An Investigation of Attitude Toward the Brand,Commitment, and True Brand Loyalty in a Cross-Cultural Context

Abstract

This study utilized data from two geographically separated cultures to investigate relationships involving antecedents to true brand loyalty. A relationship between the consumer's attitude toward the brand and a measure of expressed commitment was found to explain a significant percentage of the variance in commitment. A relationship between commitment and true brand loyalty also was found significant. Both relationships vary somewhat by product and culture. No evidence was found, however, suggesting that they could not be considered generalizable. The underlying components of brand attitude were found to vary by product and country. The culturally related differences-espe-cially those pertaining to the composition and meaning of the underlying components-have interesting managerial implications.     

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.     

The Effects of Humor on Ad Processing: Mediating Role of Brand Familiarity

The effect of humorous advertisement on memory and attitude has been an important topic among advertising scholars. However, scholars have used fake brands to test the effects of humor. Since the possibility for consumers to be exposed to the commercial for a completely new brand is very low, using a fake brand to test humor effects is not realistic. Hence, this study examined the role of brand familiarity on the effects of humor on memory and attitude by using existing brands in a laboratory experiment. This study suggests a different structural model for familiar and unfamiliar brands based on the previous studies in consumer behavior. Results revealed different effects of humorous advertisements for the familiar or unfamiliar brands. The structural model proposed for this study revealed a mediating role of brand familiarity on humor effects. Humorous ads worked better for the unfamiliar brands. For the familiar brands, the effects were mediated by the subjects’ brand familiarity and prior brand attitude.     

When Do Consumers Believe Puffery Claims? The Moderating Role of Brand Familiarity and Repetition

In the United States, exaggerated advertising claims for products and services, known as “puffery,” make up a considerable proportion of all claims in the marketplace. Legally, advertisers do not need to substantiate the puffery claims because it is believed that consumers would not be deceived by such exaggerated claims. This research reports two experiments that examined the moderating role of brand familiarity and repetition on puffery claims. Results indicated that while puffery generally led to weak main effects, it had significant interaction effects with brand familiarity (Study 1) and claim repetition (Study 2) on the dependent variables.     

Do feminists still respond negatively to female nudity in advertising? Investigating the influence of feminist attitudes on reactions to sexual appeals

To test the belief that feminism and sexualization of women in advertising stand in opposition, this study employed a large US national sample (N = 1298) to examine how consumers’ feminist attitudes differentiate and predict their ethical judgment and ad-related evaluations of sexual images of women in advertisements. The results indicate that (1) consumers with higher feminist attitudes evaluated sexual ads more favorably than those having lower feminist attitudes, and (2) consumers’ feminist attitudes positively predict ad-related evaluations with full mediation of ethical judgment. These findings, which diverge from previous research, may indicate that contemporary feminists view sexual images of women differently than in previous decades. Theoretical and practical implications are described.     

It's no longer mine: the role of brand ownership and advertising in cross-border brand acquisitions

Although cross-border brand acquisitions are increasingly common in the global marketplace, research on how consumers respond to them is limited. Building on social identity and psychological ownership theories, we introduce the concept of brand ownership to the advertising literature, and show its negative effects on consumer reactions to a brand acquisition. Furthermore, we demonstrate that consumers’ disidentification (i.e., an oppositional motivation) with an acquiring country moderates the negative effect of consumers’ brand ownership on consumer attitudes after a brand acquisition. The results reveal that consumers with high levels of brand ownership develop more negative post-acquisition brand attitudes when a brand is acquired by a country with which consumers strongly disidentify (i.e. dissociative vs. out-group). Furthermore, our research introduces the concept of a brand ownership appeal in advertising, and demonstrates that it is an effective advertising strategy in enhancing post-acquisition brand attitudes for consumers with high levels of brand ownership. Important theoretical and managerial advertising implications conclude this research.     

Associative and dissociative comparative advertising strategies in broadening brand positioning

When marketplace dynamics prompt a familiar brand to change its positioning, consumers often meet such attempts with resistance. This research demonstrates how familiar brands can incorporate new attribute information into the brand's position via comparative advertising in order to broaden the brand's marketplace positioning. Study 1 shows how the use and nature of comparative advertising affects the ability of a familiar brand to broaden its positioning. Studies 2a and 2b demonstrate that a comparative advertising strategy that incorporates a specific sequencing of dissociative and associative comparative advertisements best broadens brand positioning.     

Brand crises: The roles of brand familiarity and crisis relevance in determining the impact on brand evaluations

Brand crises, defined as well-publicized claims of unsubstantiated or false brand propositions can do severe damage to brands. Yet, the damaging effects of brand crises may not always be uniform. In other words, the effects of crises may be subject to moderators such as the relevance of the crisis to the brand and brand familiarity. We propose a framework that helps us understand the effects of brand crises on consumers' brand evaluations. We test the hypotheses that crisis relevance interacts with familiarity in its effect on brand evaluations, and that this effect is mediated by perceptions of the seriousness of the crisis. Results from two experiments support these predictions.     

Cross-cultural advertising communication: Visual imagery, brand familiarity, and brand recall

The focus of this paper is to address the issue of visual imagery in cross-cultural consumer research. The authors investigate the relationship between visual imagery, brand familiarity, and brand claim recall in two distinct cultural environments — the U.S. and Russia. The paper consists of two studies that explored imagery potency from the point of view of memory-evoking effects. The results suggest that image-intensive tools generate different returns depending on the level of brand familiarity and cultural media. The research findings may be of interest to marketing scholars studying cross-cultural consumer behavior as well as to practitioners operating in international advertising and global brand building.     

External Brand Placement: The Effects on Game Players’ Processing of an In-Game Brand

Video games are now a venue for branded messages. Hence, game players may be exposed to brands in and outside game environments. This study focuses on the latter, that is, external brand placement. Drawing upon the literature on involvement and on the limited capacity model (LCM) of information processing, this study explores the mechanism by which external brand placement influences game players’ processing of a brand placed within a game, known as an in-game brand. The results show that players exposed to an external brand identical to an in-game brand showed greater in-game brand recall than those not so exposed. Players exposed to a competing external brand—whether congruent or not—showed lower in-game brand recall. When the brand was incongruent, however, they showed a preference for the in-game brand.