Consumers' Interpretations of the Semantic Phrases Found in Reference Price Advertisements

Consumers are frequently presented with a higher reference price to compare with a lower advertised selling price. The research on reference prices has traditionally been conducted based on the implicit assumption that consumers’ interpretations of a given semantic phrase, e.g., “Regular Price/Sale Price,”are consistent across all consumers, but this fundamental assumption has never been tested. Guidelines issued by the Federal Trade Commission and the Council of Better Business Bureaus, as well as regulations enacted by approximately half of all states, appear to be based on a similar assumption. However, given the variability among consumers’ perceptions found in other areas of consumer research, it is reasonable to expect that consumer interpretations of semantic phrases may vary. Given the potential variability, a pricing claim may be deemed informative or deceptive depending on the meaning the particular consumer attaches to the claim. This article presents a discussion of the vagueness in pricing claims as a step toward evaluating deception.     

Socialization,Gender, and Adolescent's Self-Reports of Their Generalized Use of Product Labels

This study examines how various aspects of the consumer socialization process affect male and female teenagers' tendencies to use product labels in general. In contrast to the traditional information-processing perspective used in many studies of gender differences and studies of labeling, this research focus more on sociological explanations for gender differences in teens' tendencies to read product labels. Specifically, because males and females are likely to receive differential consumer socialization, differences are expected in the genders' use of product labels. Male and female teenagers may be differentially taught about the importance and use of product labels through differences in exposure to marketplace-related communication from parents, peers, and mass media. Exposure to marketplace-related communication, in turn, is likely to have positive effects on teens' tendencies to use product labels in general. With the exception of exposure to mass media, results based on data from a sample of high school students generally supported this mediational model.