Development and validation of an emic scale to measure ad-evoked nostalgia in France

The practice of imbuing marketing communications with nostalgic reverie is prevalent in numerous countries. However, scholarly research investigating consumer response to such communication across cultures is lacking. This inquiry follows an emic approach examining and measuring ad-evoked personal nostalgia in France. Findings from five studies (N = 699) reveal significant differences in consumer reactions in France, as compared to earlier research based on American samples. Among the French, nostalgic advertising evokes personal memories and cultural nostalgia, contrasted to reports of past imagery, physiological and positive and negative emotional reactions in the United States. Furthermore, while cultural nostalgia is an important component of the French personal nostalgic experience, it is the personal memories that are the key to the creation of positive impressions about the ad and brand (brand heritage, brand bonds, and attitudes), and driving behavioral intentions. The emic French scale was found to be superior to an etic ad-nostalgia measure, in terms of fit and variance explained of the endogenous variables. The findings contribute to cross-cultural advertising and marketing research, and can be instructive for advertisers targeting the French market.     

The effects of audio-visual and visual-only cues on consumers' responses to co-branded advertising

Co-branded advertising (two brands featured in the same ad) is a relatively new and under-researched area of advertising that offers advertisers the opportunity to share advertising costs and leverage brand equity. Despite its growing popularity, few research studies have examined the potential benefits and/or limitations of this executional strategy, and particularly a strategy in which one brand (a focal brand) is paired with another, but less emphasized (peripheral) brand. This study reports the results of an empirical investigation that examines how modifying reference to the peripheral brand (visual-only versus simultaneous visual and audio references) influences consumers' perceived associations of the advertised brands, as well as their attitudes toward the advertisement and intentions to purchase either brand. Employing a convenience sample of undergraduate students on a university campus in the United States, the results of this study indicate that audio-visual cues enhance brand association and purchase intentions. However, additional analyses reveal that attitude toward a co-branded advertisement mediates the brand association effect on purchase intentions toward the focal brand, whereas brand association has a direct effect on purchase intentions toward the peripheral brand.     

When Your Source Is Smiling,Consumers May Automatically Smile with You: Investigating the Source Expressive Display Hypothesis

Facial expressions act as a powerful readout device, influencing a viewer's own emotional response. Drawing from facial feedback theory, the mediating role of source expressive display‐based judgments on the influence of source facial expressions on consumer attitudes toward advertising stimuli, attitudes toward endorsed brands, and behavioral intention is examined. In addition, the examination of expressive display‐based judgments as an automatic phenomenon, contingent on the familiarity of the source and the perceived match with the product endorsed is investigated. Across three studies, the facial expression of a source (resting vs. smiling) is manipulated within endorsement contexts. Results demonstrate that when an endorser is pictured in an advertisement with a smiling facial expression, consumers report feeling more pleasant (pleasure), with this positive emotional response mediating the relationship between source expressive display and attitude toward an advertisement, attitude toward a brand, and purchase intention. Results also indicate that the emotional response derived from the presence of a smiling source in an advertisement occurs effortlessly, yet only for a familiar source and one that is perceived to match the product endorsed, indicating this process can be defined as automatic under certain conditions. The findings from these studies provide advertisers with an effective cue to enhance a consumer's emotional response to advertisements, which in turn heighten advertisement, brand, and behavioral based judgments.     

Consumer–Brand Relationships: A Contrast of Nostalgic and Non‐Nostalgic Brands

This research examined how consumer–brand relationships change when one contrasts brands perceived as nostalgic with brands perceived as non‐nostalgic. Paired comparisons of brands in six product categories revealed that brand attachment, self‐brand connections, and storytelling, as well as, the propensity to offer the brand as a gift and collect brand‐derived products, depend on the nostalgic status of the brand. On a sample of 606 consumers, the results showed that a brand's nostalgic status has a positive effect on attachment, self‐brand connections, and storytelling. These effects had not previously been considered in nostalgia research. Furthermore, the nostalgic status of a brand has positive effects in terms of intention to purchase the brand as a gift and collect brand‐derived products. Moreover, ANOVA results illustrate that consumer relationships with nostalgic brands are systematically stronger than with non‐nostalgic brands. Finally, results indicated that product category moderates all of the dimensions of brand relationships while gender does not.     

Inclusive advertising featuring disability on instagram: Effect on consumer well-being,brand engagement,and purchase intention

Should advertisers continue to promote their brands through brand endorsers without considering their diverse characteristics, or should they embrace diversity in advertising? Gender, age, ethnicity, and sexual orientation are some of the aspects of diversity that have been investigated in advertising research, primarily in the context of Western and developed countries. However, it remains underexplored how physical disabilities in influencer advertising on Instagram affect consumer well-being and consumers’ responses toward brands in a non-Western market. Through an experimental design (including both inclusive and non-inclusive samples), this study examined the effects of inclusive advertising (including disabled persons) on consumer well-being (both hedonic and eudaimonic), brand engagement, and purchase intention. Two studies were conducted to test the hypotheses. In Study 1 (shampoo brand case), a data analysis of 260 young Pakistani consumers revealed that inclusive (vs non-inclusive) advertisements enhance both hedonic well-being (HWB) and eudaimonic well-being (EWB), with a stronger effect for EWB. The spillover effects of EWB and HWB indicated a significant influence on brand engagement and purchase intention, whereas the effect of HWB is significant only on brand engagement. The effects of HWB on brand engagement and of EWB on purchase intention showed a greater influence in the case of inclusive advertisements than in traditional non-inclusive advertisements. In Study 2 (clothing brand case), an analysis of 235 respondents revealed that inclusive advertising drives both HWB and EWB, which have a greater influence on brand engagement and purchase intention when individuals are exposed to an inclusive advertisement featuring disabled persons than a non-inclusive one. These studies confirm that inclusive advertisements attract a more diverse customer base in addition to existing customers. These findings offer theoretical and practical insights for advertising and consumer research.     

Advertisement Disclaimer Speed and Corporate Social Responsibility: “Costs” to Consumer Comprehension and Effects on Brand Trust and Purchase Intention

It is not uncommon for advertisers to present required product disclaimers quickly at the end of advertisements. We show that fast disclaimers greatly reduce consumer comprehension of product risks and benefits, creating implications for social responsibility. In addition, across two studies, we found that disclaimer speed and brand familiarity interact to predict brand trust and purchase intention, and that brand trust mediated the interactive effect of brand familiarity and disclaimer speed on purchase intention. Our results indicate that fast disclaimers actually reduce brand trust and purchase intention for unfamiliar brands, suggesting that there are both economic and social responsibility reasons to use less rapid disclaimers for unfamiliar brands. Conversely, disclaimer speed had no negative effects on brand trust and purchase intention for highly familiar brands, presenting ethical tensions between economic interests (e.g., an efficient use of advertisement time) and social responsibility. We discuss the implications of our framework for advertising ethics, for corporate social performance, and for corporate social responsibility.     

Effectiveness of Indecent Language in Advertising on Young Adult Consumer Attitudes and Purchase Intent

This study applies both the Dual Mediation Hypothesis and Schema Congruity Theory to examine the effectiveness of mild controversial advertising executions on young adult consumer cognitions, affect, and behavior. Findings from this study suggest that advertisements featuring mild indecent language result in more positive advertisement attitudes, brand attitudes, and purchase intentions than when decent language is used. Young adult consumers also report more positive advertisement and brand attitudes, and a greater likelihood of purchase when they perceive the advertisement to be congruent with their existing schema, regardless of whether the execution is mildly controversial or noncontroversial in nature. The findings of this study are important to advertisers in the development of effective creative execution techniques.     

Advertising Ethics: The Use of Sexual Appeal in Chinese Advertising

With increasing social awareness of unethical advertisements in today's advertising, this study explores consumers' ethical judgements about the use of sexual appeals in advertising in a Chinese context by replicating LaTour and Henthorne's study. It specifically focuses upon responses on the Reidenbach-Robin multidimensional ethical scale, attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand and purchase intentions. The results show that sexual appeal was evaluated as the most frequent use in Hong Kong print advertising and they were also perceived as the most attractive instrument. Similar to LeTour and Henthorne's findings, regardless of respondent's gender, the use of a strong overt sexual appeal was not well received by Chinese consumers and resulted in less favorable attitude toward the ad itself and the purchase intention than using mild sexual themes. However, the degree of sexual content used in advertising has no direct influence on brand attitudes. Due to the conservative nature of Chinese culture, the advertisers should be careful in the use of sexual appeal for Chinese consumers.     

We share; we connect: how shared brand consumption influences relational brand connections

This research examines how married consumers form relational brand connections. Findings from two studies contribute to research on identity‐related brand consumption by showcasing how shared brand consumption and marital satisfaction influence relational brand connections and the perceived importance of the brand to the marital relationship. This research has important theoretical contributions and managerial implications. From a theoretical perspective, the authors show how consumers incorporate brands into their interpersonal relationships through shared brand consumption and that relational brand connections influence brand‐related outcomes, such as brand attitudes, purchase intentions, brand affect, and brand separation distress. From a managerial perspective, the findings highlight the importance of considering relational aspects of brand consumption when designing branding strategy and advertising appeals.     

Recognizing Native Ads as Advertising: Attitudinal and Behavioral Consequences

This study assessed consumers' initial reactions to in‐feed native ads appearing as news content. In particular, it focuses on consumers' recognition of advertising when they realize that content they had thought were news stories had in fact been advertising. Recognition of advertising made consumers infer that advertisers had deliberately manipulated them. Consequently, consumers engaged less with the message, had less positive attitudes toward the brand, and were less likely to purchase and share. The results demonstrated the mechanisms through which the two mediators, manipulative intent and message engagement, lowered brand attitude, purchase intention, and sharing intention. In addition, ad disclosure made more people recognize the ad when they were exposed to it than when it was not disclosed as an ad.     

A comparison of attitudes towards Internet advertising among lifestyle segments in Taiwan

As the Internet gradually diffuses throughout more sectors in society many advertisers have begun to consider the diversity in various aspects of consumer behaviour among Internet users. As Internet users' attitudes towards Internet advertising are found to influence their brand attitudes and purchase intentions, the study can contribute to the design and assessment of Internet advertising. The study identified potential lifestyle segments among Internet users and examined the relationships between lifestyle segments and their attitudes towards Internet advertising. This study surveyed 700 Internet users and employed a lifestyle segmentation approach for categorizing consumers into three distinct lifestyle groups: ‘experiencers’, ‘traditionalists’ and ‘self‐indulgents’. Statistical analyses pointed out that all three groups differed from one another in several demographic characteristics. Moreover, the lifestyle clusters were found partly to predict Internet users' attitudes towards Internet advertising. The findings of the present study provide justifications for marketers to treat Internet users as a heterogeneous group. Furthermore, advertising researchers should be aware of the diversity of the Internet population in order to assess the effectiveness of Internet advertising better.     

How Chipotle used unbranded content to increase purchase intention by changing beliefs about ethical consumption

Abstract

To combat ad avoidance, advertisers are moving advertising into programs, a practice known broadly as branded entertainment. The difficulty of advertising to Millennials has also prompted the use of unbranded cause advertising, to increase awareness of issues championed by the brand, without triggering defensive persuasion-coping strategies. Chipotle combined both these trends when it produced a relatively unbranded piece of branded entertainment, Farmed and Dangerous, a four-episode sitcom that humorously dramatized the ethical issues raised by industrial farming. When the series ran on Hulu, an online television network, it increased sales for the Chipotle brand and won awards for its creators. This study reports a classic pre/post experimental design, to show how exposure to this unbranded entertainment increased purchase intention by changing beliefs about ethical issues related to the environment, nutrition, and gene technology.     

Intergenerational appeal in advertising: impacts of brand–gender extension and brand history

An intergenerational (IG) appeal in an advertising campaign usually presents a nostalgic image with family portraits, emphasizing the traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation or harkening back to the ‘good old days’ between father and son, or mother and daughter. The IG appeal can effectively enhance a brand's image and induce that all-important consumer purchase. This paper takes gender differences (father/son or mother/daughter) into consideration while examining two moderators related to branding: (in)congruent brand–gender extension and brand history. Results indicate that a well-established brand history enhances the effects of the IG appeal. In addition, a congruent brand–gender extension increases the effects of the IG appeal. More interestingly, IG appeals can be effective in presenting a less established brand which has an incongruent brand–gender extension.     

Advertising for New and Existing Brands: The Impact of Media Context and Type of Advertisement

The effects of advertisement and context type on the responses to advertisements for different brands of new and existing products were tested. In the first experiment (243 graduate students) a positive emotional advertisement and a non‐emotional advertisement for a well‐known and a new brand of printer were tested in a positive emotional context and a non‐emotional media context. In the second experiment (206 graduate students) positive emotional and non‐emotional advertisements for new brands of watches and healthy drinks were tested in an emotional and a non‐emotional context. The type of context moderated the responses to advertisements for the well‐known and new products: a positive emotional context led to a more positive attitude towards the advertisement and the brand and purchase intention for the well‐known brand than for the new brand. A non‐emotional context led to more positive responses for the new brand than for the well‐known brand. In general, emotional advertisements led to more positive affective reactions and non‐emotional advertisements led to more positive cognitive reactions. However, the type of advertisement did not have a moderating effect on the responses to advertising for the new or well‐known brands or different product types. The studies illustrated the relevance of media context for advertising new versus existing products.     

品牌在商品进口中的作用--来自中国葡萄酒进口商的证据

将传统的供应商选择标准归纳为品牌功能绩效,同时引入品牌情感绩效概念,以顾客满意作为中介变量、以重复购买意向作为因变量构建理论模型并提出研究假设,数据收集是通过对206家葡萄酒进口商发放问卷的方式进行的。研究发现：供应商的品牌功能绩效和品牌情感绩效都会正向影响进口商满意度,供应商的功能绩效还正向影响进口商的重复购买意向,但情感绩效没有实现对进口商重复购买意向的直接影响,情感绩效通过影响进口商满意度间接影响其重复购买意向。     

Ethical Judgments of Sexual Appeals in Print Advertising

Abstract

This study explores consumers' ethical judgments about the use of sexual appeals in print advertising. It specifically focuses upon responses on the Reidenbach-Robin multidimensional ethics scale, ad attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intentions. The findings indicate that, regardless of the respondent's gender, the use of a strong overt sexual appeal in a print advertisement was not well received. Consequently, advertisers need to rethink the use of strong overt sexual appeals, especially given the controversial issues surrounding such advertising stimuli and their popular use to break through media clutter.     

Effects of Message Modality and Appeal on Advertising Acceptance

Differences in emotional response, cognitive response, attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the brand were observed after subjects were exposed to advertising messages of different modalities (audiovisual vs. audio-only) and appeals (rational vs. emotional). Hypothesized causal models depicting the relationships among the dependent measures were tested using LISREL. Results sup ported the mediating roles of both emotional and cognitive responses in the acceptance of advertising messages.     

Mobile Commerce Website Success: Antecedents of Consumer Satisfaction and Purchase Intention

With the rapid development of apparel mobile commerce in the United States, more companies view mobile commerce as a new source of competitive advantage. Despite the importance of apparel mobile website quality and its effect on consumer satisfaction and future purchase stimulus, extant research has paid little attention to these topics. This study proposes a website quality–consumer satisfaction–purchase intention research model based on the self-regulatory process theory. Six dimensions of apparel mobile website quality—website visual appeal, apparel visual appeal, brand trust, website information quality, website response time, and website security—were investigated. In all, 293 eligible responses were collected via an online survey. Multiple regression analysis was utilized to test the proposed relationships. Results reveal that website information quality, website visual appeal, apparel visual appeal, and website security positively affect consumer satisfaction toward apparel mobile commerce websites, while website response time and brand trust show insignificant impacts on consumer satisfaction. With higher satisfaction on an apparel mobile commerce website, consumers are more likely to purchase apparel through the website.     

Nostalgia and brands: a sweet rather than a bitter cultural evocation of the past

Abstract

This study focuses on the cultural consumer environment of brands considered as nostalgic. The research questions are thus the following: what is the impact of culture on the consumer relationship with brands considered as nostalgic? In which cases are these relationships positive, and in which cases are they negative? To answer these questions, a longitudinal data collection was conducted, consisting of interviewing the same sample of respondents three times, at more or less one-year intervals. The results were analysed taking into account three dimensions of culture: time, place and social aspects. In the time-based approach, brands are associated with traditional celebrations and rites of passage. Thus, they give rise to ‘traditional purchase’ and consumer loyalty. In the place-based approach, brands evoke original authenticity and myths. They offer protection to reduce perceived risks and therefore facilitate consumers’ trust. In the social approach, brands are associated with symbolic icons and attract communities of fans. Finally, this article shows that culture involves sweeter rather than bitter nostalgic brand relationships. This article brings to light four cases when the consumer cultural environment may induce a rejection of the nostalgic brand: (1) the ‘corrupted’ brand; (2) the ‘immoral’ brand; (3) the ‘precarious’ brand; and (4) the ‘stereotypical’ brand. It shows that only one case – the ‘corrupted’ brand – may be particularly prejudicial due to its unwelcome role in History.