“This Post Is Sponsored”: Effects of Sponsorship Disclosure on Persuasion Knowledge and Electronic Word of Mouth in the Context of Facebook

Social media, such as Facebook, offer brands the opportunity to reach their target audience in a less obtrusive way than traditional media, through sponsored posts. Regulations require marketers to explicitly inform consumers about the commercial nature of these posts. This study addresses the effects of sponsorship disclosures by means of a 2 (no disclosure vs. the sponsorship disclosure ‘Sponsored’) × 2 (source: celebrity endorser vs. brand) experiment. Results suggest that a sponsorship disclosure only influences the use of persuasion knowledge when the post is disseminated by a celebrity. Moreover, a disclosure starts a process in which the recognition of advertising (i.e., the activation of conceptual persuasion knowledge) causes consumers to develop distrusting beliefs about the post (i.e., higher attitudinal persuasion knowledge), and in turn, decreases their intention to engage in electronic word of mouth.     

Ethnic influences on attractiveness and trustworthiness perceptions of celebrity endorsers

This research examines how the commonality or difference in ethnicity between consumer and celebrity endorser affects the attractiveness and trustworthiness consumers ascribe to recognizable brand spokespersons. Three studies reveal two potential routes through which such effects arise. When the message was limited to simple endorser identification or when priming focused the consumer’s processing on his or her own felt ethnicity, common ethnicity facilitated favourable perceptions across both attractiveness and trustworthiness. In a more complete ad-processing environment, without specific priming of the consumer’s personal ethnic identification, more complex and variable attractiveness and trustworthiness judgments arose.     

Place the good after the bad: effects of emotional shifts on consumer memory

Marketing research has a limited understanding about the effects arising from emotional shifts (i.e., the transition from one emotion to another) during the same advertising message. This paper sheds light on this topic through two studies. Study 1 examines whether an advertising message that features a negative-to-positive emotional shift (i.e., a shift from a negative to a positive emotion) generates greater recall of an advertised brand than an advertising message with a neutral-to-positive emotional shift (i.e., a shift from a neutral to a positive emotion) or one with no emotional shift. Study 2 examines whether an advertising message that simulates a buyer-seller encounter—with the seller reproducing a negative-to-positive emotional shift via facial expressions—generates a greater recall of the advertised content than an identical advertisement with no emotional shift. Results confirm that a negative-to-positive shift facilitates the recall of both the brand and the advertised information.     

“Top 10” reasons: When adding persuasive arguments reduces persuasion

Across four studies, we show that experts’ efforts to strengthen the persuasiveness of health and civic duty-related appeals actually weakened them. When designing “Top 10” reasons lists to get people to quit smoking, encourage young people to vote, and persuade individuals to engage in fitness, governmental (studies 1–2) and non-profit (study 3) agencies chose to include mildly strong reasons alongside strong ones in their effort to be as persuasive as possible. However, from the target audience’s perspective, those mildly favorable reasons actually decreased the persuasiveness of the message compared to a condition in which fewer but only highly persuasive reasons were used. Building upon the Presenter’s Paradox by Weaver, Garcia & Schwarz (Journal of Consumer Research 39 (3):445–460, 2012), these results demonstrate that averaging in impression formation occurs not only in targets commonly thought of as unified entities such as consumer products and people but also occurs in persuasion contexts where the individual arguments comprising a message are independent of each other.     

What affects the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement? Impact of interplay among congruence,identification, and attribution

This study draws upon congruence theory, identification theory, and attribution theory as a means of examining how celebrity endorsement works. The study proposes that the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement may be influenced by the following three factors: congruence between a celebrity endorser and endorsed brand/product, identification with a celebrity endorser, and consumers’ attribution styles (i.e., internal vs. external). To test the proposed hypotheses, the study employs a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subject factorial design. A total of 317 college students participated in the study in return for course credits. The study findings suggest that congruence, identification, and consumers’ attribution styles indeed have impacts on consumers’ attitude toward ad, brand, or purchase intention. The study also finds that there is a relationship between congruence (low vs. high congruence) and attribution styles (internal vs. external). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Procedural learning,consumer decision making,and marketing communication

We examine the applicability of Anderson's (1982) procedural learning framework to consumer decision making within the context of how marketing communications influence people's procedural knowledge about selecting decision criteria for a buying decision. In particular, we explore the importance of explicit, conditional if-then statements (e.g., if you are choosing amongst ..., then you should ...) in which the recommended decision-making operation is compatible with prior procedural knowledge. We test this framework in an exploratory study on advertising effects on women's decision criteria for fitness centers.     

Problem versus benefit focus: phrasing questions to enhance self-referencing and persuasion

ABSTRACT

This investigation adopts self-referencing as an underlying mechanism for measuring how question phrasing (problem versus benefit focus) in advertising may interact with consumer’s issue concern in determining the impact on persuasion. Research shows that issue-concerned participants were more strongly persuaded by a problem than a benefit-focused question. Those who demonstrated low concern about an issue exhibited exactly the opposite tendency. Self-referencing mediates the results. Furthermore, a variety of issue elements led to increased self-referencing and persuasion among issue-concerned participants. Emphasis on multiple benefits, however, reduced self-referencing and message influence for those low in issue concern. Finally, issue-concerned participants responded more favourably with a problem framed as perpetually unsolved, whereas for unconcerned participants, questions focusing on continued desires showed decreased persuasive effect.     

Celebrity endorsements,self-brand connection and relationship quality

The extant literature on celebrity endorsement effects largely focuses on the endorsement effects on consumer evaluations of the endorsed brand. The current study extends the literature by assessing the impact of endorser credibility on two consumer–brand relationship-oriented outcomes – brand relationship quality and consumer self-brand connections. Additionally, the self-brand connection is positioned as a partial mediator of the effect of endorser credibility on relationship quality. A conceptual model is developed and estimated on a sample of 535 Generation Y (youth) consumers from India. The hypotheses are supported and the model demonstrates acceptable fit to the data. Overall, the present study introduces a relationship-building perspective to the celebrity endorsement literature. The results suggest that celebrity endorsers possess the ability to provide meaningful self-definitional benefits to consumers as well as cultivate enhanced relationship quality with the endorsed brands, thus contributing novel insights into celebrity endorsement dynamics.     

Korean Advertising Practitioners’ Perspectives on Celebrity Endorsement

Practitioners’ perspectives have been neglected to some extent. Research on practitioners’ perspectives is important because it will provide valuable information, especially on how theories have been reflected in practice. The study investigates Korean advertising practitioners’ perspectives on celebrity endorsement in advertising campaigns. By comparing the perspective between advertising practitioners and that from their counterparts on the client side, this study may provide insights into their respective roles in advertising campaigns. This study finding suggests that Korean advertising practitioners consider a celebrity's likeability as the most important criterion when selecting a celebrity endorser. The most important reason why they employ a celebrity endorser is that celebrity endorsement helps generate awareness of the brand. In addition, concerns over celebrity endorsement as well as limitations and suggestions for future research have been discussed.     

Is it godly to waste food? How understanding consumers' religion can help reduce consumer food waste

Food waste is a problem worldwide, but solutions have yet to adequately incorporate consumers' core values—values which are often rooted in religion. Study 1 shows that restrictive religious norms (e.g., rules about food consumption, fasting) lead to greater food waste, whereas supportive religious norms (e.g., sharing food) lead to reduced food waste. Study 2 replicates prior findings and rules out competing explanations. Study 3 manipulates marketing messaging to show that consumers with higher (lower) levels of religiosity are more likely to reduce food waste with a prevention (promotion) framed message partnered with environmental reasoning or a promotion (prevention) framed message partnered with people-based reasoning. Implications for marketers, consumer advocacy groups, and policy makers desiring to reduce food waste are provided.     

Contextualized representations of brand extensions: Are feature lists or frames the basic components of consumer cognition?

According to the common view in consumer behavior, consumers represent brands and product categories mentally as lists of independent product features and engage in feature matching when they evaluate brand-product category compounds such as brand extensions. However, we demonstrate that brand extension concepts are subject to context effects and largely contextually organized — empirical evidence which suggests that they are represented by more flexible mental structures than independent feature lists. As an alternative, brand extensions (e.g., McDonald's Theme Park) may be viewed as conceptual combinations in which the original brand or company name (e.g., McDonald's) acts on the head concept of the extension category (e.g., theme parks) as a modifier. Moreover, we suggest that the contextual and relational structure of brand extensions may be explained more adequately by mental frames than feature list representations.     

The CEO endorser and message source credibility: an empirical investigation of antecedents and consequences

This article investigates the antecedents and consequences of source credibility within the context of the relatively new but growing phenomenon of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) endorsers. The study results indicate that source credibility is a central determinant of a CEO endorsers' ability to effect desired outcome states. Results also indicate that the effect of message source credibility on purchase intentions, though strong, is not direct because beliefs about critical product attributes mediate the effect of a message source's credibility on behavioural intentions. The results of the study also indicate that models of source credibility derived from the celebrity endorser literature do not generalize to the CEO endorser context. Specifically, the attractiveness and expertise of the message source had no significant impact on receivers' perceptions of credibility.     

The influence of consumer concern about global climate change on framing effects for environmental sustainability messages

It is becoming increasingly evident that current patterns of consumption are not sustainable in the long term. Clearly, the need to persuade consumers to adopt more sustainable lifestyles has never been more urgent. The present research contributes to our understanding of the effects of message framing by considering the potential moderating influence of consumer concern about global climate change within the context of sustainable consumption. The results of two experiments demonstrate that the US consumer’s level of concern for the message-specific issues moderates the strength of the framing effect; effects are larger when concern about climate change is low. In addition, when concern is low, more negative framing and a prevention focus have more favourable persuasive effects. The implications of these findings for consumer welfare and public policy are discussed.

Sustainability is achieved when all people on Earth can live well without compromising the quality of life for future generations.

(Jucker 2003)

     

Functional matching effect in CRM: Moderating roles of perceived message quality and skepticism

By applying the functional matching effect to the domain of cause-related marketing (CRM), this study examined the conditions under which the CRM message matching to attitude bases would elicit greater persuasion. In this study, a matched (or mismatched) CRM message is represented by the ad message featuring an argument that matches (or mismatches) consumers' primary motivation for purchasing the product supporting a social cause. Using a before-and-after experimental design, the perceived message quality and consumer skepticism about CRM practices were tested as moderators of the relationship between the functional matching of arguments and persuasion. This study assessed persuasion by measuring attitudes toward the CRM ad and the brand, and purchase intention. As expected, the functionally matched message appeared to generate greater persuasion when the argument was perceived to be strong. Additionally, low skeptics showed more favorable responses to the matched message compared to high skeptics. Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed to enhance the persuasiveness of CRM messages.     

How source cues impact consumer evaluations of direct and indirect persuasion attempts

This research demonstrates how the directness of a persuasion attempt by a sales agent, in this case flattery, changes how source cues influence consumers’ evaluation of the shopping experience. When the persuasion attempt is direct, source cues do not influence consumer evaluations. However, when an indirect persuasion attempt is used, it is only effective when positive source cues are present. In particular, when the persuasion attempt is indirect, evaluations are more effective when the sales agent is attractive to or shares similar opinions with the consumer. Copyright © 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Der österreichische Entwurf eines Konsumentenschutzgesetzes

The report gives information about origins, aims, and contents of the Austrian bill for a Consumer Protection Act which has been submitted to the National Council (Nationalrat) of the Austrian Parliament and will be heard in the Justice Committee (Justizausschuß). The bill aims at a far-reaching protection for the consumer in the field of contract law, excluding, however, product liability and certain specific contracts (such as travelling and correspondence courses). The main points of the bill are as follows:

1. The consumer will be protected in instances of doorstep contracts by granting a cooling-off period of one week. Certain clauses in contracts to the detriment of the consumer will be void, for instance, clauses which limit the validity of oral representations, and clauses in standard form contracts which the consumer did not have reason to expect (überraschende Klauseln). The judge will be accorded the right to lower penalties stipulated in contracts. The right of the consumer to get the contract annulled will be strenghtened in cases oflaesio enormis (i.e., where the stipulated price exceeds the true value by more than one half).
2. The consumer will be protected against unfair contents in standard form contracts. The bill foresees two legal means of protection. (a) A general clause to be introduced into the Austrian Civil Code (Art. 879 § 3) will void all stipulations in standard form contracts, which unfairly deprive the consumer of his rights, and which have not freely and reasonably been consented to by the consumer because they were contained in standard forms of the other party or because this party exploited its superiority when putting them into the contract. In addition, the bill voids specific clauses, not only in standard form contracts but also in individual contracts (e.g., exemption clauses with regard to warranties or breach of contract). (b) The bill institutes a collective action which enables certain associations (workers' chambers — Arbeiterkammern, chambers of commerce — Wirtschaftskammern, trade unions, the Association for Consumer Information — der Verein für Konsumenteninformation) to bring action against anybody using illegal standard form contracts.
3. The bill contains provision for forbidding certain unreasonable clauses regarding, e. g., bills of exchange, the use of wage claims as security, and jurisdiction clauses.
4. The bill will incorporate the Instalment Sales Act (Ratengesetz) into the new Consumer Protection Act, thereby extending its sphere of application to most transactions between businessmen and consumers.

     

Can a Celebrity Serve as an Issue‐Relevant Argument in the Elaboration Likelihood Model?

While celebrity endorsement has been traditionally perceived as a peripheral cue in the elaboration likelihood model, several conceptual studies suggest otherwise that it may play a significant role in delivering issue‐relevant information when celebrity–product congruence exists. The current study provides empirical evidence that a celebrity indeed serves as an issue‐relevant argument by investigating the interaction effects between endorser–product congruence and product involvement on consumer responses in two different match‐up conditions. Moderated regression analysis results indicated that product involvement strengthened the effect of expertise‐based endorser–product congruence on consumer responses. However, the relationship between attractiveness‐based endorser–product congruence and consumer responses generated insignificant results. Research findings entail that a celebrity persuades consumers through the central route when the expert image in particular fits well with the endorsed product. Further analyses indicated that attitude toward the brand mediated the relationship between attitude toward the advertisement and purchase intention in both match‐up environments.     

Effects of Negative Brand Information: Measuring Impact of Celebrity Identification and Brand Commitment

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the relationship between negative brand publicity and a celebrity endorser. First, it explores whether identification with a celebrity moderates the relationship between negative brand publicity and evaluation of a celebrity endorser and a brand. Second, it delves into whether consumers’ brand commitment moderates the relationship between negative brand publicity and evaluation of a celebrity endorser and a brand. And the study poses the research question, “Does negative brand information impact consumer evaluation of a celebrity endorser, a brand, and purchase intention?” A 2 × 2 between-subject factorial design was used to test the proposed hypotheses. The two factors are level of identification with a celebrity endorser (low or high identification) and level of brand commitment (low vs. high brand commitment). The study found that negative brand publicity had negative impacts on the celebrity endorser, brand evaluation, and purchase intention.     

Celebrity endorsement in the world of luxury fashion – when controversy can be beneficial

ABSTRACT

Can a negatively publicised celebrity endorser ever lead to favourable brand attitudes toward a luxury fashion product (i.e. a perfume)? An online experiment was conducted with a sample of 260 target-relevant female consumers where two factors were manipulated: the brand’s positioning objective (image reinforcement versus revitalisation) and the type of celebrity endorser (naturally versus incidentally controversial). Consumer attitudes towards the luxury fashion brand were generally more positive when the type of celebrity endorser was consistent with the brand’s positioning strategy, that is, when a naturally controversial celebrity endorses a brand with a reinforcement strategy and when an incidentally controversial celebrity endorses a brand with a revitalisation strategy. Furthermore, this effect was mediated by consumers’ appreciation of the celebrity-positioning match-up (i.e. the consistency between the celebrity’s persona and the brand’s strategy) but not by their perceptions of appropriateness (i.e. the traditional match-up hypothesis). Several implications suggested by these findings are developed.     

Selbstorganisation von Verbrauchern-theoretische Überlegungen und empirische Befunde

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag referiert die Ergebnisse zweier in den Jahren 1977/78 durchgeführten Befragungen von Vorständen und Mitgliedern von Verbrauchervereinen in der BRD und bringt sie in Zusammenhang mit weiterführenden Argumentationen, die im Rahmen laufender Forschungsvorhaben der AGVP erarbeitet wurden.Ausgehend von einer Analyse der Handlungen von fremd- und selbstorganisierten Verbrauchervereinen wird der Frage nachgegangen, ob die derzeit bestehenden selbstorganisierten Verbrauchervereine eine formale und inhaltliche Alternative zu bestehenden Verbraucherfremdorganisationen bilden.

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The paper reports on a study of local consumer organizations in the Federal Republic of Germany with and without individual membership. The study is part of a theoretical and empirical evaluation of present consumer policy aiming at the discovery of ways to activate consumer organizations. Above all, the project explores whether organizations with individual membership would be an organizationally feasible and qualitatively preferable alternative.To do this, it was necessary, as a first research step, to evaluate the existing local consumer organizations by considering various aspects of organizational and individual behaviour within them. Questionnaires were constructed for both officials and members of the organizations. The study shows that local consumer organizations with and without individual membership do not differ much in their activities. Distributing information about prices and qualities of goods becomes the main task. The direct membership of consumers in consumer organizations does not automatically lead to a qualitatively different situation.Member consumer organizations—that receive their legitimization because of a connection to the rank-and-file — need active consumers. Therefore, in the second step in this research phase, an attempt was made to explain the extent of individual activity in consumer organizations. It was shown that preference for collective strategies and participative organizational structure were relatively strong predictors. The study shows further that organizations without individual membership tend to resemble member organizations; as the organizational structure becomes rigid, individual activity ceases.