Schadenfreude and product failures: the role of product deservingness and product status

ABSTRACT

This article examines the influence of product considerations on the experience of schadenfreude – taking pleasure in the suffering of another consumer. We examine how schadenfreude is affected by the extent to which the person suffering a product failure deserves to own the product and the status of the failed product. This work also explicitly considers how these factors interact with those of the person observing the misfortune. These ideas are tested across three experiments. The results show that high product status increases schadenfreude via its exacerbating effects on envy and that a lack of perceived product deservingness increases schadenfreude via both envy and deservingness. These effects differ based on the corresponding factors of the observer where the observer’s own deservingness and lack of product status are found to exacerbate schadenfreude via envy.     

How product aesthetics cues efficacy beliefs of product performance

Aesthetics of package design is an important consideration when consumers make purchase decisions. We argue that this is particularly the case for purchase decision of products in the beauty category. This paper advances current understanding of the role of packaging in product purchase behavior by identifying heuristic cues exhibited in packaging (i.e., that beautiful packaging is more effective at making the consumer more beautiful). Across a pilot field study and four lab studies, we demonstrate that package aesthetics informs inferences of how well the product can perform, which, in turn, drives purchase decisions. Importantly, we show that in the presence of a diagnostic cue such as a brand name, or an explicit promise (e.g. tagline of an advertisement), this effect is attenuated and rendered irrelevant. Further, we show that this effect is rendered ineffective to a category to which beauty is irrelevant. Hence, by signaling product efficacy, the beauty-in-a-bottle heuristic appears to inform purchase decisions.     

The effect of context attractiveness on product attractiveness and product quality: the moderating role of product familiarity

Prior research has investigated a number of drivers of consumers’ perceived product attractiveness, such as a product’s shape and color. The context, in which a product is presented, has so far been largely neglected in examining consumers’ aesthetic appraisal of products. Drawing on social cognition theory, this research investigates how the attractiveness of the visual context (e.g., websites, advertisements) influences consumers’ perceptions of product attractiveness and product quality for familiar versus unfamiliar products. Results of two experimental studies show that consumers perceive unfamiliar products as more attractive and, consequently, of higher quality when products are placed in an attractive context than when they are placed in an unattractive context. No differences in consumers’ perceived product attractiveness and perceived product quality exist for familiar products. The findings extend our theoretical knowledge of product aesthetics and provide managers with insights into the effective communication of their offerings’ attractiveness.     

The company, product and market dimensions of new product decision scenarios

Studies show that managers synthesize information and make strategic decisions in a situation-specific mode. Making effective new product decisions is a critical problem and managers are urged to improve their performance by adjusting their decision approach to fit the type of situation. Identifying situation-specific new product scenarios is, therefore, an important prerequisite. This article identifies five basic new product decision scenarios using a cluster analysis of factor scored company, product and market data. These provide insights about the situations managers typically face when evaluating new products.     

Interactive effects of country of origin and product category on product evaluations

This research examined the effects of country of origin and product category on product evaluations for 21 countries and 18 products. As hypothesized, product evaluations were highest for highly-developed countries, followed by newly-industrialized, newly-marketizing, and developing-country groups. Further, the product-category and country-of-origin effects interacted such that, depending upon the country group, different product categories received more, equal, or less favorable evaluations compared to other product categories. Several variables and processes underlying these effects are identified and integrated into a conceptual model.     

Assessment of product stability

Abstract

In this paper the mechanical stability of consumer products is discussed from both a theoretical and a practical point of view. It is shown that the two methods of stability testing most often used in product safety standards (inclined plane and destabilizing force) can be used for determining a third important parameter, the overturning energy. Furthermore, test results for a broad range of products are presented in terms of the three parameters tilt angle, destabilizing moment and overturning energy. In existing and currently proposed draft standards a variety of test procedures and, more important, criteria for stability can be found. The level of safety is not clear and cannot be compared between various products. Therefore, a new and more consistent approach is proposed for developing stability requirements in standards: instead of a pass/fail criterion a risk assessment procedure can be followed in which the test results are compared with the foreseeable external influences (moving person, pushing, etc.) taking into account the risk of injury in case of overturning. The new approach is applied as an example to one of the tested product types.     

Cross-national product value perceptions

Can a psychographic variable, i.e., a value perception of a product, be successfully compared across national boundaries? Using students in four countries, the authors tested for similarity in a two-stage process. Value perception was tested by comparing samples using only the owners of the products first, and then using only the nonowners. Similarities were found that bridge national borders. These similarities are evident where the respondents sampled are owners of the base products or have a high degree of market knowledge regarding these products.     

欧美纺织品流行时尚

<正> 欧美发达国家是纺织品消费大国,也是纺织品流行趋势的发源地。据业内人士分析,欧美国家纺织品市场经久不衰的流行品种如下: 毛纺织品 欧美中低档服装店对男装西服面料的质量要求并不太高,精纺毛织物的纱支一般在60支以下,色泽传统、不够明快。高档西服店则要求西服面料的纱支在70支以上,全毛为主,还有毛/氨纶、毛/涤纶、羊毛与马海毛、羊绒交织、混纺产品.     

Marketing the premium product

From gourmet ice cream to luxury imported cars, increasing attention is being paid to the development and marketing of premium products targeted at the upper end of the price performance pyramid. However, despite the current wave of enthusiasm, marketers should not conclude that launching premium products is a sure way to improve profit margins.     

高价值产品的营销

在营销上，大家都会谈到奢侈品的营销和大众消费品的营销。奢侈品而言，一般是超高附加值，品牌在其中一定占有极大的成分。而大众消费品大部分则是价廉物美，就像西方看我们中国制造一样。在奢侈品这部分，要有钱来砸，有钱来包装。而对大众消费品而言，价格则是一个永远有效的法宝.     

Consumer reaction to product recalls: factors influencing product judgement and behavioural intentions

In order to evaluate the factors influencing consumers’ responses to product recalls, two surveys were conducted among Brazilian automobile owners and two regression models tested. Results indicated that (i) product judgement was significantly affected by corporate social responsibility (CSR), blame attributed to the company and whether or not consumers had a car made by the brand considered; and (ii) behavioural intentions were significantly affected by CSR, consumers’ involvement with the message, perceived danger, product judgement and whether or not consumers had a car made by the brand considered. Findings revealed, however, that CSR is a better predictor of the product judgement than of the behavioural intentions, in accordance with recent studies indicating that CSR affects consumer judgements and behaviour differently. Finally, these two models are discussed and compared with previous research.     

Comparing mood-induction and affective conditioning as mechanisms influencing product evaluation and product choice

Previous research has demonstrated that nonverbal, affective elements of ads have the capacity to influence the evaluation of the product in the ad, and product choice. Affective conditioning and mood induction have been presented as mechanisms responsible for this effect. In general, most researchers adopt only one of these two mechanisms in their studies. They often implicitly suggest that the two mechanisms are competing in the sense that only one mechanism is taken to be valid. In our study, the effect of a nonverbal affective stimulus, that is, music, on product evaluation and product choice was studied, using both mechanisms in two experiments with a comparable research format. The mood mechanism was studied by presenting music to subjects, thus inducing mood (cf. Alpert & Alpert, 1989; Batra & Stayman, 1990; Sullivan, 1990), followed by a slide presentation of a pen (the product). The affective conditioning mechanism was studied, using the same music and the same slides, presented in accordance with the affective conditioning paradigm. Results of the study indicate that both mechanisms may be operative in influencing the evaluation of the product, and product choice. It is further suggested that both mechanisms work differently. Mood induction is thought to create a short-lasting association between a product and an affective stimulus. Thus, the mechanism of mood induction may be primarily important to retailers selling multiple products, for example, by playing background music in a retail store. In contrast, affective conditioning is thought to create a longerlasting integration between a product and an affective stimulus. Consequently, the mechanism of affective conditioning may be successfully employed by producers of a specific product (line). © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Selling an opaque product through an intermediary: The case of disguising one's product

This paper models multiple service providers who use an intermediary to sell an opaque product. An opaque product is a product whose identity is concealed from consumers until after purchase. I find that an opaque good may allow finer segmentation of a service provider's customer base, lead to market expansion, and/or reduce price rivalry. However, if there is little brand-loyalty in an industry, an opaque good increases the degree of price rivalry and reduces total industry profit. The paper also discusses issues regarding channel structure and outlines managerial implications of this research.