

ADD something positive to increase behavior.

ADD something negative to decrease behavior.

REMOVING something

REMOVE something negative to increase behavior.

REMOVE something positive to decrease behavior.

Increase Behavior Figure 4.2  Types of Reinforcement Source: Matsabe/Shutterstock.

Decrease Behavior



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Finally, when a person no longer receives a positive outcome, extinction is likely to occur, and the learned ­stimulus– response connection will not be maintained (as when the YouTuber no longer receives thumbs up on their videos). Thus, positive and negative reinforcement strengthen the future linkage between a response and an outcome because of the pleasant experience. This tie is weakened under conditions of both punishment and extinction because of the unpleasant experience. Figure 4.2 will help you to “reinforce” the relationships among these four conditions.

Marketing Applications of Instrumental Conditioning Principles Casino operators program slot machines to deliver rewards

Principles of instrumental conditioning are at work when a on an unpredictable schedule to keep players interested. marketer rewards or punishes a consumer for a purchase or Source: massimofusaro/Shutterstock consumption decision. For instance, grocery stores encourage consumers to bring their own shopping bags by providing monetary incentives to do so. Marketers have many ways to reinforce consumers’ behaviors, ranging from a simple “thank you” after a purchase to substantial rebates and follow-up phone calls. The continuous reinforcement of consumption can become problematic, however, when the behavior that is consistently encouraged is maladaptive or unhealthy. For instance, recent research has uncovered that many of the addictions we might develop to social media or our technologies took root through a process of instrumental conditioning: The constant sounds of messages popping up on our phone keep us grabbing for it; the continuous flow of notifications of likes on a social media post fuel our need to check our feed.29

Loyalty programs are a popular way for marketers to apply instrumental conditioning, because they can reward customers for their purchases. Source: Mironov Konstantin/Shutterstock

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Frequency marketing is a popular technique that rewards regular purchasers with prizes that get better as they spend more. The airline industry pioneered this instrumental learning strategy when it introduced “frequent flyer” programs in the early 1980s to reward loyal customers. The practice has spread to many other businesses as well, ranging from grocery stores to casinos.

OBJECTIVE 4-2 Summarize how we learn about products and consumption practices by observing others’ behavior.

Cognitive Learning Theory

Unlike behavioral theories of learning, cognitive learning theory approaches learning as a set of internal mental processes. This comprehensive theory was initially developed to explain how humans gradually acquire, construct, and use knowledge from what they observe around them. An Ocean Spray commercial for diet cranberry juice illustrates how marketers can harness their knowledge of cognitive theories to tweak marketing messages. The spot features two cranberry growers, who stand knee-deep in a bog. A group of people who are exercising joins them. Originally, the ad depicted these individuals having a party, but a cognitive scientist who worked on the campaign nixed that idea; she argued that the exercise class would send the diet message more quickly, whereas the party scene would confuse viewers who would spend too much time trying to figure out why the group was celebrating. This extra cognitive activity would distract from the ad’s message. And, contrary to standard practice in advertising that the actors name the product as early as possible, she decided that the main characters should wait a few seconds before they mention the new diet product. She reasoned that viewers would need a second or so more time to process the images because of the additional action in the ad (the exercising). In a test of which ads got remembered best, this new version scored in the top 10 percent.30

Observational Learning Observational learning occurs when we watch the actions of others and note the reinforcements they receive for their behaviors. In these situations, learning occurs because of vicarious rather than direct experience. This type of learning is a complex process; people store these observations in memory as they accumulate knowledge, and then they use this information at a later point to guide their own behavior. Modeling (not the Paris runway kind) is the process of imitating the behavior of others. Marketing campaigns have long relied on stories with aspirational characters and immersive stories in their attempts to encourage audiences to model the consumption behaviors depicted in the stories. For instance, recent research shows that advertisements for health services, whether for therapy, exercise, or career advice, were more impactful on their audience when the story in the ad featured characters who were intrinsically motivated (doing things because they want to) rather than characters who were extrinsically motivated (doing things because they feel pressure to): The researchers argued that consumers could more easily identify with the intrinsically motivated characters and this facilitated the modeling process.31 The modeling process is a powerful form of learning, and people’s tendencies to imitate others’ behaviors can have negative effects. Given how much time we spend on social media, it is not surprising that it is a huge source of modeling influences. Indeed, doctors report a pronounced spike in young patients seeking treatment for tics—apparently, they were modeling content from TikTok creators who say they

Chapter 4  •  Learning, Remembering, and Knowing



have Tourette syndrome, a tic disorder that makes patients involuntarily curse and slap themselves. These #tourettes videos have been viewed more than 5 billion times.32

How Kids Develop Cognitive Skills Theory of mind is a cognitive skill that refers to knowing and being aware of one’s own and of other people’s mental states: understanding what they think and feel. For instance, we say children have developed a theory of mind if they figure out that to get what they want they may need to behave a certain way (like whining to their poor parents). This cognitive skill allows children to become better negotiators to get things they want! Once children have developed theory of mind, they understand how others’ minds work and this makes them better able to make sense of the marketing environment as well.33 The Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget was the foremost proponent of the idea that children pass through distinct stages of cognitive development. He believed that a certain cognitive structure characterizes each stage as the child learns to process information.34 In one classic demonstration of cognitive development, Piaget poured the contents of a short, squat glass of lemonade into a taller, thinner glass that held the same amount of liquid. Five-year-olds, who still believed that the shape of the glass determined its contents, thought this glass held more liquid than the first glass. They are in what Piaget termed a preoperational stage of development. In contrast, 6-year-olds tended to be unsure, and 7-year-olds knew the amount of lemonade had not changed. A child’s ability to make mature, “adult” consumer decisions obviously increases with age (not that grown-ups always make mature decisions!). Many developmental specialists no longer believe that children necessarily pass through these fixed stages at the same time. An alternative view proposes that they differ in information-processing capability, or the ability to store and retrieve information from memory. Researchers who advocate this approach identify three developmental stages:35 1. Limited—Children who are younger than age 6 do not employ storage-andretrieval strategies. 2. Cued—Children between the ages of 6 and 12 employ these strategies but only when prompted to do so. 3. Strategic—Children 12 and older spontaneously employ storage-and-retrieval strategies. This sequence of development underscores the notion that children do not think in the same way adults do, and we can’t expect them to use information the same way either. It also reminds us that they do not necessarily form the same conclusions as do adults when they encounter product information.36 Conceptual brand meanings, which specify the nonobservable abstract features of the product, such as the status of owning an item, enter the picture in middle childhood (about age 8); children incorporate them into their thinking and judgments a few years later. By the time most children reach 12 years of age, they think about brands on a conceptual or symbolic level, and they are likely to incorporate these meanings into brand-related judgments.37 For example, a younger child might ask for a new pair of Adidas shoes simply because they are familiar with the brand Adidas from seeing it in a shop, in ads, or on their friends’ feet, while a more developed child is more likely to ask for a new pair of Adidas because they have a deep sense of the brand’s symbolic meaning and they are conscious of all the rich semiotic associations with the brand, which we studied in Chapter 3.

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Buying, Having, Being From Mindlessness to Mindfulness By now you have figured out that a lot of what we learn is automatic. Behavioral learning theorists emphasize the routine, automatic nature of conditioning, and even some proponents of cognitive learning agree that some information is processed in an automatic, passive way, a condition that researchers call “mindlessness” (we’ve all experienced that!).42 The counterpart to mindlessness is mindfulness. Mindfulness training allows us to be more attentive to what otherwise may have become automatic associations. As such, training ourselves to be more alert and mindful can help us de-link concepts and retrain our brain to remove unwanted associations or to create new ones. For instance, mindfulness can help people re-learn how to eat and how to enjoy what they eat.43 Because mindfulness can allow us to change our daily consumption routines, it can also lower the negative environmental impacts of overconsumption.44 Mindfulness is related to the practice of meditation and encourages followers to slow down, tune out distractions, and focus on what they are feeling now.45 Ironically, mindfulness has itself become an industry. You can buy Mindful Lotus tea, Mindful Meats, or Mindful Mints; subscribe to one of the many mindfulness apps, like Headspace, to follow guided exercises; or attend some of the many seminars and workshops available. Even athletes have gotten into the game: The Golden State Warriors, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Boston Red Sox practice mindfulness in their locker rooms. A research company estimates that meditation-related businesses in the United States alone generated almost $1 billion in revenue. That’s a lot to meditate about!

When millions of preschoolers tune in to Nickelodeon’s hit show Dora the Explorer, they don’t realize that they view content based on multiple-intelligence theory. This influential perspective argues for other types of intelligence, such as athletic prowess or musical ability, beyond the traditional math and verbal skills psychologists use to measure IQ. Thus, when Dora consults her map, she promotes “spatial” skills. And when she asks her young viewers to help her count planks to build a bridge, Dora builds “interpersonal intelligence.”38 Source: Carolyn Jenkins/Alamy Stock Photo

Kids’ Message Comprehension Because children differ in their abilities to process product-related information, advertisers’ direct appeals to them raise many serious ethical issues.39 Children’s advocacy groups argue that kids younger than age seven do not understand the persuasive intent of commercials, and (as we’ve seen) younger children cannot readily distinguish between a commercial and programming. Kids’ cognitive defenses are not yet sufficiently developed to filter out commercial appeals, so in a sense, altering their brand preferences may be likened to “shooting fish in a barrel,” as one critic put it.40 Beginning in the 1970s, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took action to protect children. The agency limited commercials during “children’s” programming (most often Saturday morning television) and required “separators” to help children discern when a program ended and a commercial began (e.g., “We’ll be right back after these commercial messages”). The FTC reversed itself in the early 1980s during the deregulatory, pro-business climate of Ronald Reagan’s administration. The 1990 Children’s Television Act restored some of these restrictions. The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (“CARU”), a part of the Better Business Bureau, issued revised guidelines for advertising to children that went into effect in early 2022. CARU warns advertisers to “. . . not use unfair, deceptive, or other manipulative tactics” aimed at pressuring children to view ads or make purchases or to unknowingly engage with advertising from in-app or in-game advertisements. The guidelines also address the growing influencer phenomenon in social media; influencers should disclose any significant connections to brands they are endorsing in language that children can understand.41

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Marketing Applications of Cognitive Learning Principles Our ability to learn vicariously when we observe the outcomes of what others do makes the lives of marketers much easier. They don’t necessarily have to directly reward or punish consumers when they make a purchase (think how expensive or even ethically questionable that might be!). Instead, they can show what happens to desirable models who use or do not use their products; they know that consumers often will imitate these actions later. Consumers’ evaluations of the people they model go beyond simple stimulus– response connections. For example, a celebrity’s image elicits more than a simple reflexive response of good or bad; it brings a complex set of cultural meanings and associations that can imbue a brand in the symbolic ways we learned about in Chapter 3 and that we will revisit in Chapter 8 when we discuss persuasion.

OBJECTIVE 4-3 Explain how our brains process and store information about brands in our memory.

Remembering

Memory is a process of acquiring information and storing it over time so that it will be available when we need it. Contemporary approaches to the study of memory employ an information-processing approach. They assume that the mind is in some ways like a computer: Data are input, processed, and output for later use in revised form. Figure 4.3 summarizes the memory process: 1. In the encoding stage, information enters in a way the system will recognize. 2. In the storage stage, we integrate this knowledge with what is already in memory and “warehouse” it until it is needed. 3. During retrieval stage, we access the desired information.46 Many of our experiences are locked inside our heads, and they may surface years later if the right cues prompt them. Marketers rely on consumers to retain information they collect about products and services so they will apply it to future purchase decisions. We combine this internal memory with external memory when we decide what to buy. This includes all the product details on packages and other marketing stimuli that permit us to identify and evaluate brand alternatives in the marketplace.47 SENSORY MEMORY Temporary storage of information received from the senses.

SHORT-TERM MEMORY Brief storage of information currently being used.

LONG-TERM MEMORY Relatively permanent storage of information.

Capacity: Low

Capacity: Limited

Capacity: Unlimited

Duration: Less than 1 second (vision) or a few seconds (hearing)

Duration: Less than 20 seconds

Duration: Long or permanent

Attention Information that passes through an attentional gate is transferred to short-term memory.

Figure 4.3  Types of Memory

Elaboration Information subjected to elaborative rehearsal or deep processing (e.g., its meaning is considered) is transferred to long-term memory.

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An app like Grocery that stores shopping lists is a powerful external memory aid. Source: McLittle Stock /Shutterstock

The grocery-shopping list is a good example of a powerful external memory aid. When consumers use shopping lists, they buy approximately 80 percent of the items on the list. The likelihood that a shopper will purchase a particular list item is higher if the person who wrote the list also participates in the shopping trip. This means that if marketers can induce consumers to plan to purchase an item before they go shopping, there is a high probability that they will buy it. One way to encourage this kind of advance planning is to provide peel-off stickers on packages so that, when consumers notice the supply is low, they can simply peel off the label and place it directly on a shopping list.48 Or, a retailer can support a phone app that generates a shopping list for the user (you already can choose from an abundance of apps that do this).49

How Our Brains Encode Information The way we encode, or mentally program, information helps to determine how our brains will store this information. In general, it’s more likely that we’ll retain incoming data when we associate it with other things already in memory. For example, we tend to remember brand names that we link to physical characteristics of a product category (e.g., Coffee-Mate creamer or Mixed Chicks Haircare) or that we can easily visualize (e.g., Tide detergent or Puma shoes) compared to more abstract brand names.50 Similarly, our brains automatically react to images of familiar celebrities and use them to guide how we think about them to ascribe meaning to other images of people or products with which they appear.51 So a customer might encode a new Hot Chicken Wing Oreos offering (yes, that’s a real flavor) as similar to the plain vanilla type we’re used to—until she takes a bite! In many cases, though, we encode meanings at a more symbolic level, based on the set of associations we hold in the brain’s semantic network. Let’s take a closer look at how we encode these deeper meanings. Episodic memories relate to events that are personally relevant and that we have personally experienced.52 As a result, a person’s motivation to retain these memories will likely be strong. Couples often have “their song,” which reminds them of their first date or wedding. We call some especially vivid associations flashbulb memories (where were you when you first heard that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, you would



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Certain events create flashbulb memories. Do you remember when you first found out about the pandemic lockdown? Source: UrbanImages/Alamy Stock Photo

have to stay home?). These memories are often stored in a narrative way, creating a story structure that connects pieces of the event together. Researchers describe three distinct memory systems: sensory memory, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM). Each plays a role in processing brandrelated information (see Figure 4.3).

Sensory Memory Sensory memory stores the information we receive from our senses. This storage is temporary; it lasts a couple of seconds at most. For example, a consumer who walks past a donut shop gets a quick, enticing whiff of something baking inside. Although this sensation lasts only a few seconds, it is sufficient to allow them to consider whether they should investigate further. If they retain this information for further processing, it transfers to short-term memory.

Short-Term Memory Short-term memory (STM) also stores information for a limited period of time, and it has limited capacity. Like a computer, this system is working memory; it holds the information we are currently processing. Our memories can store verbal input acoustically (in terms of how it sounds) or semantically (in terms of what it means). We store this information as we combine small pieces into larger ones in a process called chunking. A chunk is a configuration that is familiar to the person and that they can think about as a unit. For example, a brand name like 7 For All Mankind is a chunk that represents a great deal of detailed information about the product. Initially, researchers believed that our STM was capable of processing between five and nine chunks of information at a time; they described this basic property as “the magical

It’s common for marketers to give a brand a vivid name that conjures up an image or story in our minds. Research suggests that this strategy results in higher consumer evaluations versus brand names composed of meaningless letters or numbers. One study reported that consumers rated cell phones from Samsung and LG more positively after they were the first in the industry to break the practice of naming the phones with combinations of letters and numbers—LG’s phones instead sport names like Chocolate, Shine, Vu, Voyager, Dare, and Decoy, whereas Samsung started things off with the BlackJack, UpStage, FlipShot, and Juke, and later added the Access, Instinct, and Glyde. During the same period, these companies increased market share in this category. Compared to other phone brands, consumers rated these models as modern, creative, engaging, original, cool, and easy to remember.53 Source: RAVEENDRAN/AFP via Getty Images

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number 7 ± 2.” This is the reason phone numbers today (at least in the United States) originally had seven digits.54 It now appears that three to four chunks is the optimal size for efficient retrieval (we remember sevendigit phone numbers because we chunk the individual digits, so we may remember a three-digit exchange as one piece of information).55 Phone calls aside, chunking is important to marketers because it helps determine how consumers keep prices in short-term memory when they comparison-shop.56

Long-Term Memory Individual cognitive or physiological factors are responsible for some of the differences in retrieval ability among people.57 The popularity of puzzles, such as Rubik’s cube, Sudoku and Brain Box, and centers that offer “mental gymnastics,” attests to emerging evidence that we can keep our retrieval abilities sharp by exercising our minds, just as we keep our other muscles toned when we work out on a regular basis. Source: Singkam/Shutterstock

Long-term memory (LTM) is the system that allows us to retain information for a long period of time. A cognitive process of elaboration allows information to move from STM into LTM. This involves thinking about the meaning of a stimulus and relating it to other information already in memory. The more effort it takes to process information (so-called deep processing), the more likely it is that information will transfer into LTM. Marketers assist in the process when they devise catchy slogans or jingles consumers repeat on their own.

What Makes Us Forget?

Marketers obviously hope that consumers will not forget about their products. However, in a poll of more than 13,000 adults, more than half were unable to remember any specific ad they had seen, heard, or read in the past 30 days. How many can you remember right now? Clearly, forgetting by consumers is a big headache for marketers (not to mention a problem for students when they study for exams!). In one major study, only 23 percent of the respondents could recall a new product introduced in the past year.58 Early memory theorists assumed that memories simply fade with the passage of time. In a process of decay, the structural changes that learning produces in the brain simply go away. Forgetting also occurs because of interference; as we learn additional information, it displaces the previous information. Consumers may forget stimulus– response associations if they subsequently learn new responses to the same or similar stimuli; we call this process retroactive interference. Or prior learning can interfere with new learning, a process we term proactive interference. Because we store pieces of information in memory as nodes that link to one another, we are more likely to retrieve a meaning concept that is connected by a larger number of links. But as we learn new responses, a stimulus loses its effectiveness in retrieving the old response.59 These interference effects help to explain problems in remembering brand information. Consumers tend to organize attribute information by brand.60 Additional attribute information regarding a brand or similar brands may limit the person’s ability to recall old brand information. Recall may also be inhibited if the brand name is composed of frequently used words. These words cue competing associations; as a result, we retain less brand information.61 In one study, brand evaluations deteriorated more rapidly when ads for the brand appeared with messages for 12 other brands in the same category than when researchers showed the ad along with ads for 12 dissimilar products.62 Thus, when we increase the uniqueness of one brand, it impairs the recall of other brands.63 However, when we call a competitor by name, this can result in poorer recall for our own brand.64 Sometimes we just want to forget. Researchers have called this process motivated forgetting, and they showed that we try hard to forget any message that threatens our social identity—our sense of who we are.65 For instance, we might



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know that meat-based products contribute to global warming and poor working conditions to a greater extent than plant-based products, yet many of us often ignore this information altogether to justify continuing to eat a burger, even if we care deeply for the planet! It takes a lot of work to remember things: In fact, a recent study found that memory efficacy—that is, the belief that we will be able to remember things that we are experiencing right now—was directly linked to whether we behave more virtuously.66 This is because believing that we will remember what we are currently doing makes us focus on actions that are more aligned with our values: like donating to charities or engaging in volunteering activities. It’s like being our own future judges of our current behavior!

What Helps Us To Remember? It hasn’t been smooth sailing for the cruise industry lately, especially since these floating cities turned out to be ideal breeding grounds for the COVID virus. One of the most embarrassing and high-profile accidents stranded several thousand guests on a Carnival ship in the Gulf of Mexico with no electricity or working toilets, but plenty of smartphones to record the dismal conditions. Carnival’s potential cruisers are skittish, so the cruise line launched a $25 million public relations offensive to lure people back on board. The campaign asks previous customers to use social media to post images and videos of happy experiences that will contribute to Carnival’s “Moments That Matter” commercial. The ad’s voiceover says, “We never forget the moments that matter. We hang them on our walls. We share them with everyone. And hold onto them forever. Since the day we first set sail, millions of lasting moments have been made with us. What will yours be?” Sure enough, the campaign received more than 30,000 submissions, presumably from passengers who enjoyed both the midnight chocolate buffet and working plumbing.67 We’ve seen that retrieval is the process whereby we recover information from long-term memory. As evidenced by the popularity of the board game Trivial Pursuit or the TV show Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, we have a vast quantity of information stored in our heads—a lot of which is not useful unless you play the game! Although most of the information that enters LTM does not go away, it may be difficult or impossible to retrieve unless the appropriate cues are present. What factors influence the likelihood that we will remember the marketing messages that organizations work so hard to create? Or simply that will help us remember the list of items we had in mind to shop for when we enter the grocery store?

Salience The salience of a brand refers to its prominence or level of activation in memory. Stimuli that stand out in contrast to their environments are more likely to command attention, which, in turn, increases the likelihood that we will recall them. The von Restorff Effect is well-known to memory researchers; it shows that almost any technique that increases the novelty of a stimulus also improves recall. This explains why unusual advertising or distinctive packaging tends to facilitate brand recall.69 The tactic of introducing a surprise element in an ad can boost recall, even if the new information is not relevant to the remaining material.70 In addition, mystery ads, in which the ad doesn’t identify the brand until the end, are more effective if we want to build associations in memory between the product category and that brand— especially in the case of relatively unknown brands.71 Furthermore, the intensity and type of emotions we experience at the time also affect the way we recall the event later. We recall mixed emotions (e.g., those with

Buying, Having, Being Digital Amnesia “Just a second, I’ll Google the answer.” Is internet access rotting our brains? Probably not, but it is making us less able to remember things and thus less knowledgeable. Some psychologists describe this phenomenon as the Google Effect (or digital amnesia)—the tendency for people to rely too heavily on the ability to readily access content online and, as a result, be less likely to remember certain details. One study found that a third of adults turn to Google with a query without first trying to remember the answer. Similarly, some researchers are concerned that with over a billion people relying on navigation apps such as Google Maps, our sense of direction is being destroyed because the apps diminish our natural ability to create maps in our minds.68

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positive and negative components) differently from unipolar emotions that are either wholly positive or wholly negative. The latter become even more polarized over time so that we recall good things as even better than they really were and bad things as even worse (maybe the “good old days” weren’t so good after all!).72

Visual versus Verbal Cues Is a picture worth a thousand words? There is some evidence for the superiority of visual memory over verbal memory, but this advantage is unclear because it is more difficult to measure recall of pictures.73 However, the available data indicate that we are more likely to recognize information we see in picture form at a later time.74 In one recent study, participants who could freely take photographs during an experience recognized more of what they saw and less of what they heard, compared with those who could not take any photographs.75 A recent review of research on imagery and memory concluded that images play a crucial role in retrieving past experiences that were encoded visually as well as in imagining future experiences.76 Another study confirmed that consumers typically recall ads with visual figures more often and they like them better.77 Visual aspects of commercials are more likely to grab a consumer’s attention. This can be problematic when attention to the visual detracts from processing the actual message, as a recent study reported (see Figure 4.4). The research project, which relied on eye-tracking technology, revealed a common trick that pharmaceutical drug companies use in their commercials: Visuals of happy people attracted so much of the consumers’ attention that it reduced attention to and understanding of what the audio was saying. Understanding of the warning and risks associated with the drug was poorer when participants were exposed to a commercial showing people with smiling faces than the same commercial showing people with neutral faces.78 One reason for the power of visuals is that products are important memory markers; they can encapsulate certain time periods, and they serve as reminders of personal or collective experiences. For instance, we buy souvenirs to encapsulate happy memories or to capture intangible experiences that we might otherwise forget.79 Certain brands come to epitomize an era—like the TV series Friends and the 1990s. Brands can become so associated with certain events or cultural eras that they shape our memory of those events or time periods.80 So even if we did not live through a given period or in a given country, we might have seen products or designs associated with them and these become part of Well-established brands can serve as memory markers of earlier popular memory. times—like when trucker hats were all the rage. We rely on photos or social media posts as memory Source: TIPAKORN MAKORNSEN/ Shutterstock markers that remind us of past events or experiences. The risk, however, is that these photos may not accurately capture the reality, so our memories of even our own lived events can become reconstructed and reshaped based on what was captured in the photo. For instance, a study found that we remember experiences we had as having lasted longer if we have lots of photos to remember them.81 Did your parents scan all your childhood drawings before they trashed the physical copies? Photos also can serve as a form of memory preservation and ultimately replace the physical object. A recent field study found that taking pictures of things we like before donating them to charity increased donations: The photo of the loved object reduces the loss we might otherwise have felt from giving the object away.82



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Figure 4.4  “Shiny, Happy People” in Pharmaceutical Ads

Neutral Facial Expression Respondent is less visually distracted and can process the audio warning.

Happy Facial Expression Respondent is more visually distracted and cannot process the audio warning.

Adding a Text Banner The visual banner allows the respondent to process the audio warning, even though the facial expression is happy.

Photos and memorabilia can help make otherwise intangible experiences easier to remember. But an ethnographic study of the memory practices of New Yorkers in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks surprisingly found that products can help us both remember and forget.83 Many New Yorkers who personally experienced 9/11 use souvenirs, such as a piece of debris found on the ground, to “unremember difficult memories.” The souvenir helps them to cope in the aftermath of a tragic event by allowing the event to be revered as well as remembered.

Creating a Narrative Given that our memories store a lot of the social information we acquire in story form, as we’ll see in Chapter 8, constructing messages in the form of a narrative helps them resonate with the audience. A narrative is often an effective way to convey product information. Stories help people to construct mental representations of the information they see or hear. Pictures aid in this construction and allow us to develop more detailed mental representations.84 Research supports the idea that we are more likely to positively evaluate and purchase brands when we can immerse ourselves in a narrative that includes the brand.85 A recent study that analyzed consumer reviews on the travel website Trip Advisor found that the reviews that got the most attention included narrative components, like relatable characters and a chronology of events.86 Sometimes instead of creating a whole narrative around their brand, companies just insert their brand in an existing story through product placement. Think about brands you might have seen or heard mentioned in your favorite TV show: By placing

A commonly used trick in pharmaceutical drug commercials is to use visuals to distract consumers’ attention to the audio warning. Using eye-tracking technology, researchers found that a smiling face does exactly that (attracts attention away form the warning).

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those brands inside the story and amongst highly relatable characters of a well-liked narrative, marketers make those brands instantly memorable. Some companies jump on the product placement bandwagon even after the fact: For instance, Pottery Barn later released an Apothecary Table similar to the one Rachel loved so much in the Friends episode “The One with the Apothecary Table.”87

How Do We Measure Consumers’ Memories for Marketing Messages? Because marketers pay so much money to place their messages in front of consumers, they hope that people will remember these ads later. It seems that they have good reason to be concerned. In one early study, fewer than 40 percent of television viewers made positive links between commercial messages and the corresponding products; only 65 percent noticed the brand name in a commercial, and only 38 percent recognized a connection to an important point.88 To make matters worse, recall seems to be even weaker for digital ads. One recent study reported that while online media offer a much less expensive way to reach consumers, people recall a maximum of about 30 percent of what they see. In contrast, they recall 60 percent of television messages.89

Recall versus Recognition One indicator of good advertising is, of course, the impression it makes on us. But how can we define and measure this impact? Two basic measures of impact are recall and recognition. In a typical memory study, researchers show consumers brand messages— either one at a time or in the context of a website, an event, or a videogame—and then try to assess how well the consumers remember the advertised brand. Recall tests ask consumers to independently think of what they have seen without any prompt at all. For instance, a recent study tested TV viewers’ memory of billboards placed on the perimeter of a soccer game the day after a televised game that pitted Germany against England. The recall test asked them to list any billboard they remembered seeing on the boards around the playing area.90 Obviously, this task requires great effort on consumers’ part. So often researchers use recognition tests and ask if consumers recognize a brand from a list. For instance, in the soccer game study, the researchers asked consumers to check from a list which advertisers they remembered seeing on the boards. Think about it: Would you rather respond to a multiple choice or an open-ended question? The multiple-choice format is like a recognition test; you have cues to help you retrieve that information from memory. Under some conditions, recall and recognition measures Social media platforms such as Instagram or Facebook have tend to yield the same results, especially when the researchers revolutionized how people store and share memories. However, try to keep the viewers’ interest in the ads constant (although at least some users feel that maybe these platforms do this that may be an overly artificial way to study true memory for a bit too well: They don’t necessarily want others (especially ads).91 Generally, though, recognition scores tend to be more employers, parents, and other authority figures) to know about reliable and do not decay over time the way recall scores all their “awesome” experiences. A big factor behind Snapchat’s popularity is that the platform posts and then destroys more than do.92 Recognition scores are almost always better than recall 60 million photos or messages every day. One of Snapchat’s scores because recognition is a simpler process and the confounders explained the thinking behind the app: “It became clear sumer has more retrieval cues available. Sometimes recall how awful social media is. There is real value in sharing moments yields almost null results. For instance, most of the particithat don’t live forever.”93 pants in the soccer study could not recall a single billboard Source: Shutterstock /Zyabich the day after the game!



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Both types of retrieval play important roles in purchase decisions, however. Recall tends to be more important in situations in which consumers do not have product data at their disposal, so they must rely on memory to generate this information.94 Recognition is more likely to be an important factor in a store, where retailers confront consumers with thousands of product options (i.e., external memory is abundantly available), and the task simply may be to recognize a familiar package.

Problems with Memory Measures Although measuring an ad’s memorability is important, analysts have questioned whether existing measures accurately assess these dimensions, for several reasons. First, the results we obtain Using eye-tracking and biometric measures during exposure to from a measuring instrument are not necessarily based on what advertising, researchers can identify how strongly a message is encoded. A recent study using functional magnetic resonance we measure, but rather on something else about the instrument imaging (fMRI) found that the strength of this encoding phase or the respondent. This form of contamination is a response affects how likely that message is remembered one week later. bias. For example, people tend to give “yes” responses to quesThat study found that print ads were encoded more strongly and tions, regardless of what the item asks. In addition, experimental therefore were remembered better than digital ads, even though subjects often are eager to be “good subjects”: They try to figure the content was the same. The authors of the study suggest that, even in the digital age, consumers engage more with print ads out what the experimenter is looking for and give the response than with digital ads.96 they think they are supposed to give. This tendency is so strong Source: patrickheagney/Gettyimages that in some studies the rate at which subjects claim they recognize bogus ads (ads they have not seen before) is almost as high as their recognition rate for those they really have seen!95

Memory Lapses, Biases, and False Memories People are also prone to forget information or retain inaccurate memories. These memory errors are not just a problem in court cases that rely on eyewitness testimony; they also call into question the accuracy of product usage databases that rely on consumers to recall their purchase and consumption of food and household items. For example, one study asked people to describe what portion of various foods— small, medium, or large—they ate in a typical meal. However, the researchers used different definitions of “medium.” Regardless of the definition they gave, about the same number of people claimed they typically ate “medium” portions.97 In other situations, we may “fool ourselves” by distorting memories. For example, some people who work toward a goal like losing weight or saving money may exaggerate (to themselves) how much progress they’ve made to justify current indulgences. That tendency points to the importance of documenting your progress (your Fitbit monitoring device doesn’t lie) to keep yourself on track.98 And, under some circumstances, our minds tend to distort what we remember. For example, if a brand makes us feel emotionally conflicted because we know that its products involve child labor, we tend to resolve this conflict not just by ignoring the negative information but instead by forgetting it altogether. Researchers term this “hiding our head in the sand” willfully ignorant memory; we remember instead only those things we like about the brand.99

Marketing Applications of Consumers’ Memories As we saw at the beginning of this chapter, Joe journeys through time with the aid of many products that make him feel good because they remind him of earlier parts of his life. Nostalgia describes the bittersweet emotion that arises when we view the past with both sadness and longing.100

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Nostalgia appeals to our old memories have become even more popular in the last few years, as some big brands work hard to reassure customers that they can depend on familiar products during unsettling times. A retro brand is an updated version of a brand from a prior historical period. These products trigger nostalgia, and researchers find that they often inspire consumers to think back to an era when (at least in our memories) life was more stable, simple, or even utopian. Simply, they let us “look backward through rose-colored glasses.” One study reported that people who were asked to think about the past were willing to pay more for products than those who were asked to think about new or future memories.101 By evoking nostalgia, brand messages satisfy what consumers crave: authenticity. Retro-styling The biggest retro success story in recent years: the Old Spice Guy in and of itself is not enough, though: Brands must campaign that went viral and revived a men’s deodorant brand that is more ensure that the product has personal relevance than 70 years old. Source: Pacific Press Media Production Corp./Alamy Stock Photo to consumers.102 Planters Peanuts recruited the actor Robert Downey, Jr., as the new voice of Mr. Peanut. “Retired” brand names, including Meister Brau beer, the brokerage firm Shearson, Handi-Wrap plastic wrap, and Wonder Bread were sold at auction to companies that want to bring them back to life.103 Our prior experiences also shape what we like today. Consumer researchers created a nostalgia index that measures the critical ages during which our preferences are likely to form and endure over time. It turns out that a good predictor of whether people will like a specific song is how old they were when that song was popular. On average, we are most likely to favor songs that were popular when we were 23.5 years old (so pay attention to the hot songs if you haven’t turned 23 yet). Our preferences for fashion models peak at age 33, and we tend to like movie stars who were popular when we were 26 or 27 years old.104

OBJECTIVE 4-4 Discuss how knowledge about brands is organized in our brains.

PepsiCo launched its “Throwback” campaign that offers products like Pepsi and Mountain Dew in authentic packages from the past. Chex Mix recently reintroduced its “Chex Quest” video game from the 1990s for the online gaming platform Steam, while Coca-Cola revived Surge, a discontinued citrus-flavored soda.105 And archrival. Source: Keith Homan/Shutterstock

How Do We Organize What We Know?

How can we possibly remember most of what we experience within the last week, much less the past few decades? One clue is that our brains like to label and categorize new things we learn to relate these experiences to what we already know about the world. The brain is organized as an associative network that contains many bits of related information. We each have organized systems of concepts that relate to brands, manufacturers, and stores stored in our memories; the contents, of course, depend on our own unique experiences. Think of these storage units, or knowledge structures, as complex spider webs filled with pieces of data. Incoming information gets put into nodes that connect to one another (if you haven’t guessed, this is also why we called cyberspace the World Wide Web). When we view separate pieces of information as similar for some reason, we connect them together under some more abstract category. Then, we interpret new, incoming information to be consistent with the structure we have created.106 This

Chapter 4  •  Learning, Remembering, and Knowing



helps explain why we are better able to remember brands or stores that we believe “go together”; for example, when Titleist golf balls rather than Chanel fragrances sponsors a golf tournament.107 In the associative network, links form between nodes. For example, a consumer might have a network for “electric cars.” Each node represents a concept related to the category. This node can be an attribute, a specific brand, a celebrity the consumer identifies with a specific car brand, or even a related product. A network for electric cars might include concepts such as the brand name Tesla, as well as attributes such as expensive or green. In turn, these associations themselves can activate other nodes in the networks: The node “Elon Musk” may activate the country South Africa, and all the associations consumers may have with that country (Nelson Mandela; Zulu; Oscar Pistorius, the “Blade Runner” superabled athlete who was convicted of murder in a sensational court case; etc.); that node might also trigger the label “entrepreneur,” which could activate other “entrepreneur” nodes, like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. When we ask the consumer to list electric cars, this consumer recalls only those brands that show up in the appropriate category. The task of a new entrant that wants to position itself as a category member (e.g., a new electric car manufacturer) is to provide cues that facilitate its placement in the appropriate category. Figure 4.5 shows a sample network for electric cars. A marketing message may activate our associations with a brand directly (for example, when it shows us a picture of the package), or it may do so indirectly when it links to something else that’s related to the brand in our knowledge structure. If it activates a node, it will also activate other linked nodes, much as tapping a spider’s web in one spot sends movement reverberating across the web. Meaning thus spreads across the network, and we recall concepts, such as competing brands and relevant attributes, that we use to form attitudes toward the brand. This process of spreading activation allows us to shift back and forth among levels of meaning. The way we store a piece of information in memory depends on the type of meaning we initially assign to it. This meaning type, in turn, will determine

Electric cars

Tesla Toyota

Hybrids

Elon Musk Prius Entrepreneur South Africa Bill Gates

Zulu

Nelson Mandela

Figure 4.5  An Associative Network for Automobiles

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Buying, Having, Being The Mulan Debacle Sometimes the pent-up demand for these favorites from days past can cause a promotion to backfire when too many people want them. That’s what McDonald’s discovered recently when it brought back its “Szechuan” sauce for a day. The condiment was created as part of a 1998 promotion for the Disney film Mulan and was a hit among consumers who were kids at the time. Hordes of them congregated at Mickey D’s around the country, only to discover that the limited supplies ran out quickly. One Twitter user posted a video of an angry crowd chanting, “We want sauce.” Some disappointed fans searched online sites like eBay where the condiment was selling for exorbitant sums. An offer for three sealed packs of the sauce sold for $848.88 ($282.96 each), while a single packet was bidding for $995. Be careful what you wish for!108

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how and when something activates the meaning. Thus, we organize our knowledge for the brand Uggs in one or more of the following ways:

• Brand-specific—Knowledge is stored in terms of claims the brand makes (“it’s luxurious”). • Communication-specific—Memory is stored in terms of the medium or content of the marketing communication itself (an Instagram influencer styling her Uggs). • Brand identification—Memory is stored in terms of the brand name (e.g., “Ugg”). • Product category—Memory is stored in terms of how the product works or where it should be used (a set of Uggs in one’s shoe collection). is stored as positive or negative emotions (“that • Evaluative reactions—Memory 109 boot looks so stylish”).

Levels of Knowledge Within a knowledge structure, we code elements at different levels of abstraction and complexity. As we saw in Chapter 3, a schema is a cognitive framework we develop through experience. We encode information more readily when that information is consistent with an existing schema.110 The ability to move up and down among levels of abstraction greatly increases processing flexibility and efficiency. For this reason, young children who do not yet have well-developed schemas are not able to make as efficient use of purchase information as are older children.111 One type of schema especially relevant to consumer behavior is a script, a sequence of events an individual expects to occur. As consumers, we learn scripts that guide our behavior in commercial settings. We expect a certain sequence of events, and we may become uncomfortable if the service departs from our script. A script for a visit to the dentist might include such events as (1) drive to the dentist, (2) read old magazines in the waiting room, (3) hear name called and sit in dentist’s chair, (4) dentist injects something into gums, (5) dentist turns on high-pitched drill, and so on. This desire to follow a script helps to explain why such innovations as automatic bank machines, selfservice gas stations, or “scan-your-own” grocery checkouts have met with resistance by some consumers who have trouble adapting to new sequences of events.112

How Do We Put Products into Categories? Knowledge structures matter to marketers like Stonyfield, Green Valley, and Trader Joe’s that sell yogurt-related items because they want to ensure that customers correctly group their products. To see why this is important, consider how someone might respond to these questions about an ice cream cone: “What other products share similar characteristics, and which would you consider as alternatives to eating a cone?” These questions may be more complex than they first appear. At one level, a cone is like an apple because you could eat both as a dessert. At another level, a cone is similar to a piece of pie because you could eat either for dessert and both are fattening. Although other automotive companies make electric cars, for many drivers the Tesla At still another level, a cone is like an ice is a category exemplar. cream sundae—you could eat either for Source: Hadrian/ShutterStock

Chapter 4  •  Learning, Remembering, and Knowing



Dessert SUPERORDINATE LEVEL Fattening Dessert

Ice Cream

Pie

Nonfattening Dessert

BASIC LEVEL

Cake

SUBORDINATE LEVEL

Fruit

Yogurt

Low-fat Ice Cream

Figure 4.6  Levels of Categorization

dessert, both are made of ice cream, and both are fattening. Figure 4.6 depicts these three levels. It’s easy to see that the foods a person associates with the category “fattening dessert” influence their decision about what to eat after dinner. The middle level, or basic level category, is typically the most useful for classifying products. At this level, the items we group together tend to have a lot in common with each other but still permit us to consider a broad enough range of alternatives. The broader superordinate category is more abstract, whereas the more specific subordinate category often includes individual brands.113 Of course, not all items fit equally well into a category. Apple pie is a better example of the subordinate category “pie” than is rhubarb pie, even though both are types of pies. This is because it’s more prototypical, and most people would think of apple as a pie flavor before they thought of rhubarb. In contrast, true pie experts probably know a lot about both typical and atypical category examples.114 Product categories are the building blocks of a market, but sometimes companies like to play with them; they create new ones when they introduce hybrid products that feature characteristics from two distinct domains. Thus, we have the crossover utility vehicle (CUV) that mixes a passenger car and a sport utility vehicle (SUV) and the huge “athleisure” fashion phenomenon that fuses styles from athletic apparel and leisure apparel to yield an army of Lululemon-clad yoga buffs. And let’s not even talk about the “cronut” craze (a combination croissant and donut) that started with a New York bakery and made its leap to national stardom courtesy of Dunkin’ Donuts.115

“If They Own This, They Must Own That”: Consumption Constellations These networks of brands alongside all the associations we make with them— personalities, roles, and other meanings—are called consumption constellations. These constellations connect all the associations we have learned around a concept, such as “hipster,” which has become synonymous with someone who has specific tastes in alternative, outside-the-mainstream food, experiences, fashions, and leisure activities. Products inside a constellation are complementary or often purchased together. They can also be marketed as such: Social media influencers use the recipe to promote constellations when they post videos that instruct their followers how to “get the look.” Some evidence indicates that young children learn consumption-related information surprisingly well.116 Researchers found that the number of products and brands children integrate in their knowledge structures grows proportionally to their age until about age 12 because we start forming more rigid associations and stereotypes at the onset of adolescence.117

113

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How Do You Become an Expert? Who would you turn to if you’re in need of fashion advice? Or if you needed help picking a good wine? Experts! When consumers are passionate about a topic or product category, they seek more knowledge, and some even develop expertise about certain topics, products, or brands. Experts are thirsty for knowledge: they have more elaborated cognitive structures, they remember information better, and they are more efficient at accessing that information.118 As useful as experts are, researchers have recently found that, sadly, experts tend to become more emotionally numb: knowing so much takes a toll on the actual enjoyment of having this knowledge.119 Researchers found evidence of this emotional numbness across a variety of consumption domains: From cinephiles to wine connoisseurs, the more complex an expert’s cognitive structure of a given product category, the less enjoyment they have in learning more about that product because they become overly focused on the analytical process of updating their cognitive structure. So, if you’re passionate about something and want to keep learning more and more about it, it’s also important to continue having fun with it. If something you’re passionate about starts to feel like work, take a break and pause to remember why you enjoyed this in the first place. Having enjoyment from your passion should take precedent over stressing about the accumulation and organization of more knowledge about it. It is important to note that knowledge is constructed not just as function of cognitive processes that happen in the brain, but also through what is called embodied knowledge: We develop and grow our knowledge through our own actions, and by witnessing others’ actions. Experts develop their knowledge about products not from reading more about them, but also living them. For instance, a recent in-depth study of beer aficionados found that their sensory experiences were central to how they eventually developed the complex system of taste they needed to judge beers.120 Compared to novices, experts tune in to their bodily experience and engineer their taste by dissecting their sensory experience and using more technical language to describe the beer. So instead of saying things like “very tasty,” they provide more refined qualifiers that attempt to objectively describe the more nuanced sensations that the beer provides: oaky, spice and apple-laden.

Marketing Applications of Consumers’ Knowledge Structures The way we categorize products has a lot of strategic implications for marketers. That’s because this process affects which products consumers will compare to our product and the criteria they’ll use to decide whether they like us or the other guys.

Position a Product The success of a positioning strategy hinges on the marketer’s ability to convince the consumer to consider its product within a given category. For example, the orange juice industry tried to reposition orange juice as a drink people can enjoy all day long (“It’s not just for breakfast anymore”). However, soft-drink companies attempt the opposite when they portray sodas as suitable for breakfast consumption. They are trying to make their way into consumers’ “breakfast drink” category, along with orange juice, grapefruit juice, and coffee. Of course, this strategy can backfire, as Pepsi-Cola discovered when it introduced Pepsi A.M. and positioned it as a coffee substitute. The company did such a good job of categorizing the drink as a morning beverage that customers wouldn’t drink it at any other time, and the product failed.121



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Identify Competitors At the abstract, superordinate level, many different product forms compete for membership. The category “entertainment” might comprise both bowling and the ballet, but not many people would substitute one of these activities for the other. Products and services that on the surface are quite different, however, compete with each other at a broad level for consumers’ discretionary dollars. Although bowling or ballet may not be a likely tradeoff for many people, a symphony might try to lure away ballet season ticket holders by positioning itself as an equivalent member of the superordinate category “cultural event.” We’re This ad for Sunkist lemon juice attempts to establish a new category for the often faced with choices between noncomparable product by repositioning it as a salt substitute. Source: Courtesy of Sunkist Growers. categories, where we can’t directly relate the attributes in one to those in another (the old problem of comparing apples and oranges). When we can create an overlapping category that encompasses both items (e.g., entertainment, value, usefulness) and then rate each alternative in terms of that superordinate category comparison, the process is easier.122

Create an Exemplar Product As we saw with the case of apple pie versus rhubarb pie, if a product is a really good example of a category, then it is more familiar to consumers and they more easily recognize and recall it.123 The characteristics of these so-called category exemplars tend to exert a disproportionate influence on how people think of the category in general.124 In a sense, brands we strongly associate with a category get to “call the shots”: They define the criteria we use to evaluate all category members.

Locate Products in a Store Product categorization also can affect consumers’ expectations regarding the places where they can locate a desired product. If products do not clearly fit into categories (e.g., is a rug furniture?), this may diminish our ability to find them or figure out what they’re supposed to be once we do. For instance, a frozen dog food that pet owners had to thaw and cook before they served it to Fido failed in the market, partly because people could not adapt to the idea of buying dog food in the “frozen foods for people” section of their grocery stores.

Create Distinctive Associations Marketers have many branding and communication strategies at their disposal to tap into consumers’ knowledge by associating their brands with existing nodes. For instance, they can benefit, through what is called a halo effect, from associating their brand with images, sounds, or celebrities that generate positive responses. First entrants in a product category, like Tesla in the electric vehicles category, are sometimes called pioneer brands: They have an immediate advantage because there is not competition for the node, and it becomes more easily associated with their name.125 In contrast, follower brands that ride their coattails are less distinctive. More generally, we are more likely to recognize words, objects, and faces we learn early in life than similar items we learn later. This applies to brands as well; managers who introduce new entries into a market with well-established brand names need to work harder to create learning and memory linkages by exposing consumers to information about them more frequently.126

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The iconic (and deceased) reggae singer Bob Marley’s name and image appears on a vast range of products, including caps, lanyards, T-shirts, rolling papers, handbags and purses, belts and buckles, beach towels, and knapsacks. His daughter Cedella launched High Tide swimwear to further extend the franchise, and his son Rohan created the Marley Coffee brand; each variety is named after a different Marley tune.127

Source: Jon Arnold Images Ltd /Alamy Stock Photo

CHAPTER SUMMARY Now that you have finished reading this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Describe how conditioning results in learning. Behavioral learning theories assume that learning occurs because of responses to external events. Classical conditioning occurs when a stimulus that naturally elicits a response (an unconditioned stimulus) is paired with another stimulus that does not initially elicit this response. Over time, the second stimulus (the conditioned stimulus) elicits the response even in the absence of the first.

for it or when a consumer avoids a behavior because of seeing someone else performing it and being rewarded or punished for it. 3. Explain how our brains process and store information about brands in our memory. Memory is the storage of learned information. The way we encode information when we perceive it determines how we will store it in memory. The memory systems we call sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory each play a role in retaining and processing information from the outside world in marketing strategies.

2. Summarize how we learn about products and consumption practices by observing others’ behavior.

4. Discuss how knowledge about brands is organized in our brains.

Cognitive learning occurs as the result of mental processes. For example, observational learning occurs when the consumer performs a behavior because of seeing someone else performing it and being rewarded

Our knowledge of brands is integrated in a complex network of nodes that, when activated, can in turn activate associated nodes. In these networks live consumption constellations and brand knowledge networks.

KEY TERMS Advertising wear-out, 92 Advertising weariness, 92 Associative network, 110 Behavioral learning theories, 90 Brand equity, 92

Category exemplars, 115 Chunking, 103 Classical conditioning, 90 Cognitive learning theory, 98 Conditioned response (CR), 91

Conditioned stimulus (CS), 91 Consumer confusion, 95 Consumption constellations, 113 Decay, 104 Elaboration, 104

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Embodied knowledge, 114 Encoding stage, 101 Episodic memories, 102 Evaluative conditioning, 91 Expertise, 114 Extinction, 91 Family branding, 94 Follower brands, 115 Frequency marketing, 98 The Google effect, 105 Halo effect, 94 Hybrid products, 113 Incidental learning, 89 Instrumental conditioning, 95 Interference, 104 Knowledge structures, 110 Learning, 89 Licensing, 94 Long-term memory (LTM), 104 Look-alike packaging, 94 Memory, 101

Memory efficacy, 105 Memory markers, 106 Memory preservation, 106 Mindfulness, 100 Mixed emotions, 105 Modeling, 98 Motivated forgetting, 104 Multiple-intelligence theory, 100 Narrative, 103 Negative reinforcement, 96 Nodes, 111 Nostalgia, 109 Observational learning, 98 Pioneer brands, 115 Positive reinforcement, 96 Product line extension, 94 Product placement, 107 Punishment, 96 Recall, 108 Recognition, 108 Repetition, 91

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Response bias, 109 Retrieval stage, 101 Retro brand, 110 Salience, 105 Script, 112 Semantic network, 102 Sensory memory, 103 Shaping, 95 Short-term memory (STM), 103 Sonic branding, 95 Sound signatures, 95 Spreading activation, 111 Stages of cognitive development, 99 Stimulus generalization, 94 Storage stage, 101 Theory of mind, 99 Unconditioned stimulus (UCS), 91 Unipolar emotions, 106 von Restorff effect, 105 Willfully ignorant memory, 109

REVIEW 4-1 What is the difference between an unconditioned stimulus and a conditioned stimulus? 4-2 How can marketers use repetition to increase the likelihood that consumers will learn about their brand? 4-3 Why is it not necessarily a good idea to advertise a product in a commercial where a popular song plays in the background? 4-4 What is the difference between classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning? 4-5 What is the major difference between behavioral and cognitive theories of learning? 4-6 Name the three stages of information processing as we commit information about products to memory. 4-7 What is external memory, and why is it important to marketers? 4-8 Give an example of an episodic memory. 4-9 Why do U.S. phone numbers have seven digits (not including the area code)? 4-10 List the three types of memory and explain how they work together.

4-11 How is associative memory like a spider web? 4-12 How does the likelihood that a person wants to use an ATM machine relate to a schema? 4-13 Why does a pioneer brand have a memory advantage over follower brands? 4-14 If a consumer is familiar with a product, advertising for it can work by either enhancing or diminishing recall. Why? 4-15 Define nostalgia and explain why it’s such a widely used advertising strategy. 4-16 Name the two basic measures of memory and describe how they differ from one another. 4-17 List three problems with measures of memory for advertising. 4-18 How do different types of reinforcement enhance learning? How does the strategy of frequency marketing relate to conditioning? 4-19 How does learning new information make it more likely that we’ll forget things we’ve already learned?

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CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHALLENGE DISCUSS

4-20 To hasten kids’ introduction to social media, a team of Finnish designers invented a block-sorting toy that also works like Twitter. It allows preverbal kids to grab colorful blocks with icons for sleeping, eating, or brushing their teeth; the kids then fit them into slots to indicate what they’re up to. The device then transmits the “status update” to light up the corresponding block-shape on the same toy in another household.128 Should very young children be introduced to social media this way? 4-21 In his book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, author Malcolm Gladwell argues that hallowed marketing research techniques such as focus groups aren’t effective because we usually react to products quickly and without much conscious thought; thus, it’s better simply to solicit consumers’ first impressions rather than getting them to think at length about why they buy. What’s your position on this issue? 4-22 Mindfulness training often claims to help people change how they eat, how they work out, and how they study. Do you agree? 4-23 Research shows that taking photos of experiences with the intention to share them reduces one’s enjoyment of the experience. This happens because the goal of sharing involves the possibility of feeling judged by others.129 Has that happened to you? Can you describe the experience and the reactions you got to your photos? 4-24 The “Google effect” describes our tendency to place our trust in a search engine without bothering to think for ourselves. Do you agree that this a problem? If so, what do you think might be the consequences? Is there any way to prevent “digital amnesia”? 4-25 Even food can facilitate recall: One study looked at how favorite recipes stimulate memories of the past. When the researchers asked informants to list three of their favorite recipes and to talk about these choices, they found that people tended to link them with memories of past events, such as childhood memories, family holidays, milestone events (such as dishes they only make on special holidays, like corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day), heirlooms (recipes handed down across generations), and the passing of time (e.g., eating blueberry cobbler only in the summer).130 Indeed, one of the most famous literary references is from the classic (3,000-page!) novel

Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust. The narrator dips a pastry (a “madeleine”) into his tea, and this action unleashes a flood of memories that drive the rest of the book. How might marketers try to tie these powerful food-related memories to branding strategies? 4-26 Some die-hard fans were not pleased when the Rolling Stones sold the tune “Start Me Up” for about $4 million to Microsoft, which wanted the classic song to promote its Windows ’95 launch. The Beach Boys sold “Good Vibrations” to Cadbury Schweppes for its Sunkist soft drink, Steppenwolf offered “Born to Be Wild” to plug the Mercury Cougar, and even Bob Dylan sold “The Times They Are A-Changin’” to Coopers & Lybrand (now called PriceWaterhouseCoopers).131 Other rock legends have refused to play the commercial game, including Bruce Springsteen, the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, R.E.M., and U2. According to U2’s manager, “Rock ’n’ roll is the last vestige of independence. It is undignified to put that creative effort and hard work to the disposal of a soft drink or beer or car.”132 Singer Neil Young is especially adamant about not selling out; in his song “This Note’s for You,” he croons, “Ain’t singing for Pepsi, ain’t singing for Coke, I don’t sing for nobody, makes me look like a joke.” What’s your take on this issue? How do you react when one of your favorite songs turns up in a commercial? Is this use of nostalgia an effective way to market a product? Why or why not? 4-27 The chapter discusses the possibility that our increasing reliance on apps to search for information is diminishing our natural ability to think for ourselves. Do you agree? 4-28 New passive monitoring systems allow us to pay tolls automatically or simply show our phones equipped with systems like Apple Pay. Convenient, for sure. But these systems also eliminate the transparency of the connection between the stimulus and the response. As a result, we don’t think as much about the costs when we use them. Is this a problem for consumers? 4-29 The Snapchat app provides a way for social media users to share content that disappears after a brief time with their friends. In Europe, Google is fighting an intense legal battle over what some call the “right to be forgotten”; users want the option to dictate to Google whether it will be allowed to display results

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when people search for them. On the other hand, some people who believe that “information wants to be free” say that if a person posts online, it should be

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with the expectation that the content will be permanent and that you forfeit control over others’ right to access it. Which argument is correct?

APPLY

4-30 Devise a product jingle memory test. Compile a list of brands that are or have been associated with memorable jingles, such as Chiquita Banana, Alka-Seltzer, McDonald’s, or even webuyanycar.com. Read this list to friends and see how many jingles they remember. You may be surprised at their level of recall. 4-31 A physician borrowed a page from product marketers when she asked for their advice to help persuade people in the developing world to wash their hands habitually with soap. Diseases and disorders caused by dirty hands—like diarrhea—kill a child somewhere in the world about every 15 seconds, and about half those deaths could be prevented with the regular use of soap. The project adapted techniques that major marketers use to encourage habitual product usage of items such as skin moisturizers, disinfecting wipes, air fresheners, water purifiers, toothpaste, and vitamins. For example, beer commercials often depict a group of guys together because research shows that being with a group of friends tends to trigger habitual drinking! The researchers found that when people in Ghana experienced a feeling of disgust, this was a cue

to wash their hands. However, as in many developing countries, toilets are a symbol of cleanliness because they have replaced pit latrines. So, an advertising campaign included messages that reminded people of the germs they could still pick up even in modern bathrooms: Mothers and children walked out of restrooms with a glowing purple pigment on their hands that contaminated everything they touched. These images in turn triggered the habit of handwashing, and the project resulted in a significant increase in the number of consumers who washed their hands with soap.133 How can other organizations that work to improve public health, the environment, or other social issues harness our knowledge about consumer learning and habitual behavior to create or reenergize positive habits? 4-32 Collect some pictures of “classic” products that have high nostalgia value. Show these pictures to others and allow them to free-associate. Analyze the types of memories that these products evoke and think about how a marketer might employ these associations in a product’s promotional strategy.

DIGGING IN WITH DATA See “Data Case 1: Analyzing the Athletic Shoe Market” in Appendix A for an opportunity to work with real consumer data and apply this chapter’s concepts to real world problems.

CASE STUDY

Kidfluence and Kidfluencers – Marketing to Children Responsibly

Little kids are big business. In 2021, the market for toys in the United States was $38 billion.134 U.S. children’s food and beverages had revenues of $70 billion that year.135 And in 2023, all those cute little kids’ stylish outfits were expected to bring in global revenues of $239 billion! While children’s parents make most purchases, the kids can have a big influence over what parents choose, and their influence often impacts purchases that are not only for kids. This “kidfluence” effect has caused marketers to focus ­s ignificant promotional effort on these young consumers.136 But since children’s brains and decision-making abilities are still developing, companies marketing to them should make sure they are doing so in a responsible and ethical manner.137

A little brain science can help explain what is going on in those developing minds when they are exposed to marketing messages. Advertising targets two areas of the brain that are not fully developed and therefore not necessarily equipped for evaluation of nuanced marketing communication. The first is the limbic system, in charge of our emotional responses. Intense stimuli, like loud noises, quick motion, and bright colors, cause neural pathways to send messages that result in joy and excitement and trigger the release of “feelgood” chemicals, like dopamine and endorphins. The other important part of the brain is the prefrontal cortex, responsible for cognitive behavior, like decision-making skills and self-control. The problem is that this important part of the brain is not fully developed until we’re about 25 years old!138

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All advertisements utilize these brain functions, but these functions are especially triggered by social media ads that use creative speech, sounds, music, and visual effects. Some of the most popular content on YouTube are videos directed at children, with channels featuring kids engaged in pretend play, the unboxing of toys, and animated nursery rhymes that result in billions of views.139 YouTube Kids was created in 2015 as a safer place for kids to consume videos, but some bad actors lured children to offensive videos that featured popular characters like Spiderman and Frozen’s Elsa.140 Facebook (now Meta) joined the fray with its introduction of Facebook Messenger, targeted at children ages 6 to 12.141 The ubiquity of digital devices makes it more challenging for parents to monitor media consumption—both the content and the ads that accompany it—than it was when traditional TV was the only option.142 Social media has led to the rise of a particular kind of spokesperson—influencers who are kids themselves. Just as for their older counterparts, the domain of these “kidfluencers” is largely YouTube and Instagram. Aubrey Jade is a kidfluencer with 177,000 Instagram followers. Her perfectly coiffed hair matches her stylish and trendy ’fits. “I just love trench coats and I’m obsessed with this one!!” she writes in one of her posts. Or perhaps someone posted for her since she was only four years old when that post was made.143 When the Instagram kidfluencer known as Dear Giana was nine years old, she signed a contract with Nike to promote its products to her followers.144 But the king (or maybe little prince) of kidfluencers is Ryan Kaji, the nine-year-old star of YouTube Channel’s Ryan’s World. Kaji topped Forbes’ 2020 list of highest-paid YouTubers (of all ages) with an estimated income of $29.5 million from his product lines and social media content.145 Research has shown that consumers consider influencers as more trustworthy and relatable than traditional “celebrities” because they are “everyday people.”146 This relatability factor applies to children too, who identify with a child who looks like them and plays with toys or other products they may be interested in. Brain chemistry also plays a role here, as endorphins and dopamine—those feel good chemicals—are released when a child spends time with a good friend, which can be similar to the experience of “loving” a kidfluencer or a brand character. The popular “unboxing” videos are a good example of this phenomenon—children who witness the joy of another kid unboxing a product may then carry that joy to the product itself. Matthew LaPierre, an associate professor of communication at the University of Arizona, researches media’s impact on children’s health and well-being. He says these videos get kids excited, but kids “don’t have that ability to

override their response and say, ‘Wait. I don’t really need this product. Do I want this?’”147 Recognizing the need to be careful when marketing to children (and in response to public pressure), advertisers and social media companies have taken steps to help ensure a more responsible approach to content for children. Walt Disney Co. decided not to show preschoolers ads on its Disney+ service and will not collect data on individual kids for targeting purposes. Google and Facebook parent meta no longer allow ad-targeting to people under 18.148 YouTube now forces creators to designate whether uploaded videos are meant for children, and if so, it disables features such as ad targeting and comments.149 In its most significant move, YouTube removed millions of low-quality videos from YouTube Kids, cutting its library by about 80 percent.150 Major companies, including McDonald’s, Pepsico, and Kraft foods, have tightened restrictions on their pitches to children.151 Some watchdog organizations feel these voluntary moves are insufficient and have asked for more regulation. In 2022, a consortium of 31 groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, called upon the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the methods used to collect online data about kids: “Advertising to children is a lucrative, booming business, and not enough is understood about these new methods of surveilling and monetizing children, or the impact that it has on their privacy and wellbeing,” according to the group’s letter to the FTC.152 As the use of digital media by children continues to grow, it will take the “village” of responsible advertisers, legislators, and most of all, parents, to ensure that the youngest consumers are marketed to in a way appropriate for their age and decision-making capabilities. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

CS 4-1 Discuss some of the ways that the limited decisionmaking and self-control capabilities of young children could lead them to make inaccurate assessments of advertising messages. Use examples to illustrate. CS 4-2 If you were designing an ad campaign directed at 6 to 10-year-old kids, what principles could you use to ensure that you are communicating to them in an appropriate and responsible manner, while still promoting your product? CS 4-3 What are the risks to the children serving as kidfluencers who are allowed by parents (and encouraged by marketers and fans) to take on this role? What limitations regarding kidfluencers, if any, should advertisers voluntarily agree to and/or legislators enforce by law?



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NOTES 1. Robert A. Baron, Psychology: The Essential Science (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1989). 2. Steven Sweldens, Stijn M. J. Van Osselaer, and Chris Janiszewski, “Evaluative Conditioning Procedures and the Resilience of Conditioned Brand Attitudes,” Journal of Consumer Research 37, no. 3 (2010): 473–89. 3. R. A. Rescorla, “Pavlovian Conditioning: It’s Not What You Think It Is,” American Psychologist 43 (1988): 151–160; Elnora W. Stuart, Terence A. Shimp, and Randall W. Engle, “Classical Conditioning of Consumer Attitudes: Four Experiments in an Advertising Context,” Journal of Consumer Research 14 (December 1987): 334–39. 4. Chris Janiszewski, Hayden Noel, and Alan G. Sawyer, “A Meta-Analysis of the Spacing Effect in Verbal Learning: Implications for Research on Advertising Repetition and Consumer Memory,” Journal of Consumer Research 30, no. 1 (2003): 138–49. 5. Roger Dobson, “Logos ‘Brand’ Youthful Minds: Children’s Brains Are Found to Light Up at the Sight of Fast-Food Logos,” The Independent, September 23, 2012, www.independent.co.uk/news/science/logos-brand-youthfulminds-8165962.html. 6. Roger Dobson, “Logos ‘Brand’ Youthful Minds: Children’s Brains Are Found to Light Up at the Sight of Fast-Food Logos,” The Independent, September 23, 2012, www.independent.co.uk/news/science/logos-brand-youthfulminds-8165962.html; Journal of Consumer Research 12 (December 1985): 301–15; Chester A. Insko and William F. Oakes, “Awareness and the Conditioning of Attitudes,” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 4 (November 1966): 487–96; Carolyn K. Staats and Arthur W. Staats, “Meaning Established by Classical Conditioning,” Journal of Experimental Psychology 54 (July 1957): 74–80. 7. Kevin Lane Keller, “Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Managing CustomerBased Brand Equity,” Journal of Marketing 57 (January 1993): 1–22. 8. Herbert Krugman, “Low Recall and High Recognition of Advertising,” Journal of Advertising Research (February–March 1986): 79–80. 9. Susanne Schmidt and Martin Eisend, “Advertising Repetition: A MetaAnalysis on Effective Frequency in Advertising,” Journal of Advertising 44, no. 4 (2015): 415–28. 10. Eva Woelbert and Béatrice d’Hombres, “Pictorial Health Warnings and WearOut Effects: Evidence from a Web Experiment in 10 European Countries,” Tobacco Control 28 (2019): e71-e76. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054402. 11. Inyoung Chae, Hernán A. Bruno, and Fred M. Feinberg, “Wearout or Weariness? Measuring Potential Negative Consequences of Online Ad Volume and Placement on Website Visits,” Journal of Marketing Research 56, no. 1 (2019): 57–75. 12. Gerald J. Gorn, “The Effects of Music in Advertising on Choice Behavior: A Classical Conditioning Approach,” Journal of Marketing 46 (Winter 1982): 94–101. 13. www.amazon.com/s/?ie= UTF8&keywords= bentley+intense&tag= mh0b20&index=aps&hvadid=7017344228&hvqmt=b&hvbmt=bb&hvdev=c&ref =pd_sl_81gzpijvxv_b. 14. Salvador Rodriguez, “Facebook Changes Company Name to Meta,” CNBC, October 29, 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/28/facebook-changes-company-name-to-meta.html. 15. http://zippofragrances.com/, accessed May 9, 2022. 16. www.nfl.info/NFLConsProd/Welcome/cpPrequalify.htm. 17. Quoted in Rebecca R. Ruiz, “Luxury Cars Imprint Their Brands on Goods from Cologne to Clothing,” New York Times, February 2015, www.NewYorkTimes .com/2015/02/21/automobiles/luxury-cars-imprint-their-brands-on-goodsfrom-cologne-to-clothing.html. 18. “Look-Alikes Mimic Familiar Packages,” New York Times, August 9, 1986: D1. 19. James Ward, Barbara Loken, Ivan Ross, and Tedi Hasapopoulous, “The Influence of Physical Similarity of Affect and Attribute Perceptions from National Brands to Private Label Brands,” in Terence A. Shimp et al., eds., American Marketing Educators’ Conference (Chicago: American Marketing Association, 1986): 51–56. 20. Luk Warlop and Joseph W. Alba, “Sincere Flattery: Trade-Dress Imitation and Consumer Choice,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 14, nos. 1 & 2 (2004): 21–27. 21. Femke van Horen and and Rik Pieters, “Consumer Evaluation of Copycat Brands: The Effect of Imitation Type,” International Journal of Research in Marketing 29, no. 3 (2012): 246–55, https://doi.org/10.1016/j .ijresmar.2012.04.001. 22. Judith Lynne Zaichkowsky and Richard Neil Simpson, “The Effect of Experience with a Brand Imitator on the Original Brand,” Marketing Letters 7, no. 1 (1996): 31–39. 23. Michael Barbaro and Julie Creswell, “Levi’s Turns to Suing Its Rivals,” New York Times, January 29, 2007, www.newyorktimes.com/2007/01/29/ business/29jeans.html.

24. Associated Press, “Utah Theme Park Sues Taylor Swift over ‘Evermore’ Album,” February 23, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/lawsuits-utahtaylor-swift-trademark-infringement-trademarks-b57792e0e1408fc870a 6705f0954aef1. 25. Alison DeNisco Rayome, “Uber vs. Lyft: We Compare the Two Ride-Hailing Apps,” CNET, February 27, 2020, https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-andsoftware/uber-vs-lyft-we-compare-the-two-ride-hailing-apps/, accessed March 18, 2022. 26. David Allan, Super Sonic Logos: The Power of Audio Branding, Business Expert Press, 2021; Roger Dooley, “Sonic Branding: Why Every Brand Needs It Today,” May 31, 2021, Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ rogerdooley/2021/05/31/sonic-branding-why-every-brand-needs-it-today/. 27. For a comprehensive approach to consumer behavior-based operant conditioning principles, see Gordon R. Foxall, “Behavior Analysis and Consumer Psychology,” Journal of Economic Psychology 15 (March 1994): 5–91. 28. William Arruda, “The 7 Worst Backgrounds for Your Zoom Meetings,” Forbes, September 13, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2020/09/13/ the-7-worst-backgrounds-for-your-zoom-meetings/ 29. Yalin Sun and Yan Zhang, “A Review of Theories and Models Applied in Studies of Social Media Addiction and Implications for Future Research,” Addictive Behaviors 114 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106699. 30. Suzanne Vranica, “Agencies Don Lab Coats to Reach Consumers, Firms Deploy Scientists Within Creative Groups to Make Messages Stick,” Wall Street Journal, June 4, 2007: B8. 31. Anne Hamby and Tom van Laer, “Not Whodunit but Whydunit: Story Characters’ Motivations Influence Audience Interest in Services,” Journal of Service Research 25, no. 1 (February 2022): 48–65, https://doi.org/ 10.1177/10946705211003672. 32. Eleanor Cummins, “Tik Tok Tics Are a Symptom of a Much Bigger Problem,” The Verge, November 12, 2021, https://www.theverge.com/ 2021/11/12/22772157/tiktok-tics-suggestible-distress-teens. 33. Elizabeth A. Minton, T. Bettina Cornwell, and Hong Yuan, “I Know What You Are Thinking: How Theory of Mind Is Employed in Product Evaluations,” Journal of Business Research 128 (2021): 405 DOI: 10.1016/j .jbusres.2021.02.002; Lan Chaplin, Tina Lowrey, Ayalla Ruvio, L.J. Shrum, and Kathleen Vohs, “Age Differences in Children’s Happiness from Material Goods and Experiences: The Role of Memory and Theory of Mind,” International Journal of Research in Marketing 37 (2020), 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2020.01.004. 34. Jean Piaget, “The Child and Modern Physics,” Scientific American 196, no. 3 (1957): 46–51; see also Kenneth D. Bahn, “How and When Do Brand Perceptions and Preferences First Form? A Cognitive Developmental Investigation,” Journal of Consumer Research 13 (December 1986): 382–93. 35. Deborah L. Roedder, “Age Differences in Children’s Responses to Television Advertising: An Information-Processing Approach,” Journal of Consumer Research 8 (September 1981): 144–53. 36. Deborah Roedder John and Lan Chaplin, “Children as Consumers: A Review of 50 Years of Research in Marketing,” in L. R. Kahle, T. M. Lowrey, & J. Huber, APA Handbook of Consumer Psychology (2022), 185–202, American Psychological Association, https://doi.org/10.1037/0000262-007. 37. Gwen Bachmannn Achenreiner and Deborah Roedder John, “The Meaning of Brand Names to Children: A Developmental Investigation,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 13, no. 3 (2003): 205–19. 38. Paula Lyon Andruss, “‘Dora’ Translates Well,” Marketing News, October 13, 2003: 8. 39. Gary Armstrong and Merrie Brucks, “Dealing with Children’s Advertising: Public Policy Issues and Alternatives,” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 7 (1988): 98–113. 40. Bonnie Reece, “Children and Shopping: Some Public Policy Questions,” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing (1986): 185–94. 41. “Children’s Advertising Review Unit Issues Revised Guidelines for Advertising to Children,” National Law Review, August 20, 2021, https://www.natlawreview.com/article/children-s-advertising-review-unit-issues-revised-guidelinesadvertising-to-children. 42. Ellen J. Langer, The Psychology of Control (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1983). 43. Shalini Bahl, George R. Milne, Spencer M. Ross, David Glen Mick, Sonya A. Grier, Sunaina K. Chugani, Steven S. Chan, et al, “Mindfulness: Its Transformative Potential for Consumer, Societal, and Environmental Well-Being,” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 35, no. 2 (September 2016): 198–210, https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.15.139. 44. Sabrina Helm and Brintha Subramaniam, “Exploring Socio-Cognitive Mindfulness in the Context of Sustainable Consumption,” Sustainability 11, no. 13 (2019): 3692, https://doi.org/10.3390/su11133692 45. “What Is Mindfulness?” Mindful, July 8, 2020, www.mindful.org/whatis-mindfulness/; David Gelles, “The Hidden Price of Mindfulness Inc.,”

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Section 2  •  Making Sense of the World

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McQuarrie and David Glen Mick, “Visual and Verbal Rhetorical Figures under Directed Processing versus Incidental Exposure to Advertising,” Journal of Consumer Research 29 (March 2003): 579–87; cf. also Ann E. Schlosser, “Learning through Virtual Product Experience: The Role of Imagery on True versus False Memories,” Journal of Consumer Research 33, no. 3 (2006): 377–83. Cristel A. Russell, Jack Swasy, Dale Russell, and Larry Engel, “Eye Tracking Evidence That Happy Faces Impair Comprehension of the Verbal Message: The Case of Health Warnings in Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Television Commercials,” International Journal of Advertising 36, no. 1 (2017): 82–106. Cristel A. Russell and Sidney J. Levy, “The Temporal and Focal Dynamics of Volitional Re-Consumption: A Phenomenological Investigation of Repeated Hedonic Experiences,” Journal of Consumer Research 39, no. 2 (2012): 341-59. Katja H. 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90. Robert Angell, Matthew Gorton, Johannes Sauer, Paul Bottomley, and John White, “Don’t Distract Me When I’m Media Multitasking: Toward a Theory for Raising Advertising Recall and Recognition,” Journal of Advertising 45, no. 2 (2016): 198–210, doi: 10.1080/00913367.2015.1130665. 91. Richard P. Bagozzi and Alvin J. Silk, “Recall, Recognition, and the Measurement of Memory for Print Advertisements,” Marketing Science 2 (1983): 95–134. 92. 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Chapter 4  •  Learning, Remembering, and Knowing

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Solomon, “How do Consumers Think about Hybrid Products? Computer Wearables Have an Identity Problem,” Journal of Business Research 89 (August 2018): 159–70; Noah Rayman, “Dunkin’ Donuts Now Has Its Own Version of the Cronut,” Time, October 27, 2014, http://time.com/3542225/dunkin-donuts-croissantdonut-cronut/; cf. also Michael R. Solomon, The New Chameleons: How to Connect with Consumers Who Defy Categorization (London: Kogan Page International, 2021). 116. Laura A. Peracchio, “How Do Young Children Learn to Be Consumers? A Script-Processing Approach,” Journal of Consumer Research 18 (March 1992): 425–40; Laura A. Peracchio, “Young Children’s Processing of a Televised Narrative: Is a Picture Really Worth a Thousand Words?” Journal of Consumer Research 20 (September 1993): 281–93. 117. Lan Nguyen Chaplin and Tina M. Lowrey, “The Development of ConsumerBased Consumption Constellations in Children,” Journal of Consumer Research 36, no. 5 (2010): 757–77. 118. Joshua J. Clarkson, Chris Janiszewski, and Melissa D. Cinelli, “The Desire for Consumption Knowledge,” Journal of Consumer Research 39, no. 6 (2013): 1313–29. 119. Matthew D. Rocklage, Derek D. Rucker, and Loran F. Nordgren, “Emotionally Numb: Expertise Dulls Consumer Experience,” Journal of Consumer Research 48, no. 3 (October 2021): 355–73, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucab015. 120. Andre F. Maciel and Melanie Wallendorf, “Taste Engineering: An Extended Consumer Model of Cultural Competence Constitution,” Journal of Consumer Research 43.5 (2017): 726–46. 121. Michael R. Solomon, “Mapping Product Constellations: A Social Categorization Approach to Symbolic Consumption,” Psychology & Marketing 5, no. 3 (1988): 233–58. 122. Elizabeth C. Hirschman and Michael R. Solomon, “Competition and Cooperation among Culture Production Systems,” in Ronald F. Bush and Shelby D. Hunt, eds., Marketing Theory: Philosophy of Science Perspectives (Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 1982): 269–72. 123. Michael D. Johnson, “The Differential Processing of Product Category and Noncomparable Choice Alternatives,” Journal of Consumer Research 16 (December 1989): 300–339. 124. Mita Sujan, “Consumer Knowledge: Effects on Evaluation Strategies Mediating Consumer Judgments,” Journal of Consumer Research 12 (June 1985): 31–46. 125. Marcus Cunha, Jr. and Juliano Laran, “Asymmetries in the Sequential Learning of Brand Associations: Implications for the Early Entrant Advantage,” Journal of Consumer Research 35, no. 5 (2009): 788–99. 126. Andrew W. Ellis, Selina J. Holmes, and Richard L. Wright, “Age of Acquisition and the Recognition of Brand Names: On the Importance of Being Early,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 20, no. 1 (2010): 43–52. 127. Mark J. Miller, “Bob Marley Brand Expands from Music to Coffee to Swimwear,” Brandchannel, February 21, 2012, www.brandchannel.com/home/ post/2012/02/21/Bob-Marley-Brand-Extensions-022112.aspx. 128. http://passiripatti.com/2010/11/social-media-for-toddlers/; “Sign of the Times: Toy Blocks That Teach Toddlers Social Networking,” Fast Company, November 30, 2010, accessed May 9, 2022. 129. Alixandra Barasch, Gal Zauberman, and Kristin Diehl, “How the Intention to Share Can Undermine Enjoyment: Photo-Taking Goals and Evaluation of Experiences,” Journal of Consumer Research 44, no. 6 (2018): 1220–37. 130. Stacy Menzel Baker, Holli C. Karrer, and Ann Veeck, “My Favorite Recipes: Recreating Emotions and Memories Through Cooking,” Advances in Consumer Research 32, no. 1 (2005): 304–05. 131. Thomas F. Jones, “Our Musical Heritage Is Being Raided,” San Francisco Examiner, May 23, 1997. 132. Kevin Goldman, “A Few Rockers Refuse to Turn Tunes into Ads,” New York Times, August 25, 1995: B1. 133. Charles Duhigg, “Warning: Habits May Be Good for You,” New York Times Magazine, July 17, 2008, www.ntyimes.com/2008/07/13/Business/13habit.html. 134. Toy Industry Association, Inc, “U.S. Sales Data,” The Toy Association, accessed July 30, 2022, https://www.toyassociation.org/ta/research/data/ussales-data/toys/research-and-data/data/us-sales-data.aspx.

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135. Erin Costello, “Balancing Nutrition and Appeal in Children’s Food and Beverage,” Food Beverage Insider, May 3, 2022, https://www.foodbeverage insider.com/market-trends-analysis/balancing-nutrition-and-appealchildrens-food-and-beverage. 136. Anne Sutherland and Beth Thompson, Kidfluence: Why Kids Today Mean Business (Whitby, Canada: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2001). 137. Rachel E. Greenspan, “TikTok Is Breeding a New Batch of Child Stars. Psychologists Say What Comes Next Won’t Be Pretty,” Insider, July 9, 2020, https://www.insider.com/psychologists-say-social-media-fame-may-harmchild-star-influencers-2020-5. 138. Heidi Borst, “Talking to Kids about Advertising,” National Geographic, December 2, 2021, https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/family/2021/12/ talking-to-kids-about-advertising. 139. Yoree Koh, “How YouTube Kids Cleaned Up Its Act,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), March 5, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtubekids-cleaned-up-its-act-11646476200. 140. Julia Alexander, “YouTube Kids Has Been a Problem since 2015 — Why Did It Take This Long to Address?,” Polygon, December 8, 2017, https://www.polygon .com/2017/12/8/16737556/youtube-kids-video-inappropriate-superhero-disney. 141. Georgia Wells and Jeff Horwitz, “Facebook’s Effort to Attract Preteens Goes beyond Instagram Kids, Documents Show,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), September 28, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ facebook-instagram-kids-tweens-attract-11632849667. 142. Katie Deighton, “Marketers Are Curbing Some Advertising to Children,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), May 31, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ marketers-are-curbing-some-advertising-to-children-11654030239. 143. Zulie Rane, “The Terrifying Rise of the Child Influencer and the Parents Who Profit,” OneZero, October 25, 2021, https://onezero.medium.com/ the-terrifying-rise-of-the-child-fashion-influencer-e7b03278d887.

144. Ray A. Smith, “Meet the 9-Year-Old Telling You What to Wear,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), October 6, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ meet-the-9-year-old-telling-you-what-to-wear-1538823660. 145. Danya Hajjaji, “YouTube Lets Parents Exploit Their Kids for Clicks,” Newsweek, October 4, 2021, https://www.newsweek.com/youtube-lets-lawlesslucrative-sharenting-industry-put-kids-mercy-internet-1635112. 146. Grace Dean, “Food Brands Spend $1.8 Billion Advertising to Kids – but Increasingly, Child YouTubers Are Plugging Their Products for Free,” Business Insider, November 8, 2020, https://www.businessinsider.com/ mcdonalds-mms-among-fast-food-candy-brands-advertising-to-kids2020-11. 147. Heidi Borst, “Talking to Kids about Advertising,” National Geographic, December 2, 2021, https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/family/2021/12/ talking-to-kids-about-advertising. 148. Katie Deighton, “Marketers Are Curbing Some Advertising to Children,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), May 31, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ marketers-are-curbing-some-advertising-to-children-11654030239. 149. Ryan Tracy, “FTC Faces Push to Study Ads Targeting Children,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), December 5, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ ftc-faces-push-to-study-ads-targeting-children-11575522061. 150. Yoree Koh, “How YouTube Kids Cleaned Up Its Act,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), March 5, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ how-youtube-kids-cleaned-up-its-act-11646476200. 151. Katie Deighton, “Marketers Are Curbing Some Advertising to Children,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), May 31, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ marketers-are-curbing-some-advertising-to-children-11654030239. 152. Ryan Tracy, “FTC Faces Push to Study Ads Targeting Children,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Ed.), December 5, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ ftc-faces-push-to-study-ads-targeting-children-11575522061.

5

Motivation CHAPTER OBJECTIVES   When you finish reading this chapter, you should be able to: 5-1 Understand how motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic. 5-2 Outline how products can satisfy a range of consumer needs.

5-4 Explain how the way we evaluate and choose a product depends on our degree of involvement with the product, the marketing message, or the purchase situation.

5-3 Discuss how setting goals correctly can motivate consumers to strive toward and achieve those goals.

D

uring the COVID-19 lockdown, Americans gained nearly two pounds per month when everyone was under shelterin-place orders at the height of the pandemic in 2020.1 Many people have emerged from the pandemic with goals to improve their health. Imani is a woman on a fitness mission. She’s aware of the body positivity movement, which was initiated by plus-size black women. It encourages people to love themselves as they are, regardless of whether their body conforms to an idea that Western society perpetuates.2 She is motivated by true concern about her health. After all, she has a family history of high blood pressure and diabetes. Coincidentally, she learns that her idol Beyoncé is partnering with Peloton to create cycling, running, strength, and yoga classes that integrate her music with Peloton’s class content.3 Peloton was red-hot during the pandemic as legions of gym rats had to migrate their workouts from the gym to home; the company boasts more than 874,000 digital subscribers to its fitness programs.4 And many celebrities, from Jennifer Anniston to Diddy, proudly posted photos of themselves pedaling their way to fitness. True, Peloton stumbled a bit post-pandemic as it had to recall a faulty treadmill product, and it miscalculated the number of people who would still be interested in buying a Peloton bike after they were allowed back outside again.5 But the prospect of a daily bike ride while she vibes to Beyoncé’s tunes fits her plans beautifully, so like almost six million others, Imani bites the bullet, and she eagerly awaits delivery of her new Peloton bike.

Source: Kali9/E+/Getty Images.

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OBJECTIVE 5- 1 Understand how motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic.

The Motivation Process: Why Ask Why?

What’s the best way to get motivated to exercise more? Some people will run as far away as they can from a group exercise class. They do not enjoy the social interaction and prefer to do their own thing. For others, like Imani, the social nature of a Peloton class is what drives them. To understand motivation is to understand why consumers do what they do. Why do some people choose to bungee-jump off a bridge or compete on reality shows, whereas others spend their leisure time playing chess or gardening? Whether it is to quench a thirst, kill boredom, or attain some deep spiritual experience, we do everything for a reason, even if we can’t articulate that reason. We teach marketing students from Day 1 that the goal of marketing is to satisfy consumers’ needs. However, this insight is useless unless we can discover what those needs are and why they exist. A beer commercial once asked, “Why ask why?” In this chapter, we’ll find out. As you can see in Figure 5.1, we’ll start with a brief discussion about the forces that influence motivation. Then, we’ll move on to goal setting and goal striving—getting from a customer’s “wish” to reality.

Push or Pull? Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation Motivation refers to the processes that lead people to behave as they do. It occurs when a need that the consumer wishes to satisfy is activated. The need creates a state of tension that drives the consumer to attempt to reduce or eliminate it. Like Imani’s fitness objectives, the desired end state becomes a goal for the consumer to attain. Marketers try to create products and services to provide the desired benefits and help the consumer to reduce this tension. The motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation occurs when a person pulls from their own inherent drives; extrinsic motivation occurs when a person is pushed by an external force. Understanding what intrinsically motivates us is crucial to help us reach our goals. Metamotivation refers to people’s understanding of their own personal motivational states and the best ways to motivate themselves.6 Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations can affect people’s behavior. For instance, a study designed to understand why consumers create and post videos about brands (user-generated content) found that both intrinsic motivations, such as being naturally

Intrinsic and extrinsic forces

Motivation (drive) CURRENT STATE (affected by unmet needs)

Goal setting

DESIRED STATE (goal)

Select goal & determine goal level

Goal striving Develop and implement a plan to achieve the goal

Figure 5.1 Motivation and Goals



altruistic, and extrinsic rewards, such as economic incentives, motivated the behavior to create this content.7 Many programs are designed to create external incentives to motivate consumers. For instance, financial literacy (see Chapter 2) initiatives try to find the most effective ways to encourage consumers to reduce their credit card debt. One team of researchers found that concentrated repayment strategies—those that consolidate all debt into a single account—were more motivating than dispersed strategies, in which the debt was dispersed across a range of accounts.8 Why would this be? Apparently, the concentrated strategy created greater extrinsic motivation to get out of debt, because consumers felt that they were making greater progress in debt repayment when they could see, in a single account, a greater proportion of the starting balance repaid. This finding serves as a reminder that a simple adjustment like allowing a consumer to gauge their progress toward a goal can help them to double down on their efforts to attain it. Research on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation shows that, in general, intrinsic motivation leads to better quality of performance (for instance, you work out harder), whereas extrinsic motivation via monetary incentives leads to more quantity of performance (you work out more often).9 More recently, researchers have identified what they call achievement motivation.10 This refers to wanting to do well and trying to achieve some standard of excellence, whether that standard is conscious or nonconscious.

Motivational Drive Whether the need is utilitarian or hedonic, the magnitude of the tension it creates determines the urgency the consumer feels to reduce it. We call this degree of arousal a drive.

Drive Theory Drive theory focuses on biological needs that produce unpleasant states of arousal (e.g., your stomach grumbles during a morning class). The arousal this tension causes motivates us to reduce it and return to a balanced state called homeostasis. Some researchers believe that this need to reduce arousal is a basic mechanism that governs much of our behavior. Indeed, there is research evidence for the effectiveness of so-called retail therapy; apparently the act of shopping restores a sense of personal control over one’s environment and as a result can alleviate feelings of sadness (at least in the short term).13 If a behavior reduces the drive, we naturally tend to repeat it. Your motivation to leave class early to grab a snack would be greater if you hadn’t eaten in 24 hours than if you had eaten only two hours earlier. Your degree of motivation, then, depends on the distance between your present state and the goal. Drive theory runs into difficulties when it tries to explain some facets of human behavior that run counter to its predictions. People often do things that increase a drive state rather than decrease it. For example, we may delay gratification. If you know you are going out for a lavish dinner, you might decide to forego a snack earlier in the day even though you are hungry at that time.

Nonconscious Goals Can you make choices that are consistent with your goal even when you’re not conscious of the goals? The research says yes! Even goals that we are not aware of (nonconscious goals) can have a strong impact on our choices.14

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Buying, Having, Being The Power of Placebos The placebo effect vividly demonstrates the power that intrinsic motivation plays on our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. This term refers to the well-documented tendency for your brain to convince you that a fake treatment is the real thing—and thus a sugar pill or other placebo actually can reduce pain, treat insomnia, and provide other benefits.11 A recent study looked at the increase in sexual assaults and car accidents caused by people who drink alcohol mixed with energy drinks. Although this mixture doesn’t actually increase the physiological effects of intoxication, many people believe that it does. When the researchers labeled a cocktail made of vodka, Red Bull, and fruit juice to emphasize that it contained an energy drink, study participants (males between 18 and 25) perceived themselves to be more intoxicated than did those who drank the same cocktail without this labeling. The effect was more pronounced among those who believe energy drinks increase intoxication. Although the actual levels of intoxication did not differ (as measured by a breathalyzer), participants who believed that intoxication increases risk-taking were more likely to score high on a measure of risk-taking. In addition, those who believed that alcohol intoxication increases sexual disinhibition scored higher on a measure of sexual self-confidence— predictions about whether a woman would “accept their advances.”12

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One question that keeps some consumer researchers up at night is whether a person even needs to be aware of a motivation to achieve a goal. The evidence suggests that motives can lurk beneath the surface, and cues in the environment can activate a goal even when we don’t know it. For instance, seeing a weight scale can prime a goal to lose weight, even if we aren’t aware of that trigger. We will revisit these nonconscious influences in Chapter 8.

Self-Regulation How much willpower do you have when it comes to controlling what you eat, how fiercely you exercise, or even what you say to your friends? Self-regulation describes our ability to monitor and manage our own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Psychologists tout it as the most fundamental skill to be successful at many tasks in our lives, and the best predictor of learning, of developing healthy relationships, and of well-being.15 Having a self-regulatory strategy means that we specify in advance how we want to respond in certain situations. These “if-then” plans, or implementation intentions, may dictate how much weight we give to different kinds of information (emotional or cognitive), a timetable to carry out a decision, or even how we will deal with disruptive influences that might interfere with our plans (like a bossy salesperson who tries to steer us to a different choice).16 Consumers who know how to self-regulate are better at making plans toward goals and at transforming those plans into reality.17 They are better at setting intentions, translating these intentions into actions, and avoiding any interference. On the other hand, failure to self-regulate can happen when we lose control of attention or misdirect our efforts, often because we let emotions take over.18 We’ve all been there! Each of us fights a constant battle to control our desires, whether these involve splurging on expensive clothes or treating ourselves to fattening snacks. Many factors, both internal (for example, willpower) and external (for example, peer pressure), help to determine whether or when we give in. Even something as innocent as checking your Facebook page can make you lose control! Recent research implies that when you focus on what your close friends post, this makes you feel better. This momentary boost in selfesteem we get in turn prompts us to lose self-control and engage in impulsive behaviors, such as binge eating and even reckless spending that lowers credit scores.19 A recent study shed some light on why our efforts to self-regulate get stronger or weaker over time as we progress toward a goal—and especially why what starts out as an exciting quest turns into a painful slog even though we’re getting closer to the objective. The researchers distinguished In recent years, researchers and marketers have become more between two types of motivation: (1) Promotion motivation aware of the role they can play in changing consumer behavior by encourages people to focus on hopes and aspirations, while helping people to regulate their own actions. This help may take (2) prevention motivation instead focuses on responsibilithe form of simple feedback, like a phone app for people tracking ties and duties as it prompts people to think about avoiding sleeping patterns, or perhaps a wearable computing device like something negative.  We referred to these strategies as the Fitbit that tells you how many steps you take in a day (and how many more you should take). These applications provide a “approach” and avoidance” when we talked about learning feedback loop to help with self-regulation. The basic premise in Chapter 4. is amazingly simple: Provide people with information about their As the researchers predicted, individuals tend to be actions in real time, and then give them a chance to change those more promotion motivated in earlier stages of goal pursuit actions so that you push them to improve. and become more prevention motivated as goal attainment Source: Rob Wilkinson/Alamy Stock Photo.

Chapter 5  •  Motivation



draws near. The researchers speculate that when we are in the early stages of attaining a goal, we compare our progress with where we started, so we are optimistic. But after we reach the midpoint, we switch our reference to the end goal we’re striving for—and thus focus on our shortcomings instead. Their advice: In the early stages, focus on how attaining the goal will help you to achieve things you hope for (such as a healthy body). Then, when you’re in the home stretch, focus on how getting to your goal will help you to fulfill your responsibilities. And make a list of things not to do to stay on course. Finally, reward yourself with a break from something you don’t enjoy when you’re making progress so long as it doesn’t short-circuit your efforts (e.g., no congratulatory margaritas if you’re trying to get sober).20

OBJECTIVE 5-2 Outline how products can satisfy a range of consumer needs.

Consumer Needs Utilitarian and Hedonic Needs

As we saw in Chapter 1, a need reflects a basic goal, such as keeping yourself nourished or protected from the elements. When we focus on a utilitarian need, we emphasize the objective, tangible attributes of products, such as miles per gallon in a car; the amount of fat, calories, and protein in a cheeseburger; or the durability of a pair of blue jeans. Hedonic needs are subjective and experiential; here we might look to a product to meet our needs for excitement, self-confidence, or fantasy—perhaps to escape the mundane or routine aspects of life.22 Many items satisfy our hedonic needs (there’s even a popular resort called Hedonism). Upscale brands thrive when they offer the promise of pleasure to the user—how badly do you “need” that Supreme hoodie or Coach bag?23 Hedonic and utilitarian motivations affect consumers’ shopping behavior. For instance, consumers motivated to shop hedonically review larger assortments than if they shop for utilitarian reasons.24 It’s hard to overstate the importance of hedonic consumption as an influence on consumers’ choices. This term refers to the multisensory, fantasy, and emotional aspects of consumers’ interactions with products.25 As manufacturing costs go down and the amount of “stuff” that people accumulate goes up, consumers want to buy things that will provide hedonic value in addition to simply doing what they’re designed to do.

For some, jumping out of an airplane is an enjoyable hedonic experience. Source: iurii/Shutterstock.

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Buying, Having, Being The Quantified Self Did you log your 10,000 steps today? Have you posted data from your workout so your friends can see how you did? Don’t forget to upload those pics of the yummy salad you had for lunch today! Or, maybe you’re a biohacker— a person who meticulously monitors their bodily processes and vital signs with the intent of creating a superhuman race. Some wear a headband that electrically stimulates the brain to improve cognition.21 A few hardy souls even have a lightup implant surgically inserted into their arms to monitor biometric data that changes color when levels are abnormal. This self-recording of personal data is a hallmark of the quantified self (QS) movement. The first known attempt to meticulously self-track was by Sanctorius of Padua, who in the 16th century recorded his own weight versus food intake and waste over a 30-year period (do not try this at home!). Today, a thriving industry caters to this yearning to self-quantify. Numerous startups are betting that consumers will outsource their selfregulation as they try to morph into better, brighter, augmented versions of themselves. Companies hawk apps and other devices like Fitbits that measure how much individuals sleep, eat, walk, and spend. Some of these hi-tech tools are socially grounded; their success hinges upon consumers’ willingness to share their data with their networks to obtain reinforcement, feedback— and sometimes a modicum of shame that drives them to do better. Now, go finish those 10,000 steps so you can call it a day!

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Form is function. Two young entrepreneurs named Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan discovered that basic truth when they quit their day jobs to develop a line of house-cleaning products they called Method. Cleaning products—what a yawn, right? For years, companies such as Procter & Gamble have plodded along, peddling boring boxes of soap powder to generations of housewives who suffered in silence, scrubbing and buffing, yearning for the daily respite of martini time. Lowry and Ryan gambled that they could offer an alternative: cleaners in exotic scents such as cucumber, lavender, and ylang-ylang that came in aesthetically pleasing bottles. The bet paid off. Within two years, the partners were cleaning up, taking in more than $2 million in revenue. Shortly thereafter, they hit it big when Target contracted to sell Method products in its stores.27 Source: Sara Stathas/Alamy Stock Photo.

In fact, research evidence suggests that our brains are wired to appreciate good design: Respondents who were hooked up to a brain apparatus called a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner showed faster reaction times when they saw aesthetically pleasing packages, even compared to well-known brands such as Coca-Cola.26 That helps to explain why mass-market consumers thirst for great design and why they reward those companies that give it to them with their enthusiastic patronage and loyalty. From razor blades such as the Gillette Sensor to the Apple Watch and even to the lowly trashcan, form is function.

How Can We Understand Needs? Numerous psychologists have tried to define a universal inventory of needs they could trace systematically to explain virtually all behavior. Let’s get into the weeds on the most well-known applications.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs The psychologist Abraham Maslow originally developed his influential hierarchy of needs to understand personal growth and how people attain spiritual “peak experiences.” Marketers later adapted his work to understand consumer motivations.28 Maslow’s hierarchical structure implies that the order of development is fixed—that is, we must attain a certain level before we activate a need for the next higher one. Marketers embraced this perspective because it (indirectly) specifies certain types of product benefits people might look for, depending on their stage of mental or spiritual development or on their economic situation.29 An integrative view of consumer goal structures and goaldetermination processes proposes six discrete levels of goals wherein higher-level (versus lower-level) goals are more abstract, more inclusive, and less mutable. In descending

Chapter 5  •  Motivation



SELF-TRANSCENDENCE I can observe the cycle of life in my garden

6

SELF-ACTUALIZATION My garden gives me a sense of peace

5

ESTEEM I can create something of beauty

4

SOCIAL I can share my produce with others

3

SAFETY I feel safe in the garden

2

PHYSIOLOGICAL I eat what I grow

1

Figure 5.2  Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

order of abstraction, these goal levels are life themes and values, life projects, current concerns, consumption intentions, benefits sought, and feature preferences. Figure 5.2 presents this model. At each level, the person seeks different kinds of product benefits. Ideally, an individual progresses up the hierarchy until their dominant motivation is a focus on “ultimate” goals, such as justice and harmony. The highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy is self-transcendence, where an individual seeks to further a cause beyond the self and to experience a communion beyond the boundaries of the self through peak experiences. Although this sixth level of Maslow’s motivational theory is often forgotten, it was an important component of Maslow’s thinking because it reveals that the individual may put their own individual needs aside in favor of service to others or to a greater cause.30 In other words, the individual rises above their own needs as they are driven toward a higher purpose or the meaning of life, which is a central issue of human psychology.31 Unfortunately, this state is difficult to achieve (at least on a regular basis), even though many marketing messages claim to provide such peak experiences. Of course, the pandemic encouraged a lot of selfless behavior by caregivers and others, as many people began to rethink their priorities. The Great Resignation we witnessed in the years afterward (more than 30 million Americans quit their jobs) as workers rethought what they wanted to do to make a living also relates to this quest for meaning.32 Marketers’ applications of this hierarchy have been somewhat simplistic, especially because the same product or activity can gratify different needs. For example, one early study found that gardening could satisfy needs at every level of the hierarchy:33

• Physiological – “I eat what I grow.” • Safety – “I feel safe in the garden.” • Social – “I can share my produce with others.” • Esteem – “I can create something of beauty.” • Self-actualization – “My garden gives me a sense of peace.” • Self-transcendence – “I can observe the cycle of life in my garden.”

A basic activity like gardening can satisfy people at different levels, depending upon their motivation to engage in it. Source: Todd Arena/123RF.

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Another problem with taking Maslow’s hierarchy of needs too literally is that it is culture-bound; its assumptions may apply only to Western culture, where the typology was originally developed. People in other cultures (or, for that matter, even some in Western cultures) may question the order of the levels it specifies. A religious person who has taken a vow of celibacy would not necessarily agree that physiological needs must be satisfied before self-fulfillment can occur.

Terror Management Because these needs are ingrained in us, the salience (awareness) of our mortality can activate certain levels of needs—we certainly saw this as many of us lost loved ones to COVID. Research on so-called terror management theory shows that making people conscious of their own death activates safety needs and motivates people to engage in healthier behaviors.34 That body of research also shows that mortality salience makes people more likely to engage in materialistic and self-serving behaviors.35 That said, there is also new evidence that mortality salience can also lead people toward the state of transcendence—for instance, it may motivate them to give away possessions. The jury is still out. . .36

Self-Determination Organizations like the Peace Corps that need to recruit members may appeal to our need for relatedness with others as well as self-fulfillment. Source: Peacecorps.gov.

According to self-determination theory, humans are intrinsically motivated by the innate psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence:37

• Autonomy refers to the experience of volition and willingness. When this need • •

is satisfied, we experience a sense of integrity because our actions, thoughts, and feelings are self-endorsed and authentic. When this need is frustrated, we experience a sense of pressure and often conflict, such as feeling pushed in an unwanted direction. Relatedness refers to the experience of warmth, bonding, and care, and is satisfied by connecting to and feeling significant to others. Relatedness frustration comes with a sense of social alienation, exclusion, and loneliness. Competence is the belief in one’s ability to perform essential tasks. It is satisfied when we capably engage in activities and experience opportunities for using and mastering skills. When this need is frustrated, we experience a sense of ineffectiveness or even failure and helplessness.

Self-determination theory can be useful to understand the struggles that bottomof-the pyramid consumers in Maslow’s scheme face. Research on impoverished consumers shows that the needs of relatedness and autonomy are useful to people only if basic life necessities are available. Those living in extreme poverty face a great deal of hopelessness, as they cannot even meet their most basic needs.38

How “Needy” Are You? Individual Differences in Motivation Other motivational approaches have focused on specific needs and their ramifications for behavior. Some important needs that are relevant to consumer behavior include:

• Need to belong (to be in the company of other people):39 People who have a higher

need to belong actively seek out the company of others. The need to belong is

Chapter 5  •  Motivation



• • •

relevant to products and services for people in groups, such as participating in team sports, frequenting bars, and even logging in to that Peloton class. Need for power (to control one’s environment):40 Many products and services allow us to feel that we have mastery over our surroundings. These products range from “hopped-up” muscle cars and drivers bumping to the throbbing bass on their car radios as they cruise down the road to luxury resorts that promise to respond to every whim of their pampered guests. Need for uniqueness (to assert one’s individual identity):41 Products satisfy the need for uniqueness when they pledge to bring out our distinctive qualities. For example, Fenty Beauty disrupted the beauty industry when Rihanna’s startup offered women 50 distinct skin tone shades to match their distinct complexion. A fresh start mindset:42 This concept captures the belief that people can change their own destiny and get a fresh start, get a new beginning, and chart a new course in life, regardless of their past or present circumstances. We’ve seen a lot of this in the past few years, as many people used the pandemic as an opportunity to radically change their living circumstances.

This is an important individual difference, because those who believe in a fresh start mindset are more likely to set new goals for themselves, to change their circumstances, and to reinvent themselves by engaging in new activities, adopting new lifestyles, and making different consumption choices in order to create a positive future. We can identify individuals who display this orientation based upon the way they answer such questions as, “ Whatever their past, people can look forward to a new future.”

OBJECTIVE 5-3 Discuss how setting goals correctly can motivate consumers to strive toward and achieve those goals.

Setting and Reaching Goals

There are entire industries whose sole purpose is to help people achieve their financial, career, and health goals, or to motivate them to have willpower. It turns out that setting goals is the best way to motivate people to achieve those goals. A ton of research has shown that when we consciously set goals deliberately, when we monitor goal progress, and when we are committed to reaching the goal, we are most likely to achieve it.46

Goal Conflicts Recall that Imani questioned her motivations to pump up her exercise program. As Figure 5.3 shows, consumers experience different kinds of conflicts that can impact their purchase decisions. For example, we might be conflicted if we’re torn between buying something that serves a useful purpose versus something that’s just “for fun” (kind of like getting a package of tube socks versus a Vans snapback hat for your birthday). Indeed, a recent study found that promotions such as price discounts, rebates, coupons, and loyalty rewards exert a bigger impact on hedonic versus utilitarian purchases. Apparently, it’s more difficult to justify a hedonic purchase, so these promotions provide a way to reduce the guilt that comes from buying them (“hey, it was on sale!”).47 A goal has valence, which means that it can be positive or negative. We direct our behavior toward goals we value positively; we are motivated to approach the goal and to seek out products that will help us to reach it. However, as we saw in Chapter 4’s discussion of negative reinforcement, sometimes we’re also motivated to avoid a negative outcome rather than achieve a positive outcome.

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Buying, Having, Being The Power of Grit Perseverance toward a goal is key to success. A new school of thought says that grit, a combination of passion and long-term perseverance toward one’s goals, is even more important than genius. Grit predicts how much effort and persistence one will undertake in the face of challenges.43 To know how “gritty” you are, think about the degree to which you agree/disagree with the following statements:44 1. I often set a goal but later choose to pursue a different one. 2. I have been obsessed with a certain idea or project for a short time but later lost interest. 3. I finish whatever I begin. 4. Setbacks don’t discourage me. 5. I am diligent. However, there is still a debate about whether it’s grit or some other aspect of personality that predicts success. Indeed, an analysis of existing research on grit (a meta-analysis of a large number of studies) concluded that grit is very strongly correlated with conscientiousness, the ability to be organized, responsible, industrious, and reliable, and that it may be conscientiousness and not grit per se that drives succeeding in one’s goals.45 Whether it’s grit or conscientiousness, what really matters is that they are both key ingredients of motivation. How “gritty” are you?

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Approach

Approach

Approach

Avoidance

Avoidance

Avoidance

Figure 5.3  Types of Goal Conflicts Source: Matsabe/Shutterstock.

We structure purchases or consumption activities to reduce the chances that we will experience a nasty result. For example, many consumers work hard to avoid rejection by their peers (an avoidance goal). They stay away from products that they associate with social disapproval. Products such as deodorants and mouthwash frequently rely on consumers’ negative motivation when ads depict the onerous social consequences of underarm odor or bad breath. New research shows that when we face conflicting goals (for example: save money for retirement or buy nice things), these conflicting goals make us stressed and anxious.48 The authors of that research found two simple solutions to reduce this stress: slow breathing (think mindfulness, as we discussed in Chapter 4) and transforming the anxiety into feelings of excitement. The researchers created this anxiety reappraisal intervention by simply having their participants say out loud a statement that read “I AM EXCITED!” three times. So, relabeling situations that might evoke anxiety as exciting instead (e.g., “buying a new car is fun!”) can actually lower stress—and we all can use that! Because a purchase decision can involve more than one source of motivation, consumers often find themselves in situations in which different goals, both positive and negative, conflict with one another.49 Marketers attempt to satisfy consumers’ needs by providing possible solutions to these dilemmas. As Figure 5.3 shows, there are three general types of conflicts we should understand.

Approach–Approach Conflict A person has an approach–approach conflict when they must choose between two desirable alternatives. A student might be torn between going home for the holidays and going on a skiing trip with friends. Or, they might have to choose between going to listen to two bands that are playing at different clubs on the opposite sides of town. The theory of cognitive dissonance is based on the premise that people have a need for order and consistency in their lives and that a state of dissonance (tension) exists when beliefs or behaviors conflict with one another. We resolve the conflict that arises when we choose between two alternatives through a process of cognitive dissonance reduction, where we look for a way to reduce this inconsistency (or dissonance) and thus eliminate unpleasant tension.



Postdecision dissonance occurs when a consumer must choose between two products, both of which possess good and bad qualities. When they choose one product and not the other, the person gets the bad qualities of the product they buy and lose out on the good qualities of the one they didn’t buy. This loss creates an unpleasant, dissonant state that they want to reduce. We tend to convince ourselves, after the fact, that the choice we made was the smart one as we find additional reasons to support the alternative we did choose—perhaps when we discover flaws with the option we did not choose (sometimes we call this rationalization). A marketer can bundle several benefits together to resolve an approach–approach conflict. For example, Miller Lite’s claim that it is “less filling” and “tastes great” allows the drinker to “have his beer and drink it too.”

Approach–Avoidance Conflict Many of the products and services we desire have negative consequences attached to them as well as positive ones. We may feel guilty or ostentatious when we buy a luxury product, such as a fur coat, or we might feel like gluttons when we crave a tempting package of Twinkies. An approach–avoidance conflict occurs when we desire a goal but wish to avoid it at the same time. Some solutions to these conflicts include the proliferation of fake furs, which eliminate guilt about harming animals to make a fashion statement, and the success of diet programs such as Weight Watchers that promise good food without the calories.50 Many marketers try to help consumers overcome guilt by convincing them that they deserve these luxuries. As the model for L’Oréal cosmetics proclaims, “Because I’m worth it!”

Avoidance–Avoidance Conflict Sometimes we find ourselves caught “between a rock and a hard place.” We may face a choice with two undesirable alternatives: for instance, the option of either spending more money on an old car or buying a new one. Don’t you hate when that happens? Marketers frequently address an avoidance–avoidance conflict with messages that stress the unforeseen benefits of choosing one option (e.g., when they emphasize special credit plans to ease the pain of car payments).

Goal Framing Affects Goal Completion In general, the higher we set our goals, the better we perform. A relatively easy way to encourage people to set even higher goals for themselves is to frame them correctly. A frame is simply a way of presenting information to change how it may be processed and interpreted. We will cover the process of framing in more depth in Chapter 9, but for now, it is sufficient to know that a framing effect occurs when our interpretation of information—and/or how we behave in response to that information—changes based on how the information is presented. Framing can also affect how we set goals and how we strive toward them.

Positive and Negative Frames Recent research finds that when they set goals, consumers can decide how many goalconsistent activities to undertake (such as exercising two days per week) or how many goal-inconsistent activities to forego (such as not exercising five days per week). In other words, they can apply positive or negative frames that influence how hard they will work to achieve the goal.51 Researchers found evidence of this framing effect by conducting multiple studies in which consumers selected activities toward a goal either by attending or skipping

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sessions. For instance, the participants read about a 10-week course that would improve their job performance. The course took place over a 10-week period with two lectures each week, and participants were asked to indicate how many lectures they planned to attend (in the goal-consistent condition) versus miss (in the goalinconsistent condition). Every time participants were asked to miss activities, they felt worse about themselves and compensated for these negative feelings by setting even more ambitious goal levels.

Ends versus Means When they pursue a goal, consumers generally have one of two mindsets: an outcomeoriented mindset (focusing on what the outcome will look like) or an implemental mindset (focusing on how to reach that outcome). Recent research found that a positive mood is demotivating if you’re in an implemental mindset but motivating if you’re in an outcome-oriented mindset.52 This is because a positive mood leads us to think of more activities (i.e., means) that will accomplish our goal, and this in turn can make the goal seem easier if we’re just focused on the outcome but harder if we’re focused on how to carry out the necessary actions to achieve that outcome. The way the researchers tested this theory was amazingly simple: to create different mindsets toward a goal, participants were simply asked to describe the outcome of the potential activities to accomplish the goal (outcome oriented) or to describe the specific plans for when, where, and how to execute those plans (implemental). Depending on the participants’ moods, these mindsets were more or less motivating. So, before you make a plan to accomplish your goal, check your mood!

The Time Frame “I work better under a deadline.” Does the time you have to attain a goal make a difference? A set of research studies illustrates that the way you describe the amount of time available to complete a task—the time frame—makes a difference. Researchers asked people to imagine they need to complete a language-learning / savings / weight loss goal within a certain interval or by a certain date.53 They were then asked if they would want to pursue that goal or how likely they would be to pursue it. No matter the context, they found that people are more likely to pursue a goal when they are given a time interval (“complete this review in two months”) than when the deadline is framed as a specific date (“complete this review by Nov 17”), even when the actual deadline is the same. This happens because exact dates prompt us to also think about competing obligations falling within the interval. We end up focusing more on the (unenjoyable) goal-pursuit process, whereas durations, which present the interval in isolation, make us focus more on the goal’s (beneficial) outcome. A date that is specific makes salient other competing goals and obligations and all we think about then is all the work we’ll need to do to complete the goal. For instance, if you are wanting to learn some basic Spanish before going on a trip to South America, you would look at this goal differently depending on whether you consider the time period (you have two months to learn some español) or you consider the exact date of your flight out. Furthermore, according to studies on the mere urgency effect, we tend to choose to perform urgent tasks with short completion windows, compared to more important tasks.54 This tendency to pursue urgency over importance happens because urgent tasks  bring more immediate and certain outcomes, and we want to finish the urgent tasks first and then work on important tasks later. This effect is so strong that it even happens when the urgency is illusory—that is, when it seems that it has an expiration date but in fact it does not. You might want to think about this the next time

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you’re deciding whether to complete a quick homework assignment that’s due this week versus that bear of a term paper you’ve been trying not to think about.

Goal Difficulty and “Emergency Reserves” Some goals are hard to achieve, like getting fit or writing a term paper, but that should not be demotivating. In fact, hard goals can even lead to better success and greater satisfaction! The key is to make sure to have emergency reserves. These reserves provide a type of slack in our goal pursuit in case we fail. Recent research shows that when we actively pursue a challenging, conscious goal, we prefer harder over easier goals if we have these emergency reserves, because we view these hard goals as more valuable than easier goals (e.g., seven days of exercise a week is more valuable than five) but also because the slack makes them more attainable than goals without the slack.55 To show that people prefer the emergency reserves, researchers conducted a series of studies with college students. They found that students preferred an exam that required 20/25 points to pass, but with five emergency reserve points (versus requiring 15/25 or 20/25 points, without reserves). To show that even harder goals are preferred when reserves are available, they let students go online every morning and complete 35 CAPTCHAs. They got $1 each morning if they did this, and $5 if they completed their goal: 5 days a week (easy goal), 7 days a week (hard goal), 5 to 7 days a week (range goal), and 7 days a week with 2 free pass days “just in case” (hard goal with reserve). Not only did the hard goal with reserve lead to the highest performance on the exam; it was also the most satisfying experience. So, when you set a goal, especially a challenging one, be sure to identify some emergency reserves you can fall back on if necessary.

Goal Specificity Goals cannot be too generic. They must be specific. Paying off as much debt as possible is too generic. In contrast, setting specific goals like “reducing my student loan by 25 percent this year” will be more motivating and lead to better success. Recent research demonstrates that a specific goal is more effective because it provides a concrete reference point.56 With specific goals (e.g., save $1,000), people focus on that goal, and it “looms larger” for them. As they approach it (e.g., saving their 900th dollar), they feel more and more motivated. With nonspecific goals (e.g., save as much as you can), people instead focus on their starting point (e.g., their current savings). They become less and less motivated as they progress, because the reference point falls further away. The more specific the goal, the more motivating.

OBJECTIVE 5-4 Explain how the way we evaluate and choose a product depends on our degree of involvement with the product, the marketing message, or the purchase situation.

Consumer Involvement Imagine this conversation between two shoppers at a car dealership: Consumer #1: I want the electric one with a sunroof that can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 3 seconds and has more than 300 miles of driving range between charges. Consumer #2: I want a red one.

Involvement is “a person’s perceived relevance of the object based on their inherent needs, values, and interests.”57 Figure 5.4 illustrates that different factors

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POSSIBLE RESULTS OF INVOLVEMENT

ANTECEDENTS OF INVOLVEMENT PERSON FACTORS

elicitation of counter arguments to ads

needs importance interest values

INVOLVEMENT

with advertisements

OBJECT OR STIMULUS FACTORS differentiation of alternatives

with products

source of communication

with purchase decisions

content of communication

effectiveness of ad to induce purchase relative importance of the product class perceived differences in product attributes preference for a particular brand influence of price on brand choice amount of information search time spent deliberating alternatives

SITUATIONAL FACTORS purchase/use occasion

type of decision rule used in choice INVOLVEMENT = f (person, object, situation)

The level of involvement may be influenced by one or more of these three factors. Interactions among person, object, and situational factors are likely to occur.

Figure 5.4  The Elements of Involvement

may create involvement. These factors can be something about the person, something about the object, or something about the situation. Our motivation to attain a goal increases our desire to acquire the products or services that we believe will satisfy it. However, as we see in the case of Consumer #2 at the car dealership, not everyone is motivated to the same extent. Involvement reflects our level of motivation to process information about a product or service we believe will help us to solve a problem or reach a goal.58 Think of a person’s degree of involvement as a continuum that ranges from absolute lack of interest in a marketing stimulus at one end to obsession at the other. Inertia describes consumption at the low end of involvement, where we make decisions out of habit because we lack the motivation to consider alternatives. Depending on whether the need we want to satisfy is utilitarian or hedonic (see Chapter 1), as our involvement increases we think more about the product (“I’ve spent the last three days researching mortgage interest rates”) or we experience a strong emotional response (“I get goose bumps when I imagine what my daughter will look like in that bridal gown”).59 Not surprisingly, we tend to find higher levels of involvement in product categories that demand a big investment of money (like houses) or self-esteem (like clothing) and lower levels for mundane categories like household cleaners or hardware.60 Still, bear in mind that virtually anything can qualify as highly involving to some people—just ask a “tool guy” to talk about his passion for hammers or plumbing supplies. When Apple put its first iPhone on sale, thousands of adoring iCultists around the country (including the mayor of Philadelphia) waited in front of Apple stores for days to be one of the first to buy the device—even though they could order the phone online and have it delivered in three days. Somehow that was too long to wait for a cell phone



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with a touchscreen. As one loyal consumer admitted, “If Apple made sliced bread, yeah, I’d buy it.”61 Cult products such as Apple—or Hydrox, Harley-Davidson, Jones Soda, Chick-Fil-A, Manolo Blahnik designer shoes (think Carrie on Sex and the City), and the Boston Red Sox—command fierce consumer loyalty, devotion, and maybe even worship by consumers.62 A large majority of consumers agree that they are willing to pay more for a brand when they feel a personal connection to the company.63

Types of Involvement A freelance software programmer named Winter is on a mission to visit every Starbucks in the world. To date, he’s been to more than 14,000 outlets in Harley-Davidson is a cult product for many motorcycle riders. numerous countries. When he learned that a StarSource: Wirestock, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo. bucks store in British Columbia was scheduled to close the next day, he spent $1,400 to fly there immediately just to order a cup of coffee in the nick of time. He chronicles his odyssey on starbuckseverywhere.net.64 Okay, maybe Winter needs to get a life. Still, his passion demonstrates that involvement takes many forms. It can be cognitive, as when a “gearhead” is motivated to learn all they can about the latest specs of a new tablet, or emotional, as when the thought of a new Armani suit gives a clotheshorse the chills.65 What’s more, the act of buying the Armani may be highly involving for people who are passionately devoted to shopping. To further complicate matters, advertisements such as those Nike or Adidas produce may themselves be involving for some reason (e.g., because they make us laugh or cry or inspire us to exercise harder). So, it seems that involvement is a fuzzy concept because it overlaps with other things and means different things to different people. Indeed, the consensus is that there are actually several broad types of involvement we can relate to the product, the message, or the perceiver.66

Product Involvement Product involvement is a consumer’s level of interest in a particular product. The more closely marketers can tie a brand to an individual, the higher the involvement they will create. As a rule, product decisions are likely to be highly involving if the consumer believes there is a lot of perceived risk. This means the person believes there may be negative consequences if they chose the wrong option. Risk is greater when a product is expensive or complicated. In some cases, perceived risk also is a factor when others can see what we choose, and we may be embarrassed if we make the wrong choice.67 Remember that a product does not necessarily have to cost a fortune or be hard to use to be risky—for example, a college senior who is going to a job interview may obsess about sweating too much and give a lot of thought to the brand of deodorant they use that morning. Figure 5.5 lists five kinds of risk—including objective (e.g., physical danger) and subjective (e.g., social embarrassment) factors—as well as the products each type tends to affect. Perceived risk is less of a problem for consumers who have greater “risk capital,” because they have less to lose from a poor choice. For example, a highly self-confident person might worry less than a vulnerable, insecure person who chooses a brand that peers think isn’t cool.

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BUYERS MOST SENSITIVE TO RISK

PURCHASES MOST SUBJECT TO RISK

MONETARY RISK

Risk consists of money and property. Those with relatively little income and wealth are most vulnerable.

High-ticket items that require substantial expenditures are most subject to this form of risk.

FUNCTIONAL RISK

Risk consists of alternative means of performing the function or meeting the need. Practical consumers are most sensitive.

Products or services whose purchase and use requires the buyer’s exclusive commitment are most sensitive.

PHYSICAL RISK

Risk consists of physical vigor, health, and vitality. Those who are elderly, frail, or in ill health are most vulnerable.

Mechanical or electrical goods (such as vehicles or flammables), drugs and medical treatment, and food and beverages are most sensitive.

SOCIAL RISK

Risk consists of self-esteem and self-confidence. Those who are insecure and uncertain are most sensitive.

Socially visible or symbolic goods, such as clothes, jewelry, cars, homes, or sports equipment are most subject to social risk.

PSYCHOLOGICAL RISK

Risk consists of affiliations and status. Those lacking self-respect or attractiveness to peers are most sensitive.

Expensive personal luxuries that may engender guilt, durables, and services whose use demands self-discipline or sacrifice are most sensitive.

Figure 5.5  Five Types of Perceived Risk

When a consumer is highly involved with a specific product, this is the Holy Grail for marketers because it means they exhibit brand loyalty: Repeat purchasing behavior that reflects a conscious decision to continue buying the same brand.68 Note that this definition states that the consumer not only buys the brand on a regular basis, but that they also have a strong positive attitude toward it rather than simply buying it out of habit. In fact, we often find that a brand-loyal consumer has more than simply a positive attitude; frequently, they are passionate about the product. “True-blue” users react more vehemently when a company alters, redesigns, or (God forbid) eliminates a favorite brand. One simple test to find out if you’re brand loyal: If the store is temporarily out of your favorite brand, will you buy a different product or hold off until you can get your first choice? Although everyone wants to cultivate brand-loyal customers, there is a wrinkle that sometimes confounds even the most effective marketers. We often engage in brand switching, even if our current brand satisfies our needs. Sometimes, it seems we simply like to try new things; we crave variety as a form of stimulation or to reduce boredom. Variety-seeking, the desire to choose new alternatives over more familiar ones, even influences us to switch from our favorite products to ones we like less! This can occur even before we become satiated, or tired, of our favorite. Research supports the idea that we are willing to trade enjoyment for variety because the unpredictability itself is rewarding. We’re especially likely to look for variety when we are in a good mood or when there isn’t a lot of other stuff going on.69 So, even though we have favorites, we still

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like to sample other possibilities. However, when the decision situation is ambiguous, or when there is little information about competing brands, we tend to opt for the safe choice. Strategies to Increase Product Involvement.  Here are a few ways to increase

product involvement: 1. Mass customization describes the personalization of products and services for individual customers at a mass-production price. This product involvement strategy applies to a wide range of products and services, from newspaper websites that allow readers to choose which sections of the paper they want to see, to Dell computers that you can configure, to Levi’s blue jeans that have a right leg one inch shorter than a left leg to fit an asymmetrical body (this is more common than you think).70 2. DIY (do it yourself) refers to doing activities ourselves (e.g., home repairs or furniture assembly) rather than hiring someone else to do it. When we have the opportunity to personalize a product, our involvement increases because the item reflects our unique preferences. The DIY market is projected to reach almost $14 billion in just a few years. One reason for the boom: When we build the product ourselves, the value we attach to it increases because our own labor is involved.71 Researchers term this the IKEA Effect. Of course, there may also be that unsettling feeling when you finish assembling a bookcase and there’s still one part left over. 3. Co-creation strategies go a step farther, because the company works jointly with customers to create value. This approach is catching on in B2B environments, where organizations partner with their biggest clients to envision new solutions to their problems. For example, DHL developed robotics applications such as self-driving trolleys in warehouses that allow workers to pick merchandise for delivery in a more efficient way.72 On the B2C side, Anheuser-Busch invited input from 25,000 beer drinkers when it developed a new lager called Black Crown.73 4. Gamification is a red-hot marketing strategy today; it refers to the application of gaming principles, such as friendly competition and the ability to earn badges as you master different tasks, to nongaming contexts. This approach offers a way to dramatically increase involvement, especially for activities that can benefit from a bit of motivation. When the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) wanted to promote financial literacy, the government agency created its Money Smart program. It’s designed to look like a board game similar to Monopoly, and it challenges players to learn financial skills such as setting up a bank account, paying bills on time, and avoiding identity theft. The game attracted more than 40,000 users in a year.74

Message Involvement It started with Jay Z’s celebrated campaign to promote his autobiographical Decoded book. The agency Droga5 created a national scavenger hunt when it hid all 320 pages of the book (mostly blown-up versions) in outdoor spots in 13 cities that somehow related to the text on each page (e.g., on cheeseburger wrappers in New York). Coldplay borrowed a page from this book more recently to promote its album Ghost Stories. The band hid lyric sheets inside ghost stories in libraries around the world and gave out clues on Twitter.75 This represents an emerging way to engage consumers: In alternate reality games (ARGs), thousands of people participate in a fictional story or competition to solve a mystery.

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Product involvement often depends on the situation we’re in. The Charmin toilet tissue brand sponsors a website, appropriately named SitOrSquat.com. The site helps travelers find the cleanest public restrooms wherever they happen to be. The brand manager explains, “Our goal is to connect Charmin with innovative conversations and solutions as a brand that understands the importance of bringing the best bathroom experience to consumers, even when they’re away from home.” According to Charmin, SitOrSquat lists over 52,000 toilets in 10 countries. Source: Courtesy of The Procter & Gamble Company.

As these novel scavenger hunts illustrate, media vehicles possess different qualities that influence our motivation to pay attention to what they tell us, known as message involvement. Print tends to be a high-involvement medium (whether it appears on a “dead tree” or in an e-book). The reader actively processes the information and (if desired) they are able to pause and reflect on it before turning the page.76 In contrast, television tends to be a low-involvement medium because more viewers are passive, and exert relatively little control (remote-control “zipping” notwithstanding) over content. Strategies to Increase Message Involvement  Although consumers’ involvement levels with a product message vary, marketers do not simply sit back and hope for the best. If they are aware of some basic factors that increase or decrease attention, they can take steps to increase the likelihood that product information will get through. A marketer can boost a person’s motivation to process relevant information via one or more of the following techniques:77

• Use novel stimuli, such as unusual cinematography, sudden silences, or unex-

pected movements, in commercials. When a British firm called Egg Banking

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• • • •

•

•

introduced a credit card to the French market, its ad agency created unusual commercials to make people question their assumptions. One ad stated, “Cats always land on their paws,” and then two researchers in white lab coats dropped a kitten off a rooftop—never to see it again (animal rights activists were not amused).78 Use prominent stimuli, such as loud music and fast action, to capture attention. In print formats, larger ads increase attention. Also, viewers look longer at colored pictures than at black-and-white ones. Include celebrity endorsers. As we’ll see in Chapter 6, people process more information when it comes from someone they admire or at least know about, whether Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, or Kylie Jenner. Provide value that customers appreciate. Charmin bathroom tissue set up public toilets in Times Square that hordes of grateful visitors used. Thousands more people (evidently with time on their hands) visited the brand’s website to view the display.79 Invent new media platforms to grab attention. Procter & Gamble printed trivia questions and answers on its Pringles snack chips with ink made of blue or red food coloring, and a company called Speaking Roses International patented a technology to laser-print words, images, or logos on flower petals.80 An Australian firm creates hand stamps that nightclubs use to identify paying customers; the stamps include logos or ad messages so partiers’ hands become an advertising platform.81 Encourage viewers to think about actually using the product. If a people can imagine this, they are more likely to want to obtain the real thing. Research shows that even subtle cues in an advertisement can encourage this mental rehearsal. One simple example is orienting an image of a cup with its handle to the right so that (for a right-handed person) it matches the dominant hand and facilitates mental stimulation.82 Create spectacles where the message is itself a form of entertainment. In the early days of radio and television, ads literally were performances; show hosts integrated marketing messages into the episodes. Today live advertising that features attention-grabbing events called spectacles is making a comeback as marketers try harder and harder to captivate jaded consumers:83 Axe body products sponsored a posh Hamptons (New York) nightclub for the whole summer season; it became The Axe Lounge, sporting branding on the DJ booth and menu and Axe products in the restrooms.

Situational Involvement Situational involvement describes engagement with a store, website, or a location where people consume a product or service. Many retailers and event planners today focus on enhancing customers’ experiences in stores, dealerships, and stadiums. Industry insiders refer to this as a “butts-in-seats” strategy. That’s why some fans who attend Atlanta Falcons football games get visited by a cheerleader in the stands for a photo op and also why Chrysler is ramping up its efforts to get people to test drive cars at dealerships and auto shows. As the head of the car company’s “experiential marketing unit” explained, “We know a physical experience with a vehicle is a great way to allow people to try it out and move it up on their consideration list.”84 Strategies to Increase Situational Involvement 

Personalization: As we saw for product involvement, retailers can personalize the messages shoppers receive at the time of purchase. For example, a few marketers tailor the recommendations they give shoppers in a store based on what they picked up from a shelf. At some Dunkin’ Donuts locations, a person who orders a morning coffee sees an ad at the cash register that pushes hash browns or breakfast sandwiches. And, of

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course, recommendation agents that provide customized suggestions when we shop online perform much the same function. High tech: The point of purchase can be much more than a place to stack up stuff and wait for people to throw it in their carts. Exciting new technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and beacons allow retailers to turn the shopping experience into an adventure. We’ll revisit these options in Chapter 8. Subscription boxes: Many startups, such as FabFitFun, Birchbox Ipsy, Dollar Shave Club, and Graze, deliver “surprises” of exotic food items, personal care products, books, wine, clothing, and many other wondrous goodies on a regular basis to consumers who sign up. Subscription company websites attract about 37 million visitors a year, and that number has grown by over 800 percent in just three years. A website called My Subscription Addiction sums up the enthusiasm these services have generated for many thousands of variety junkies.85

CHAPTER SUMMARY Now that you have finished reading this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Understand how motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Motivation refers to the processes that lead people to behave as they do. It occurs when a need that the consumer wishes to satisfy is activated. The need creates a state of tension that drives the consumer to attempt to reduce or eliminate it. The motivation can be intrinsic, pulling from the person’s inherent drives, or it can be extrinsic, pushed by an external force. 2. Outline how products can satisfy a range of consumer needs. Marketers try to satisfy consumers’ needs, but the reason any product is purchased can vary widely. The identification of consumer motives is an important step to ensure that a product will meet the appropriate need(s). Traditional approaches to consumer behavior have focused on the abilities of products to satisfy rational needs (utilitarian motives), but hedonic motives (such as the need for exploration or fun) also guide many purchase decisions. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs demonstrates that the same product can satisfy different needs. 3. Discuss how setting goals correctly can motivate consumers to strive toward and achieve those goals.

When we set goals deliberately, when we monitor goal progress, and when we are committed to reaching the goal, we are most likely to achieve it. Consumers experience different kinds of conf licts that can impact their purchase decisions, such as approach–approach and approach–avoidance conflicts. A goal has valence, which means that it can be positive or negative. We direct our behavior toward goals we value positively; we are motivated to approach the goal and to seek out products that will help us to reach it. In general, the higher we set our goals, the better we perform. One way to encourage people to set even higher goals for themselves is to frame them correctly. Some factors that influence the results include the time frame, specificity, and difficulty of the goal. 4. Explain how the way we evaluate and choose a product depends on our degree of involvement with the product, the marketing message, or the purchase situation. Product involvement can range from low, where consumers make purchase decisions based on inertia, to high, where they form strong bonds with favorite brands (cult products). Marketing strategies also need to consider consumers’ extent of engagement with the messages about their products and the environments in which consumption of these products occur.

KEY TERMS Achievement motivation, 127 Alternate reality games (ARGs), 141 Approach–approach conflict, 134

Approach–avoidance conflict, 135 Autonomy, 132 Avoidance–avoidance conflict, 135

Body positivity, 125 Brand loyalty, 140 Co-creation, 141

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Competence, 132 Conscientiousness, 133 Cult products, 139 DIY (do it yourself), 141 Drive, 127 Drive theory, 127 Emergency reserves, 137 External incentives, 127 Extrinsic motivation, 126 Feedback loop, 128 Frame, 135 Fresh start mindset, 133 Goal, 126 Great Resignation, 131 Grit, 133 Hedonic consumption, 129 Hierarchy of needs, 130

High tech, 144 Homeostasis, 127 IKEA Effect, 141 Implemental mindset, 136 Implementation intentions, 128 Intrinsic motivation, 126 Involvement, 137 Mass customization, 141 Metamotivation, 126 Message involvement, 142 Mere urgency effect, 136 Motivation, 126 Mortality salience, 132 Nonconscious goals, 127 Outcome-oriented mindset, 136 Perceived risk, 139 Personalization, 143

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Placebo effect, 127 Positive or negative frames, 135 Prevention motivation, 128 Product involvement, 139 Promotion motivation, 128 Quantified self (QS) movement, 129 Relatedness, 132 Retail therapy, 127 Self-determination theory, 132 Self-regulation, 128 Situational involvement, 143 Spectacles, 143 Terror management theory, 132 Time frame, 136 Theory of cognitive dissonance, 134 Variety-seeking, 140

REVIEW 5-1 What is motivation, and why is this idea so important to marketers?

5-6 List three types of perceived risk, and give an example of each.

5-2 Describe three types of motivational conflicts. Cite an example of each from a current marketing campaign.

5-7 What is consumer involvement? How does this concept relate to motivation?

5-3 Explain the difference between a need and a want.

5-8 What are some strategies marketers can use to increase consumers’ involvement with their products or messages?

5-4 What is cognitive dissonance? 5-5 Name the levels in Maslow’s hierarchy and give an example of a marketing appeal focused at each level.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHALLENGE DISCUSS

5-9 Does money buy happiness? Why or why not? 5-10 The chapter discusses the quest by many consumers to quantify their personal actions—exercise, bodily functions, finances, perhaps even the number of dates they went on this month. As we continue to “outsource” these measurements to technology and share them with our networks, do you think this can go too far? At what point do we stop being an individual and start to be a set of metrics? 5-11 A group of psychologists argued that we need to revise Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. They propose we should delete “self-actualization” from the pinnacle and replace it with “parenting.” Right below this peak, they added “mate retention” and “mate acquisition.” They claim that too many people see Maslow’s triangle as “aspirational”—a description

of what fulfilled individuals “should” do—rather than as an explanation of how human motivation actually works. Their perspective is evolutionary; if the only purpose of art, music, and literature is self-fulfillment, how does that contribute to the survival of the species? What do you think—do our motivations to buy, have, and be ultimately come down to survival of our gene pool?86 5-12 Our emotional reactions to marketing cues are so powerful that some high-tech companies study mood in small doses (in 1/30 of a second increments) as they analyze people’s facial reactions when they see ads or new products. They measure happiness as they look for differences between, for example, a true smile (which includes a relaxation of the upper eyelid) and a social smile (which occurs only around the mouth).

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Whirlpool used this technique to test consumers’ emotional reactions to a yet-to-be-launched generation of its Duet washers and dryers. The company’s goal: To design an appliance that will make people happy. Researchers discovered that even though test subjects

said they weren’t thrilled with some out-of-the-box design options, such as unusual color combinations, their facial expressions said otherwise.87 Does the ability to study our emotional reactions at such a specific level give marketers an unfair advantage?

APPLY

5-13 Our online behaviors also can satisfy needs at different levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, especially when we participate in social networks such as Instagram or TikTok. Web-based companies can build loyalty if they keep these needs in mind when they design their offerings:

• We satisfy physiological needs when we use the • • • • • •

internet to research topics such as nutrition or medical questions. The internet enables users to pool information and satisfy safety needs when they call attention to bad practices, flawed products, or even dangerous predators. Profile pages on Facebook allow users to define themselves as individuals. Online communities, blogs, and social networks provide recognition and achievement to those who cultivate a reputation for being especially helpful or an expert in some subject. Users can seek help from others and connect with people who have similar tastes and interests. Access to invitation-only communities provides status. Spiritually based online communities can provide guidance to troubled people.88

Interview people you know about their motivations to participate in social media. Ask them to provide a list of the platforms they access most. Then, for each, probe their reasons for visiting these. What needs do these sites appear to satisfy? How might these insights help you to devise ideas for new social media products? 5-14 Interview members of a celebrity fan club. Describe their level of involvement with the “product,” and devise some marketing strategies to reach this group.

5-15 The text notes that marketers continue to push the envelope to create spectacles that will increase consumer involvement with their messages:

• A British show broadcast a group of skydivers • • •

who performed a dangerous jump to create a human formation in the air that spelled out the letters H, O, N, D, A. Honda built a musical road in Lancaster, PA; grooves in the cement create a series of pitches that play the “William Tell Overture” when a car drives over them. A New York campaign for Jameson Irish Whiskey projects an ad onto a wall—an operator scans the street for pedestrians who fit the brand’s profile and inserts live text messages directed at them into the display. To promote the 25th anniversary of the Michael Jackson album Thriller, which featured zombies dancing in a music video of the title song, Sony BMG staged a performance in the London Underground. A group of “passengers” suddenly burst into a zombie-like dance before they disappeared into the crowd, and this videotaped scene was posted online. The video inspired similar performances in other countries, and within a week, more than a million people had downloaded these films. In a similar stunt for T-Mobile, several hundred commuters at the Liverpool rail station broke into a dance; more than 15 million people watched the performance on YouTube in the following weeks.

Can you top these? Imagine that a client hires you to launch a new energy drink. Propose a spectacle you could engineer that would attract potential customers to learn more about your product.

DIGGING IN WITH DATA See “Data Case 1: Analyzing the Athletic Shoe Market” in Appendix A for an opportunity to work with real consumer data and apply this chapter’s concepts to real world problems.

Chapter 5  •  Motivation



CASE STUDY

Game On! Using Gamification to Engage with Consumers

If you are like many of us, you have probably been playing games most of your life. Your odyssey may have begun with Chutes and Ladders, but today, you’re more likely to be one of the estimated 3.24 billion people around the world who enjoy video games. 89 Marketers have taken notice. They have learned that games can be a great way to get and hold consumers’ attention and help them engage with a brand.90 The consulting firm Gartner defines gamification as “the use of game mechanics and experience design to digitally engage and motivate people to achieve their goals.”91 In recent years, organizations have devised games to encourage people to save, improve their fitness, and to increase employee productivity.92 Similarly, gamification marketing harnesses these gaming design elements to attract and retain customers.93 Games are particularly effective in reaching younger millennial and Gen Z consumers who have grown up with digital technology. Indeed, one study found that 68 percent of Gen Z males feel that gaming is a part of their identity!94 And gaming is not just for males anymore; a 2019 study found that 63 percent of mobile gamers are female.95 No wonder, then, that this technique is so effective to reach these coveted consumers. A major goal of this approach is to recreate some of the  passion and attention that players often exhibit when they’re immersed in a game. If a marketer can somehow replicate this “secret sauce” at least to some extent, they hope to see increased engagement with what they offer.96 McDonald’s top prize in its 2017 Monopoly campaign was $65 million, and Chipotle’s digital racing game had a grand prize of a Tesla Model 3.97 Most prizes are more modest, but they still provide a more immersive experience than traditional advertising.98 Some other examples:

• Samsung asks consumers to watch product videos, review • • •

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products, and participate in Q&A sessions, and in return awards badges that become entries in a drawing for Samsung products.99 Rather than doing traditional marketing research, KIND, the healthy snack bar company, used its Raise the Bar contest to get customers to vote on its next flavor.100 M&M promoted its new pretzel-flavored candy by challenging players to find a pretzel hidden among an image of a bunch of M&Ms.101 If you are a coffee lover, you are likely part of the Starbucks Rewards loyalty program in which your coffee habit lets you progress through levels to earn some free java.102

Games are an effective promotional tool for several reasons. A loyalty program can be enhanced by gamification that continually rewards customers for desired behavior, encouraging them to come back for more. A game can create word-of-mouth promotion—often through social media— as those playing tell their friends, increasing brand awareness. Gamification can also be a great way to gather data, as players will often readily share contact information to enter a contest or to receive rewards.103 Why does an ad a marketer puts in game form sometimes work better than a traditional ad? There is a little psychology at work here. Matthew Pierce, CEO of gamification company Versus Systems, believes we react differently to a game than we do to a traditional ad. As he explains it, “It’s not being forced to watch an ad, but being able to choose what you want to play for. That literally opens up different pathways in your brain, and you stop thinking about it as an ad. You see it as a reward, as a prize. You see that it’s something you earned, and that's materially different.”104 These games give users control and reinforce desirable ­behavior—such as providing a product review—through rewards. Games can also satisfy our need for achievement, even if only in small ways.105 The tendency to form habits is also at play; some games offer players rewards to return on a regular basis.106 Some marketers classify gamification broadly to include any kind of interaction with consumers that has game-like elements—some as simple as getting a reward for watching an ad or purchasing more of a product, the latter typical of many loyalty programs. A stricter definition identifies true gamification as marketing interactions that involve elements of games you’ll recognize if you’re a video gamer: strategy, competition, and the opportunity to be recognized for achievements as you play. Does gamification work? A 2019 report from the organization Brand Loyalty and Visa found that 81 percent of consumers will participate in a game when it is part of a loyalty program. The M&M brand got some nice buzz from its pretzel game with 25,000 new likes on the brand’s Facebook page, along with 6,000 shares and 10,000 comments.107 Samsung’s gamification initiative led to an amazing 500 percent increase in product reviews.108 Most important, games can lead to purchases. A study by digital agency Reflect Digital found that 60 percent of study respondents would be more likely to make a purchase from a brand if they had enjoyed playing a game offered by the company; the number rises to 86 percent for those who have played branded games before.109 As examples, a

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create-your-own pizza game app led to a boost in earnings of 30 percent for Domino’s, and a White Castle game resulted in conversions to purchase of 36 percent.110 Gamification is likely here to stay. A report by Allied Market Research estimated the global gamification market at $9.9 billion in 2020.111 The market is projected to grow to $32 billion by 2025 and $38.4 billion by 2026.112 It’s not surprising, then, that 75 percent of media agencies say they consider gamified advertising to be the superior way to build trust relationships with consumers.113 Tim Sayler, chief marketing officer of watchmaker Breitling is convinced. He states, “Gamification is a huge trend and more and more of our media platforms will automatically be gamified, because they work better [than traditional advertising].” With the growth in loyalty and increases in revenues that gamification is bringing to companies like Breitling, Starbucks, Chipotle,

and many others, we can expect companies to continue to “get their game on.”114 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

CS 5-1 Choose a product without an apparent gamification strategy, and design a campaign that uses games to engage users. Test your creativity by designing something more involved than simply winning badges for buying more of the product. CS 5-2 What makes a “good” game? Create a list of dos and don’ts for effective marketing gamification. CS 5-3 Does gamification work with all demographics (age, income, gender, education)? What game design elements should be considered when marketing to different demographic segments?

NOTES 1. Carolyn Crist, “Study: In U.S., Lockdowns Added 2 Pounds per Month,” WedMD, March 23, 2021, https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210323/ lockdown-weight-gain-study#:~:text=March%2023%2C%202021%20 %2D%2D%20Americans,year%2C%20the%20study%20authors%20said., accessed March 3, 2022. 2. Rachel Hosie, “Health Professionals Are Divided over Whether Obese People Should Be Encouraged to Lose Weight or Not,” Insider, January 22, 2021, https://www.insider.com/body-positivity-obesity-weight-loss-taboo-canoverweight-be-healthy-2021-1, accessed March 3, 2022. 3. https://support.onepeloton.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052202411-Peloton-xBeyonc%C3%A9, accessed March 3, 2022. 4. https://backlinko.com/peloton-users. 5. Lauren Thomas, “Peloton to Halt Production of Its Bikes, Treadmills as Demand Wanes,” CNBC, January 20, 2022, https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/20/ peloton-to-pause-production-of-its-bikes-treadmills-as-demand-wanes.html, accessed March 3, 2022. 6. Uzma Khan, Ayelet Fishbach, and Ravi Dhar (2019), “Introduction to the Special Issue: Goals and Motivation,” Journal of the Association for Consumer Research 4, no. 1 (2019): 2–4. 7. Rebecca Poch and Brett Martin, “Effects of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation on User-Generated Content,” Journal of Strategic Marketing 23, no. 4 (2015): 305–17, doi: 10.1080/0965254X.2014.926966. 8. Keri L. Kettle, Remi Trudel, Simon J. Blanchard, and Gerald Häubl, “Repayment Concentration and Consumer Motivation to Get Out of Debt,” Journal of Consumer Research 43, no. 3 (October 2016): 460–77, https://doi.org/10.1093/ jcr/ucw037. 9. Christopher P. Cerasoli, Jessica M. Nicklin, and Michael T. Ford, “Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Incentives Jointly Predict Performance: A 40-Year Meta-Analysis.” Psychological bulletin 140(4): 980–1008, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035661. 10. Edwin A. Locke and Kaspar Schattke, “Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: Time for Expansion and Clarification,” Motivation Science 5, no. 4 (2019): 277–90. 11. “The Power of the Placebo Effect,” Harvard Health Publishing, May 2017, www.health.harvard.edu/mental-health/the-power-of-the-placebo-effect. 12. Yann Cornil, Pierre Chandon, and Aradhna Krishna, “Does Red Bull Give Wings to Vodka? Placebo Effects of Marketing Labels on Perceived Intoxication and Risky Attitudes and Behaviors,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 27, no. 4 (2017): 456–65. 13. Scott I. Rick, Beatriz Pereira, and Katherine A. Burson, “The Benefits of Retail Therapy: Making Purchase Decisions Reduces Residual Sadness,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 24, no. 3 (2014): 373–80. 14. Juliano Laran, Chris Janiszewski, and Anthony Salerno, “Nonconscious Nudges: Encouraging Sustained Goal Pursuit,” Journal of Consumer Research 46, no. 2 (2019): 307–29. 15. Megan McClelland, John Geldhof, Fred Morrison, Steinunn Gestsdóttir, Claire Cameron, Ed Bowers, Angela Duckworth, Todd Little, and Jennie Grammer, “Self-Regulation,” Handbook of Life Course Health Development (2018): 275–98.

16. Peter M. Gollwitzer and Paschal Sheeran, “Self-Regulation of Consumer Decision Making and Behavior: The Role of Implementation Intentions,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 19 (2009): 593–607. 17. Ibid. 18. Roy F. Baumeister and Todd F. Heatherton, “Self-Regulation Failure: An Overview,” Psychological Inquiry 7, no. 1 (1996): 1–15. 19. Keith Wilcox and Andrew T. Stephen, “Are Close Friends the Enemy? Online Social Networks, Self-Esteem, and Self-Control,” Journal of Consumer Research 40, no. 1 (2013): 90–103. 20. Olya Bullard and Rajesh V. Manchanda, “How Goal Progress Influences Regulatory Focus in Goal Pursuit,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 27, no. 3 (July 2017): 302–17, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S1057740817300037#!. 21. Rachel Ashman, Julia Wolny, and Michael R. Solomon, “Consuming SelfRegulation in a Technological World,” in The Routledge Companion to Consumer Behavior, eds. Michael R. Solomon and Tina M. Lowery (London: Taylor & Francis, 2018). 22. Russell W. Belk, Guliz Ger, and Søren Askegaard, “The Fire of Desire: A Multisited Inquiry into Consumer Passion,” Journal of Consumer Research 30 (2003): 326–51; cf. also Yu Chen, “Possession and Access: Consumer Desires and Value Perceptions Regarding Contemporary Art Collection and Exhibit Visits,” Journal of Consumer Research 35 (April 2009): 925–40. 23. Henrik Hagtvedt and Vanessa M. Patrick, “The Broad Embrace of Luxury: Hedonic Potential as a Driver of Brand Extendibility,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 19, no. 4 (2009): 608–18. 24. Sarah C. Whitley, Remi Trudel, and Didem Kurt, “The Influence of Purchase Motivation on Perceived Preference Uniqueness and Assortment Size Choice,” Journal of Consumer Research 45, no. 4 (December 2018): 710–24, https://doi. org/10.1093/jcr/ucy031. 25. Elizabeth C. Hirschman and Morris B. Holbrook, “Hedonic Consumption: Emerging Concepts, Methods, and Propositions,” Journal of Marketing 46 (Summer 1982): 92–101. 26. Martin Reimann, Judith Zaichkowsky, Carolin Neuhaus, Thomas Bender, and Bernd Weber, “Aesthetic Package Design: A Behavioral, Neural, and Psychological Investigation,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 20 (2010): 431–41. 27. Emily Cadei, “Cleaning Up: S. F. Duo Putting a Shine on Its Product Line,” San Francisco Business Times Online Edition 17, no. 16 (December 6, 2002). 28. Abraham H. Maslow, Motivation and Personality, 2nd ed. (New York: Harper &Row, 1970); for one application cf. Kermit Pattison, “Chip Conley Took the Maslow Pyramid, Made It the Employee Pyramid and Saved His Company,” Fast Company, August 26, 2010, https://www.fastcompany.com/1685009/ chip-conley-took-maslow-pyramid-made-it-employee-pyramid-and-savedhis-company, accessed March 20, 2022. 29. See Cynthia Huffman, S. Ratneshwar, and David Glen Mick, “Consumer Goal Structures and Goal-Determination Processes: An Integrative Framework,” in

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55. Marissa A. Sharif and Suzanne B. Shu, “The Benefits of Emergency Reserves: Greater Preference and Persistence for Goals That Have Slack with a Cost,” Journal of Marketing Research 54, no. 3 (2017): 495–509. 56. Scott G. Wallace and Jordan Etkin, “How Goal Specificity Shapes Motivation: A Reference Points Perspective,” Journal of Consumer Research 44, no. 5 (2018): 1033–51. 57. Judith Lynne Zaichkowsky, “Measuring the Involvement Construct in Marketing,” Journal of Consumer Research 12 (December 1985): 341–52. 58. Blair T. Johnson and Alice H. Eagly (1990). Involvement and persuasion: Types, traditions, and the evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 107(3), 375–384. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.107.3.375 59. Richard L. Celsi and Jerry C. Olson, “The Role of Involvement in Attention and Comprehension Processes,” Journal of Consumer Research 15 (September 1988): 210–24. 60. Barbara J. Phillips and Edward F. McQuarrie. “Narrative and Persuasion in Fashion Advertising,” Journal of Consumer Research 37 (October 2010): 368–92; Ronald E. Goldsmith, Leisa R. Flynn, and Ronald A. Clark, “Materialistic, Brand Engaged, and Status Consuming Consumers and Clothing Behaviors,” Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management 16, no. 1 (2012): 102–20. 61. Jeremy W. Peters, “Gave Up Sleep and Maybe a First-Born, But at Least I Have an iPhone,” New York Times, June 30, 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/06/30/ technology/30phone.html. 62. Ronald W. Pimentel and Kristy E. Reynolds, “A Model for Consumer Devotion: Affective Commitment with Proactive Sustaining Behaviors,” Academy of Marketing Science Review no. 5 (2004), www.amsreview.org/articles/pimentel 05-2004.pdf. 63. Tanya Irwin, “‘Breakout Brands’ Connect with Customers,” Marketing Daily, November 4, 2012, www.mediapost.com/publications/-article/186468/breakoutbrands-connect-with-customers.html?edition=53137#ixzz2HcbTBfx7. 64. www.starbuckseverywhere.net. 65. Judith Lynne Z. “Consumer involvement.” Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing, Wiley online library, Wiem 3014 (2010). 66. For a discussion of interrelationships between situational and enduring involvement, see Marsha L. Richins, Peter H. Bloch, and Edward F. McQuarrie, “How Enduring and Situational Involvement Combine to Create Involvement Responses,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 1, no. 2 (1992): 143–53. 67. Alba, Joseph W. and J. Wesley Hutchinson (1987), “Dimensions of Consumer Expertise,” Journal of Consumer Research, 13 (March), 411–54; Merrie Brucks, “The Effects of Product Class Knowledge on Information Search Behavior,” Journal of Consumer Research 12 (June 1985): 1–16; Joel E. Urbany, Peter R. Dickson, and William L. Wilkie, “Buyer Uncertainty and Information Search,” Journal of Consumer Research 16 (September 1989): 208–15. 68. Jacob Jacoby and Robert Chestnut, Brand Loyalty: Measurement and Management (New York: Wiley, 1978). 69. Rebecca K. Ratner, Barbara E. Kahn, and Daniel Kahneman, “Choosing LessPreferred Experiences for the Sake of Variety,” Journal of Consumer Research 26 (June 1999): 1–15. 70. “Strategies for Mass Customization,” All About Lean, May 9, 2017, www .allaboutlean.com/mass-customization/, accessed February 17, 2018; Joseph B. Pine, II, and James H. Gilmore, Markets of One: Creating Customer-Unique Value through Mass Customization (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2000); Neeraj Arora, Xavier Drèze, Anindya Ghose, James D. Hess, Raghuram Iyengar, Bing Jing, . . . and Z. John Zhang, “Putting One-to-One Marketing to Work: Personalization, Customization, and Choice,” Marketing Letters (2008): 305–321. 71. Joel Comm, “Why the Huge Do-It-Yourself Market Is Just Getting Started,” Inc., May 19, 2017, www.inc.com/joel-comm/why-the-huge-do-it-yourselfmarket-is-just-getting-started.html; Michael I. Norton, Daniel Mochon, and Dan Ariely, “The IKEA Effect: When Labor Leads to Love,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 22, no. 3 (2012): 453–60. 72. Christine Crandall, “Customer Co-Creation Is the Secret Sauce to Success,” Forbes, June 10, 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/christinecrandell/ 2016/06/10/customer_cocreation_secret_sauce/#2713c1905b6d; “Customer Co-Creation: 6 Examples of Companies Doing It Right,” Braineet, August 4, 2017, https://blog.braineet.com/en/customer-co-creation-6-examples-ofcompanies-doing-it-right/. 73. Alice Hines, “Budweiser Black Crown: Stodgy Brand’s Crowdsourcing Play for Hipster Cred,” Huffington Post, November 8, 2012, https://www .huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/black-crown-budweiser-crowdsourcingbeer_n_2094434.html, accessed May 10, 2018. 74. https://www.fdic.gov/resources/consumers/money-smart/index.html, accessed May 10, 2022. 75. Tim Nudd, “Coldplay Hides Lyrics from New Album inside Libraries in 9 Countries: Look for the Ghost Stories,” Adweek, May 1, 2014, www.adweek .com/adfreak/coldplay-hides-lyrics-new-album-inside-libraries-9-countries157410.

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76. Herbert E. Krugman, “The Impact of Television Advertising: Learning without Involvement,” Public Opinion Quarterly 29 (Fall 1965): 349–56. 77. David W. Stewart and David H. Furse, “Analysis of the Impact of Executional Factors in Advertising Performance,” Journal of Advertising Research 24 (1984): 23–26; Deborah J. MacInnis, Christine Moorman, and Bernard J. Jaworski, “Enhancing and Measuring Consumers’ Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability to Process Brand Information from Ads,” Journal of Marketing 55 (October 1991): 332–53. 78. Elaine Sciolino, “Disproving Notions, Raising a Fury,” New York Times, January 21, 2003, www.nytimes.com. 79. Louise Story, “Times Sq. Ads Spread via Tourists’ Cameras,” New York Times, December 11, 2006, www.nytimes.com. 80. “Read My Chips? Pringles Has Plans to Print Jokes, Trivia on Its Potatoes,” Wall Street Journal, May 20, 2004: C13; David Serchuk, “A Rose with Another Name,” Forbes, December 27, 2004: 52. 81. “Ads That Stay with You,” Newsweek, November 19, 2007, www.newsweek .com/Id/68904. 82. Ryan S. Elder and Aradhna Krishna, “The ‘Visual Depiction Effect’ in Advertising: Facilitating Embodied Mental Simulation through Product Orientation,” Journal of Consumer Research 38, no. 6 (April 2012): 988–1003. 83. Stephanie Clifford, “Axe Body Products Puts Its Brand on the Hamptons Club Scene,” New York Times, May 22, 2009: B6; Alana Semuels, “Honda Finds a Groovy New Way to Pitch Products: The Musical Road,” Los Angeles Times, October 13, 2008, www.latimes.com/Business/La-Fi-Roads13-2008oct13,0,4147014. Story; Eric Pfanner, “A Live Promotion, at 14,000 Feet,” New York Times, June 6, 2008, www.nytimes.com; Les Luchter, “Jameson Whiskey Texts Targets on N.Y. Streets,” Marketing Daily, August 8, 2008, www.mediapost.com; Doreen Carvajal, “Dancers in the Crowd Bring Back ‘Thriller,’” New York Times, March 10, 2008, www.nytimes.com; Eric Pfanner, “When Consumers Help, Ads Are Free,” New York Times, June 21, 2009, www.nytimes.com. 84. “This Is How the NFL Is Getting Butts Back in the Bleachers,” Adweek, August 26, 2014, www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-nfl-gettingbutts-back-bleachers-159687; Quoted in Larry P. Vellequette, “Chrysler’s Butts-In-Seats Marketing Gets a Boost,” Automotive News, December 2, 2013, www.autonews.com/article/20131202/RETAIL03/312029970/ chryslers-butts-in-seats-marketing-gets-a-boost. 85. Richard Kestenbaum, “Subscription Businesses Are Exploding with Growth,” Forbes, August 10, 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/richardkestenbaum/2017/08/10/ subscription-businesses-are-exploding-with-growth/#649a492b6678; https:// www.mysubscriptionaddiction.com/, accessed March 20, 2022. 86. Lisa Belkin, “Living to Be a Parent,” New York Times, September 10, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/magazine/12fob-wwln-t.html. 87. Jeffrey Zaslow, “Happiness Inc.,” Wall Street Journal, March 18, 2006: P1. 88. Adapted in part from Jack Loechner, “Emotional Business Bonding on Social Networks,” Research Brief, Center for Media Research, December 27, 2007, http://blogs.mediapost.com/research_brief/?p=1603. 89. Hasbro.com, https://shop.hasbro.com/en-us/product/chutes-and-laddersgame:1095F835-5056-9047-F548-2F4D0AEF4ACC, accessed August 5, 2022; “Number of Gamers Worldwide by Region 2021,” Statista, https://www.statista. com/statistics/293304/number-video-gamers/, accessed August 5, 2022. 90. “Our Services: Advanced Gamification,” MINDSPACE, https://www.mindspace.net/gamification, accessed August 5, 2022. 91. Gavin, “Gamification in Loyalty Programs: Why It’s So Important and How to Measure Its Success,” Customer Thermometer, April 4, 2022, https:// www.customerthermometer.com/customer-retention-ideas/gamificationloyalty-program/. 92. Stephanie Walden, “How Gamification Can Help You Meet Your Financial Goals,” Forbes, April 16, 2021, https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/ how-gamification-can-help-you-meet-financial-goals/. 93. Simon Byrne, “Everything You Need to Know about Gamification Marketing,” Bazaarvoice, February 18, 2022, https://www.bazaarvoice.com/blog/ everything-you-need-to-know-about-gamification-marketing/. 94. Haley Walden, “How to Boost Engagement with Gamification in Digital Marketing,” Elegant Themes, October 19, 2020, https://www.elegantthemes .com/blog/marketing/gamification-in-digital-marketing. 95. Ming Liu, “Breitling Gets Its Game On,” New York Times, April 6, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/06/fashion/watches-breitling-mobile-­ gaming.html.

96. Emily Heaslip, “What Is Gamification? And Is It Right for Your Business?,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce, https://www.uschamber.com/co/start/strategy/ gamification-in-workplace. 97. Rae Steinbach, “10 Gamification Marketing Examples for Your Next Campaign,” NeverBounce, December 19, 2017, https://neverbounce.com/blog/gamificationmarketing-examples; “Chipotle Launches Rewards Exchange with New Video Game and Tesla Model 3 Giveaway - Jun 22, 2021,” Chipotle, https://newsroom. chipotle.com/2021-06-22-Chipotle-Launches-Rewards-Exchange-With-NewVideo-Game-And-Tesla-Model-3-Giveaway, accessed August 5, 2022. 98. Ashira Prossack, “How Gamification Is Changing Advertising,” Forbes, May 27, 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashiraprossack1/2021/05/27/ how-gamification-is-changing-advertising/. 99. Brigg Patten, “Effective Training Strategies: 7 Companies Using Gamification,” InSync Training, https://blog.insynctraining.com/effective-trainingstrategies-7-companies-using-gamification-correctly, accessed August 5, 2022. 100. Ben Moss, “7 Ways to Use Gamification in Marketing Campaigns,” Webdesigner Depot, September 8, 2021, https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/ 2021/09/7-ways-to-use-gamification-in-marketing-campaigns/. 101. Zarrar Chishti, “10 Best Gamification Marketing Examples,” dummies, October 23, 2020, https://www.dummies.com/article/business-careers-money/ business/marketing/10-best-gamification-marketing-examples-273998/. 102. Ibid. 103. “What Are Gamification Platforms and Why Does Your Marketing Team Need One?,” CataBoom, January 13, 2022, https://www.cataboom.com/, accessed August 6, 2022; Simon Byrne, “Everything You Need to Know about Gamification Marketing,” Bazaarvoice, February 18, 2022, https://www.bazaarvoice .com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-gamification-marketing/. 104. Ashira Prossack, “How Gamification Is Changing Advertising,” Forbes, May 27, 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashiraprossack1/2021/05/27/ how-gamification-is-changing-advertising/?sh=18c490bed4e3. 105. Nicolas Algoedt, “Gamification Guide to Delightful Customer Experiences,” Insider, April 30, 2022, https://useinsider.com/the-definitive-guideto-gamification-real-life-examples/. 106. Laurence Goasduff, “How Gamification Boosts Consumer Engagement,” Gartner, https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/how-gamificationboosts-consumer-engagement, accessed August 5, 2022. 107. Zarrar Chishti, “10 Best Gamification Marketing Examples,” dummies, October 23, 2020, https://www.dummies.com/article/business-careers-money/ business/marketing/10-best-gamification-marketing-examples-273998/. 108. Brigg Patten, “Effective Training Strategies: 7 Companies Using Gamification,” InSync Training, https://blog.insynctraining.com/effectivetraining-strategies-7-companies-using-gamification-correctly, accessed August 5, 2022. 109. Todd Hedberg, “Level Up Your Loyalty: Gamify to Boost Engagement,” Advertising Week, December 7, 2021, https://advertisingweek.com/level-upyour-loyalty-gamify-to-boost-engagement/. 110. Haley Walden, “How to Boost Engagement with Gamification in Digital Marketing,” Elegant Themes, October 19, 2020, https://www .elegantthemes.com/blog/marketing/gamification-in-digital-marketing; Ashira Prossack, “How Gamification Is Changing Advertising,” Forbes, May 27, 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashiraprossack1/2021/05/27/how-gamificationis-changing-advertising/. 111. Allied Market Research, “Gamification Market Is Projected to Reach $95.5 Billion by 2030,” GlobeNewswire, May 24, 2022, https://www.globenews wire.com/en/news-release/2022/05/24/2449015/0/en/Gamification-Market-isProjected-to-Reach-95-5-Billion-by-2030-Allied-Market-Research.html. 112. Ben Moss, “7 Ways to Use Gamification in Marketing Campaigns,” Webdesigner Depot, September 8, 2021, https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2021/09/7ways-to-use-gamification-in-marketing-campaigns/; Nicolas Algoedt, “Gamification Guide to Delightful Customer Experiences,” Insider, April 30, 2022, https://useinsider.com/the-definitive-guide-to-gamification-reallife-examples/. 113. Gaydova Christina, “The Role of Gamification in Modern Advertising,” NT, https://nt.technology/en/blog/the-role-of-gamification-in-modern-advertising/, accessed August 5, 2022. 114. Ming Liu, “Breitling Gets Its Game On,” New York Times, April 6, 2021, https:// www.nytimes.com/2021/04/06/fashion/watches-breitling-mobile-gaming .html.

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Section

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Buying and Having: Choosing and Using Products In Section 3, we look at how consumers think about products, the steps they take to choose one, and what happens after they buy something. Chapter 6 focuses on the nature and power of attitudes and identifies all the factors that affect persuasion, or how marketers influence us. In Chapter 7, we look at the steps we take to make decisions and distinguish between the processes of fast, habitual decision-making and slow, more rational decision-making. Chapter 8 highlights the many factors that affect our shopping experiences and addresses the massive changes in consumer behavior related to the virtualization of shopping, the sharing economy, and the climate change crisis.

Chapters Ahead Chapter 6

Attitudes and How to Change Them

Chapter 7

Deciding

Chapter 8

Buying, Using, and Disposing

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6

Attitudes and How to Change Them

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES When you finish reading this chapter, you should be able to: 6-1 Explain the functions and components of attitudes in consumer behavior. 6-2 Describe the ways in which we form attitudes.

6-4 Discuss the ways in which the source, the message, and the medium are used to craft persuasion strategies.

6-3 Explain how persuasion is an active attempt to create or change attitudes.

A

Source: DragonImages/Alamy Stock Photo.

154

lex is hanging out at the mall, idly texting some friends about some stuff she saw in a few stores. When she checks her Snapchat, she sees several friends are posting about their college application plans. She groans to herself; it’s starting already! She’s just beginning her senior year of high school, and already everybody’s thinking about what happens next year. Alex realizes it’s time to bite the bullet and really start to investigate this, but it’s all so confusing. She’s been getting bombarded with enticing ads and brochures from so many different schools. They’re hard to escape; some arrive by snail mail and others keep hitting her with emails and texts. A few have invited her to take virtual campus tours on their websites, and one even wants her to enter a virtual world version of the campus as an avatar to walk around and “talk” to current students. It’s amazing to see how different their pitches are, too. Sure, some universities tout their academic excellence, but others play up their international programs, job placement programs, and even amenities (rock climbing walls!). Of course, she’s familiar with some of the schools that are starting to court her, and she already has a positive attitude toward a few—and based on what she’s heard about some others, she already knows it’s “. . . over my dead body am I going there.” But others feel like a blank slate; so far at least, she has absolutely no idea what it would be like to be a student at these schools. As Alex starts to post some queries in her network to see what people can tell her about these options, she knows it’s time to buckle up—this is going to be an intense year.

Chapter 6  •  Attitudes and How to Change Them



The Power of Attitudes

OBJECTIVE 6-1 Explain the functions and components of attitudes in consumer behavior.

People use the term attitude in many contexts. A friend might ask you, “What is your attitude toward recycling?” A parent might scold, “Young man, I don’t like your attitude.” Some bars even euphemistically refer to happy hour as “an attitude adjustment period.” For our purposes, though, an attitude is a lasting, general evaluation of people (including oneself), objects, advertisements, or issues.1 We call anything toward which one has an attitude an attitude object (A o ). As Alex will learn during her college search process (and no doubt you did too), we assimilate information from a variety of sources and often put a lot of effort into forming an attitude toward many things, including a complex attitude object like a university. An attitude is lasting because it tends to endure over time. It is general because it applies to more than a momentary event, such as hearing a loud noise, though you might, over time, develop a negative attitude toward all loud noises. Consumers have attitudes toward a wide range of attitude objects, from product-specific behaviors (e.g., you use Crest toothpaste rather than Colgate) to more general, consumptionrelated behaviors (e.g., you enjoy taking bike rides on the weekend). Attitudes help to determine whom you choose to date, what music you listen to, whether you recycle aluminum cans, or whether you choose to become an environmental scientist for a living. In this chapter, we’ll consider the contents of an attitude, how we form attitudes, and how we measure them. We will also review some of the surprisingly complex relationships between attitudes and behavior and then take a closer look at how marketers can change these attitudes.

Attitudes (Generally) Guide our Behavior If you like chocolate, you’re more likely to eat it. The reason attitudes matter is that they guide our behaviors (see Figure 6.1). The psychologist Daniel Katz developed the functional theory of attitudes to explain how attitudes facilitate behavior. 2 According to this pragmatic approach, attitudes exist because they serve some

Persuasion

(forms/changes)

Persuasion: Process of forming or changing someone’s attitude

Persuasive processes: • Central (slow, rational) vs. Peripheral (fast, emotional) processes (ELM) • Narrative persuasion Persuasive communication factors: • Source • Message (types of appeals) • Medium: increasingly advertainment

Attitude

(guides)

Attitude: Lasting, general evaluation of an attitude object (person, brand, product, message, issue)

Comprised of cognitions and emotions Usually positive or negative Has explicit and implicit elements

Attitude-Behavior link depends on: Attitude commitment Social context (Norms; Social Pressure)

Figure 6.1  Model of Persuasion -> Attitude -> Behavior

Behavior

Consumer Behavior

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Section 3  •  Buying and Having: Choosing and Using Products

function for the person. Two people can each have an attitude toward some object for different reasons. As a result, it’s helpful for a marketer to know why an attitude is held before they try to change it. These are different attitude functions:

• Utilitarian function—The utilitarian function relates to the basic principles

•

• •

of reward and punishment we learned about in Chapter 4. We develop some attitudes toward products simply because they provide pleasure or pain. If a person likes the taste of a cheeseburger, that person will develop a positive attitude toward cheeseburgers. Messages that stress straightforward product benefits (e.g., you should drink Diet Coke “just for the taste of it”) appeal to the utilitarian function. Value-expressive function—Attitudes that perform a value-expressive function relate to the consumer’s self-concept (Chapter 6) or central values (Chapter 7). A person forms a product attitude in this case because of what the product says about them as a person. Value-expressive attitudes also are highly relevant to the psychographic analyses we discussed in Chapter 7, which consider how consumers cultivate a cluster of activities, interests, and opinions to express a particular social identity. Ego-defensive function—Attitudes we form to protect ourselves either from external threats or internal feelings perform an ego-defensive function. An early marketing study showed that housewives resisted the use of instant coffee because it threatened their conception of themselves as capable homemakers (this doesn’t seem to be a big issue for most anymore!).3 Knowledge function—We form some attitudes because we need order, structure, or meaning. A knowledge function applies when a person is in an ambiguous situation (“it’s okay to wear sweatpants on a Zoom call, but only if I wear a nice top”) or when they confront a new product (e.g., “Bayer wants you to know about pain relievers”).

Attitudes, Fast and Slow: Cognitive and Affective Components Alex’s nerve-wracking college selection paints a picture of a consumer who thoughtfully and rationally forms an attitude toward different schools. Really? How many high school seniors do you know who think like this? Sure, a prospective student who visits a college may consider the attributes that formed Alex’s attitudes. But in many cases, we let our emotions guide our attitudes, as we react with enthusiasm, joy, or even disgust to specific events:

• “I said hello to a few current students, but they didn’t say hello back.” • “It was a beautiful spring day, and kids were hanging out everywhere.” • “The sandwich I had in the Student Union wasn’t very fresh.” Obviously, the attitude that a mediocre lunch activates is quite different than one that reflects a person’s deep-seated conviction that same-sex schools provide a more productive learning environment. We refer to these two distinct ways of deciding as slow thinking and fast thinking. The distinction between these two systems is common in psychology: “Type 1” processes are fast, autonomous, and intuitive, while “Type 2” processes are slow, deliberative, and analytic. We’ll revisit this idea in Chapter 9 to understand how these attitudes influence our decisions among competing options. Guess what? We can apply the same basic logic to help us to understand attitudes. Attitudes include cognitive (beliefs) and affective (emotional) elements. But not all

Chapter 6  •  Attitudes and How to Change Them



attitudes are created equal: Some are “hot” in that they’re driven by emotional reactions, while others are “cool” because they form based on the knowledge a customer believes they have about the product.

“I Know It”: Cognitive Focus Cognitive models of attitudes focus primarily on the beliefs (accurate or not) we hold about a product. Making sure your customers have correct information about what you sell is crucial—and even more so in this age of misinformation, where it’s very easy for a rival or even a mischievous consumer to disseminate falsehoods. Because our beliefs about things like universities can be complex, marketing researchers may use multiattribute attitude models to understand them. This type of model assumes that consumers’ attitudes toward an attitude object (Ao ) depend on the beliefs they have about several of its attributes. When we use a multiattribute model, we assume that we can identify these specific beliefs and combine them to derive a measure of the consumer’s overall attitude. We’ll describe how these models work with the example of a consumer like Alex at the beginning of the chapter who evaluates a complex attitude object that should be familiar to you: a college. Basic multiattribute models contain three specific elements:4

• Attributes are characteristics of the A . A researcher tries to identify the attributes o

• •

that most consumers use when they evaluate the Ao . For example, one of a college’s attributes is its scholarly reputation. Beliefs are cognitions about the specific Ao (usually relative to others like it). A belief measure assesses the extent to which the consumer perceives that a brand possesses a particular attribute. For example, a student might believe that the University of North Carolina is strong academically. Importance weights reflect the relative priority of an attribute to the consumer. Although people might consider an Ao for several attributes, some are likely to be more important than others (i.e., consumers will give them greater weight). Furthermore, these weights are likely to differ across consumers. In the case of colleges and universities, for example, one student might stress research opportunities, whereas another might assign greater weight to athletic programs.

The most influential multiattribute model is called the Fishbein Model, named after its primary developer.5 The model measures three components of attitude:

• Salient beliefs people have about an A (i.e., those beliefs about the object a person considers during evaluation). • Object-attribute linkages, or the probability that a particular object has an important attribute. • Evaluation of each of the important attributes. o

When we combine these three elements, we compute a consumer’s overall attitude toward an object. (We’ll see later how researchers modify this equation to increase its accuracy.) The basic formula is: A jk = ∑ β ijk I ik where i = attribute j = brand k = consumer

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I = the importance weight given attribute i by consumer k β = consumer k’s belief regarding the extent to which brand j possesses attribute i A = a particular consumer’s (k’s) attitude score for brand j We obtain the overall attitude score (A) when we multiply consumers’ rating of each attribute for all the brands they considered by the importance rating for that attribute. To see how this basic multiattribute model works, let’s suppose we want to predict which college our friend Alex is likely to attend. After months of waiting anxiously, Alex gets accepted by four schools. Because she must now decide among these, we would first like to know which attributes Alex will consider when she forms an attitude toward each school. We can then ask Alex to assign a rating regarding how well each school performs on each attribute and determine the relative importance of the attributes to her. By summing scores on each attribute (after we weigh each by its relative importance), we compute an overall attitude score for each school. Table 6.1 shows these hypothetical ratings. Based on this analysis, it seems that Alex has the most favorable attitude toward Smith. She is clearly someone who would like to attend a college for women with a solid academic reputation rather than a school that offers a strong athletic program or a party atmosphere.

Marketing Applications of the Multiattribute Model Suppose you were the director of marketing for Northland College, another school Alex considered. How might you use the data from this analysis to improve your image? Capitalize on relative advantage.  If prospective students view one brand as superior on a particular attribute, a marketer needs to convince consumers like Alex that this attribute is important. For example, although Alex rates Northland’s social atmosphere highly, she does not believe this attribute is a valued aspect for a college. As Northland’s marketing director, you might emphasize the importance of an active social life, varied experiences, or even the development of future business contacts that a student forges when they make strong college friendships.

TABLE 6.1    The

Basic Multiattribute Model: Alex’s College Decision Beliefs (B)

Attribute (i )

Importance (I )

Warren

Ivy

State

Northland

Academic reputation

6

   8

   9

   6

   3

All women

7

   9

   3

   3

   3

Cost

4

   2

   2

   6

   9

Proximity to home

3

   2

   2

   6

   9

Athletics

1

   1

   2

   5

   1

Party atmosphere

2

   1

   3

   7

   9

Library facilities

5

   7

   9

   7

   2

163

142

153

131

Attitude score



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159

Strengthen perceived product/attribute linkages.  A marketer may discover that

consumers do not equate his brand with a certain attribute. Advertising campaigns often address this problem when they stress a specific quality to consumers (e.g., “new and improved”). Alex apparently does not think much of Northland’s academic quality, athletic programs, or library facilities. You might develop an informational campaign to improve these perceptions (e.g., “little-known facts about Northland”). Add a new attribute.  Product marketers frequently try to distinguish themselves

Buying, Having, Being

from their competitors when they add a product feature. Northland College might try to emphasize some unique aspect, such as a hands-on internship program for business majors that takes advantage of ties to the local community.

Too Nice to Use?

Influence competitors’ ratings.  Finally, you can decrease your competitors’ higher ratings with a comparative advertising strategy. In this case, you might publish an ad that lists the tuition rates of several area schools with which Northland compares favorably and emphasize the value for the money its students get.

“I Feel It”: Affective Focus Moods involve temporary positive or negative affective states that are not necessarily linked to a particular event (e.g., you might have just “woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning”). Emotions such as happiness, anger, and fear tend to be more intense; they often relate to a specific triggering event, such as receiving an awesome gift. Marketers can use these affective states to shape or change our attitudes toward products and brands. For instance, they often try to link a product or service with a positive mood or emotion (just think of a sentimental Hallmark greeting card).6

Moods Shape Our Judgments

Can a product’s design ever be too beautiful? Some recent research says yes. Although we know that consumers respond positively to aesthetically pleasing options, ironically, in some cases, the package can be so attractive that consumers are reluctant to use what’s inside. They feel sad if they do, because they have destroyed the effort required to make the item attractive. In a field study, researchers stocked a fitness studio bathroom with plain white toilet paper and white toilet paper with holiday motifs. Patrons used twice the number of plain sheets! A laboratory study replicated this effect; participants ate fewer cupcakes with fancy decorations than they did plain cupcakes.8 There is a potential silver lining to these findings: Ironically, if manufacturers want to reduce the waste that products like napkins produce, the solution may be to make them so pretty people don’t want to use them!

Mood congruency refers to the idea that our moods tend to shape our judgments; consumers evaluate the same products more positively when they are in a positive versus a negative mood. This is why advertisers attempt to place their ads after humorous TV programming or create uplifting messages that put viewers in a good mood. Similarly, retailers work hard to make shoppers happy by playing “up” background music and encouraging staff to be friendly. Then, of course, there’s the traditional “three-martini” business lunch. . . On other occasions, marketing communications may deliberately evoke negative affect, such as a feeling of regret if you forget to play the lottery. Perhaps a more productive way to harness the power of negative affect is to expose consumers to a distressing image and then provide a way to improve it. For example, a nonprofit organization might run an ad showing a starving child when it solicits donations. Helping others to resolve their own negative moods is known as negative state relief. We’ve seen a trend in advertising toward inspirational stories that manipulate our emotions like a roller-coaster: Think about the commercials Budweiser ran during several Super Bowls about a puppy who befriends a horse, gets lost, finds his way home, and so on. This practice even has a name: sadvertising.7 Because Product design and other aesthetic attributes help to create these affective responses tend to be fleeting (compared to the positive attitudes when they generate positive emotional reactions. cognitive aspects of attitudes we discussed earlier), emotional Source: Rob Cousins/Alamy Stock Photo.

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messages are especially persuasive when they involve outcomes the person will experience shortly as opposed to those that involve a longer time frame.9

Emotions Rule Our Brains: Neuromarketing

Neuromarketing techniques rely on sophisticated devices like the fMRI to understand how our brains respond to marketing messages. Source: James Steidl/Shutterstock.

How can we measure and detect affect-based attitudinal responses? Some corporations, including Google, CBS, Disney, and Frito-Lay, have teamed up with neuroscientists to find out.10 The emerging field of neuromarketing uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (or fMRI), a brain-scanning device that tracks blood flow as we perform mental tasks, to take an up-close look at how our brains respond to marketing messages and product design features. In recent years, researchers have discovered that regions in the brain, such as the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the hypothalamus, are dynamic switchboards that blend memory, emotions, and biochemical triggers. These interconnected neurons shape the ways that fear, panic, exhilaration, and social pressure influence our choices. Scientists know that specific regions of the brain light up in these scans to show increased blood flow when a person recognizes a face, hears a song, makes a choice, or senses deception. Now they hope to harness this technology to measure consumers’ reactions to movie trailers, automobiles, the appeal of a pretty face, and even their loyalty to specific brands. DaimlerChrysler took brain scans of men as they looked at photos of cars and confirmed that sports cars activated their reward centers. The company’s scientists found that the most popular vehicles—the Porsche- and Ferraristyle sports cars—triggered activity in a section of the brain they call the fusiform face area, which governs facial recognition. A psychiatrist who ran the study commented, “They were reminded of faces when they looked at the cars. The lights of the cars look a little like eyes.”

Oops! Attitudes Aren’t as Simple as We Thought Complicated concepts like attitudes don’t always fit into the neat little boxes we would like them to. As we learn more about attitudes and their impact on behavior, we find some “messy” factors to keep in mind, such as:

• Ambivalence: You might “love” your smartphone (and keep it with you 24/7),

•

but why does it insist on sending you annoying messages when you’re trying to concentrate on your accounting homework? Generally, attitudes have a valence: They range from strongly negative to strongly positive. But there are many products, brands, and services toward which we hold both positive and negative views. When this happens, we experience attitudinal ambivalence: A sense of being torn or mixed about an attitude object, because both positive and negative components of our attitudes are simultaneously accessible.11 Explicit and implicit elements: Explicit attitudes are those that consumers are conscious of. But we also hold more difficult-to-detect implicit attitudes, those that occur outside of our awareness but still have a big impact on what we think, say, or do. This may be due to a social desirability bias—a conscious effort to report only attitudes that are deemed socially acceptable while keeping your “real” feelings buried. 12 This bias can be a headache for marketing researchers who try to measure consumers’ “real” feelings about unpopular topics or products.

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Buying, Having, Being Take Your Medicine!

CVS tries to increase medication adherence by including a reminder function in its app. Source: Patti McConville/Alamy Stock Photo.

• Social pressure: Admit it—you’ve said or done something in the past that didn’t

totally reflect your actual attitude because of the social pressure to conform to what others say or do. Join the club! We’re often acutely aware of normative influences—what we believe other people think we should do. In a classic demonstration of “do as I say, not as I do,” many studies report a low correlation between a person’s reported attitude toward something and actual behavior toward it. Hence the popular expression, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

An Improved Fishbein Model to the Rescue: The Theory of Reasoned Action So, what makes it more likely that we’ll see a firm linkage between attitudes and behavior? Researchers tinkered with the Fishbein model to improve its predictive ability. They call the newer version the Theory of Reasoned Action.16 This model contains several important additions to the original, and although the model is still not perfect, it does a better job of prediction.17 Let’s look at some of the modifications to this model via Alex’s college choice. You saw in Table 6.1 that one of her criteria was a school near home. However, if she felt that this choice would be unpopular (perhaps her friends would think she was too immature), she might ignore or downgrade this preference when she made her decision. Researchers added a new element, the subjective norm (SN), to account for the effects of what we believe other people think we should do. They use two factors to measure SN: (1) the intensity of a normative belief (NB) that others believe we should take or not take some action and (2) the motivation to comply (MC) with that belief (i.e., the degree to which the consumer takes others’ anticipated reactions into account when they evaluate a purchase).

The (in)consistency between attitudes and behavior links to a major public health problem: medication adherence. This term describes the extent to which people fill and take prescribed medicines. Although some patients unfortunately don’t adhere to prescriptions because they can’t afford them, many simply forget to swallow their pills. This breakdown between attitudes and behavior threatens many people’s health, and it also adds huge costs to the healthcare system. An industry study estimates it costs U.S. taxpayers $290 billion annually.13 The CVS chain found that even for chronic diseases, one-third of their customers stopped taking their prescribed medicine after a month, and half stopped after a year. CVS aggressively reminds people to fill their prescriptions with texts, emails, and phone calls.14 More generally, healthcare companies spend over $3 billion per year on hardware and software solutions to remind patients about their prescriptions.15

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OBJECTIVE 6-2 Describe the ways in which we form attitudes.

How Do We Form Attitudes?

We all have lots of attitudes, and we don’t usually question how we got them. Certainly, you’re not born with the heartfelt conviction that, say, Pepsi is better than Coke or that K-Pop music liberates the soul. From where do these attitudes come? As we saw earlier, attitudes contain both cognitive and affective elements. Attitudes that are formed through a cognitive process tend to be more durable. We hold them more strongly than those attitudes that are formed because of an emotional response.18 So, to understand how committed someone is to their attitude, it’s useful to think about how those attitudes formed in the first place.19 One consumer may be highly brand loyal, like the hard-core fans we discussed in Chapter 5; they have an enduring, deeply held, positive attitude toward an attitude object, and it would be difficult to weaken this involvement. However, another person may be a fickle consumer: They may have a mildly positive attitude toward a product but be quite willing to abandon it when something better comes along. In this section, we’ll consider the differences between strongly and weakly held attitudes and briefly review some of the major theoretical perspectives researchers use to explain how attitudes form and relate to our other attitudes.

Commitment Consumers vary in their commitment to an attitude; the degree of commitment relates to their level of involvement with the attitude object (see Chapter 5). 20 A person who holds an attitude with greater confidence or conviction is more likely to act on it. As such, it is helpful to distinguish between attitudes we hold firmly and those that are more superficial. One study on environmental issues and marketing activities found, for example, that people who express greater conviction in their feelings regarding environmentally responsible behaviors, such as recycling, show greater consistency between attitudes and behavioral intentions.21 Let’s look at three (increasing) levels of commitment:

As we saw in Chapter 4, we simply may form an attitude toward a brand due to classical conditioning: A marketer repeatedly pairs an attitude object, such as the Under Armour name, with a catchy tagline (“Under Armour: The Only Way is Through”). Or we can form an attitude because of instrumental conditioning: The marketer reinforces us when we consume the attitude object (e.g., you take a swig of Pepsi, and it quenches your thirst). Finally, this learning can result from a complex cognitive process. For example, teenagers may model the behavior of friends and media endorsers, such as Megan Thee Stallion or Cardi B, who drink Pepsi, because they believe that this will allow them to fit in with the desirable lifestyle that Pepsi commercials portray. Source: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images.

1. Compliance—At the lowest level of involvement, compliance, we form an attitude because it helps us to gain rewards or avoid punishment. This attitude is superficial; it is likely to change when others no longer monitor our behavior or when another option becomes available. You may drink Pepsi because the cafeteria sells it and it is too much trouble to go elsewhere for a Coca-Cola. 2. Identification—Identification occurs when we form an attitude to conform to another person’s or group’s expectations. Advertising that depicts the dire social consequences when we choose some products over others relies on the tendency of consumers to imitate the behavior of desirable models (more on this in Chapter 11). 3. Internalization—At a high level of involvement we call internalization, deep-seated attitudes become part of our value system. These attitudes are difficult to change because they are so important to us. The infamous Coke debacle of the 1980s (still a standard in marketing textbooks today) illustrates what can happen when a marketer messes with strongly held attitudes. In this case, Coca-Cola

Chapter 6  •  Attitudes and How to Change Them



decided to change its flavor formula to meet the needs of younger consumers who often preferred a sweeter taste (more characteristic of Pepsi). The company conducted rigorous blind taste tests that showed people who didn’t know what brands they were drinking preferred the flavor of the new formula. Much to its surprise, when New Coke hit the shelves, the company faced a consumer revolt as die-hard Coke fans protested. This allegiance to Coke was obviously more than a minor taste preference for these people; the brand was intertwined with their social identities and took on intense patriotic and nostalgic properties. You don’t mess with internalized attitudes!

The Consistency Principle Have you ever heard someone say, “Pepsi is my favorite soft drink. It tastes terrible,” or “I love my boyfriend. He’s the biggest idiot I’ve ever met”? Probably not (at least until the couple gets married!), because these beliefs or evaluations don’t go together. According to the principle of cognitive consistency, we value harmony among our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and a need to maintain uniformity among these elements motivates us. This desire means that, if necessary, we change our thoughts, feelings, or behaviors to make them consistent with other experiences. That boyfriend may slip up and act like a moron occasionally, but his partner (eventually) will find a way to forgive him—or dump him. The consistency principle is an important reminder that we don’t form our attitudes in a vacuum: A big factor is how well they fit with other, related attitudes we already hold. Sometimes we jump through hoops to justify our desires. For example, researchers find that promotions such as price discounts, rebates, coupons, and loyalty rewards are more effective for hedonic purchases than for utilitarian purchases. Why? Because it is more difficult to defend buying something just because it makes us feel good rather than something we need. These promotions provide the guilt-reducing justification we require to splurge on such items.22 We’ve already reviewed this phenomenon in Chapter 5, when we learned about the theory of cognitive dissonance. We saw that when a person is confronted with inconsistencies among attitudes or behaviors, they will take some action to resolve this “dissonance”; perhaps they will change their attitude or modify their behavior to restore consistency. The theory has important ramifications for consumer behavior. We often confront situations in which there is some conflict between our attitudes toward a product or service and what we do or buy.23 According to the theory, our motivation to reduce the negative feelings of dissonance makes us find a way for our beliefs and feelings to fit together. The theory focuses on situations in which two cognitive elements clash. A cognitive element is something a person believes about themselves, a behavior they perform, or an observation about their surroundings. For example, the two cognitive elements “I know vaping causes cancer” and “I vape” are dissonant with one another. This psychological inconsistency creates a feeling of discomfort that the smoker tries to reduce. The magnitude of dissonance depends on both the importance and number of dissonant elements.24 In other words, we’re more likely to observe dissonance in high-involvement situations where there is more pressure to reduce inconsistencies. We reduce dissonance when we eliminate, add, or change elements. A person can stop smoking (eliminating) or remember Great-Aunt Sophie who smoked until the day she died at age 95 (adding). Alternatively, they might question the research that links cancer and vaping (changing), perhaps by believing industry-sponsored studies that try to refute this connection.

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Buying, Having, Being Basking in Reflected Glory Consumers often like to publicize their connections with successful people or organizations (no matter how shaky the connection) to enhance their own standing. Researchers call this tactic basking in reflected glory. A series of studies at Arizona State University (ASU) showed how students’ desires to identify with a winning image—in this case, ASU’s football team—influenced their consumption behaviors. After the team played a game each weekend, observers recorded the incidence of schoolrelated items, such as ASU T-shirts and caps that students walking around campus wore. The researchers correlated the frequency of these behaviors to the team’s performance. If the team won on Saturday, students were more likely to show off their school affiliation (basking in reflected glory) the following Monday than if the team lost. And the bigger the point spread, the more likely researchers were to observe students who wore clothes with the ASU logo.26

Balance Theory Have you ever heard the expression, “Any friend of Joe’s is a friend of mine?” How about “My enemy’s enemy is my friend?” Balance theory considers how people perceive relations among different attitude objects, and how they alter their attitudes so that these remain consistent (or “balanced”).25 Balance theory is like the principle of cognitive consistency. A balance theory perspective involves relations (always from the perceiver’s subjective point of view) among three elements, so we call the resulting attitude structures triads. Each triad contains (1) a person and their perceptions of (2) an attitude object and (3) some other person or object. The theory specifies that we want relations among elements in a triad to be harmonious. If they are unbalanced, this creates tension that we are motivated to reduce by changing our perceptions to restore balance. We link elements together in one of two ways: They can have either a unit relation, where we think that a person is somehow connected to an attitude object (something like a belief), or they can have a sentiment relation, where a person expresses liking or disliking for an attitude object. To see how balance theory might work, consider the following scenario:

• Chris would like to date Dan, who is in their consumer behavior class. In balance theory terms, Chris has a positive sentiment relation with Dan. • One day, Dan shows up in class wearing an earring. Dan has a positive unit relation with the earring. • Men who wear earrings are a turnoff to Chris. They have a negative sentiment relation with men’s earrings.

According to balance theory, Chris faces an unbalanced triad. As Figure 6.2 shows, they will experience pressure to restore balance by altering some aspect of the triad. How can they do this? Chris could decide that they do not like Dan after Chris

Earring

Dan

Chris

Dan

Chris

Earring

Dan

UNBALANCED TRIAD

Earring

Chris

Dan BALANCED TRIADS

Figure 6.2  Balance Theory Source: Zizi_mentos/Shutterstock.

Earring

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165

When a school’s team wins a game, students (and fans) are more likely to wear merchandise that link them to the institution as they “bask in reflected glory.”

Source: Rose-Marie Murray/Alamy Stock Photo.

all. Or their liking for Dan could prompt them to decide that earrings on men are cool. Chris might even try to negate the unit relation between Dan and the earring by deciding that Dan must wear it as part of a fraternity initiation (this reduces the freechoice element). Finally, Chris could choose to “leave the field” by accepting a date with Dan’s roommate Doug who doesn’t wear an earring (but who has an awesome tattoo). Note that although the theory does not specify which of these routes Chris will choose, it does predict that they will change one or more of their perceptions to achieve balance. Balance theory helps us to understand how an attitude toward a person or celebrity can transfer to a brand that they are associated with. For instance, in a study of products that appeared on TV shows, viewers’ attitudes toward a brand that appeared in an episode was more positive if the brand was positively associated with a character that the viewer liked.27 If you like the TV character Ted Lasso and see that he is often associated with Apple products, you will develop a more positive attitude toward Apple products. This can work both ways: You are more likely to like Ted Lasso if you already like Apple products. OBJECTIVE 6-3 Explain how persuasion is an active attempt to create or change attitudes.

Persuasion: How Do Marketers Change Attitudes?

BUY NOW! Advertisers constantly bombard us with messages imploring us to change our attitudes—and, of course, buy their products. Persuasion is an active attempt to create or change attitudes. This is Job #1 for many marketing communicators. These persuasion attempts can range from logical arguments to graphic pictures, from peers who try to intimidate us to celebrities who try to charm us. Let’s review some of the factors that influence the effectiveness of marketing communications. Our focus will be on some basic aspects of communication that specifically help to determine how and if consumers will form new attitudes or modify existing ones.

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Sell the Steak or the Sizzle?: The Elaboration Likelihood Model As we saw in Chapter 5, consumers’ level of involvement determines which cognitive processes will activate when they receive a message. This in turn influences which aspects of a communication they process. Like travelers who come to a fork in the road, they choose one path or the other. The direction they take determines which aspects of the marketing communication will work and which will fall on deaf ears. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) assumes that, under conditions of high involvement (system 2 processing), we take the central route to persuasion (“the steak”). In this scenario, we prioritize cognitive information as we strive to learn as much as we can to make a smart choice. But under conditions of low involvement (system 1 processing), we take a peripheral route instead. Here, we tend to focus on the “sizzle”: the more superficial components of a brand, such as its packaging, who endorses it, or the emotions it arouses in us that (we believe) will tell us quickly whether it’s something that we want. Figure 6.3 diagrams the ELM model.28 The harsh truth: Most of us aren’t that motivated to pay attention to most persuasion attempts we receive. Furthermore, as we saw way back in Chapter 3, our poor overworked brains probably couldn’t make sense of a lot of this even if we wanted to. So, it’s fair to say that we process many or even most advertising messages peripherally rather than centrally. Let’s dig into this a bit more.

Fast Persuasion: The Peripheral Route We take the well-travelled peripheral route when we’re not really motivated to think in depth about the marketer’s arguments. Instead, we’re likely to use other cues to decide how to react to the message. These cues include the product’s package, the attractiveness of the source, and the context in which the message appears. We call sources of information extraneous to the actual message peripheral cues because they surround the actual message.

EXPOSURE TO A MESSAGE

Likelihood to elaborate?

PERIPHERAL ROUTE

Low

High

CENTRAL ROUTE

(more affective process)

(more cognitive process)

FAST PERSUASION (system 1)

SLOW PERSUASION (system 2)

Belief Change

Cognitive Responses

Behavior Change

Belief and Attitude Change

Attitude Change

Behavior Change

Figure 6.3  The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of Persuasion

Chapter 6  •  Attitudes and How to Change Them



The peripheral route to persuasion highlights the paradox of low involvement: When we don’t care as much about a product, the way it’s presented (e.g., who endorses it or the visuals that go with it) increases in importance. The implication here is that we may buy low-involvement products chiefly because the marketer designs a “sexy” package, chooses a popular spokesperson, or creates a stimulating shopping environment. In other words, especially when a consumer engages in emotional or behavioral decision making, these environmental cues become more important than when they perform cognitive decision making; as a result, they look more carefully at the product’s performance or other objective attributes. Marketers are just beginning to explore the effects of this type of incidental brand exposure, where subtle cues in the environment influence our reactions—even when we’re unaware of the cause! We’ll get into this process in more detail in Chapter 9, but for now, here are a few examples of the overlooked power of peripheral cues:

• People in a room who were exposed to a sign of the brand name “Apple” provided • • •

responses on an unrelated task that were more unique compared with those who saw a sign with the IBM brand name.29 College students who used a “cute” ice cream scoop to help themselves to ice cream took a larger amount than those who used a plain scoop; the researchers explained that the whimsical object drove them to be more self-indulgent even though they weren’t aware of this effect.30 Some students scored higher on difficult Graduate Record Examination questions when they took the test using a Massachusetts Institute of Technology pen, and they delivered a better athletic performance when they drank water from a Gatorade cup during strenuous exercise.31 E-cigarettes in music videos create more positive attitudes toward e-cigarettes among youth: Compared with participants who watched music videos with images of vaping removed, those who saw videos with images of vaping were more likely to want to use e-cigarettes in the future.32

Slow Persuasion: The Central Route An expectant mother who hears a radio message that warns about drinking while pregnant might say to herself, “They’re right. I really should stop drinking alcohol now that I’m pregnant.” Or she might offer a counterargument, such as, “That’s a bunch of baloney. My mother had a cocktail every night when she was pregnant with me, and I turned out fine.” If people generate counterarguments in response to a message, it’s less likely that they will yield to the message, whereas if they generate further supporting arguments, it’s more likely they’ll comply.33 According to the ELM, when we find the information in a persuasive message relevant or interesting, we pay careful attention to it. We focus on the arguments the marketer presents and process this content cognitively. These counterarguments may take the form of reasons why what the message is saying is wrong or doesn’t apply to you. We can think of these arguments as part of our cognitive defenses, or our natural tendency to refute messages that try to persuade us.34 To recap, the basic idea of the ELM is that involved consumers who are motivated to engage in elaboration look for the “steak” (e.g., strong, rational arguments). Those who are less involved and not inclined to elaborate on the message very much go for the “sizzle” (e.g., the colors and images in packaging or famous people’s endorsements). It is important to remember, however, that the same communications variable can be both a central and a peripheral cue, depending on its relation to the attitude object. The physical attractiveness of a model might serve as a peripheral cue in a car commercial, but their beauty might be a central cue for a product such as shampoo, where a major product benefit is to enhance attractiveness.35

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Narrative Persuasion Earlier in the chapter, we talked about Budweiser’s popular series of commercials where a Clydesdale pony befriends a Labrador puppy.36 Quite a story! Just like novelists, poets, and artists, marketers are storytellers. Advertisers structure commercials, print ads, and billboards like other art forms; they borrow conventions from literature and art to communicate.37 That’s because they hope to take us to “another place” (at least in our heads), where their brand plays the hero. The term narrative transportation describes the extent to which someone feels immersed in a story and is thus “transported” into the action. This is a very powerful way to convey a message, and the icing on the cake is that narrative ads are also more likely to be shared and to be shared more frequently. After all, a story is more compelling than a lecture (don’t tell your professor).38 Messages that feature a narrative, which is a series of connected events (i.e., a plot) centered on a character, are more compelling than those that rely on a logical argument. In a lecture, the source speaks directly to the audience to inform them about a product or to persuade them to buy it. The emerging perspective on narrative persuasion is that stories often are more effective. Why would this be? Because a lecture clearly implies an attempt at persuasion, the audience will regard it as such. Assuming it motivates listeners, they weigh the merits of the message along with the source’s credibility. Counterarguments occur (e.g., “How much did Coke pay him to say that?”). Consumers accept the appeal if it overcomes objections and is consistent with their beliefs. But a story draws you in; it encourages you to vicariously live through the event from the character’s perspective. Consumers who are immersed in the story typically are more likely to believe that what the narrative is conveying is real and to accept its premise, without questions or counterarguments.39 This also is the case for online reviews: A study dissected the structure of almost 200,000 online consumer reviews with automated text analysis.40 Researchers found reviews are more persuasive if they have characteristics that make them resemble a narrative—for example, thoughts or feelings (“They changed the show!”) that then lead to a subsequent event (“This is my last time attending the show!”). Reviews that had better-developed characters and events as well as more emotionally charged genres and dramatic event orders—i.e., reviews higher in narrativity, or the extent to which a message tells a story—were more transporting and as a result more persuasive. The lesson: Marketers should encourage people who had positive experiences to “share their story” about the experience on social media or online reviews.

Persuasion Knowledge: Talking Back to Marketers Do we passively accept everything these messages want us to believe? Obviously not! The premise of the persuasion knowledge model is that consumers develop knowledge about persuasion attempts and then call upon this experience whenever they believe someone is trying to change their mind. For example, say you notice that an Instagram post is labeled “Sponsored Content”: This cue will probably make you more critical of the message, less likely to find the source credible, and less likely to believe that what the post says is true.

Media Literacy A large body of research has shown that when consumers access their persuasion knowledge, they evaluate the source of the persuasion attempt less favorably and they are less likely to get persuaded. As we saw in Chapter 2, this form of media literacy acts as a defense mechanism against persuasion, because people identify the ulterior motives or manipulative tactics of a marketer, so they become more suspicious and counterargue more.41

Chapter 6  •  Attitudes and How to Change Them



Media literacy is especially important for those who have not yet developed critical skills, such as children. A research program the National Institutes of Health funded to correct the influence of alcohol messages that are prevalent in the content of TV shows popular with youth illustrates one attempt to help young consumers develop persuasion knowledge.42 Hoping to bypass otherwise stringent regulations on advertising their products, alcohol advertisers often revert to product placements in these shows. This strategy capitalizes on the narrative persuasion process we reviewed earlier in this chapter. But consumer advocates and policymakers worry that showing alcohol use in a positive light can lead young people to develop unhealthy attitudes toward drinking. So, in this program, the researchers developed TV episodes that emphasized the social benefits of drinking—but they also created a one-minute epilogue in which one of the lead characters told viewers that what they see on TV is “not real” and that alcohol can change their behavior for the worst. Overall, the epilogues were effective at countering the influence of the TV episode, but they were especially effective among those viewers who were highly transported in the story and who reported high levels of persuasion knowledge. The high level of narrative transportation made them pay more attention to what the TV characters had to say, including in the epilogue, while activation of the persuasion knowledge allowed them to be more critical and thus less accepting of the drinking message.

Disclosures and Warnings: Do They Work? A recent meta-analysis of all types of disclosures and warning found consistent evidence that disclosures are effective at activating persuasion knowledge, generating more critical processing, and in turn increasing resistance to persuasive attempts.43 Of course, one size does not fit all when it comes to warnings. Although they are designed to activate persuasion knowledge, they can also backfire by bringing attention to the product being advertised. But wait, it’s not that simple (surprise!). New research shows that in this day and age of constant and often obvious attempts to persuade, consumers use persuasion knowledge differently. Instead of skepticism and rejection of the message, they may simply search for a more credible source.44 In some cases, they admire the source for their skills at persuasion and view these attempts positively! So, whereas conventional wisdom is that persuasion knowledge is always a bad thing, this research shows that boosting consumers’ persuasion knowledge in fact helps the marketer by making consumers evaluate the marketer more positively. Have you ever interacted with a talented salesperson who can get you to buy those jeans and instead of being more critical of them, you are quite impressed with their skills?

OBJECTIVE 6-4 Discuss the ways in which the source, the message, and the medium are used to craft persuasion strategies.

•

Crafting Persuasive Communications Strategies The communications model in Figure 6.4 captures all the elements marketers need to consider when they want to connect with their customers:

• One of these is a source, where the communication

originates. Another is the message itself. There are many ways to say something, and the structure of the message has a significant effect on how we perceive it.

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Consumer Consumer Medium Source

Consumer

Message Consumer

Consumer Consumer

Figure 6.4  21st Century Communications Model

• The message is conveyed via a medium, which could be TV, a social media post, radio, magazines, billboards, personal contact, or even a matchbook cover. • One or more receivers interpret the message considering their own experiences. • Finally, the source receives feedback so that the marketer can use receivers’ reactions to modify aspects of the message as necessary. • In today’s dynamic world of interactivity, there are also many elements of

consumer-to-consumer exchanges around the source, the message, and the medium. We will discuss these social processes more fully in Chapter 11.

Decisions, Decisions: Tactical Communications Options Suppose Audi wants to create an advertising campaign for a new ragtop it targets to young drivers. As it plans this campaign, the automaker must develop a message that will arouse desire for the car. To craft persuasive messages that might persuade someone to buy this car instead of the many others available, we must answer several questions:

• Who will drive the car in the ad? A NASCAR driver? A career woman? A reality •

•

show star? The source of a message helps determine whether consumers will accept it. How should we construct the message? Should it emphasize the negative consequences of being left out when others drive cool cars and you still tool around in your old clunker? Should it directly compare the car with others already on the market, or maybe present a fantasy in which a high-powered but overworked executive abruptly decided to leave a boring meeting to cruise down the highway in their Audi? What media should we use? Should the ad run in a magazine? Should we air it on TV? Sell the product door-to-door? Post the material on Instagram or create a Facebook group? Convince bloggers on popular sites like Justacarguy.com or Carscoops.com to write about it?45 If we do produce a print ad, should we run it in the pages of Vogue? Good Housekeeping? Car and Driver? Sometimes where you

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•

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say something is as important as what you say. Ideally, we should match the attributes of the medium with those of what we sell. For example, advertising in magazines with high prestige is more effective when we want to communicate messages about overall product image and quality, whereas specialized expert magazines do a better job when we want to convey factual information.46 What characteristics of the target market might lead its members to accept the ad? If targeted users are frustrated in their daily lives, they might be more receptive to a fantasy appeal. If they’re status oriented, maybe a commercial should show bystanders who swoon with admiration as the car cruises by.

Social scientists developed the traditional model of communicaWhen consumers opt in to receive information from an tions to understand situations in which a source transmits information organization, they are more likely to pay attention to it to many receivers at one time—typically via a broadcast medium, when a message arrives. such as television. This perspective essentially views advertising as Source: liliwhite/123RF. the process of transferring information to the buyer before a sale. It regards a message as perishable—the marketer repeats the same message to a large audience and then the message “vanishes” when a new campaign takes its place. That model doesn’t work as well now that we can narrowcast, or finely tune our messages to suit small groups of receivers (sometimes even one person at a time). And the popular strategy we call permission marketing acknowledges that a marketer will be more successful when they communicate with consumers who have already agreed to listen to them; consumers who “opt out” of listening to the message probably weren’t good prospects in the first place.47

The Source Regardless of whether we receive a message by “snail mail” (netheads’ slang for the postal service), email, or SMS text, common sense tells us that if different people say or write the same words, the message can still affect us differently. Researchers have demonstrated the power of source effects for more than 70 years. Indeed, a synthesis of the findings of more than 1,700 advertising studies with 2.4 million participants concluded that the source is even more influential than the message itself!48 Under most conditions, the source of a message can have a big impact on the likelihood that receivers will accept it. Marketers can choose a spokesperson because they are an expert, attractive, famous, or even a “typical” consumer who is both likable and trustworthy. Credibility and attractiveness are two particularly important source characteristics (i.e., how much we either believe or like the communicator).49 How do marketing specialists decide whether to stress credibility or attractiveness when they select a message source? There should be a match between the needs of the recipient and the potential rewards the source offers. When this match occurs, the recipient is more motivated to process the message. An attractive source, for example, is more effective for receivers who tend to be sensitive about social acceptance and others’ opinions, whereas a credible, expert source is more powerful when they speak to internally oriented people.50 However, even a credible source’s trustworthiness evaporates if they endorse too many products.51

Source Credibility Source credibility refers to a communicator’s expertise, objectivity, or trustworthiness. This dimension relates to consumers’ beliefs that this person is competent and that they will provide the necessary information we need when we evaluate competing products.

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Source credibility is an incredibly important factor in advertising, where celebs of all stripes hawk products and services. On the other hand, some subtle cues can diminish credibility: Consider for example those superfast disclaimers you often hear at the end of a commercial message that supply additional information the advertiser is required to provide (“possible side effects may include nausea, diarrhea, or death”). Although people tend to assume that people who speak faster are more intelligent, they may trust them less. When consumers don’t already have a positive attitude toward a product, a fast-paced disclaimer leads them to think the advertiser has ulterior motives and they trust the company less.52 Source credibility also suffers if consumers perceive that the source is biased.53 Knowledge bias implies that a source’s knowledge about a topic is not accurate. Reporting bias occurs when a source has the required knowledge, but we question their willingness to convey it accurately—as when a racket manufacturer pays a star tennis player to use its products exclusively. The source’s credentials might be appropriate, but the fact that consumers see the expert as a “hired gun” compromises believability. Facebook’s credibility was damaged when it came out that purveyors of fake news had bought huge amounts of advertisThe issue of source credibility has never been more ing on the platform and that the company allowed advertisers to important than it is today when an explosion of fake news— target very specific racial groups. Facebook is scrambling to repair hoaxes spread by hackers or other outsiders—has caused the damage. It now offers a “Related Articles” tool so that readers many people to question the trustworthiness of even the most can consult other sources to acquire more context about a story respected traditional and social media outlets. Programs to and reduce the frequency with which people share hoaxes. Even so, the ability of almost anyone to create a doctored video or to disseminate false information have taken their toll on the post a story that looks “authentic” creates a very big problem, and American public; nearly two-thirds of Americans believe not just for politicians: Marketers now must contend with even the mainstream media publish fake news. Indeed, in a recent greater skepticism among consumers about whether what they survey among 92,000 news consumers in 46 countries, the read about product claims is fake news as well.55 United States ranked dead last in media trust.54 Source: BigNazik/Shutterstock. Although in general more positive sources tend to increase attitude change, there are exceptions to this rule. Sometimes we can think a source is obnoxious, yet it is still effective. For example, most Americans hate negative political ads, yet such ads are widespread. Twenty years ago, a law was passed that required politicians to place their endorsement on all ads that they run: “My name is _____, and I approve this message.” Yet recent research shows that this law could have unintended consequences by making negative ads more effective. In the study, the researchers showed participants eight political ads, half from Democrats and half from Republicans, all from late 2000s U.S. Senate races.56 They used different types of ads—policy attack, character attack, policy positive, and character positive—and manipulated whether the participants also saw the candidate’s endorsement at the end. They measured how much participants perceived the candidate as credible, believable, and trustworthy, and then measured their attitudes toward each candidate. They found clear evidence that the endorsements boosted the evaluations of policy-focused attack ads—but not those ads that were positive or character-focused. The researchers concluded that the endorsement made the ad content seem truer and more credible. In some instances, the differences in attitude change between positive sources and less positive sources diminish over time. After a while, people appear to “forget” about the negative source and change their attitudes anyway. We call this process the sleeper effect.57



Chapter 6  •  Attitudes and How to Change Them

Source Attractiveness: “What Is Beautiful Is Good” Source attractiveness refers to the social value recipients attribute to a communicator. This value relates to the person’s physical appearance, personality, social status, or similarity to the receiver (we like to listen to people who are like us). No wonder that many organizations are willing to pay top dollar to communicators who can get the job done.

Is Beauty Only Skin Deep? Some sources appeal to us because they are cool, brainy, or just plain famous (Kardashians, anyone?). But many just are nice to look at. Almost everywhere we turn, beautiful people try to persuade us to buy or do something. As we’ll see in Chapter 9, our society places a high premium on physical attractiveness. We assume that good-looking people are smarter, hipper, and happier than the rest of us. This is an example of a halo effect, which occurs when we assume that persons who rank high on one dimension excel on others as well. We can explain this effect in terms of the consistency principle we discussed previously in this chapter; we are more comfortable when all our judgments about a person correspond.

Star Power: Celebrities as Communications Sources Which celeb’s products are you using today? Maybe you’re wearing Kim Kardashian shapewear under Nicole Richie sleepwear and resting your head on an Ellen DeGeneres pillow. How about a sip of Drake champagne, Chainsmokers tequila, or Post Malone rosé—or perhaps you prefer to roll Snoop Dogg cannabis in Wiz Khalifa papers, then discard your ashes in a receptable customdesigned by actor Seth Rogen.58 Many big-time marketers pay big bucks to secure celebrity endorsements; they hope that the star’s popularity will transfer to their product, or perhaps even discourage harmful behavior like excessive drug or cigarette use.59 Celebrities hawk everything from grills (George Foreman) to perfumes (Jennifer Lopez). As our earlier discussion about the consistency principle illustrates, these messages are more effective when there’s a logical connection between the star and the product. When Bob Dylan pitches Victoria’s Secret lingerie (yes, he really did), marketers may need to reread their consumer behavior textbook.60 Then again, Justin Bieber puts his name on almost everything.  .  .  including nail Marketers hope that a star’s popularity will transfer to their product. Source: Bastian/Agencja Fotograficzna Caro/Alamy Stock Photo. polish!61 There is no doubt that celebrity endorsements are still very popular: Current estimates indicate that about 20 to 25 percent of all ads worldwide rely on this strategy.62 But do celebrity endorsements work? A meta-analysis of 46 studies through 2016 finds that celebrity endorsements do not (1) increase awareness of a product or brand, (2) boost attitude toward the ad itself, and (3) make people more likely to purchase the item. But they do make people like the product more.63 And this tactic often pays off financially—brands that employ celebrity endorsers often see a jump in their stock prices.64

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In general, celebrity endorsers are more effective when they are (1) male (vs female) endorsers, (2) actors rather than models, musicians, or TV hosts, and (3) endorsers who are congruent with the product. They also are more effective when the endorsement itself is (1) implicit rather than explicit and (2) about a new product. For instance, a study showed that a visual depicting Sarah Jessica Parker holding a bottle of a new drink named V led to more positive attitudes toward the new brand V if the visual was presented as a picture taken by a passerby on a city street (a natural, implicit form of endorsement) than if the visual was presented as part of a commercial for the drink (an explicit form of endorsement).65

From Talking Head to Partner: The Celebrity Collab As trust in traditional advertising tanks, some brands still seek to engage with celebrities, but on different terms. Rather than just paying a lot of money to use their likeness, companies are creating collaborations with celebrities—so-called collabs—that link to the endorser’s image or passion in a meaningful way:

• Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream launched a new flavor based on collaboration with • •

country music star Dolly Parton. Every purchase of a pint of Strawberry Pretzel Pie supports Dolly’s Imagination Library, which provides free books to children to inspire a love of reading. With Adidas, the singer Beyoncé launched her Ivy Park collection—an athletic wear line that reflects “shared respect for and commitment to creativity, and the belief that through sport, we have the power to change lives.”66 The rapper Travis Scott put his name on his favorite meal at McDonald’s, including his custom-order Quarter Pounder (essentially just a Quarter Pounder with bacon), which quickly became known as the “Travy Patty.” This $6 meal, which also included a medium order of fries and a Sprite, was only available for a limited time—and it became such a viral hit that McDonald’s ran out of the ingredients!67

Nonhuman Endorsers

Spokescharacters boost the effectiveness of advertising claims. Source: Pat Canova/Alamy Stock Photo.

Creating a unit relation between a product and a star can backfire if the public’s opinion of the celebrity endorser shifts from positive to negative. Well-known endorsers like comedian Bill Cosby and Jared Fogel (of Subway fame) ran into “legal problems” that discredited them. Kim Kardashian started a firestorm when she promoted an appetitesuppressing lollipop on Instagram.68 The strategy can also cause trouble if people question the star-product unit relation: The singer Mariah Carey did a collab with McDonald’s that included Big Macs, hotcakes, and chocolate-chip cookies—even though she previously claimed that she eats only Norwegian salmon and capers! 69 As we previously noted, stars’ motives may be suspect if they plug products that don’t fit their images or if consumers begin to believe the celebrities never met a product they didn’t like (for a fee). Celebrities may be involved in a scandal or deviate from a brand’s desired image; many athletes—think Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps, and Maria Sharapova—get signed to lucrative endorsement deals and then fail drug tests or otherwise get into trouble.70 Don’t you hate when that happens? For these reasons, some marketers seek alternative sources, including cartoon characters and mascots. As the marketing director for a company that manufactures costumed characters for sports teams and businesses points out, “You don’t have to worry about your mascot checking into rehab.”71



Chapter 6  •  Attitudes and How to Change Them

Researchers report that spokescharacters—such as Chester Cheetah and the GEICO Gecko—do, in fact, boost viewers’ recall of claims that ads make and yield higher brand attitudes.72 Some of the most popular spokescharacters in recent years include Snoopy (MetLife), Sasquatch (Jack Link’s Beef Jerky), Allstate’s Mayhem Man, Grumpy Cat (Grenade Coffee’s Grumppuccino iced drink), and that old stand-by the Pillsbury Doughboy.73

The Most Convincing Sources? Other Consumers Whom do you believe more—the companies that want to sell you something, or your personal connections that advocate one brand over another? There is no doubt that the most compelling source of information is other consumers: Through word of mouth, reviews, and social media, consumers’ voices can be loud. And in a world increasingly crowded with many sources of messages, consumers’ voices often prevail over more traditional sources.

The Message Subtle aspects of the way a source delivers a message can influence our interpretation of what the source is saying. Even the layout in a print ad sends a message about how the consumer should relate to the advertised item. Characteristics of the message itself help determine its impact on attitudes. These variables include how we say the message as well as what we say. Depending on the marketer’s objectives and the nature of the product, different kinds of messages produce different results. A marketer faces some crucial issues when they create a message. Let’s look at some of the biggies:

Should We Use Pictures or Words? The saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” captures the idea that visuals are effective, especially when the communicator wants to influence receivers’ emotional responses. For this reason, advertisers often rely on vivid illustrations or photography that can prompt fast thinking/peripheral processing.74 However, a picture is not always as effective when it communicates information intended to prompt more slow thinking/central processing. Ads that contain the same information elicit different reactions when the marketer presents them in visual versus verbal form. The verbal version affects ratings on the utilitarian aspects of a product, whereas the visual version affects aesthetic evaluations. Verbal elements are more effective when an accompanying picture reinforces them, especially if they frame the illustration (the message in the picture strongly relates to the copy).75 Because it requires more effort to process, a verbal message is most appropriate for system 2 situations, such as print contexts where the reader really pays attention to the advertising. Verbal material decays more rapidly in memory, so these messages require more frequent exposure to obtain the desired effect. Visual images, in contrast, allow the receiver to chunk information at the time of encoding (see Chapter 4). Chunking results in a stronger memory trace that aids retrieval over time.76

Types of Message Appeals A persuasive message can tug at the heartstrings or scare you, make you laugh, make you cry, or leave you yearning to learn more. In this section, we’ll review the major types of message appeals available to communicators (see Table 6.2).77 As we saw in our discussion of the elaboration likelihood model, emotional appeals engage more affective processes (they make us feel) and trigger fast persuasion, whereas rational appeals engage cognitive processes (they make us think) and trigger slow persuasion.

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TABLE 6.2    Types Appeal

of Message Appeals

Valence

Frame

Comparative

Positive/negative

Relative advantage, high performance, better value, independence

Gain-Framed

Positive

Personal gains, long-term advantage

Two-Sided

Positive/negative

Logical inferences, balanced perspective

Safety

Positive/ negative

Durable, effective, reliable

Scarcity

Negative

Limited edition, exclusive, time sensitive78

Reciprocity

Positive

Offering a gift to encourage donations

Family

Positive

Belonging, community

Youth

Positive

Energetic, fun, energy, liveliness

Status

Positive

Exclusivity, high-end

Adventure

Positive

Thrill-seeking, excitement, active

Sex

Positive/Negative

Physiological arousal, sensation, fantasy

Humor

Positive

Pleasure, satire, wit, positive mood

Fear

Negative

Anxiety, tension, danger, threat

Rational

Emotional

Comparative Appeals Comparative advertising refers to a message that compares two or more recognizable brands and weighs them in terms of one or more specific attributes.79 That’s not very “polite,” and indeed many countries prohibit this approach because people find such a confrontational approach offensive.80 Not so in the U.S., as 10 minutes of watching aggressive TV commercials will affirm. Way back in 1971, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) issued guidelines that encouraged advertisers to name competing brands in their ads. The U.S. government did this to improve the information available to consumers in ads, and indeed recent evidence indicates that, at least under some conditions, this type of presentation does result in more informed decision making.81 However, advertisers need to tread lightly, especially when they risk ruffling the feathers of other companies. Fox rejected a commercial that SodaStream submitted for the Super Bowl because the actress Scarlett Johansson sensually sips her homemade soda and says, “Sorry, Coke and Pepsi.”82 This strategy can cut both ways, especially if the sponsor depicts the competition in a nasty or negative way. Although some comparative ads result in desired attitude changes, they may also be lower in believability and stir up source derogation (i.e., the consumer may doubt the credibility of a biased presentation).83

How Do We Structure the Argument? Many marketing messages are like debates or trials: A source presents an argument and tries to convince the receiver to shift their opinion. As you’ve no doubt guessed, the way we present the argument may be as important as what we say.



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Two-Sided Appeals Most messages merely present one or more positive attributes about the product or reasons to buy it. These are supportive arguments. In contrast, twosided messages present both positive and negative information. Research indicates that two-sided ads can be quite effective, yet marketers rarely use them.84 After General Motors declared bankruptcy, an ad declared: “Let’s be completely honest: No company wants to go through this.” 85 No kidding. But why would a marketer want to devote advertising space to publicize a negative? Under the right circumstances, refutational arguments that first raise a negative issue and then dismiss it can be quite effective. This approach increases source credibility because it reduces reporting bias; this means that the receiver assumes the source has carefully considered both sides of the argument. Also, people who are skeptical about the product may be more receptive to a balanced argument instead of a “whitewash.”86 For example, research In this famous ad, Volkswagen draws attention to a “flaw” in its car—a evidence indicates that when experts have strong blemished chrome strip on the glove compartment! arguments on their side, they are more effective if Source: Retro AdArchives/Alamy Stock Photo. they express some uncertainty rather than stating unequivocally that they are correct.87 This doesn’t mean the marketer should go overboard and confess to major problems with the product (though hopefully there aren’t any major ones to admit to). The typical refutational strategy discusses relatively minor attributes that may present a problem or fall short when the customer compares a product to competitors. Positive, important attributes then refute these drawbacks. For example, Avis got a lot of mileage when it claimed to be only the “No. 2” car rental company, whereas a classic ad for Volkswagen woefully described one of its cars as a “lemon” because there was a scratch on the glove compartment chrome strip.88 A two-sided strategy appears to be the most effective when the audience is well-educated (and presumably more impressed by a balanced argument).89 It is also best to use when receivers are not already loyal to the product— “preaching to the choir” about possible drawbacks may So, does a sex appeal like the one in this men’s deodorant ad raise doubts unnecessarily. Because two-sided messages work? Although erotic content may indeed draw attention to an ad, convey both positive and negative information, they can be its use may be counterproductive. In one survey, an overwhelming thought of as a type of ambivalence, which we saw earlier is 61 percent of the respondents said that sexual imagery in a product’s connected to behavior. ad makes them less likely to buy it.90 Ironically, a provocative

Sex Appeals Echoing the widely held belief that “sex sells,” many marketing communications for products from perfumes to autos feature heavy doses of erotic suggestions that range

picture can be too effective; it can attract so much attention that it hinders processing and recall of the ad’s contents. Sexual appeals also appear to be ineffective when marketers use them merely as a “trick” to grab attention. They do, however, appear to work when the product is itself related to sex (e.g., lingerie or Viagra).91 Source: lev radin/Shutterstock.

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from subtle hints to blatant displays of skin. Nestlé recently took over a coffee shop in a trendy Manhattan neighborhood, and models in head-totoe body paint—and nothing else—replaced the usual baristas to plug the company’s “all natural” creamer product.92 Now, that’s a novel use of a sex appeal to move lattes!

Humor Appeals

Humor can ease the awkwardness that many consumers feel about buying sensitive or intimate products. Source: Washington Imaging/Alamy Stock Photo.

A TV commercial for Metamucil showed a National Park Service ranger who pours a glass of the laxative down Old Faithful and announces that the product keeps the famous geyser “regular.” Yellowstone National Park started getting letters from offended viewers. Park officials also had their own concerns: They didn’t want people to think that the geyser needed “help” or that it’s okay to throw things down into it!93 Do humor appeals work? Overall, funny advertisements do get attention. One study found that recognition scores for humorous liquor ads were better than average. However, the verdict is mixed as to whether humor affects recall or product attitudes in a significant way.94 One reason silly ads may shift opinions is that they provide a source of distraction. A funny ad inhibits counterarguments (in which a consumer thinks of reasons why they do not agree with the message); this increases the likelihood of message acceptance because the consumer doesn’t come up with arguments against the product.95 However, not all humorous ads improve attitudes toward the advertised brands. Sometimes they can hurt brands because they cause negative emotions if the audience doesn’t understand the humor, or perhaps if the message offends them.96

Fear Appeals

Buying, Having, Being “The Fear of God” Here’s a reason that fear appeals don’t work well—and certainly one you hadn’t thought of! Very simply, fear appeals are less effective when we are reminded of God.100 When the concept of God is prominent in our minds, we tend to comply with fear appeals less, because we associate the idea of a higher power with unlimited support. So, thinking of God gives us a sense that we will have enough emotional, mental, and physical resources to persevere through bad events. Ironically, one possible lesson is that it’s not a good idea to use a fear appeal in environments where people are likely to be thinking about a higher power, such as in shows with religious themes. If you want to change an attitude, don’t assume this will happen if you “put the fear of God” into your customers!

Volkswagen’s advertising campaign to promote the safety of its Jetta model really got people’s attention. The spots depict graphic car crashes from the perspective of the passengers who chatter away as they drive down the street. Without warning, other vehicles come out of nowhere and brutally smash into their cars. In one spot, viewers see a passenger’s head striking an airbag. The spots end with shots of stunned passengers, the damaged Jetta, and the slogan: “Safe happens.” The ads look so realistic that consumers called the company to ask if any of the actors were hurt.97 Fear appeals emphasize the negative consequences that can occur unless the consumer changes a behavior or an attitude. These types of messages are common in advertising, although more so in social marketing contexts in which organizations encourage people to convert to healthier lifestyles by quitting smoking, using contraception, or relying on a designated driver. Several countries, including the United States, are looking at tough new guidelines for cigarette advertising and packaging. These options include requiring a range of horrific images to appear directly on the cigarette packaging (and in cigarette ads) to show people who have suffered from the ravages of cigarettes, such as a man with cigarette smoke coming out of a tracheotomy hole in his throat or a cadaver on an autopsy table.98 This tactic, if it’s implemented, may well scare away would-be smokers, but do fear appeals work more generally? Most research on this topic indicates that these negative messages are most effective when the advertiser uses only a moderate threat. Otherwise, consumers will tune out the ad because too severe a threat can make us feel powerless against the threat. In the end, the most effective fear appeal campaigns are those that also include a solution to the problem or potential coping responses.99



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Australia requires the inclusion of graphic images as health warnings on cigarette packages. Source: Kyodo News Stills/Getty Images.

For instance, a campaign to communicate the risk of online bank fraud could rely on fear appeals, but it should also feature different actions that consumers can use to reduce that risk.

Appeals That Use Narrative Devices As we discussed earlier, narratives are very persuasive. As such, advertising creatives rely (consciously or not) on well-known narrative devices in their marketing communications. To start, many ads take the form of an allegory, which is a story about an abstract trait or concept that advertisers tell in the context of a person, animal, vegetable, or object. Thus, colorful characters such as Mr. Goodwrench, the Jolly Green Giant, and Charlie the Tuna may personify a product or service.

Scarcity makes products more desirable. Source: CarmenKarin/Shutterstock.

Organizations that provide intangible services like life insurance often borrow a powerful metaphor to help consumers visualize what they sell.

Source: The History Collection/Alamy Stock Photo.

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Resonance combines a play on words with a relevant picture. Whereas metaphor substitutes one meaning for another by connecting two things that are in some way similar, resonance employs an element that has a double meaning—such as a pun, in which two words sound similar but have different meanings. For example, an ad for a diet strawberry shortcake dessert might bear the copy “berried treasure” so that the brand conveys qualities we associate with buried treasure, such as valuable and hidden. Because the text departs from expectations, it creates a state of tension or uncertainty on the part of the viewer until they figure out the wordplay. Once the consumer “gets it,” they may prefer the ad to a more straightforward message.101

Should We Repeat the Message? Repetition can be a double-edged sword for marketers. As we noted in Chapter 4, we usually need multiple exposures to a stimulus before learning occurs. Contrary to the saying “familiarity breeds contempt,” people tend to like things that are more familiar to them, even if they were not that keen on them initially.102 Psychologists call this the mere exposure phenomenon. Advertisers find positive effects for repetition even in mature product categories: Repeating product information boosts consumers’ awareness of the brand, even though the marketer says nothing new.103 However, as we saw in Chapter 4, too much repetition creates habituation, whereby the consumer no longer pays attention to the stimulus because of fatigue or boredom. Excessive exposure can cause advertising wear-out, which can result in negative reactions to an ad after we see it too much.104 So, what does that tell us about the optimal number of times to expose a person to a persuasive message? Research evidence indicates that “three’s the charm” when it comes to exposing an audience to a product claim. Additional messages tend to trigger skepticism and reverse any positive impact.105 But this rule is not fully set in stone.106 When ads are transporting—for instance, with mental imagery (people are prompted to use their imagination while they process an ad)—then more claims beyond three about a product lead people to like the product more. This is because people are more transported (the narrative transportation or t c a F g n i concept we discussed earlier) by the ad, which reduces earn tive L Positive Effect Posi counterarguing. Again, the power of narrative persuasion! The two-factor theory explains the fine line between Net Eff familiarity and boredom; it proposes that two separate psyect chological processes operate when we repeatedly show NUMBER OF EXPOSURES Neutral Effect an ad to a viewer. The positive side of repetition is that it increases familiarity and thus reduces uncertainty about Neg ativ e Te the product. The negative side is that over time boredom diu mF act increases with each exposure. At some point the amount of or boredom exceeds the amount of uncertainty the message Negative Effect reduces, and this results in wear-out. Figure 6.5 depicts this pattern. Its effect is especially pronounced when each expoFigure 6.5  Two-Factor Theory of Message Repetition sure is long (such as a 30-second commercial).107 The two-factor perspective implies that advertisers can overcome this problem if they limit the amount of exposure per repetition (e.g., use 15-second spots instead of longer commercials). They can also maintain familiarity but alleviate boredom if they slightly vary the content of ads over time—although each spot differs, the campaign still revolves around a common theme. Recipients who see varied ads about the product absorb more information about product attributes and experience more positive thoughts about the brand than do those who see the same information repeatedly. This additional information also allows the person to resist attempts to change their attitude in the face of a counterattack by a competing brand.108



Chapter 6  •  Attitudes and How to Change Them

The Medium In traditional advertising, the message is placed before or after content on a given medium, say a print ad for a new brand of designer jeans next to an article about fashion in Vogue magazine, or a TV commercial for Mountain Dew during the commercial break of your favorite sitcom. But most people tune out advertising of this sort.

Advertainment As we saw in the section on persuasion models, messages are less likely to trigger counterarguments if they are linked to a narrative. This insight has led to a whole new world of advertainment: The fusion of advertising and entertainment.109 Advertainment can take many forms, from making ads seem like they are actual editorial content (native advertising), to placing products in the content of films, TV shows, or music videos (product placement) or in videogames (advergaming), to many other variations where the medium becomes the message. Let’s take a quick look at these advertainment media. Native Advertising.  The term native advertising refers to digital messages designed

to blend into the editorial content of the publications in which they appear. The idea is to capture the attention of people who might resist ad messages that pop up in the middle of an article or program. These messages may look a lot like a regular article, but they often link to a sponsor’s content. For example, Airbnb collaborated with The New York Times to produce an issue of the newspaper’s T magazine (devoted to travel). It was dedicated to Ellis Island and showed how immigrants used to travel to New York in search of a new life. The campaign included old photos that highlighted the hospitality these visitors received— which is of course a benefit that Airbnb emphasizes to today’s travelers.110 Product Placement.  In the movie version of Sex and the City, Carrie’s assistant

admits that she “borrows” her pricey handbags from a rental website called Bag Borrow or Steal. The company’s head of marketing commented about the mention, “It’s like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. It gives us instant credibility and recognition.”111 It’s hard not to see real brands in fictional media today, even though this was almost unheard of in the earlier days of broadcasting. In fact, speaking of Sex and the City, you may remember that in the first episode of the sequel And Just Like That. . .  Carrie’s husband, Mr. Big, has a heart attack and dies after riding his Peloton. The company’s stock price plummeted when the show’s episode was released!112 Happily, most product placements work out better. The singer Katy Perry gave a boost to Harley-Davidsons’ efforts to reach her more than 100 million social media followers when she released “Harleys in Hawaii,” a hit inspired by a tropical vacay with her fiancé, the actor Orlando Bloom. Within two weeks, the video was streamed 20 million times on Spotify. Harley’s investment in this massive publicity effort: Just the motorcycles they loaned to use in the video.113 Harley-Davidson got tons of great exposure (oops, they got another free plug here!). In many cases, these “plugs” are no accident. Product placement is the insertion of real products in fictional movies, TV shows, books, and plays. Many types of products play starring (or at least supporting) roles in our culture; the most visible brands in recent years include Dell, Samsung, Apple, Chevrolet, and Ray-Ban. In each case, their exposure in media earned them the equivalent of between $6 million and $16 million.114 Product placement is by no means a casual process: Marketers pay about $23 billion per year to plug their brands in TV and movies.115 Today, most major

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releases brim with real products, even though a majority of consumers believe the line between advertising and programming is becoming too fuzzy and distracting (though as we might expect, concerns about this blurring of boundaries are more pronounced among older people than younger).116 A study reported that consumers respond well to placements when the show’s plot makes the product’s benefit clear. For example, audiences had a favorable impression when a retailer provided furniture, clothes, appliances, and other staples for the struggling families who got help on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition during the show’s ten-year run.117 Advergaming.  In the video game Crazy Taxi, you can pull into a KFC for a quick

bucket. A version of the popular game Doom, known as Chex Quest, dialed down the violence level but increased sales of Chex cereal by over 200 percent. The characters in Mario Kart 8 drive Mercedes vehicles.118 It’s no secret that consumers love their videogames—about a quarter of all app downloads are games, and the time we spend playing them surged during the pandemic. Revenues from mobile gaming are projected to hit $272 billion by 2030.119 About three-quarters of U.S. consumers now play video games, and many brands— including Axe, Mini Cooper, and Burger King—create game narratives that immerse players in the action. The future is bright for advergaming, where online games merge with interactive advertisements that let companies target specific types of consumers. These placements can be short exposures, such as a billboard that appears around a racetrack, or they can take the form of branded entertainment and integrate the brand directly into the action. The mushrooming popularity of user-generated videos on YouTube and other sites creates a growing market to link ads to these sources as well. Reality Engineering.  Mattel announced that it was putting a “for sale” sign on the

Barbie Malibu Dreamhouse, where the doll character supposedly has lived in comfort since the introduction of Malibu Barbie in 1971. The campaign mixed actual and imaginary elements. A section of the real estate website Trulia carried the for-sale listing that described the property as “the dreamiest of dream houses.”120 Welcome to reality engineering, which occurs when marketers appropriate elements of popular culture and use them as promotional vehicles.121 Reality engineers have many tools at their disposal; they plant products in movies, pump scents into offices and stores, attach video monitors in the backs of taxicabs, buy ad space on police patrol cars, or film fake “documentaries,” such as The Blair Witch Project.122 It’s hard to know what’s real anymore; specialists even create “used jeans” when they apply chemical washes, sandpaper, and other techniques to make a new pair of jeans look like they’re ready for retirement. The industry has a term for this practice that sums up the contradiction: new vintage!123 And this process is accelerating: ­Historical analyses of Broadway plays, best-selling novels, and the lyrics of hit songs, for example, clearly show large increases in the use of real brand names over time.124

CHAPTER SUMMARY Now that you have finished reading this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Explain the functions and components of attitudes in consumer behavior.

An attitude is a predisposition to evaluate an object or product positively or negatively. We form attitudes toward products and services, and these attitudes often determine whether we will purchase or not.

Chapter 6  •  Attitudes and How to Change Them



A key to attitude formation is the function the attitude holds for the consumer (e.g., is it utilitarian or ego defensive?). 2. Describe the ways in which we form attitudes. One organizing principle of attitude formation is the importance of consistency among attitudinal components—that is, we alter some parts of an attitude to be in line with others. Such theoretical approaches to attitudes as cognitive dissonance theory, self-perception theory, and balance theory stress the vital role of our need for consistency. Multiattribute attitude models underscore the complexity of attitudes: They specify that we identify and combine a set of beliefs and evaluations to predict an overall attitude. Researchers integrate factors such as subjective norms and the specificity of attitude scales into attitude measures to improve predictability. 3. Explain how persuasion is an active attempt to create or change attitudes. The traditional view of communications regards the perceiver as a passive element in the process. New developments in interactive communications highlight the need to consider the active roles a consumer plays when they obtain product information and build a relationship with a company. Advocates of permission marketing argue that it’s more effective to send messages to consumers who have already indicated an interest in learning about a product than trying to hit people “cold” with these solicitations.

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4. Discuss the ways in which the source, the message, and the medium are used to craft persuasion strategies. The communications model specifies the elements marketers need to transmit meaning. These include a source, a message, a medium, a receiver, and feedback. Two important characteristics that determine the effectiveness of a source are its attractiveness and credibility. Some elements of a message that help to determine its effectiveness include the following: communication of the message in words or pictures; employment of an emotional or a rational appeal; frequency of repetition; conclusion drawing; presentation of both sides of the argument; and inclusion of fear, humor, or sexual references. Advertising messages often incorporate elements from art or literature, such as dramas, lectures, metaphors, allegories, and resonance. Reality engineering occurs when marketers appropriate elements of popular culture to use in their promotional strategies. The relative influence of the source versus the message depends on the receiver’s level of involvement with the communication. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) specifies that source effects are more likely to sway a less involved consumer, whereas a more involved consumer will be more likely to attend to and process components of the actual message.

KEY TERMS Advergaming, 182 Advertainment, 181 Allegory, 179 Ambivalence, 160 Attitude object (Ao ), 155 Attitude, 155 Balance theory, 164 Basking in reflected glory, 164 Collabs, 174 Communications model, 169 Comparative advertising, 176 Compliance, 162 Counterargument, 167 Covert advertising, 186 Disclosures, 169 Ego-defensive function, 156

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), 166 Emotions, 159 Explicit attitudes, 160 Fake news, 172 Fast persuasion, 166 Fast thinking, 156 Fear appeals, 178 Fishbein model, 157 Functional theory of attitudes, 155 Halo effect, 173 Humor appeals, 178 Identification, 162 Implicit attitudes, 160 Internalization, 162 Knowledge bias, 172

Knowledge function, 156 Medication adherence, 161 Mental imagery, 180 Mere exposure phenomenon, 180 Mood congruency, 159 Moods, 159 Multiattribute attitude models, 157 Narrative persuasion, 168 Narrative transportation, 168 Narrativity, 168 Native advertising, 181 Negative state relief, 159 Neuromarketing, 160 Normative influences, 161 Paradox of low involvement, 167 Peripheral route, 166

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Permission marketing, 171 Persuasion, 165 Persuasion knowledge model, 168 Principle of cognitive consistency, 163 Product placement, 181 Reality engineering, 182 Refutational arguments, 177 Reporting bias, 172 Resonance, 180

Sadvertising, 159 Sex appeals, 178 Sleeper effect, 172 Slow persuasion, 167 Slow thinking, 156 Social desirability bias, 160 Source attractiveness, 173 Source credibility, 171 Source derogation, 176 Spokescharacters, 175

Sponsored content, 168 Subjective norm (SN), 161 Supportive arguments, 177 Theory of reasoned action, 161 Two-factor theory, 180 Two-sided messages, 177 Utilitarian function, 156 Valence, 160 Value-expressive function, 156

REVIEW 6-1 How can an attitude play an ego-defensive function? 6-2 How do levels of commitment to an attitude influence the likelihood that it will become part of the way we think about a product in the long term? 6-3 We sometimes enhance our attitude toward a product after we buy it. How does the theory of cognitive dissonance explain this change? 6-4 What is mood congruency and how do advertisers use it? 6-5 According to balance theory, how can we tell if a triad is balanced or unbalanced? How can consumers restore balance to an unbalanced triad? 6-6 Describe a multiattribute attitude model and list its key components.

6-12 Describe the elements of the traditional communications model and tell how the updated model differs. 6-13 What is source credibility, and what are two factors that influence our decision as to whether a source is credible? 6-14 What is a halo effect, and why does it happen? 6-15 Marketers must decide whether to incorporate rational or emotional appeals in a communications strategy. Describe conditions that are more favorable to one or the other. 6-16 When should a marketer present a message visually versus verbally? 6-17 How does the two-factor theory explain the effects of message repetition on attitude change?

6-7 “Do as I say, not as I do.” How does this statement relate to attitude models?

6-18 Do humorous ads work? If so, under what conditions?

6-8 What is a subjective norm, and how does it influence our attitudes?

6-19 Why do marketers use metaphors to craft persuasive messages? Give two examples of this technique.

6-9 What are some obstacles to predicting behavior even if we know a person’s attitudes?

6-20 What is the difference between a lecture and a drama?

6-10 Describe the theory of reasoned action. How does it improve our ability to predict behavior from attitudes? 6-11 List three psychological principles related to persuasion.

6-21 What is narrative transportation, and how does this apply to persuasion? 6-22 Describe the elaboration likelihood model and summarize how it relates to the relative importance of what is said versus how it’s said.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHALLENGE DISCUSS

6-23 “If it’s on the internet, it must be true.” How big a problem is misinformation about brands? The chapter states that most Americans no longer trust the accuracy

of what they see in mainstream media. Do you agree? What are the ramifications of this distrust for marketers, and how might they improve the situation?



6-24 An antismoking ad sponsored by the New York City Department of Health crossed the line for many viewers. The spot showed a young boy who cries hysterically as a crowd of adults walk by him. The voiceover says, “This is how your child feels after losing you for a minute. Just imagine if they lost you for life.” The ad aroused a lot of controversy because it wasn’t clear if the child was merely acting or if the spot’s producers provoked his tears for the camera. Is this genre of “scared straight” advertising an effective way to convince people to curb unhealthy behaviors like smoking? 6-25 The Pandora music site attracts about 70 million listeners, who tune in to playlists Pandora creates based on their initial preferences for certain artists. The site uses a music intelligence algorithm to dissect the characteristics of favorite songs and serve up others that are similar. Pandora’s engineers constantly tweak the playlists as they experiment with variations of the experience. For example, do listeners want to hear mostly familiar songs, or do they want to discover new music? One of the biggest issues they wrestle with: How frequently should Pandora repeat the same song or artist in a playlist? The site constantly tries new variations to arrive at the optimal number of repetitions, but it turns out a lot depends on other factors, such as the time of day and where listeners are when they tune in. For example, Pandora’s data show that users welcome new music instead of the same old, same old, but when they’re at work not so much. The company continues to tweak its algorithm as it tries to answer the elusive question, “Can you have too much of a good thing?”125 What do you think— should music sites like Pandora focus on songs we love now, songs they think we will love, or both? 6-26 The sleeper effect implies that perhaps we shouldn’t worry too much about how positively people evaluate a source. Similarly, there’s a saying in public relations that “any publicity is good publicity.” Do you agree? 6-27 The American Medical Association encountered a firestorm of controversy when it agreed to sponsor a line of healthcare products that Sunbeam manufactured (a decision it later reversed). Should trade or professional organizations, journalists, professors, and others endorse specific products? 6-28 Swiss Legend, a watch brand, gets famous people to wear its colorful timepieces. One way it does this is to give away its products at awards shows. Publicists call this common practice “gifting the talent”: Companies provide stars with “goody bags” full of

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complimentary products.126 What do you think about the practice of “gifting the talent” to accumulate endorsements? Is this a sound strategy? Is it ethical for celebrities to accept these gifts? 6-29 Watchdog groups have long decried product placements because they blur the line between content and advertising without adequately informing viewers. The networks themselves appear to be divided on how far they want to open the gate. According to one study, the effectiveness of product placement varies by product category and type of placement. Consumers indicate that product placements have the most influence on their grocery, electronics, and apparel purchases. The most common platform for a placement is to get a brand shown on a T-shirt or other piece of an actor’s wardrobe.127 What do you think about this practice? Under what conditions is product placement likely to influence you and your friends? When (if ever) is it counterproductive? 6-30 One of the most controversial intersections between marketing and society occurs when companies provide “educational materials” to schools.128 Many firms, including Nike, Hershey, Crayola, Nintendo, and Foot Locker, provide free book covers swathed in ads. Standard art supplies, blocks, trucks, and dolls get supplemented with Milton Bradley and  Care Bears worksheets, Purell hand-cleaning activities, and Pizza Hut reading programs. Clearasil provides sample packets of its acne medication along with brochures to educate high school students about proper skin care; the handouts also direct students to the Clearasil website where they can register for music downloads and iPods. Other companies contract with schools to run focus groups with their students during the school day to get reactions to new product ideas. Some schools encourage kids to practice their math as they count Tootsie Rolls, and the kids use reading software that bears the logos of Kmart, Coke, Pepsi, and Cap’n Crunch cereal. Many educators argue that these materials are a godsend for resource-poor schools that otherwise could not provide computers and other goodies to their students. However, a California law bans the use of textbooks with brand names and company logos. This legislation was prompted by complaints from parents about a middle-school math book that uses names such as Barbie, Oreos, Nike, and Sony PlayStation in word problems. What’s your position on these practices? Should corporations be allowed to promote their products in schools in exchange for donations of educational materials, computers, and so on?

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6-31 Some consumer advocates worry that the above forms of weaving brands and products in the content of entertainment amounts to covert advertising, a form of advertising that works under the guise of nonadvertising formats.129 The U.S.’s Children’s Advertising Review Unit expressed concern that sponsors were not appropriately disclosed in child influencer unboxing videos. A study testing the potential usefulness of disclosing sponsorship of those videos found that pre-roll warnings helped the parents be more aware of the sponsorship, and hopefully in turn more mindful about explaining these persuasion attempts to their children.130 Whether it’s sponsored digital content, native advertising, product placement, or advergaming, the concern is that consumers do not recognize the persuasive nature of the ad, so they are being tricked. Do you agree? 6-32 Commercial Alert, a consumer group, is highly critical of neuromarketing. The group’s executive director wrote, “What would happen in this country if corporate marketers and political consultants could literally peer inside our brains and chart the neural activity that leads to our selections in the supermarket and voting booth? What if they then could trigger this neural activity by various means, so as to modify our

behavior to serve their own ends?”131 What do you think? Is neuromarketing dangerous? 6-33 A recent study’s findings sum up the impact of sex appeals: Yes, they get noticed and remembered—but many viewers don’t recall what the ad was plugging! And, males do like provocative messages more than females, but this doesn’t translate into stronger brand attitudes.132 Another study looked specifically at the issue of whether sexy ads increase desire for romantic products. According to human evolutionary theory, men tend to be primed to take advantage of sexual opportunities whenever they are reasonably available, as relationships with multiple partners maximizes the likelihood that their genes will be passed on. Therefore, the researchers reasoned, they should dislike objects that don’t help them to achieve this goal. Sure enough, when male subjects saw highly sexual ads, they reported less interest in joining the long-term dating site eHarmony.com or buying jewelry from Kay Jewelers. This diminished interest did not occur for female subjects.133 What’s your position on the use of sex in advertising? Should brands “engage” viewers with titillating imagery?

APPLY

6-34 Think of a behavior someone does that is inconsistent with their attitudes (e.g., attitudes toward cholesterol, drug use, or even buying things to make them stand out or attain status). Ask the person to elaborate on why they do the behavior and try to identify the way the person resolves dissonant elements.

6-38 Observe the process of counterargumentation by asking a friend to talk out loud while they watch a commercial. Ask them to respond to each point in the ad or to write down reactions to the claims the message makes. How much skepticism regarding the claims can you detect?

6-35 Construct a multiattribute model for a set of local restaurants. Based on your findings, suggest how restaurant managers could improve their establishment’s image via the strategies described in this chapter.

6-39 The chapter discusses the important problem of medication adherence. How can healthcare marketers strengthen the link between intentions and behavior to boost the rate at which people take their prescribed medications? Devise a communications strategy to increase the adherence rate.

6-36 Locate foreign ads at sites like japander.com in which celebrities endorse products that they don’t pitch on their home turf. Ask friends or classmates to rate the attractiveness of each celebrity; then show them these ads and ask them to rate the celebrities again. Does the star’s “brand image” change after it’s paired with cheesy ads? Based on these results, what advice would you give to a manager who must choose among endorsement offers for a famous client? 6-37 Collect ads that rely on sex appeal to sell products. How often do they communicate benefits of the actual product? How effective do you believe they are?

6-40 Make a log of all the commercials a network television channel shows during a two-hour period. Assign each to a product category and decide whether each is a drama or an argument. Describe the types of messages the ads use (e.g., two-sided arguments), and keep track of the types of spokespeople who appear (e.g., TV actors, famous people, animated characters). What can you conclude about the dominant forms of persuasive tactics that marketers currently employ?

Chapter 6  •  Attitudes and How to Change Them



6-41 A metaphor places two dissimilar objects into a close relationship such that “A is B,” whereas a simile compares two objects such that “A is like B.” A and B, however dissimilar, share some quality that the metaphor highlights. Metaphors allow the marketer to apply meaningful images to everyday events. In the stock market, “white knights” battle “hostile raiders” with the help of “poison pills”; Tony the Tiger equates cereal with strength; and “you’re in good hands with Allstate” insurance.134 Collect examples of ads that rely on the use of metaphors or similes. Do you feel these ads are effective? If you were marketing the products, would you feel more comfortable with ads that use a more straightforward, “hard-sell” approach? Why or why not? 6-42 A brand that wants customers to see it as a “friend” by depicting a model using it is more effective when

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the product image appears horizontally and near the model. On the other hand, if a brand wants customers to see it as a “leader,” the advertiser will have better luck if it physically places the brand above the user and farther away (“it’s lonely at the top”).135 Create a mockup of two versions of an ad that depict the same brand as either a “friend” or a “leader.” 6-43 Devise an attitude survey for a set of competing automobiles. Identify areas of competitive advantage or disadvantage for each model you include. 6-44 A government agency wants to encourage people who have been drinking to use designated drivers. What advice could you give the organization about constructing persuasive communications? Discuss some factors that might be important, including the structure of the communications, where they should appear, and who should deliver them. Should it use fear appeals? If so, how?

DIGGING IN WITH DATA See “Data Case 2: Evolving Trends in Fitness and French Fries” in Appendix A for an opportunity to work with real consumer data and apply this chapter’s concepts to real world problems.

CASE STUDY

Anti-Smoking Advertising—Can You Be Scared into Quitting?

Most advertising is focused on encouraging consumers to buy products or services. But advertising can also be used to discourage the use of products considered to be harmful. One of the best examples of this is the use of advertising focused on discouraging smoking. Over many years, different types of ads have been used—informational, funny, and some designed to be very shocking—but all focused on convincing smokers to kick the habit or, better, never to start it. Smoking is America’s leading preventable cause of death and illness, responsible for more than 480,000 deaths each year—about 1,300 deaths per day. 136 Each year in the United States, more people die from smoking than from murder, suicide, AIDS, drugs, alcohol, and car crashes—combined.137 One would think that compelling statistics like these would scare anyone away from taking a single puff on a cigarette. However, the many factors involved in the decision to start and to continue to smoke create the need for persuasive messaging involving more than just facts. A form of this messaging began with the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 that mandated warnings be placed on each pack of cigarettes stating in clear

terms: “Caution: Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Health.”138 Early anti-smoking ad campaigns began appearing around this time and were largely executed as public service announcements, or free TV airtime mandated by the Federal Communications Commission.139 The ads focused on explaining the dangers of smoking and making it seem less socially acceptable to smoke. This advertising had some effectiveness but had to compete for time on the air with other good causes, such as preventing forest fires. More recently, private anti-smoking groups began much more aggressive advertising. The Truth campaign, which is focused on teens, went nationwide in 2000. Recognizing that kids smoked because they wanted to rebel, they used that image to challenge young smokers with a question: “Are you really rebelling by giving all of your money to these big corporations run by old white guys?”140 The Centers for Disease Control decided on a different strategy, sponsoring ads that featured smokers who were experiencing the results of their habit. One shows a woman who must speak with an artificial device because her voice box has been removed; she explains that she misses singing lullabies to her grandson. Others feature people who have lost

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their teeth, a woman who had a premature baby, and a man with a hole in his throat—all results of smoking.141 Do these fear appeals work? The research says yes— at least for some. These types of appeals appear to be most effective with “prevention-focused” people who are concerned with possible negative outcomes.142 However, one experiment found that scary images had the opposite effect on some adolescents, making them more at risk for future smoking. It may be that they responded in a defensive manner that caused them to downplay the health risks portrayed in the graphic photographs.143 In contrast to prevention-focused people, those who are “promotion-focused” are concerned with aspirations and achievements.144 A PSA released by Ireland’s government health service (and later used in New York) may be more effective for this personality type. In this ad, people lip-synced to Gloria Gaynor’s anthem “I Will Survive,” as they decided to quit cigarettes.145 A campaign in Florida focused on the positives of quitting with the tagline, “Quit smoking and you quit all the crap that goes with it. You Quit. You Win.”146 Angela Rodriguez, VP of strategic planning and insights at Alma, who produced the ads said, “We . . . learned that those same scare tactic approaches don’t always connect, so we shifted our strategy to a more empathetic one . . . The result is [a] very emotive creative that is respectful of the smokers we are trying to reach.”147 All of these approaches are having an effect, with the number of smokers 18 years or older in the United States at 16 percent in 2021, compared to 45 percent in 1954.148 Advertising cannot take all the credit; bans on smoking in public spaces, taxes on cigarettes, and extensive education and quit-smoking programs have all contributed.149 But the CDC

credits ad campaigns with making a difference, including creating a spike in calls to its 1-800-QUIT-NOW hotline.150 Whether selling cars or encouraging smokers to quit, advertisers have several persuasive approaches available for use. Considering the many factors involved in the decision to start or quit smoking, multiple ad approaches are needed to persuade someone to make a change. Just as with the marketing of products and services, our target markets are not always as homogeneous as they might appear, so different appeals work with different sub segments. Choosing the right ones just may help someone avoid an early death due to cancer or heart disease. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

CS 6-1 What is another health, political, or philanthropic cause that could benefit from an advertising campaign? Create two taglines that could be used: one for people who are prevention-focused and another for those who are promotion-focused. CS 6-2 Health warnings have appeared on cigarette packages for almost 50 years. Discuss how habituation, or a decline in responsiveness due to repeated exposure (see Chapter 4), may be a factor affecting their effectiveness. In 134 countries, graphic images related to smoking’s effects must also be shown on the packages.151 Why or why not might this help smokers decide to quit? CS 6-3 How can a marketer determine what kinds of appeals will be the most persuasive in making the case for a product or cause? Design a simple experiment using the cause you chose for question CS 6.1.

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94. Thomas J. Madden and Marc G. Weinberger, “The Effects of Humor on Attention in Magazine Advertising,” Journal of Advertising 11, no. 3 (1982): 8–14; Marc G. Weinberger and Harlan E. Spotts, “Humor in U.S. versus U.K. TV Commercials: A Comparison,” Journal of Advertising 18 (1989): 39–44; Woltman Elpers, Josephine L.C.M., Ashesh Mukherjee, and Wayne D. Hoyer, “Humor in Television Advertising: A Moment-to-Moment Analysis,” Journal of Consumer Research 31, no. 3 (2004): 592–98. 95. David Gardner, “The Distraction Hypothesis in Marketing,” Journal of Advertising Research 10 (1970): 25–30. 96. Caleb Warren, Erin Percival Carter, and A. Peter McGraw, “Being Funny Is Not Enough: The Influence of Perceived Humor and Negative Emotional Reactions on Brand Attitudes,” International Journal of Advertising 38, no. 7 (2019): 1025–45, Caleb Warren, Adam Barsky, A. Peter McGraw, “Humor, Comedy, and Consumer Behavior,” Journal of Consumer Research 45, no. 3 (2018): 529–52; Caleb Warren, Adam Barsky, and Peter McGraw,“What Makes Things Funny? An Integrative Review of the Antecedents of Laughter and Amusement,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 25, no. 1 (2020): 41–65. 97. Brian Steinberg, “VW Uses Shock Treatment to Sell Jetta’s Safety,” Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2006: B4. 98. “U.S. Gives Up on Graphic Cigarette Package Warnings—for Now,” Ad Age, March 20, 2013, http://adage.com/article/news/u-s-graphic-cigarettepackage-warnings/240436/. 99. Davide C. Orazi and Marta Pizzetti, “Revisiting Fear Appeals: A Structural Re-Inquiry of the Protection Motivation Model,” International Journal of Research in Marketing 32, no. 2 (2015): 223–25. 100. Eugenia C. Wu and Keisha M. Cutright, “In God’s Hands: How Reminders of God Dampen the Effectiveness of Fear Appeals,” Journal of Marketing Research 55, no. 1 (2018): 119–31 101. Edward F. McQuarrie and David Glen Mick, “On Resonance: A Critical Pluralistic Inquiry into Advertising Rhetoric,” Journal of Consumer Research 19 (September 1992): 180–97. 102. Robert B. Zajonc, “Attitudinal Effects of Mere Exposure,” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 8 (1968): 1–29. 103. Giles D’Souza and Ram C. Rao, “Can Repeating an Advertisement More Frequently Than the Competition Affect Brand Preference in a Mature Market?,” Journal of Marketing 59 (April 1995): 32–42. 104. George E. Belch, “The Effects of Television Commercial Repetition on Cognitive Response and Message Acceptance,” Journal of Consumer Research 9 (June 1982): 56–65; Marian Burke and Julie Edell, “Ad Reactions over Time: Capturing Changes in the Real World,” Journal of Consumer Research 13 (June 1986): 114–18; Herbert Krugman, “Why Three Exposures May Be Enough,” Journal of Advertising Research 12 (December 1972): 11–14. 105. Susannah Jacob, “The Power of Three: Three Is the Right Number for Persuasion, a Study Says,” New York Times, January 3, 2014, www.nyt. com/2014/01/05/fashion/Three-Persuasion-The-Power-of-Three. html?ref=style. 106. Liangyan Wang, Eugene Y. Chan, Haipeng (Allan) Chen, Han Lin, and Xinzhan Shi, “When the ‘Charm of Three’ Fades: Mental Imagery Moderates the Impact of the Number of Ad Claims on Persuasion,” Journal of Consumer Psychology (2021). 107. Robert F. Bornstein, “Exposure and Affect: Overview and Meta-Analysis of Research, 1968–1987,” Psychological Bulletin 106, no. 2 (1989): 265–89; Arno Rethans, John Swasy, and Lawrence Marks, “Effects of Television Commercial Repetition, Receiver Knowledge, and Commercial Length: A Test of the TwoFactor Model,” Journal of Marketing Research 23 (February 1986): 50–61. 108. Curtis P. Haugtvedt, David W. Schumann, Wendy L. Schneier, and Wendy L. Warren, “Advertising Repetition and Variation Strategies: Implications for Understanding Attitude Strength,” Journal of Consumer Research 21 (June 1994): 176–89. 109. Cristel A. Russell, “Advertainment: Fusing Advertising and Entertainment,” Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Yaffe Center for Persuasive Communication (2007). 110. Chris Richardson, “Here Are the Brightest Native Advertising Examples of 2017,” Native Advertising Institute, May 16, 2017, https://nativeadvertising institute.com/blog/native-advertising-examples/. 111. Quoted in Simona Covel, “Bag Borrow or Steal Lands the Role of a Lifetime, Online Retailer Hopes to Profit from Mention in ‘Sex and the City,’” Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2008, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121184149016921095 .html?mod=rss_media_and_marketing; www.bagborroworsteal.com. 112. Daniel Kreps, “Peloton Goes into Damage Control as ‘And Just Like That . . . ’ Scene Sends Stock Spiraling,” Rolling Stone, December 10, 2021, https:// www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-news/and-just-like-that-peloton-stock-1270004/, accessed April 21, 2022. 113. Mark Gardiner, “A Katy Perry Song Drops a Gift in Harley-Davidson’s Lap,” New York Times, November 5, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/05/ business/katy-perry-harleys-in-hawaii.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share, accessed April 12, 2022.

Chapter 6  •  Attitudes and How to Change Them

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114. Ben Ice, “Which Brands Got the Most Value out of Product Placements in 2016?,” Marketing, March 8, 2017, www.marketingmag.com.au/news-c/ brands-movie-product-placements-2016/. 115. Beth L. Fossen, “Product Placement Is a $23 Billion Business and Growing. Here’s Why Brands Keep Betting on It,” Fast Company, September 14, 2021, https://www.fastcompany.com/90675638/product-placement-is-a-23-billionbusiness-and-growing-heres-why-brands-keep-betting-on-it, accessed April 12, 2022. 116. Claire Atkinson, “Ad Intrusion Up, Say Consumers,” Ad Age, January 6, 2003: 1. 117. Motoko Rich, “Product Placement Deals Make Leap from Film to Books,” New York Times, June 12, 2006, www.nyt.com. 118. Zachery Barton, “The Evolution of Advergames: Top 3 Examples of Marketing in Gaming,” Medium, May 20, 2017, https://medium.com/@zbbarton0706/ the-evolution-of-advergames-top-3-examples-of-marketing-in-gaming3e688aad6884, accessed May 11, 2022. 119. “The Rise of Advergaming,” BW Gaming World, February 26, 2022, https:// bwgamingworld.com/the-rise-of-advergaming/, accessed March 11, 2022. 120. Stuart Elliott, “Leaving Behind Malibu in Search of a New Dream Home,” New York Times, February 6, 2013, www.nyt.com/2013/02/07/business/media/ barbie-to-sell-her-malibu-dreamhouse.html?_r=0. 121. Michael R. Solomon and Basil G. Englis, “Reality Engineering: Blurring the Boundaries Between Marketing and Popular Culture,” Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising 16, no. 2 (Fall 1994): 1–17. 122. Marc Santora, “Circle the Block, Cabby, My Show’s On,” New York Times, January 16, 2003, www.nyt.com; Wayne Parry, “Police May Sell Ad Space,” Montgomery Advertiser, November 20, 2002: A4. 123. Austin Bunn, “Not Fade Away,” New York Times, December 2, 2002, www.nyt .com. 124. This process is described more fully in Michael R. Solomon, Conquering Consumerspace: Marketing Strategies for a Branded World (New York, NY: AMACOM, 2003). 125. John Paul Titlow, “At Pandora, Every Listener Is a Test Subject,” Fast Company, August 14, 2013, www.fastcolabs.com/3015729/ in-pandoras-big-data-experiments-youre-just-another-lab-rat. 126. Rob Walker, “The Gifted Ones,” New York Times Magazine, November 14, 2004, www.nyt.com. 127. Center for Media Research, “Product Placement, Sampling, and Word-ofMouth Collectively Influence Consumer Purchases,” October 22, 2008, www .mediapost.com; Brian Steinberg and Suzanne Vranica, “Prime-Time TV’s New Guest Stars: Products,” Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2004, www.wsj .com; Karlene Lukovitz, “‘Storyline’ Product Placements Gaining on Cable,” Marketing Daily, October 5, 2007, www.mediapost.com. 128. Jack Neff, “Clearasil Marches into Middle-School Classes,” Ad Age (November 2006): 8; Bill Pennington, “Reading, Writing and Corporate Sponsorships,” New York Times, October 18, 2004; Caroline E. Mayer, “Nurturing Brand Loyalty: With Preschool Supplies, Firms Woo Future Customers and Current Parents,” Washington Post, October 12, 2003: F1. 129. Bartosz W. Wojdynski and Nathaniel J. Evans, (2020) “The Covert Advertising Recognition and Effects (CARE) Model: Processes of Persuasion in Native Advertising and Other Masked Formats,” International Journal of Advertising 39, no. 1 (2020): 4–31, doi: 10.1080/02650487.2019.1658438. 130. Nathaniel J. Evans, Mariea Grubbs Hoy, and Courtney C. Childers, “Parenting YouTube Natives: The Impact of Pre-Roll Advertising and Text Disclosures on Parental Responses to Sponsored Child Influencer Videos,” Journal of Advertising 47, no. 4 (2018): 326–46. 131. Quoted in Sandra Blakeslee, “If Your Brain Has a ‘BuyButton,’ What Pushes It?,” New York Times, October 19, 2004, https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/19/ science/if-your-brain-has-a-buybutton-what-pushes-it.html, accessed April 22, 2022. 132. John G. Wirtz, Johnny V. Sparks, and Thais M. Zimbres, “The Effect of Exposure to Sexual Appeals in Advertisements on Memory, Attitude, and Purchase Intention: A Meta-Analytic Review,” International Journal of Advertising 16 (June 2017): 1–31, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0 2650487.2017.1334996. 133. Jingjing Ma and David Gal, “When Sex and Romance Conflict: The Effect of Sexual Imagery in Advertising on Preference for Romantically Linked Products and Services,” Journal of Marketing Research 53, no. 4 (2016): 479–96. 134. Barbara B. Stern, “Medieval Allegory: Roots of Advertising Strategy for the Mass Market,” Journal of Marketing 52 (July 1988): 84–94. 135. Xun Huang, Xiuping Li, and Meng Zhang, “‘Seeing’ the Social Roles of Brands: How Physical Positioning Influences Brand Evaluation,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 23, no. 4 (2013): 509–14. 136. CDCTobaccoFree, “Fast Facts,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, October 6, 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/ fast_facts/index.htm. 137. “The Toll of Tobacco in the United States,” Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, May 1, 2017, https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/problem/toll-us.

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146. “Win Anti-Smoking Campaign,” Cancer Institute, July 12, 2018, https://www .cancerinstitute.org.au/how-we-help/cancer-prevention/stopping-smoking/ quit-smoking-campaigns/win-anti-smoking-campaign, accessed July 12, 2018. 147. Safa Amirbayat, “Alma’s Anti-Smoking Ad Empathizes with Smokers,” Medium, April 23, 2018, https://medium.com/@canvas8/advertisinginsights-alma-positive-anti-smoking-ad-62c98572d894. 148. “Tobacco and Smoking,” Gallup, August 9, 2007, https://news.gallup.com/ poll/1717/tobacco-smoking.aspx; Niall McCarthy, “U.S. Smoking Rate Falls to Record Low,” Statista, July 27, 2018, https://www-statista-com.go.asbury .edu/chart/14879/us-smoking-rate-falls-to-record-low/. 149. Matthew Perrone, “Big Tobacco’s Anti-Smoking Ads Begin after Decade of Delay,” The Chicago Tribune, November 21, 2017, http://www.chicagotribune .com/business/ct-biz-anti-smoking-tv-ads-20171121-story.html. 150. “Tips from Former Smokers,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, May  31, 2018, https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/about/impact/ campaign-impact-results.html. 151. Canadian Cancer Society (National Office), “Tobacco Plain Packaging Momentum Continues Worldwide with 38 Countries and Territories Moving Forward with Regulations,” PR Newswire, November 9, 2021, https:// www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tobacco-plain-packaging-momentumcontinues-worldwide-with-38-countries-and-territories-moving-forward-withregulations-301419266.html.

7

Deciding CHAPTER OBJECTIVES   When you finish reading this chapter, you should be able to: 7-1 Identify the two primary ways in which consumers make decisions. 7-2 Outline the steps of the rational (slow) decision making process. 7-3 Summarize the ways in which we engage in fast thinking and rules of thumb to make decisions.

7-4 Describe how context effects can influence the decision making of a consumer, even when the consumer is unaware of the influence. 7-5 Discuss how online shopping and purchasing platforms can influence consumer decision making.

C

han has had it! There’s only so much longer he can go on watching TV on his tiny, antiquated set. It was bad enough trying to squint at Stranger Things. The final straw was when he couldn’t tell the Titans from the Jaguars during an NFL football game. When he went next door to watch the second half on Jamie’s home theater setup, he finally realized what he was missing. Budget or not, it was time to act: A person must have their priorities. Where to start looking? The web, naturally. Chan checks out a few comparison-shopping websites, including pricegrabber.com and bizrate .com. After he narrows down his options, he ventures out to check on a few sets in person. He figures he’ll probably get a decent selection (and an affordable price) at one of those huge “big-box” stores. Arriving at Zany Zack’s Appliance Emporium, Chan heads straight for the Video Zone in the back; he barely notices the rows of toasters, microwave ovens, and stereos on his way. Within minutes, a smiling salesperson in a cheap suit accosts him. Even though he could use some help, Chan tells the salesperson he’s only browsing. He figures these guys don’t know what they’re talking about, and they’re simply out to make a sale no matter what. Chan examines some of the features on the 60-inch flatscreens. He knew his friend Cara had a set by Prime Wave that she really liked, and his sister Mi-Sun warned him to stay away from the Kamashita. Although Chan finds a Prime Wave model loaded to the max with features including surround sound, he chooses the less expensive Precision 2000X because it has one feature that really catches his fancy: synchronized backlighting for game playing to play Minecraft the way it was intended. Later that day, Chan is a happy man as he sits in his easy chair and watches Sheldon match wits with Leonard, Howard, and the others on The Big Bang Theory. If he’s going to be a couch potato, he’s going in style.

Source: Edwin Tan/E+/Getty Images.

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OBJECTIVE 7-1 Identify the two primary ways in which consumers make decisions.

Fast or Slow Thinking?

Chan’s decision represented his response to a problem. In fact, every consumer decision we make is a response to a problem. Of course, the type and scope of these problems varies enormously. As discussed in Chapter 5, our needs range from simple physiological priorities, such as quenching thirst, to whether we will spend our hard-earned money on a television to abstract intellectual or aesthetic quandaries such as choosing a college major—or perhaps what to wear to that upcoming Drake concert. We make some decisions thoughtfully and rationally as we carefully weigh the pros and cons of different choices. In other cases, we let our emotions guide us to one choice over another as we react to a problem with enthusiasm, joy, or even disgust. Decision-making researchers refer to these two distinct ways of deciding as slow thinking and fast thinking. This distinction should remind you of the two routes to persuasion we discussed in Chapter 6. Just as attitudes may develop and change due to high versus low levels of involvement and elaboration, decision making also can be a high or a low effort process. When purchase decisions are important, we might put a lot of effort into it. Decision making in those cases might even resemble a full-time job. A person may literally spend days or weeks agonizing over an important purchase, such as a new home, a car, or even an iPhone versus a Samsung Galaxy. But often the decision-making process is almost automatic; we seem to make snap judgments based on little information or develop habits to ease the process of making decisions or to be more efficient. Imagine if you had to carefully consider every product decision you make before putting an item in your grocery cart! When the task requires a well-thought-out, rational approach, we’ll invest the brainpower to do it. Otherwise, we look for shortcuts such as “just do what I usually do,” or perhaps we make “gut” decisions based on our emotional reactions. In some cases, we create a mental budget that helps us to estimate what we will consume over time so that we can regulate what we do in the present. If the dieter knows they will be chowing down at a big BBQ tomorrow, they may decide to skip that tempting candy bar today.1 Part of what we’re going to discuss in this chapter already is familiar ground to you: System 1

System 2

Fast

Slow

Unconscious

Conscious

Automatic

Effortful

Everyday Decisions

Complex Decisions

Error-prone

Reliable

Figure 7.1  The Two Primary Consumer Decision-Making Systems: Fast and Slow OR System 1 and System 2 Processing

• In Chapter 4, we reviewed approaches to learning that link options • •

to outcomes, where over time we come to link certain choices to good or bad results, and this can help us make faster decisions. In Chapter 5, we talked about how needs activation motivates us to look for ways to fill those needs and also how low versus high levels of involvement activate very different types of thinking about the available choices. And in Chapter 6, we distinguished between the cognitive and affective processes that underpin persuasion. These ideas really relate to types of decision making because they remind us that depending on the situation and the importance of what we’re dealing with, our choices can be dominated by “hot” emotions or “cold” information processing.

Figure 7.1 summarizes the two systems of consumer decision making: They are sometimes called fast versus slow, intuitive versus analytic, or System 1 versus System 2.

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The distinction between these two systems is common in psychology: “System 1” processes are fast, autonomous, intuitive, etc., and “System 2” processes are slow, deliberative, analytic, etc. But how do we know which system someone will use? It usually comes down to the type of purchase. A decision like the one Chan faces is complex because it involves a substantive amount of money and consideration of many attributes and many options. It would likely involve System 2 processes. In contrast, many of the everyday decisions we face are habitual and do not require as much thinking and debating, so they would involve System 1 processes. This distinction is enormously important for our purposes, because if we know whether our customers are likely to use either System 1 or System 2, that knowledge can be a game-changer when it comes time to decide what kinds of information these two very different scenarios require. While we usually assume that the consumer is in System 2 mode when they choose a product or service, the harsh reality is that most consumer decisions actually occur in System 1 mode when they are likely to ignore the shower of information we rain down upon them.

OBJECTIVE 7-2 Outline the steps of the rational (slow) decision making process.

Rational (Slow) Decision Making

When they think slow, consumers approach decision making from a rational perspective. They calmly and carefully integrate as much information as possible with what they already know about a product, painstakingly weigh the pluses and minuses of each alternative, and arrive at a satisfactory decision. This kind of careful, deliberate thinking is especially relevant to activities such as financial planning that call for a lot of attention to detail and many choices that impact a consumer’s quality of life.2 When marketing managers believe that their customers in fact do undergo this kind of planning, they should carefully study steps in decision making to understand just how consumers weigh information, form beliefs about options, and choose criteria they use to select one option over others. With these insights in hand, they can develop products and promotional strategies that supply the specific information people look for in the most effective formats.3

Steps in the Rational Decision-Making Process Let’s think about Chan’s process of buying a new TV that we described at the beginning of the chapter. He didn’t suddenly wake up and crave a new flatscreen. Chan went through several steps between the time he felt the need to replace his TV and when he brought one home. We describe these steps as (1) problem recognition, (2) information search, (3) evaluation of alternatives, and (4) product choice. After we make a decision, its outcome affects the final step in the process. That’s because learning occurs based on how well the choice worked out (“I’ll never buy their shoddy merchandise again!”). This learning process in turn influences the likelihood that we’ll make the same choice the next time the need for a similar decision occurs. Figure 7.2 provides an overview of this decision-making process. Let’s briefly look at each step.

Step 1: Problem Recognition Problem recognition occurs when we experience a significant difference between our current situation and some state we desire. As we noted at the beginning of the chapter, this problem requires a solution. A person who unexpectedly runs out of gas on the highway has a problem, as does the person who becomes dissatisfied with the image

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After weathering some negative headlines in recent years, Peloton launched an advertising campaign called “Love Every Journey” that featured testimonials from customers who were initially skeptical of the connected fitness brand—and who perhaps threw shade about the brand on social media—but have since become loyal converts.4 Source: Edwin Tan/E+/Getty Images.

Problem Recognition Chan is fed up with his old TV that has bad sound reproduction.

of his car, even though there is nothing mechanically wrong with it. Although the quality of Chan’s TV had not changed, he altered his standard of comparison, and as a result he had a new problem to solve: how to improve his viewing experience. This is the “starting gun” that initiates the problem-solving process.

Step 2: Information Search Information Search Chan surfs the Web to learn about TVs.

Evaluation of Alternatives Chan compares several models in the store in terms of reputation and available features. Product Choice Chan chooses one model because it has a feature that really appeals to him. Outcomes Chan brings home the TV and enjoys his purchase.

Figure 7.2  Stages in Consumer Decision Making

Once a consumer recognizes a problem, they need to identify options to solve it. Information search is the process by which we survey the environment for appropriate data to make a reasonable decision. As we saw in Chapter 5, we might recognize a need and then search the marketplace for specific information (a process we call prepurchase search). However, many of us, especially veteran shoppers, enjoy browsing just for the fun of it or because we like to stay up to date on what’s happening in the marketplace. Those shopaholics engage in ongoing search.5 As a general rule, we search more when the purchase is important, when we have more of a need to learn more about the purchase, or when it’s easy to obtain the relevant information.6 Does knowing something about the product make it more or less likely that we will engage in research? The answer to this question isn’t as obvious as it first appears: Product experts and novices use different strategies when they make decisions. “Newbies” who know little about a product should be the most motivated to find out more about it. However, experts are more familiar with the product category, and thus they should be better able to understand the meaning of any new product information they might acquire. So, who searches more? The answer is neither: Search tends to be greatest among those consumers who are moderately knowledgeable about the product. Typically, we find an inverted-U relationship between knowledge and search effort, as Figure 7.3 shows. People

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AMOUNT OF SEARCH



PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE

Figure 7.3  The Relationship between Amount of Information Search and Product Knowledge

with limited expertise may not feel they are competent to search extensively. In fact, they may not even know where to start. Chan, who did not spend a lot of time researching his purchase, is typical. He visited one store, and he looked only at brands with which he was already familiar. In addition, he focused on only a small number of product features.7 Because experts have a better sense of what information is relevant to the decision, they engage in selective search, which means their efforts are more focused and efficient. In contrast, novices are more likely to rely on the opinions of others and on “nonfunctional” attributes, such as brand name and price, to distinguish among alternatives. Finally, novice consumers may process information in a “top-down” rather than a “bottom-up” manner; they focus less on details than on the big picture. For instance, they may be more impressed by the sheer amount of technical information an ad presents than by the actual significance of the claims it makes.8 Any trial lawyer will tell you never to ask a question of a witness unless you already know what they will answer. Consumers too like to consult reliable sources that tend to tell them what they want to hear. We can see that the search process isn’t perfect, so there’s always some bias in terms of what we get when we cast our nets. This is true whether we’re asking people we know for advice or we’re simply browsing online. The internet puts an almost limitless supply of information at our fingertips—at least in theory. The reality often is quite different. Rather than taking advantage of many sources that may provide us with a range of opinions or options when we want to make a decision, sophisticated algorithms ensure that we access only content that reinforces what we already think we know. A filter bubble occurs when the broadcast media, websites, and social media platforms we consult serve up answers based upon what they “think” we want to see. For example, we get personalized Google search results and a Facebook news stream that’s based upon sites we’ve clicked on in the past, our browsing history, and our physical location. This means we’re far less likely to be exposed to conflicting viewpoints, so we each live in a “bubble” of our own making. Conservatives who watch Fox News

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Buying, Having, Being What Do I Have to Lose? Maybe a Lot! Consumers rarely consider opportunity costs, or alternative ways to use one’s resources, when they select one option over others. Yet, research shows that consumers can benefit from considering opportunity costs while deciding.13 When people consider opportunity costs, they see the alternative option(s) as more valuable, relative to the current option they are considering. For example, if you are considering purchasing a trip to Hawaii but then think about how you would have to give up a trip to Europe to afford the trip to Hawaii, then that trip to Europe seems more valuable to you than it otherwise would have. Of course, if you’re a planner, you probably know this already because people who like to plan tend to consider opportunity costs more.

religiously will see stories that confirm their beliefs, while their liberal counterparts get the same assurance from MSNBC.9 Thus, what starts as a search for the best information upon which to base our decisions may end in a self-fulfilling prophecy, where we read and see only content that confirms what we thought all along. This problem is troubling enough that the U.S. Congress is considering a bill introduced in 2021 called the Filter Bubble Transparency Act that would require that internet platforms give users the option to engage without being manipulated by algorithms driven by user-specific data.10

Step 3: Evaluate Alternatives Much of the effort we put into a purchase decision occurs at the stage where we have to put the pedal to the metal and choose a product from several alternatives. This may not be easy; modern consumer society abounds with choices. In some cases, there may be literally hundreds of brands (as in cigarettes) or different variations of the same brand (as in shades of lipstick). We call the alternatives a consumer knows about the evoked set and the ones they seriously consider the consideration set.11 Recall that Chan did not know much about the technical aspects of television sets, and he had only a few major brands in mind. Of these, two were acceptable possibilities and one was not. For obvious reasons, a marketer who finds that their brand is not in their target market’s evoked set has cause to worry. You often don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression; a consumer isn’t likely to place a product in their evoked set after they have already considered it and rejected it. Indeed, we’re more likely to add a new brand to the evoked set than one that we previously considered but passed over, even after a marketer has provided additional positive information about it.12 For marketers, a consumer’s reluctance to give a rejected product a second chance underscores the importance of ensuring that it performs well from the time the company introduces it.

Many decisions force us to choose between two attractive alternatives, so we also have to consider opportunity costs when we weigh pros and cons of each choice. Source: Nathan Danks/Shutterstock Jupiterimages/PHOTOS.com/Getty Images.

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TABLE 7.1    Hypothetical

Alternatives for a TV Set Brand Ratings

Attribute

Importance Ranking

Prime Wave

Precision

Kamashita

Synchronized backlighting

1

Excellent

Good

Good

Size of screen

1

Excellent

Excellent

Excellent

Stereo surround sound

2

Good

Excellent

Good

Brand reputation

3

Excellent

Excellent

Poor

Onscreen programming

4

Excellent

Good

Poor

Sleep timer

6

Excellent

Poor

Good

Evaluative Criteria  When Chan looked at different television sets, he focused on one or two product features and completely ignored several others. He narrowed down his choices as he only considered two specific brand names, and from the Prime Wave and Precision models, he chose one that featured synchronized backlighting. Table 7.1 summarizes the attributes of the TV sets that Chan considered. Now, let’s see how a comparison of these attributes can alter Chan’s choice of a specific brand depending on the rules he uses to consider them. Evaluative criteria are the dimensions we use to judge the merits of competing options. When he compared alternative products, Chan could have chosen from among many criteria that ranged from functional attributes (“Does this TV offer synchronized backlighting?”) to experiential ones (“Does this TV’s sound reproduction make me imagine I’m in a concert hall?”). Another important point is that criteria on which products differ from one another carry more weight in the decision process than do those where the alternatives are similar. If all brands a person considers rate equally well on one attribute (e.g., if all TVs come with surround sound), Chan needs to find other reasons to choose one over another. Determinant attributes are the features we use to differentiate among our choices. Marketers often educate consumers about which criteria they should use as determinant attributes. For example, consumer research from Church & Dwight indicated that many consumers view the use of natural ingredients as a determinant attribute. As a result, the company promoted its toothpaste made from baking soda, which the company already manufactured for Church & Dwight’s Arm & Hammer brand.14 Decision Rules  In the slow-thinking Type 2 system, people tend to think carefully

about the pros and cons of various options, almost like a computer that follows a somewhat complicated formula to decide. Not so much for Type 1 thinking, where one attribute that may not even be central to the choice drives our decision (the package color or the celebrity endorser, for example). To choose between options, consumers may use compensatory and noncompensatory rules. Let’s take a quick look at some important ones. Compensatory Rules  A compensatory rule allows a product to make up for its

shortcomings on one dimension by excelling on another. This rule is more likely to

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apply during Type 1 thinking, where we’re motivated enough to weigh the pros and cons of a set of choices. There are two basic types of compensatory rules: 1. The simple additive rule leads to the option that has the largest number of positive attributes. A person may use this process when it’s difficult to get more information. It’s not the best solution, because some of the attributes may not be meaningful to the customer. Even so, we may be impressed by a brand that boasts a laundry list of features, though most of them are not determinant attributes. 2. A weighted additive rule allows the consumer to consider the relative importance of the attributes by weighing each one. If this sounds familiar, it should: The calculation process strongly resembles the multiattribute attitude model we discussed in Chapter 6. Noncompensatory Rules  Compensatory rules require the decision maker to carefully consider the attributes of competing options, but we all know that we don’t necessarily do that—especially when we’re thinking fast! When we make habitual or emotional decisions, we typically use a noncompensatory rule.15 This means that if an option doesn’t suit us on one dimension, we just reject it out of hand and move on to something else rather than think about how it might meet our needs in other ways: “I’ve never heard of that brand,” or maybe “That color is gross.” Here are some specific ways we do that:

• The lexicographic rule says, “Select the brand that is the best on the most imporBuying, Having, Being How Low Is “Low Calorie” Depends on Surrounding Menu Options The way we make decisions depends on our comparison set, which echoes the categorizations we studied in Chapter 4. A recent study that examined how consumers use calorie information demonstrates why the categories we use to define products are important. When people saw menus that listed the calorie count of individual items, they chose more dietetic items. However, when the lower calorie items were grouped into a single “low-calorie” category on the menu, diners selected them less frequently. The researchers explain that consumers have negative associations with lowcalorie labels, so they’re more likely to dismiss these options in the early stages of the decision process. As a result, individual items are less likely to make the cut into diners’ consideration sets, so ironically this menu information results in fewer healthier choices overall.16

•

•

tant attribute.” If a decision maker feels that two or more brands are equally good on that attribute, they then compare the brands on the second-most important attribute. This selection process goes on until the tie is broken. In Chan’s case, because both the Prime Wave and Precision models were tied on his most important attribute (a 60-inch screen), he chose the Precision because of its rating on his second-most important attribute: its stereo capability. The elimination-by-aspects rule is like the lexicographic rule because the buyer also evaluates brands on the most important attribute. In this case, though, they impose specific cut-offs. For example, if Chan had been more interested in having a sleep timer on his TV (i.e., if it had a higher importance ranking), he might have stipulated that his choice “must have a sleep timer.” Because the Prime Wave model had one and the Precision did not, he would have chosen the Prime Wave. Whereas the two former rules involve processing by attribute, the conjunctive rule entails processing by brand. As with the elimination-by-aspects procedure, the decision maker establishes cut-offs for each attribute. He chooses a brand if it meets all the cutoffs but rejects a brand that fails to meet any one cut-off. If none of the brands meet all the cutoffs, he may delay the choice, change the decision rule, or modify the cutoffs he chooses to apply.

If Chan stipulated that all attributes had to be rated “good” or better, he would not have been able to choose any of the available options. He might then have modified his decision rule, conceding that it was not possible to attain these high standards in his price range. In this case, perhaps Chan could decide that he could live without synchronized backlighting, so he would reconsider the Precision model. If we’re willing to allow good and bad product qualities to cancel each other out, we arrive at a different choice. For example, if Chan were not concerned about having stereo reception, he might have chosen the Prime Wave model. But because this brand doesn’t feature this highly ranked attribute, it doesn’t stand a chance when he uses a noncompensatory rule.



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As feature creep becomes more of a problem, just providing clear instructions to users is a major “pain point” for many manufacturers. Source: supercavie/Shutterstock.

Buying, Having, Being Read the Label!

Step 4: Product Choice Once we assemble and evaluate the relevant options in a category, eventually we must choose one.17 Recall that the decision rules that guide our choices range from simple and quick strategies to complicated processes that require a lot of attention and cognitive processing.18 Our job isn’t getting any easier as companies overwhelm us with more and more features. We deal with 50-button remote controls, digital cameras with hundreds of mysterious features and book-length manuals, and cars with dashboard systems worthy of the space shuttle. Experts call this spiral of complexity feature creep. As evidence that the proliferation of gizmos is counterproductive, Philips Electronics found that at least half of the products buyers return have nothing wrong with them; consumers simply couldn’t understand how to use them! What’s worse, on average the buyer spent only 20 minutes trying to figure out how to use the product and then gave up. Choice Overload: Too Much of a Good Thing?  Given the range of problems we

all confront in our lives, clearly it is difficult to apply a one-size-fits-all explanation to the complexities of consumer behavior. Things get even more complicated when we realize just how many choices we must make in today’s information-rich environment. Ironically, for many of us, one of our biggest problems is not having too few choices but rather too many. This condition of choice overload, or hyperchoice, forces us to make repeated decisions that may drain psychological energy while decreasing our abilities to make smart choices.19 A study conducted in a grocery store illustrates how having too much can handicap our thought processes. Shoppers tried samples of flavored fruit jams in two different conditions: In the “limited choice” condition, they picked from six flavors; whereas those in the “extensive choice” group saw 24 flavors. Thirty percent of consumers in the limited group bought a jar of jam as a result, and a paltry three percent of those in the extensive group did.

Product labels assist us with problem solving, but some are more useful than others. Here are some examples of the not-so-helpful variety:

• Instructions for folding up a

portable baby carriage: “Step 1: Remove baby.” • On a Conair Pro Style 1600 hair dryer: “WARNING: Do not use in shower. Never use while sleeping.” • At a rest stop on a Wisconsin highway: “Do not eat urinal cakes.” • On a bag of Fritos: “You could be a winner! No purchase necessary. Details inside.” • On some Swanson frozen dinners: “Serving suggestion: Defrost.” • On Tesco’s Tiramisu dessert (printed on bottom of box): “Do not turn upside down.” • On Marks & Spencer bread pudding: “Product will be hot after heating.” • On packaging for a Rowenta iron: “Do not iron clothes on body.” • On Nytol sleeping aid: “Warning: May cause drowsiness.”

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Consumers tend to want more options, but when there are too many options, they tend to make poorer decisions or just give up in frustration. A review of all the studies to date (a meta-analysis) on this paradox of choice suggests that companies can have it both ways: Provide options, but make the decision itself less difficult, and try to educate consumers about how best to make their decision between those options.20

Step 5: Postpurchase Evaluation

A common feedback loop we increasingly see on highways comes from those “dynamic speed displays” that use a radar sensor to flash “Your Speed” when you pass one. This isn’t new information; all you have to do is look at your speedometer to know the same thing. Yet on average, these displays result in a 10 percent reduction in driving speed among motorists for several miles following exposure to the feedback loop.21 Source: Iaarts/Stockimo/Alamy Stock Photo.

Another old saying goes, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” In other words, the true test of our decisionmaking process is whether we are happy with the choice we made after we undergo all these stages. Postpurchase evaluation closes the loop; it occurs when we experience the product or service we selected and decide whether it meets (or maybe even exceeds) our expectations. That may involve soliciting feedback from others to determine whether we’ve done the right thing or (perhaps) committed a serious fashion gaffe. We’ll take a closer look at that in Chapter 8. Social Scoring  When all is said and done with the trans-

action, is the customer always right? Not anymore. Today, postpurchase evaluation is just starting to work both ways. In the process called social scoring, both customers and service providers increasingly rate one another’s performance. Have you ever written a negative review of your Uber driver or a server at a restaurant? A heads up: While we’re busily documenting our interactions with salespeople and other service providers, they’re returning the favor. People who work in small businesses have always been aware of problem customers who drop in periodically to torment them. But now, at least in theory, a salesperson or other service provider at any kind of organization large or small can grade your behavior. And the icing on the cake is that they can share these scores with others. It’s no longer only Santa who knows if you’ve been naughty or nice. At platforms like Airbnb and Uber, users get a rating each time they patronize the service. It’s no surprise that according to Lyft and Uber drivers, failure to leave a tip is a sure-fire road to a dismal evaluation. For your future reference, these are some other behaviors that will make or break a five-star rating straight from the mouths of operators:22

• “Don’t puke in or ruin the car.” • “The most common reason for a lower passenger rating is making us wait after we • • •

arrive to pick you up. If you’re ready to go at the curb when we arrive, it means a lot.” “Rude passengers immediately get four stars. Depending on the level of rudeness, their rating can go down to one star.” “Passengers get a one-star ding for everything they mess up, like not being ready, slamming doors, or being impolite.” “I will deduct points for rude behavior or illegal activities. I will also deduct points for passengers who leave garbage in my car.”

That’s not just FYI stuff; a bad rating can prevent you from booking rooms or rides down the road. Uber and Lyft share rider ratings with other drivers, who may



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choose not to pick up a passenger with an unsavory record. Open Table bans people from using its service if they have missed too many reservations. At Airbnb, you sometimes must make the case for your worthiness to stay at a guesthouse. The application process feels a bit like getting a surprise inspection visit from a social worker when you’re trying to adopt a child. This new transparency may disrupt not only the service economy—it also can obliterate the traditional power disparity between buyer and seller. Suddenly, the user must play nice and think about how today’s nasty behavior will influence tomorrow’s reputation. So far it doesn’t seem that service businesses have thought much about the potential impact of this reverse rating process, but it could be just a As social scoring catches on, both customers and service matter of time before overly demanding patients need to providers need to be aware that others rate their performance. locate doctors who will agree to put up with them, customers Source: lovro77/iStock/Getty Images Plus. who like to yell at repairmen have no one to fix their leaking toilets, and perhaps even students who email their professor at 2:00 a.m. with urgent questions about assignments that were due two weeks ago get banned from registering for classes (okay, that last one is a fantasy of ours that we just threw in there).23 Regret and How to Avoid It  When we do not select a certain option and this

foregone option now seems better than the option that we chose, we may end up experiencing regret.24 The more we know about the foregone option, the more likely we are to wish we had decided differently. In addition, regret is likelier when (1) the decision consumers made created a lot of change from how things were prior to this decision (think: moving houses!), (2) the decision cannot be undone, and (3) the outcome of a choice is negative. In cases when the eventually chosen product leads to a negative outcome, people are more motivated to think of other alternatives that can undo it (e.g., returning the product) or that they can do better in the future. Regret makes people less likely to repurchase the chosen products, but it does not make people more likely to complain to the maker of that product. With online shopping and meal delivery services continuing to take up a larger share of consumer purchases, the potential for consumer regret is likely much higher today than it used to be. Thus, companies should take note of how they can anticipate regret and try to address it, so the customer feels better about their purchase. “Deer in the Headlights”: Decision Paralysis  Although consumers tend to like

to make their own choices, having to choose sometimes leads to anxiety and decision paralysis. Interestingly, a solution to this is to delegate our decision to others, especially when we are afraid to make decisions we may regret.25 Researchers found evidence of this in a series of lab experiments in which they gave participants the choice between two options.26 They made the choice either difficult or easy by having participants choose between two cheap options (more difficult) or a cheap and expensive option (less difficult), and they told the participants they could either choose for themselves or ask the experimenter to choose. No matter what the product context was (they conducted the same experiments with headphones, jellybeans, and a hypothetical decision of whether to undergo surgery after an accident), they found that consumers consistently prefer to delegate choices to someone else when the choice is difficult.

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Consumers delegate because they are afraid of regretting their decision if it leads to a less-than-ideal outcome. This helps to explain why we often turn to third parties, such as stockbrokers and interior designers, to help us arrive at important decisions.27 OBJECTIVE 7-3 Summarize the ways in which we engage in fast thinking and rules of thumb to make decisions.

Buying, Having, Being Are You in the Mood? Our mood biases our decisions and the way we make them.32 But what happens to the quality of our choices when our mood is a bit too good? A survey found that about one-fifth of Americans admitted to buying while under the influence; drunk shopping purchases account for billions of dollars in revenues every year. If you’ve ever visited DoorDash or Grubhub to order some late-night munchies after an evening of carousing, you won’t be surprised to learn that more than 80 percent of drunk shoppers admit to purchasing food while drunk. The next-most popular categories for intoxicated purchases are shoes, clothes, and accessories. Good luck checking out your new (bizarre?) purchase when it arrives after you’ve sobered up!33

Fast Thinking and Rules of Thumb

Chan’s meditations about the exact TV model to buy probably don’t resemble most of the choices he makes. If he’s anything like most of us, he deals with dozens of decisions every day and he makes most of them almost automatically. “Cream and sugar?” “Fries with that?” The rational decision-making steps we’ve just reviewed are well and good, but common sense tells us we don’t undergo this elaborate sequence every time we buy something.28 If we did, we’d spend our entire lives making these decisions. This would leave us little time to enjoy the things we eventually decide to buy! And some of our buying behaviors don’t seem “rational” because they don’t serve a logical purpose (you don’t use that navel ring to hold a beach towel). Habitual decision making, or fast decision making, describes the choices we make with little or no conscious effort. Many purchase decisions are so routine we may not realize we’ve made them until we look in our shopping carts! Although decisions we make with little conscious thought may seem dangerous or at best stupid, this process is actually quite efficient in many cases. The journalist Malcolm Gladwell hit the bestseller list with his book Blink, which demonstrated how snap judgments that occur in the blink of an eye can be surprisingly accurate.29 When a person buys the same brand over and over, does this mean it’s just a habit, or are they truly loyal to that product? The answer is, it depends: In some cases, the explanation really is just inertia, which means that it involves less effort to throw a familiar package into the cart. Brand loyalty is a totally different story. This describes a pattern of repeat purchasing behavior that involves a conscious decision to continue buying the same brand. As you might imagine, though both inertia and brand loyalty yield the same result, the latter is harder to achieve but also much more valuable because it represents a true commitment by the consumer. One simple test that may help to tell the difference: If the consumer discovers that a store is out of their normal brand, will they just choose another one or defer the purchase to find their favorite somewhere else? If the answer is “my way or the highway,” that marketer has a loyal customer.

Behavioral Biases The traditional perspective on human behavior views people as cool, detached decision makers who carefully evaluate the pros and cons before they choose an option. That view, known as homo economicus (“economic man”), regards us as ideal decision makers with complete rationality and complete access to all the information we need to make an informed decision.30 Does that description of System 2 thinking apply to many of the choices you make? Sure, we may come close when we’re choosing something important like a new laptop, home, or car. But the reality is that we just don’t work that hard for most decisions. And that’s a good thing: One reason is simply that it’s not possible for our brains to process all that detailed information about everything, nor is it probably worth our time. Another reason is that we often are less homo economicus and more homo ludens—“man the player.” 31 This perspective recognizes the



emotional and more light-hearted aspects of consumption that result in joy, fantasy, and creativity. System 1 processing, because it is a lot faster and less rational, can lead to behavioral biases, when our preferences deviate from the standard economic model that views people as rational decision makers who calmly and carefully weigh their choices to be sure they make the best possible decision.34 A common example to demonstrate the two systems is the following puzzle: A bat and a ball together cost $1.10. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?35 The majority of people quickly guess 10 cents (did you?). The correct answer, however, is five cents—which, again, most people can work out after spending more time thinking about the question. As this example demonstrates, System 1 thinking is faster—but often marred by biases and false assumptions. The research discipline at the intersection of psychology and economics, known as behavioral economics, focuses upon these biases that take the form of nonstandard beliefs. For example, we tend to be overconfident in our own knowledge or abilities, or we tend to ignore base rates and sample sizes when we estimate probabilities (a bias known as the law of small numbers).

Heuristics and Mental Accounting: Take the Shortcut Let’s face it—people can be lazy sometimes! Especially when we’re overwhelmed by so many things calling for our attention, it’s often tempting to find shortcuts so that we don’t have to sweat the details for some decisions. That’s a good strategy in many cases, because these shortcuts allow our poor overworked brains to pay more attention to important decisions. And the reality is that many purchase decisions fall into this category. If you’re the brand manager for, say, a company that sells paper towels, you think a lot about this product, and you probably believe your brand outshines the rest. But the hard truth is that your customers aren’t very invested in mastering the intricacies of the paper towel market. They simply want a brand that absorbs liquids and doesn’t disintegrate when they touch it. That means you can shower them with detailed technical information all day long, but they’re probably not going to “absorb” that. Instead, they may choose a familiar brand name with a lively, easy-to-remember tagline like, “Bounty is the quicker picker-upper.” This example illustrates that rather than trying to arrive at the best possible result—a maximizing solution—we, in fact, often are quite content to exert less mental effort and settle for an adequate outcome—a satisficing solution. This “good enough” perspective on decision making is called bounded rationality. It recognizes that many decisions aren’t worth agonizing over, so long as the end result is adequate. This distinction is hugely important to marketers, because if consumers look to merely satisfice rather than maximize their choice, it’s a game-changer in terms of the types of information they will look for and how they will use this information.

Mental Accounting In addition, many habitual spending decisions we make are subject to mental accounting biases: Imagine that you’re working at a job that pays $1,000 per week. You spend your income carefully, and you even try to put some of your paycheck into an investment account for your future. One day, you learn that a distant relative has died, and they left you $1,000 in their will. This totally unexpected windfall makes you do the happy dance— and to celebrate you take 20 of your closest friends out to dinner at a nice restaurant.

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Just like that, the inheritance is gone—but at least you have the glowing social media posts to show for it. Is this $1,000 that came and went very quickly the “same” money as the amount you see in your weekly paycheck? Obviously not, because you treated it very differently. Mental accounting reminds us that the way we think and use money depends on all kinds of subjective factors: for instance, how we earned it (from a job versus inheritance) or what form it is (cash versus credit versus gift card; home versus foreign currency). These biases can make us spend more money on useless things or spend it faster (for example, inherited money is spent faster than earned money, and we spend more when we use credit cards because a charge isn’t “real money”).36 None of that is very rational since in the end, it is all the same money!

Heuristics Chan made certain assumptions instead of conducting an extensive information search. In particular, he took it for granted that the selection at Zany Zack’s was more than sufficient, so he didn’t even bother to shop at any other stores. We refer to these shortcuts as heuristics. These “mental rules of thumb” range from the general (“higher-priced products are higher-quality products” or “buy the same brand I bought last time”) to the specific (“buy Domino, the brand of sugar my mother always bought”).37 So much for that “rational” view of decision making! These rules of thumb save us a lot of time and effort, and in most cases, a hastily made bad choice doesn’t come back to haunt us. But sometimes these shortcuts may not be in our best interest. A car shopper who personally knows one or two people who have had problems with a particular vehicle, for example, might assume that he would have similar trouble with it rather than taking the time to find out that it has an excellent repair record.38 Table 7.2 summarizes a few of the most prevalent heuristics we commonly use. TABLE 7.2    Examples

of Heuristics

Heuristic Name

Definition

Availability

Selecting an option based on the information most easily available to our mind

Representativeness

Selecting an option that is closest to the most representative example in the category

Price

Selecting an option solely based on its price: for instance, many people assume that a higher-priced option is of better quality than a lower-priced option

Anchoring Heuristic

Using the first information received about an option to decide about it (that prior judgment hence becoming an anchor)

Variety-Seeking

Selecting an option that is different from previous choices, for the sake of variety

Risk Aversion

Selecting the safest option in a set

Familiarity

Selecting the most familiar option in a set

OBJECTIVE 7-4 Describe how context effects can influence the decision making of a consumer, even when the consumer is unaware of the influence.

The Unseen Power of Context Effects: Framing, Priming, and Nudging Remember that in earlier chapters we talked about how physical cues “prime” us to react—even when we’re not aware of this impact. The sensations we experience are context effects

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that subtly influence how we think about products we encounter. Here are some examples from consumer research: more harshly when they stood on a tile floor • Respondents evaluated products rather than a carpeted floor.39 • Fans of romance movies rate them higher when they watch them in a cold room

•

(the researchers explain this is because they compensate for the low physical temperature with the psychological warmth the movie provides).40 When a product is scented, consumers are more likely to remember other attributes about it after they encounter it.41

Researchers continue to identify factors that bias our decisions, and many of these are factors that operate beneath the level of conscious awareness.42 In one study, respondents’ attitudes toward an undesirable product—curried grasshoppers!— improved when they were asked to approach a plate full of them. Since we typically get closer to things (or people) we like, it seems this physical movement cued their minds to think that they liked the delicacy more than they actually did.43 To help understand this process, try to force yourself to smile or frown and then carefully gauge your feelings; you may find that the old prescription to “put on a happy face” to cheer yourself up has some validity.44 The notion that even subtle changes in a person’s environment can strongly influence their choices has emerged on center stage in the study of consumer behavior in recent years. Unlike standard economic theory that regards people as rational decision makers, the rapidly growing field of behavioral economics focuses on the effects of psychological and social factors on the economic decisions we make, and many of these choices are anything but “rational.” Indeed, it turns out that it’s quite possible to modify the choices of individuals and groups merely by tinkering with the way we present information to them.

Framing Often, it’s just a matter of framing, or how we pose the question to people or what exactly we ask them to do. For example, people hate losing things more than they like getting things; economists call this tendency loss aversion. To see how framing works, consider the following scenario: You’ve scored a free ticket to a sold-out football game. At the last minute, though, a sudden snowstorm makes it dangerous to get to the stadium. Would you still go? Now, assume the same game and snowstorm—except this time you paid a small fortune for the ticket. Would you head out in the storm in this case? Researchers who work on prospect theory analyze how the value of a decision depends on gains or losses—and how that choice is communicated to the buyer. It turns out that the way we frame the question matters a lot. In the preceding scenario, researchers find that people are more likely to risk their personal safety in the storm if they paid for the football ticket than if it’s a freebie. Only the most die-hard fan would fail to recognize that this is an irrational choice, because the risk is the same regardless of whether you got a great deal on the ticket. Researchers call this decision-making bias the sunk-cost fallacy: If we’ve paid for something, we’re more reluctant to waste it.

Priming In a recent study, researchers subtly encouraged some subjects to “go against the flow”—i.e., make unpopular choices. In some studies, the researchers primed “going against the flow” by using actual fur and asking participants to rub the fur against the

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direction of its growth (against the flow), while others went with the direction of growth. In a later (seemingly unrelated) part of the study, lo and behold, these people were more likely to choose products that were less popular or desirable. The earlier session apparently encouraged people to think about “marching to the beat of a different drummer,” and this orientation led them to alter their choices (without being aware of the connection!).45 Welcome to the power of priming: including cues in the environment that make us more likely to react in a certain way even though we’re unaware of these influences. A prime is a stimulus that encourages people to focus on some specific aspect of their lives, such as their financial well-being, the environment, or “going against the flow.” Here are some examples:

• A group of undergraduates was primed to think about money; they saw phrases like

•

“she spends money liberally” or pictures that would make them think of money. Then this group and a control group that wasn’t focused on money answered questions about moral choices they would make. Those students who had been primed to think of money consistently exhibited weaker ethics. They were more likely to say they would steal a ream of paper from the university’s copying room and more likely to say they would lie for financial gain.46 When people see pictures of “cute” products, they are more likely to engage in indulgent behavior, such as eating larger portions of ice cream.47

Start of September

Figure 7.4  The Impact of Temporal Framing To manipulate temporal framing to shift people’s attention, researchers framed the timing of a sale as either “Start of September Sale” or “End of August Sale.” They then had people try to find a specific brand of margarine in the sale ad. They either placed the margarine on the left or the right. Those in the “End of August” condition took a lot less time to find the margarine when it was on the right. And vice versa for those in the “Start of September” and “margarine on the left” conditions. Source: Sheng Bi, Andrew Perkins, and David Sprott, (2021), “The Effect of Start/End Temporal Landmarks on Consumers’ Visual Attention and Judgments,” International Journal of Research in Marketing 38, no. 1 (2021): 136–54.

Sale

Start temporal landmark and product on the left side

Start of September

Sale

Start temporal landmark and product on the right side

End of August

Sale

End temporal landmark and product on the left side

End of August

Sale

End temporal landmark and product on the right side

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• In a field study in a wine store, researchers played either stereotypically French •

or German music on alternate days. On the days when French music was in the background, people bought more French versus German wine, and the reverse happened on German music days. Follow-up questionnaires indicated customers were not aware of the impact of the music on their choices.48 Temporal framing also makes a difference: Framing something in a message as coming at the end of a time period (end of summer sale!) shifts our attention to the right, while framing something as coming at the beginning of a time period (start of the semester sale!) shifts our attention to the left. This in turn makes us like products on that side more, makes products that are oriented in that direction more appealing, etc.49

Nudging Much of the current work in behavioral economics demonstrates how a nudge—a deliberate change by an organization that intends to modify behavior—can result in dramatic effects.50 One popular nudge is to set the “optimal” option as a default, because most of us typically believe that when defaults exist, we should just stick with those options. We can apply this default bias—where we are more likely to comply with a requirement than to make the effort not to comply—to numerous choice situations. For example, people are more likely to save for retirement if their employers automatically deduct a set amount from their paychecks than if they must set up this process themselves. We see another simple “nudge” based upon the default bias in programs that ask people to “opt out” of a program if they don’t want to participate, rather than asking them to “opt in.” In Europe, countries that ask drivers to indicate if they want to be an organ donor convince less than 20 percent of drivers to do so. In contrast, those that require drivers to opt out if they don’t want to be donors get more than 95 percent participation!51

Amazon often employs an urgency nudge, or a nudge for consumers to act immediately, to tell interested customers that an offer is a limited-time deal. Source: Amazon.

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72 Hours Before Appointment John, this is a message from Penn Medicine about your upcoming appointment. Text & data rates apply. Reply stop to opt out at any time. You have an appt w/Dr. Smith on 10/01 at 11:00 AM & it’s flu season. A flu vaccine is available for you. Protect yourself & your family’s health! Look out for a vaccine reminder message before your appt. You can opt out of a reminder by texting back OPT OUT. 24 Hours Before Appointment PENMED: John, this is a reminder that a flu vaccine has been reserved for your appt with Dr. Smith. Please ask your doctor for the shot to make sure you receive it.

Figure 7.5  Effective Text Messages Using a “Nudge”

OBJECTIVE 7-5 Discuss how online shopping and purchasing platforms can influence consumer decision making.

Do Nudges Work? Priming and nudging tactics are increasingly common. In the U.K., there is even a government-affiliated organization called the Behavioural Insights Team—a.k.a. the Ministry of Nudges!52 And indeed, there is a lot of evidence that nudges do affect behavior. A recent study compared the effectiveness of many types of nudges sent as text messages to patients to encourage flu vaccinations.53 The study identified the most effective messages: The best text nudges told patients that a flu vaccine was reserved for them and used language that people expected to see from their healthcare providers (i.e., serious, no jokes). Text nudges are effective! Sending a text nudge prior to a primary care visit increased vaccination rates by an average of 5 percent. Figure 7.5 displays the most effective texting strategy in terms of nudging consumers toward getting flu shots. This shows us that even simple textbased nudges can make people more likely to get vaccinated!

Online Decision Making

What’s the most common way for us to start our decisionmaking process today? Google it, of course! Although there are other search engines out there, such as Microsoft’s Bing, Yahoo!, or even YouTube (which is the world’s second-largest engine after Google), Google’s version of the software that examines the web for matches to terms like “home theater system” or “tattoo removal services” is so dominant—with 96 percent of the world’s mobile search market—that the name has become a verb. But even a giant like Google can’t rest on its laurels. Changes in how we search will probably reduce our reliance on search engines. Increasingly consumers bypass Google as they go directly on their smartphones or tablets to apps like Yelp to read and write product reviews.54 As anyone who’s ever googled knows, the web delivers enormous amounts of product and retailer information in seconds. The biggest problem web surfers face these days is to narrow down their choices, not to beef them up. In cyberspace, simplification is key. Still, the sad reality is that in many cases we simply don’t search as much as we might. If we google a term, most of us are only likely to look at the first few results at the top of the list.

Search Engine Optimization Indeed, that’s one reason why search engine optimization (SEO) is so important today; this term refers to the tactics companies use to design websites and posts to maximize the likelihood that their content will show up when someone searches for a relevant term. Just as an expert fisherman chooses his spot and carefully selects the right lure to catch a fish, SEO experts create online content that will attract the attention of the search algorithms, or mathematical formulas, that companies like Google use to determine which entries will turn up in a search. The algorithm will hunt for certain keywords, and it also will consider who uses them. For example, if a lot of influential people share an entry, the formula will weight it more.



The Power of Customer Reviews Can you imagine choosing a restaurant before you check it out online? Increasingly many of us rely on online reviews to steer us toward and away from specific restaurants, hotels, movies, garments, music, and just about everything else. A survey of 28,000 respondents in 56 countries reported that online user ratings are the secondmost trusted source of brand information (after recommendations from family and friends). We usually put a lot of stock in what members of our social networks recommend. Unfortunately, user ratings don’t link strongly to actual product quality that objective evaluation services like Consumer Reports provide. And there’s evidence that mobile reviews may be less helpful than desktop reviews, even when the same reviewer writes both. Comments posted via mobile devices are more emotional and more negative.55

How Accurate Are Customer Reviews? As the old saying goes, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” When we check out online reviews of a product and they’re all glowing, we tend to be a bit suspicious. It’s more effective for a review to include some negative reviews—especially if shoppers think they’re irrelevant. Why? We usually assign a lot of weight to negative information because we expect it to be more diagnostic than sugar-coated comments. So, when we encounter bad stuff, but we don’t feel it’s very helpful, we still feel that we have more complete information about the product, and thus we’re comfortable that we can make a wise choice.56 Researchers also have recently documented what they call the binary bias: People tend to easily distinguish between positive ratings (e.g., 4s and 5s) and negative ratings (e.g., 1s and 2s), but they are not sensitive to distinctions between more extreme and less extreme (5 vs. 4 or 1 vs. 2 values).57 As a result, when we see several reviews that are aggregated, we pay more attention to the proportion of positive to negative reviews, rather than the distribution of different review values. Another piece of evidence of how easily we can be swayed by the way reviews and ratings are presented!

The Long Tail One advantage these reviews provide is that consumers learn about other, less popular options they may like as well, and at the same time products such as movies, books, and CDs that aren’t “blockbusters” are more likely to sell. At the online entertainment company Netflix, for example, fellow subscribers recommend about two-thirds of the films that people order. In fact, between 70 and 80 percent of Netflix rentals come from the company’s back catalog of 38,000 films rather than recent releases.58 This aspect of online customer review is one significant factor that’s fueling an important business model called the long tail.59 The basic idea is that we no longer need to rely solely on big hits (such as blockbuster movies or best-selling books) to find profits. Companies can also make money if they sell small amounts of items that only a few people want—if they sell enough different items. For example, Amazon. com maintains an inventory of 3.7 million books, compared to the 100,000 or so you’ll find in a large retail store like Barnes & Noble. Most of these stores will sell only a few thousand copies (if that), but the 3.6 million books that Barnes & Noble doesn’t carry make up a quarter of Amazon’s revenues! Other examples of the long tail include successful microbreweries and TV networks that make money on reruns of old shows on channels like the Game Show Network.

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Buying, Having, Being AI: Who’s Calling the Shots? Whether or not you think we’re about to be enslaved by robots, there’s no doubt that AI applications will revolutionize how consumers interact with products—and very soon. Innovative companies are already experimenting with AI personal shoppers that can help their customers to decide what to buy:

• Outdoor brand The North Face

partnered with IBM’s Watson AI platform to use natural conversation and a dialogue-based recommendation engine to help users of the brand’s site pick out the jacket that best fits their needs. A customer simply tells the platform when and where they’d like to use the jacket, and then answers additional questions to refine the results.65 • KFC China teamed up with the huge Chinese search engine Baidu to develop AI-enabled facial recognition checkout. It predicts what menu items customers will order based upon their age, gender, and mood. Over time, the AI will recognize repeat customers and offer them what they ordered on prior visits. Thus, a younger male might get a recommendation for a crispy chicken hamburger, while the AI will suggest porridge and soybean milk to a woman in her 50s (wow, automated gender stereotyping?).66 • West Elm uses an AI application to generate recommendations for specific furnishing products it sells based upon what a shopper pins to a Pinterest Board. The company also can upsell, or encourage customers to buy additional items, due to the suggestions.67

Cybermediaries With the tremendous number of websites and apps available and the huge number of people who spend big chunks of their day online, how can people organize information and decide where to click? A cybermediary often is the answer. This term describes a website or app that helps to filter and organize online market information so that customers can identify and evaluate alternatives more efficiently. Many consumers regularly link to comparison-shopping sites, such as Bizrate. com or Pricegrabber.com, for example, that list online retailers that sell a given item along with the price each charges.60 Directories and portals, such as Yahoo! or The Knot, are general services that tie together a large variety of different sites. Forums, fan clubs, and user groups offer product-related discussions to help customers sift through options. We will revisit these types of social influences in Chapter 12. Intelligent agents are sophisticated software programs that use collaborative filtering technologies to learn from past user behavior to recommend new purchases.61 When you let Amazon.com suggest a new book, the site uses an intelligent agent to propose novels based on what you and others like you have bought in the past. Our homes are the last frontier for digital selling assistants. Over 100 million consumers in the U.S. alone now use AI assistants like Amazon’s Alexa or Google’s Home in their home.62 These devices do a lot more than turn on your lights or play your favorite music. They also are sales platforms that can interact with consumers in a natural, humanlike manner and that can connect our requests with our browsing history to guide our purchases. Artificial intelligence increasingly powers search engines, digital assistants, and chatbots. Research shows that conversational robo advisors elicit greater trust than nonconversational ones, because the conversing allows a more natural interface for consumers to engage with the robo advisor.63 These conversational robots can be very influential: Recent research found that we tend to follow financial investment advice from a conversational robo advisor even if this investment advice is inconsistent with our actual risk profile or if the fees associated with the investment are large. Physical robots are all the more influential if their designers give them human characteristics. A recent review of a large dataset of over 10,000 individuals who interacted with service robots that assist humans with various tasks found that the more effective ones exhibit such traits as intelligence, likability, safety, and social skills.64 Just like with the people we meet!

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CHAPTER SUMMARY Now that you have finished reading this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Identify the two primary ways in which consumers make decisions. Every consumer decision we make is a response to a problem. Of course, the type and scope of these problems varies enormously. We make some decisions thoughtfully and rationally as we carefully weigh the pros and cons of different choices. In other cases, we let our emotions guide us to one choice over another as we react to a problem with enthusiasm, joy, or even disgust. Decision-making researchers refer to these distinct ways of thinking as slow and fast thinking. Perspectives on decision making range from a focus on habits that people develop over time to novel situations involving a great deal of risk in which consumers must carefully collect and analyze information before making a choice. Many of our decisions are highly automated; we make them largely by habit. 2. Outline the steps of the rational (slow) decision making process. A typical decision involves several steps. The first is problem recognition, when we realize we must take some action. This recognition may occur because a current possession malfunctions or perhaps because we have a desire for something new. Once the consumer recognizes a problem and sees it as sufficiently important to warrant some action, they begin the process of information search. This search may range from performing a simple memory scan, to determining what they have done before to resolve the same problem, to extensive fieldwork during which they consult a variety of sources to amass as much information as possible. In the evaluation of alternatives stage, the options a person considers constitute their evoked set. When the consumer eventually must make a product choice among alternatives, they use one of several decision rules. Noncompensatory rules eliminate alternatives that are deficient on any of the criteria they’ve chosen. Compensatory rules, which consumers are more likely to apply in high-involvement situations, allow them to consider each alternative’s good and bad points more carefully to arrive at the overall best choice. Once the consumer makes a choice, they engage in postpurchase

evaluation to determine whether it was a good one; this assessment, in turn, influences the process the next time the problem occurs. 3. Summarize the ways in which we engage in fast thinking and rules of thumb to make decisions. In many cases, people engage in surprisingly little research. Instead, they rely on various mental shortcuts, such as brand names or price, or they may simply imitate others’ choices. We may use heuristics, or mental rules of thumb, to simplify decision making. One of the most common beliefs is that we can determine quality by looking at the price. Other heuristics rely on well-known brand names or a product’s country of origin as signals of product quality. When we consistently purchase a brand over time, this pattern may be the result of true brand loyalty or simply inertia because it’s the easiest thing to do. 4. Describe how context effects can influence the decision making of a consumer, even when the consumer is unaware of the influence. Principles of mental accounting demonstrate that the way a problem is framed and whether it is put in terms of gains or losses influences what we decide. In addition, other cues in the environment—including subtle ones of which we may not even be aware—may prime us to choose one option over another. A prime is a stimulus that encourages people to focus on some specific aspect of their lives. Much of the current work in behavioral economics demonstrates how a nudge—a deliberate change by an organization that intends to modify behavior—can result in dramatic effects. 5. Discuss how online shopping and purchasing platforms can influence consumer decision making. The internet has changed the way many of us search for information. Today, our problem is more likely weeding out excess detail than searching for more information. Comparative search sites and intelligent agents help to filter and guide the search process. We may rely on cybermediaries, such as web portals or AI programs, to sort through massive amounts of information to simplify the decision-making process.

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KEY TERMS Behavioral biases, 205 Behavioral economics, 205 Binary bias, 211 Bounded rationality, 205 Brand loyalty, 204 Choice overload, 201 Compensatory rule, 199 Conjunctive rule, 200 Consideration set, 198 Context effects, 206 Cybermediary, 212 Decision paralysis, 203 Default bias, 209 Determinant attributes, 199 Digital selling assistants, 212 Drunk shopping, 204 Elimination-by-aspects rule, 200 Evaluative criteria, 199 Evoked set, 198 Fast thinking, 194

Feature creep, 201 Filter bubble, 197 Framing, 207 Habitual decision making, 204 Heuristics, 206 Homo economicus, 204 Homo Ludens, 204 Hyperchoice, 201 Inertia, 204 Information search, 196 Intelligent agents, 212 Lexicographic rule, 200 Long tail, 211 Loss aversion, 207 Maximizing solution, 205 Mental accounting, 205 Mental budget, 194 Noncompensatory rule, 200 Nonstandard beliefs, 205 Nudge, 209

Opportunity costs, 198 Paradox of choice, 202 Postpurchase evaluation, 202 Priming, 208 Problem recognition, 195 Prospect theory, 207 Rational perspective, 195 Satisficing solution, 205 Search engine optimization (SEO), 210 Search engines, 210 Slow thinking, 194 Simple additive rule, 200 Social scoring, 202 Standard economic model, 205 Sunk-cost fallacy, 207 Temporal framing, 209 Upsell, 212 Urgency nudge, 209 Weighted additive rule, 200

REVIEW 7-1 Why can “mindless” decision making actually be more efficient than devoting a lot of thought to what we buy? 7-2 List the steps in the model of cognitive decision making. 7-3 Name two ways in which a consumer problem arises. 7-4 Give an example of the sunk-cost fallacy. 7-5 What is prospect theory? Does it support the argument that we are rational decision makers? 7-6 “Marketers need to be extra sure their product works as promised when they first introduce it.” How does this statement relate to what we know about consumers’ evoked sets?

7-8 List three product attributes that consumers use as product quality heuristics and provide an example of each. 7-9 How does a brand name work as a heuristic? 7-10 Describe the difference between inertia and brand loyalty. 7-11 What is the difference between a noncompensatory and a compensatory decision rule? Give one example of each. 7-12 What is a prime? How does it differ from a nudge?

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHALLENGE DISCUSS

7-13 Excessive food consumption may link to emotional issues, such as feelings of inferiority or low selfesteem. In some situations, people consume products (especially food) as a reaction to prior life experiences, such as loss of a loved one or perhaps abuse as a child. A British man whom the U.K. news media once dubbed “the world’s fattest man” when he weighed in at 980 pounds is a case in point.

He explained that as an adult his insatiable desire to constantly eat stemmed from an abusive father and sexual abuse by a relative: “I still had all these things going around in my head from my childhood. Food replaced the love I didn’t get from my parents.” (The good news: After a gastric bypass operation this man has lost almost two-thirds of his body weight).68 Obviously this is an extreme case, and it

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certainly doesn’t mean that everyone who struggles with their weight is a victim of abuse! Nonetheless, emotion often plays a role—a dieter may feel elated when he weighs in at three pounds less than last week; however, if he fails to make progress, he may become discouraged and actually sabotage himself with a Krispy Kreme binge.69 Is it ethical for food companies to exploit these issues by linking their products to enhanced moods? 7-14 The chapter discusses ways that organizations can use “nudges” to change consumer behavior. Critics refer to them as benevolent paternalism because they argue they force people to “eat their vegetables” by restricting the freedom to choose. For example, several cities, including New York and Philadelphia, have tried (unsuccessfully thus far) to ban the sales of extra-large portions of sugary drinks. What’s your take on these efforts—should local, state, or federal governments be in the business of nudging citizens to be healthier? 7-15 Technology has the potential to make our lives easier as it reduces the amount of clutter we need to work through to access the information on the internet that really interests us. However, perhaps intelligent agents that make recommendations based only on what we and others like us have chosen in the past limit us, in that they reduce the chance that we will stumble on something through serendipity (e.g., a book on a topic we’ve never heard of or a music group that’s different from the style we usually listen to). Will the proliferation of “shopping bots” make our lives too predictable by giving us only more of the same? If so, is this a problem? 7-16 It’s increasingly clear that many postings on blogs and product reviews on websites are fake or are posted there to manipulate consumers’ opinions. How big a problem is this if consumers increasingly

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look to consumer-generated product reviews during the stage of information search? What steps, if any, can marketers take to nip this problem in the bud? 7-17 For the same reasons that anthropomorphized digital assistants are influential, they are also worrisome. Recent research reveals that consumers are increasingly concerned artificial intelligence assistants are invading their privacy and threatening their human identity. Some even put Alexa back in her box so she can’t hear background conversations.70 Even if you’re not ready to give up on Alexa or Google Home, what steps (if any) do you think you should take to protect your data privacy?71 7-18 Research supports the argument that the way we pay for a product changes the way we perceive it. More specifically, credit cards prime people to focus less on the costs of the item and more on the benefits. Using plastic decouples the expense of the purchase, so we tend to buy more when we can charge it.72 Newer innovations like digital wallets take this a step further so payment—at least at the time of purchase—is even less painful. Are these formats going to create problems if they prime us to think more about short-term gratification and less about the long-term hit to our budgets? Do marketers have an obligation to try to prevent these problems? 7-19 Country of origin can discourage sales in some situations, and in some cases, this is due to deeply held moral views that lead people to “cancel” a company. For example, some Jews refuse to buy cars made by Mercedes-Benz and other German automakers due to their use of slave labor to make vehicles during World War II.73 Should a company bear responsibility for decisions its predecessors made? 7-20 If people are not always rational decision makers, is it worth the effort to study how they make purchasing decisions?

APPLY

7-21 Find examples of electronic recommendation agents on the web. Evaluate these. Are they helpful? What characteristics of the sites you locate are likely to make you buy products you wouldn’t have bought on your own? 7-22 Sometimes a company invents a determinant attribute: Pepsi-Cola accomplished this when it stamped freshness dates on soda cans. It spent about $25 million on an advertising and promotional campaign to convince consumers that there’s nothing quite as

horrible as a stale can of soda—even though people in the industry estimate that drinkers consume 98 percent of all cans well before this could be a problem. Six months after it introduced the campaign, lo and behold, an independent survey found that 61 percent of respondents felt that freshness dating is an important attribute for a soft drink!74 Devise a similar strategy for another product category by coming up with a completely new product attribute. How would you communicate this attribute to your customers?

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Section 3  •  Buying and Having: Choosing and Using Products

7-23 Choose someone you know who grocery shops on a regular basis and keep a log of their purchases of common consumer products during the term. Can you detect any evidence of brand loyalty in any categories based on consistency of purchases? If so, talk to the person about these purchases. Try to determine if their choices are based on true brand loyalty or on inertia. What techniques might you use to differentiate between the two? 7-24 Hershey’s stresses the determinant attribute of product authenticity when the chocolate company states: “Hershey, PA is where it all started more than 100 years ago, and it’s still where the famous Hershey’s Kisses are made.”75 Find examples of other companies that appeal to their heritage. How effective are these messages? 7-25 Form a group of three. Pick a product and develop a marketing plan based on either slow or fast decision making. What are the major differences in emphasis between the two perspectives? Which is the most likely type of decision-making process for the product you selected? 7-26 Identify a person who is about to make a major purchase. Ask that person to make a chronological list of all the information sources they consult before deciding what to buy. How would you characterize the types of sources they use (i.e., internal versus external, media versus personal, and so on)? Which sources appeared to have the most impact on the person’s decision? 7-27 Perform a survey of country-of-origin stereotypes. Compile a list of five countries and ask people what products they associate with each. What are their evaluations of the products and likely attributes of these different products? The power of a country stereotype can also be demonstrated in another way. Prepare a brief description of a product, including a list of features, and ask people to rate it in terms of quality, likelihood of purchase, and so on. Make several versions of the description, varying only the country from which it comes. Do ratings change as a function of the country of origin? 7-28 Ask a friend to “talk through” the process they used to choose one brand rather than others during a recent purchase. Based on this description, can you identify the decision rule that they most likely employed? 7-29 Think of a product you recently shopped for online. Describe your search process. How did you become aware that you wanted or needed the product? How

did you evaluate alternatives? Did you wind up buying online? Why or why not? What factors would make it more or less likely that you would buy something online versus in a traditional store? 7-30 Can you replicate Chan’s decision-making process as he chose a TV brand for other consumers or other products? Create a grid for a different product category that lists available brands and the features each offers. (Hint: Product websites for computers, cars, and other complex products often generate these grids when they allow you to choose the “compare products” option.) Present this grid to several respondents and ask each to talk aloud as they evaluate their options. Based on their description, can you identify which decision rule they seem to use? 7-31 Extraneous characteristics of the choice situation can influence our selections, even though they wouldn’t if we were totally rational decision makers. Create two versions of this scenario (alternate the text you see in parentheses as directed), and ask a separate group of people to respond to each: You are lying on the beach on a hot day. All you have to drink is ice water. For the past hour you have been thinking about how much you would enjoy a nice cold bottle of your favorite brand of beer. A companion gets up to go make a phone call and offers to bring back a beer from the only nearby place where beer is sold (either a fancy resort hotel or a small, run-down grocery store, depending on the version you’re given). He says that the beer might be expensive and so asks how much you are willing to pay for it. What price do you tell him? When researchers gave both versions of this question to respondents, they found that the median price participants who read the fancy-resort version gave was $2.65, but those who got the grocery-store version were only willing to pay $1.50. In both versions, the consumption act is the same, the beer is the same, and they don’t consume any “atmosphere” because they drink the beer on the beach.76 How do these results compare to yours? 7-32 Several products made in China (including toothpaste and toys) have been recalled because they are dangerous or even fatal to use. Some American consumers have stopped buying them as a result. Essentially these consumers use country of origin as a heuristic to avoid Chinese products. If the Chinese government hired you as a consultant to help it repair some of the damage to the reputation of products made there, what actions would you recommend?

Chapter 7  •  Deciding



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DIGGING IN WITH DATA See “Data Case 2: Evolving Trends in Fitness and French Fries” in Appendix A for an opportunity to work with real consumer data and apply this chapter’s concepts to real world problems.

CASE STUDY

P&G and the Moments of Truth – Just How Many Moments Are There?

As you are learning in this course, a consumer’s journey to a buying decision has several steps, and there are many factors that influence the choices made at each point in the process. P&G, the world’s third-largest consumer-packaged-goods company, has explained this as the moments of truth.77 The company started with two, added another, and other marketing experts now believe there are many more moments that marketers must consider when interacting with consumers. The concept of the moment of truth began in the 1980s with Jan Carlzon, president of Scandinavian Airlines, who said, “Any time a customer comes into contact with a business, however remote, they have an opportunity to form an impression.” He believed that if a company managed that interaction to a positive outcome the company would be successful. In 2005, former P&G CEO A.G. Lafley refocused the concept from customer service to sales and broke the process down into two big steps: the first moment (FMOT) when the customer is looking at the product in the store, comparing it to alternatives on the shelf, and the second moment (SMOT) that occurs when the customer is using the product at home.78 Later, ex-P&G brand manager Pete Blackshaw suggested a third important moment (TMOT) when customers provide feedback about their purchase to the company and to friends and family.79 Remember the Star Wars “prequels”? Well, in 2011 Google introduced a prequel of sorts to this moment of truth concept with its Zero Moment Of Truth (ZMOT). This moment is focused on the internet research that consumers do before they buy, which is standard practice today for products of all kinds. ZMOT was born from a Google study that found that 50 percent of shoppers used a search engine for product or brand research. They also learned that for some purchases, consumers were spending more time at the ZMOT stage than FMOT.80 Convinced, P&G updated its process to include ZMOT, FMOT, and SMOT. FMOT, SMOT, TMOT, ZMOT—are you keeping up? But wait—in 2014, marketing firm eventricity Ltd. added