Consumer Behaviour

links to a major public health problem: medication adherence. This term describes the extent to which people fill and actually take prescribed medicines. Although some patients unfortunately don't adhere to prescriptions because they can't afford them, many simply forget to swallow their pills. This breakdown between attitudes and behavior threatens many people's health and it also adds huge costs to the healthcare system. An industry study estimates it costs U.S. taxpayers $290 billion annually.30 The CVS chain found that even for chronic diseases, onethird of their customers stopped taking their prescribed medicine after a month, and half stopped after a year. CVS aggressively reminds people to fill their prescriptions with texts, e-mails, and phone calls.31 Still, even these methods are only part of the solution: People still need to actually take the pills once they get them home.

(in)consistency between attitudes and behavior

Product marketers frequently try to distinguish themselves from their competitors when they add a product feature. Northland College might try to emphasize some unique aspect, such as a hands-on internship program for business majors that takes advantage of ties to the local community

Add a new Attribute.

are more complex than they first appear. Three components make up an attitude: beliefs, affect, and behavioral intentions.

Altitudes

Attitude models identify specific components and combine them to predict a consumer's overall attitude toward a product or brand.

Attitude

is the function the attitude holds for the consumer (e.g., is it utilitarian or ego defensive?).

Attitude researchers

who processes a message is not the passive receiver of information marketers once believed him or her to be. The traditional view of communications regards the perceiver as a passive element in the process. New developments in interactive communications highlight the need

Consumer

Attitudes we form to protect ourselves either from external threats or internal feelings perform

Ego-defensive function—

The most influential multiattribute model is called , named after its primary developer.29 The model measures three components of attitude

Fishbein Model,

anything toward which one has an attitude

Object

or the probability that a particular object has an important attribute.

Object-attribute linkages,

They know that consumers are more likely to comply with a big request if they agree to a smaller one first.17 The name for this technique comes from the old practice of door-to-door selling; salespeople learn to plant their foot in a door so the prospect doesn't slam it on them. A good salesperson knows that he or she is more likely to get an order if he or she can persuade the customer to open the door and talk. By agreeing to do so, the customer signals that he or she is willing to listen to the salesperson's pitch. Placing an order is consistent with the self-perception that "I'm the kind of person who is willing to buy something from a salesperson who knocks on my door."18 Recent research also points to the possibility that when salespeople ask consumers to make a series of choices, these decisions are cognitively demanding and deplete the resources the person has available to monitor his or her behavior. As a result, the target will opt for easier decisions down the road; in some cases, it may be easier just to comply with the request than to search for reasons why you shouldn't

Small foot in the door technique

Expresses consumer's values or self-concept

Value-expressive function

describes how a consumer feels about an attitude object.

affect

is a predisposition to evaluate an object or product positively or negatively. We form attitudes toward products and services, and these attitudes often determine whether we will purchase or not.

attitude

A belief measure assesses the extent to which the consumer perceives that a brand possesses a particular attribute. For example, a student might believe that the University of North Carolina is strong academically (or maybe this is consistency theory at work because your humble author went to graduate school there!).

belief

proposes that an emotional reaction is just the last step in a series of cognitive processes that follows sensory recognition of a stimulus and retrieval of information from memory that helps to categorize it.

cognitive-affective model

Finally, you can decrease your competitors' higher ratings with a comparative advertising strategy. In this case, you might publish an ad that lists the tuition rates of a number of area schools with which Northland compares favorably and emphasize the value for the money its students get.

influence Competitors' ratings.

Attitudes possess both direction and strength. A person may like or dislike an attitude object with varying degrees of confidence or conviction. It is helpful to distinguish between tABLe 8.1 The Basic Multiattribute Model: Saundra's College Decision Beliefs (B) Attribute (i) importance (I) Smith Princeton rutgers northland Academic reputation 6 8 9 6 3 All women 7 9 3 3 3 Cost 4 2 2 6 9 Proximity to home 3 2 2 6 9 Athletics 1 1 2 5 1 Party atmosphere 2 1 3 7 9 library facilities 5 7 9 7 2 Attitude score 163 142 153 131 Marketing Pitfall The (in)consistency between attitudes and behavior links to a major public health problem: medication adherence. This term describes the extent to which people fill and actually take prescribed medicines. Although some patients unfortunately don't adhere to prescriptions because they can't afford them, many simply forget to swallow their pills. This breakdown between attitudes and behavior threatens many people's health and it also adds huge costs to the healthcare system. An industry study estimates it costs U.S. taxpayers $290 billion annually.30 The CVS chain found that even for chronic diseases, onethird of their customers stopped taking their prescribed medicine after a month, and half stopped after a year. CVS aggressively reminds people to fill their prescriptions with texts, e-mails, and phone calls.31 Still, even these methods are only part of the solution: People still need to actually take the pills once they get them home. ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 299 Marketers focus on how a product's attributes are "new and improved" when they want to strengthen the linkage to a quality they think consumers desire. Source: Balint Radu/Fotolia. attitudes we hold firmly and those that are more superficial, especially because a person who holds an attitude with greater conviction is more likely to act on it. One study on environmental issues and marketing activities found, for example, that people who express greater conviction in their feelings regarding environmentally responsible behaviors such as recycling show greater consistency between attitudes and behavioral intentions.34 Social pressure also can help motivate consumers to engage in socially responsible behaviors. One study assessed this possibility when it compared the effectiveness of different ways a hotel might encourage guests to reuse their towels. When researchers used a social appeal ("the majority of guests reuse their towels"), this worked better than a functional appeal ("help save the environment"). They also found that compliance was boosted when they phrased the requests in terms of directly relevant others ("the majority of guests in this room reuse their towels") compared to more general group appeals ("the majority of men and women reuse their towels").35 As this example illustrates, the theory acknowledges the power of other people to influence what we do. Much as we may hate to admit it, what we think others would like us to do may override our own preferences. Thus

intentions versus Behavior

A simple response does not always tell us everything we need to know, either about why the consumer feels a certain way toward a product or about what marketers can do to change her attitude. Our beliefs (accurate or not) about a product often are key to how we evaluate it. Warner-Lambert discovered this when it conducted research for its Fresh Burst Listerine mouthwash. A research firm paid families so it could set up cameras in their bathrooms and watch their daily routines (maybe they should have just checked out YouTube). Participants who bought both Fresh Burst and rival Scope said they used mouthwash to make their breath smell good. But Scope users swished around the liquid and then spit it out, whereas Listerine users kept the product in their mouths for a long time (one respondent held the stuff in until he got in the car and finally spit it out in a sewer a block away!). These findings told Listerine that the brand still hadn't shaken its medicine-like image.27 Because attitudes are so complex, marketing researchers may use multiattribute attitude models to understand them. This type of model assumes that consumers' attitude

multiattribute attitude models

refers to the actions he or she takes toward the object or in some cases at least his or her intentions to take action about

Behaviour

OBjeCtive 8-5 Attitude models identify specific components and combine them to predict a consumer's overall attitude toward a product or brand. ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 297 ●● Importance weights reflect the relative priority of an attribute to the consumer. Although people might consider an Ao on a number of attributes, some attributes are likely to be more important than others (i.e., consumers will give them greater weight). Furthermore, these weights are likely to differ across consumers. In the case of colleges and universities, for example, one student might stress research opportunities, whereas another might assign greater weight to athletic programs. The most influential multiattribute model is called the Fishbein Model, named after its primary developer.29 The model measures three components of attitude: ●● Salient beliefs people have about an Ao (i.e., those beliefs about the object a person considers during evaluation). ●● Object-attribute linkages, or the probability that a particular object has an important attribute. ●● Evaluation of each of the important attributes. When we combine these three elements, we compute a consumer's overall attitude toward an object (we'll see later how researchers modify this equation to increase its accuracy). The basic formula is: Ajk = ΣbijkIik where i = attribute j = brand k = consumer I = the importance weight given attribute i by consumer k b = consumer k's belief regarding the extent to which brand j possesses attribute i A = a particular consumer's (k's) attitude score for brand j We obtain the overall attitude score (A) when we multiply consumers' rating of each attribute for all the brands they considered by the importance rating for that attribute. To see how this basic multiattribute model works, let's suppose we want to predict which college our friend Saundra from the beginning of the chapter is likely to attend. After months of waiting anxiously, Saundra gets accepted to four schools. Because she must now decide among these, we would first like to know which attributes Saundra will consider when she forms an attitude toward each school. We can then ask Saundra to assign a rating regarding how well each school performs on each attribute and also determine the relative importance of the attributes to her. By summing scores on each attribute (after we weight each by its relative importance), we compute an overall attitude score for each school. Table 8.1 shows these hypothetical ratings. Based on this analysis, it seems that Saundra has the most favorable attitude toward Smith. She is clearly someone who would like to attend a college for women with a solid academic reputation rather than a school that offers a strong athletic program or a party atmosphere. Marketing Applications of the Multiattribute Model Suppose you were the director of marketing for Northland College, another school Saundra considered. How might you use the data from this analysis to improve your image? Capitalize on relative Advantage. If prospective students view one brand as superior on a particular attribute, a marketer needs to convince consumers like Saundra that this particular attribute is important. For example, although Saundra rates Northland's social atmosphere highly, she does not believe this attribute is a valued aspect for a college. As Northland's marketing director, you might emphasize the importance of an active social 298 SeCtiOn 3 Choosing and Using Products life, varied experiences, or even the development of future business contacts that a student forges when he or she makes strong college friendships. Strengthen Perceived Product/Attribute Linkages. A marketer may discover that consumers do not equate his brand with a certain attribute. Advertising campaigns often address this problem when they stress a specific quality to consumers (e.g., "new and improved"). Saundra apparently does not think much of Northland's academic quality, athletic programs, or library facilities. You might develop an informational campaign to improve these perceptions (e.g., "little-known facts about Northland"). Add a new Attribute. Product marketers frequently try to distinguish themselves from their competitors when they add a product feature. Northland College might try to emphasize some unique aspect, such as a hands-on internship program for business majors that takes advantage of ties to the local community. influence Competitors' ratings. Finally, you can decrease your competitors' higher ratings with a comparative advertising strategy. In this case, you might publish an ad that lists the tuition rates of a number of area schools with which Northland compares favorably and emphasize the value for the money its students get. Do Attitudes Predict Behavior? Consumer researchers have used multiattribute models for many years, but a major problem plagues them: In many cases, a person's attitude doesn't predict behavior. In a classic demonstration of "do as I say, not as I do," many studies report a low correlation between a person's reported attitude toward something and actual behavior toward it. Some researchers are so discouraged that they question whether attitudes are of any use at all when we try to understand behavior. Hence the popular expression, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." In response, researchers tinkered with the Fishbein Model to improve its predictive ability. They call the newer version the theory of reasoned action.32 This model contains several important additions to the original, and although the model is still not perfect, it does a better job of prediction.33 Let's look at some of the modifications to this model. intentions versus Behavior Attitudes possess both direction and strength. A person may like or dislike an attitude object with varying degrees of confidence or conviction. It is helpful to distinguish between tABLe 8.1 The Basic Multiattribute Model: Saundra's College Decision Beliefs (B) Attribute (i) importance (I) Smith Princeton rutgers northland Academic reputation 6 8 9 6 3 All women 7 9 3 3 3 Cost 4 2 2 6 9 Proximity to home 3 2 2 6 9 Athletics 1 1 2 5 1 Party atmosphere 2 1 3 7 9 library facilities 5 7 9 7 2 Attitude score 163 142 153 131 Marketing Pitfall ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 299 Marketers focus on how a product's attributes are "new and improved" when they want to strengthen the linkage to a quality they think consumers desire. Source: Balint Radu/Fotolia. attitudes we hold firmly and those that are more superficial, especially because a person who holds an attitude with greater conviction is more likely to act on it. One study on environmental issues and marketing activities found, for example, that people who express greater conviction in their feelings regarding environmentally responsible behaviors such as recycling show greater consistency between attitudes and behavioral intentions.34 Social pressure also can help motivate consumers to engage in socially responsible behaviors. One study assessed this possibility when it compared the effectiveness of different ways a hotel might encourage guests to reuse their towels. When researchers used a social appeal ("the majority of guests reuse their towels"), this worked better than a functional appeal ("help save the environment"). They also found that compliance was boosted when they phrased the requests in terms of directly relevant others ("the majority of guests in this room reuse their towels") compared to more general group appeals ("the majority of men and women reuse their towels").35 As this example illustrates, the theory acknowledges the power of other people to influence what we do. Much as we may hate to admit it, what we think others would like us to do may override our own preferences. Thus, normative influence can result in a contradiction between what we say we will do and what we actually do when the moment of truth arrives. Let's take a closer look at Saundra's college choice. You saw in Table 8.1 that she was eager to attend a predominantly female school. However, if she felt that this choice would be unpopular (perhaps her friends would think she was too nerdy), she might ignore or downgrade this preference when she made her decision. Researchers added a new element, the subjective norm (SN), to account for the effects of what we believe other people think we should do. They use two factors to measure SN: (1) the intensity of a normative belief (NB) that others believe we should take or not take some action and (2) the motivation to comply (MC) with that belief (i.e., the degree to which the consumer takes others' anticipated reactions into account when she evaluates a purchase). 300 SeCtiOn 3 Choosing and Using Products The newer model also measures attitude toward the act of buying (Aact), rather than only the attitude toward the product itself. In other words, it focuses on the perceived consequences of a purchase. Knowing how someone feels about buying or using an object turns out to be more valid than merely knowing the consumer's evaluation of the object itself.36 To understand this distinction, consider a marketing researcher who wants to measure college students' attitudes toward safe sex and wearing condoms. Although many college students interviewed would probably report a positive attitude toward condom use, can the researcher conclude from the responses that these respondents will actually buy and use them? The researcher might get more accurate results if the same students were asked how likely they are to buy condoms. A person might have a positive Ao toward condoms, but Aact (attitude toward the act of obtaining the attitude object) might be negative because of the embarrassment or the hassle involved. Obstacles to Predicting Behavior in the theory of reasoned Action Despite improvements to the Fishbein Model, problems arise when researchers misapply it. As our discussion about measuring personality traits in Chapter 7 showed, sometimes researchers use a model in ways it was not intended or where certain assumptions about human behavior may not be warranted.37 Here are some other obstacles to prediction researchers encounter: ●● The model tries to predict actual behavior (e.g., taking a diet pill), not the outcomes of behavior that some studies assess (e.g., losing weight). ●● Some outcomes are beyond our control, such as when the purchase requires the cooperation of other people. For instance, a woman might want to get a mortgage, but this intention will be worthless if she cannot find a banker to give her one. This Vietnamese ad employs social pressure (the subjective norm) to address people's attitudes toward wearing helmets. Source: Asia Injury Prevention Foundation. ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 301 ●● The basic assumption that behavior is intentional may be invalid in a variety of cases, including impulsive acts, sudden changes in situation, novelty seeking, or even simple repeat buying. One study found that such unexpected events as having guests, changes in the weather, or reading articles about the healthfulness of certain foods significantly affected actual behaviors.38 ●● Measures of attitude often do not really correspond to the behavior they are supposed to predict, either in terms of the Ao or when the act will occur. One common problem is a difference in the level of abstraction researchers employ. For example, knowing a person's attitude toward sports cars may not predict whether he or she will purchase a BMW Z3. It is important to match the level of specificity between the attitude and the behavioral intention. ●● A similar problem relates to the time frame of the attitude measure. In general, the longer the time between the attitude measurement and the behavior it is supposed to assess, the weaker the relationship will be. For example, predictability improves greatly if we ask a consumer the likelihood that he or she will buy a house in the next week as opposed to within the next 5 years. ●● We form stronger and more predictive attitudes through direct, personal experience with an Ao than those we form indirectly through advertising.39 According to the attitude accessibility perspective, behavior is a function of the person's immediate perceptions of the Ao, in the context of the situation in which he or she encounters it. An attitude will guide the evaluation of the object but only if a person's memory activates it when he or she encounters the object. These findings underscore the importance of strategies that induce trials (e.g., by widespread product sampling to encourage the consumer to try the product at home, taste tests in grocery stores, test drives at car dealers, etc.) as well as those that maximize exposure to marketing communications. In addition, most researchers apply the theory of reasoned action in Western settings. Certain assumptions inherent in the model may not necessarily apply to consumers from other cultures. Several cultural roadblocks diminish the universality of the theory of reasoned action:40 ●● The model predicts the performance of a voluntary act. Across cultures, however, many activities, ranging from taking exams and entering military service to receiving an inoculation or even choosing a marriage partner, are not necessarily voluntary. ●● The relative impact of subjective norms may vary across cultures. For example, Asian cultures tend to value conformity and "face saving," so it is possible that subjective norms involving the anticipated reactions of others to the choice will have an even greater impact on behavior for many Asian consumers. Indeed, a study conducted during an election in Singapore successfully predicted how people would vote as it assessed their voting intentions beforehand. These intentions were in turn influenced by such factors as voters' attitudes toward the candidate, attitudes toward the political party, and subjective norms, which in Singapore includes an emphasis on harmonious and close ties among members of the society. ●● The model measures behavioral intentions and thus presupposes that consumers are actively thinking ahead and planning future behaviors. The intention concept assumes that consumers have a linear time sense; they think in terms of past, present, and future. As we'll discuss in Chapter 10, not all cultures subscribe to this perspective on time. ●● A consumer who forms an intention implicitly claims that he or she is in control of his or her actions. Some cultures (e.g., Muslim peoples) tend to be fatalistic and do not necessarily believe in the concept of free will. Indeed, one study that compared students from the United States, Jordan, and Thailand found evidence for cultural differences in assumptions about fatalism and control over the future. 302 SeCtiOn 3 Choosing and Using Products trying to Consume Other theorists propose different perspectives on the attitude-behavior connection. For example, the multiple pathway anchoring and adjustment (MPAA) model emphasizes multiple pathways to attitude formation, including outside-in (object-centered) and inside-out (person-centered) pathways.41 Another perspective tries to address some of these problems because it focuses instead on consumers' goals and what they believe they have to do to attain them. The theory of trying states that we should replace the criterion of behavior in the reasoned action model with trying to reach a goal. As Figure 8.3 shows, this perspective recognizes that additional factors might intervene between intent and performance—both personal and environmental barriers might prevent the individual from attaining the goal. For example, a person who intends to lose weight may have to deal with numerous issues: He may not believe he is capable of slimming down, he may have a roommate who loves to cook and who leaves tempting goodies lying around the apartment, his friends may be jealous of his attempts to diet and encourage him to pig out, or he may be genetically predisposed to obesity and cutting down on calories simply will not produce the desired results.42 Persuasion: how Do Marketers Change Attitudes? BUY NOW! Advertisers constantly bombard us with messages imploring us to change our attitudes—and of course buy their products. These persuasion attempts can range from logical arguments to graphic pictures, from peers who try to intimidate us to celebrities who try to charm us. Now we'll review some of the factors that help gauge the effectiveness of marketing communications. Our focus will be on some basic aspects of communication that specifically help to determine how and if consumers will form new attitudes or modify existing ones. Persuasion involves an active attempt to change attitudes. This is of course job number 1 for many marketing communications. Later we'll learn more about how marketers try to accomplish this, but for now we'll set the stage by listing some basic psychological principles that influence people to change their minds or comply with a request:43 Figure 8.3 TheOrY OF TrYINg biei Attitude toward success Expectation of success bjej Attitude toward failure Attitude toward trying Social norm toward trying Recency of past trying Intention to try Trying Expectation of failure bkek Attitude toward process Frequency of past trying ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 303 ●● Reciprocity—We are more likely to give if first we receive. That's why including money in a mail survey questionnaire (in some cases, as little as a nickel or dime) increases the response rate compared to surveys that come without financial incentives in the envelope. ●● Scarcity—Like people, items are more attractive when they aren't available. In one study, researchers asked people to rate the quality of chocolate chip cookies. Participants who only got one cookie liked them better than did those who evaluated more of the same kind of cookie. That helps explain why we tend to value "limitededition" items. ●● Authority—We believe an authoritative source much more readily than one that is less authoritative. That explains why the U.S. public's opinion on an issue can shift by as much as 2 percent when the New York Times (but not the National Enquirer) runs an article about it. ●● Consistency—As we saw previously in this chapter, people try not to contradict themselves in terms of what they say and do about an issue. In one study, students at an Israeli university who solicited donations to help disabled people doubled the amount they normally collected in a neighborhood if they first asked the residents to sign a petition supporting this cause 2 weeks before they actually asked for the donations. ●● Liking—We agree with those we like or admire. A study found that good-looking fund-raisers raised almost twice as much as other volunteers who were not as attractive. ●● Consensus—We consider what others do before we decide what to do. People are more likely to donate to a charity if they first see a list of the names of their neighbors who have already done so. Decisions, Decisions: tactical Communications Options Suppose Audi wants to create an advertising campaign for a new ragtop it targets to young drivers. As it plans this campaign, the automaker must develop a message that will arouse desire for the car. To craft persuasive messages that might persuade someone to buy this car instead of the many others available, we must answer several questions: ●● Who will drive the car in the ad? A NASCAR driver? A career woman? A reality show star? The source of a message helps determine whether consumers will accept it. ●● How should we construct the message? Should it emphasize the negative consequences of being left out when others drive cool cars and you still tool around in your old clunker? Should it directly compare the car with others already on the market, or maybe present a fantasy in which a tough-minded female executive meets a dashing stranger while she cruises down the highway in her Audi? Scarcity makes products more desirable. Source: carmenbobo/Fotolia. 304 SeCtiOn 3 Choosing and Using Products ●● What media should we use? Should the ad run in a magazine? Should we air it on TV? Sell the product door-to-door? Post the material on a Web site or create a Facebook group? Convince bloggers to write about it? Reward shoppers who check in on Foursquare at an Audi dealership? If we do produce a print ad, should we run it in the pages of Vogue? Good Housekeeping? Car and Driver? Sometimes where you say something is as important as what you say. Ideally, we should match the attributes of the medium with those of what we sell. For example, advertising in magazines with high prestige is more effective when we want to communicate messages about overall product image and quality, whereas specialized expert magazines do a better job when we want to convey factual information.44 ●● What characteristics of the target market might lead its members to accept the ad? If targeted users are frustrated in their daily lives, they might be more receptive to a fantasy appeal. If they're status-oriented, maybe a commercial should show bystanders who swoon with admiration as the car cruises by. the elements of Communication Marketers traditionally rely on the communications model in Figure 8.4. This model specifies the elements they need to control to communicate with their customers. One of these is a source, where the communication originates. Another is the message itself. There are many ways to say something, and the structure of the message has a significant effect on how we perceive it. We must transmit the message via a medium, which could be TV, radio, magazines, billboards, personal contact, or even a matchbook cover. One or more receivers interpret the message in light of their own experiences. Finally, the source receives feedback so that the marketer can use receivers' reactions to modify aspects of the message as necessary. An Updated view: interactive Communications The traditional communications model is not entirely wrong, but it also doesn't tell the whole story—especially in today's dynamic world of interactivity, where consumers have many more choices available to them and greater control over which messages they choose to process.45 In fact, the popular strategy we call permission marketing acknowledges that a marketer will be more successful when he or she communicates with consumers who have already agreed to listen to him or her; consumers who "opt out" of listening to the message probably weren't good prospects in the first place.46 In contrast, those who say they want to learn more are likely to be receptive to marketing communications they have chosen to see or hear. As the permission marketing concept reminds us, we don't have to simply sit Figure 8.4 The TrADITIONAl COMMUNICATIONS MODel FEEDBACK Source Message Consumer Consumer Consumer Consumer Consumer Medium OBjeCtive 8-6 The communications model identifies several important components for marketers when they try to change consumers' attitudes toward products and services. ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 305 there and take it. We have a voice in deciding what messages we choose to see and when, and we exercise that option more and more. Social scientists developed the traditional model to understand mass communications in which a source transmits information to many receivers at one time—typically via a broadcast medium such as television. This perspective essentially views advertising as the process of transferring information to the buyer before a sale. It regards a message as perishable—the marketer repeats the same message to a large audience and then the message "vanishes" when a new campaign takes its place. As we'll see, that model doesn't work as well now that we can narrowcast, or finely tune our messages to suit small groups of receivers (sometimes even one person at a time). How long has it been since you posted to your Facebook page? Exciting technological and social developments make us rethink the picture of passive consumers as people increasingly play more proactive roles in communications. In other words, we are to a greater extent partners—rather than couch potatoes—in the communications process. Our input helps to shape the messages we and others like us receive; furthermore, we may seek out these messages rather than sit home and wait to see them on TV or in the paper. For example, the popular social media platform Pinterest allows users to create digital scrapbooks, but in the process it serves as a voyage of discovery as people pull images from many sources (often other users' Boards). This kind of new medium allows consumers to "dream out loud" and also guide one another toward many new styles and brands.47 Figure 8.5 illustrates this updated approach to interactive communications. One of the early instigators of this communications revolution was the humble handheld remote control device. As VCRs (remember them?) began to be commonplace in homes, suddenly consumers had more input into what they wanted to watch—and when. No longer did the TV networks decide when we could watch our favorite shows, and we didn't have to miss the new episode of Hawaii Five-O because it was on at the same time as the Bears game. Since that time, of course, our ability to control our media environment has mushroomed. Just ask some of the millions of us who use digital video recorders (DVRs) such as TiVo to watch TV shows whenever we wish—and who blithely skip over the commercials. 48 Many others have access to video-on-demand or pay-per-view TV. Home-shopping networks encourage us to call in and discuss our passion for cubic zirconium jewelry live When consumers opt-in to receive information from an organization they are more likely to pay attention to it when a message arrives. Source: LiliWhite/Fotolia. OBjeCtive 8-7 The consumer who processes a message is not the passive receiver of information marketers once believed him or her to be. 306 SeCtiOn 3 Choosing and Using Products on the air. Caller ID devices and answering machines allow us to decide if we will accept a phone call during dinner and to know if a telemarketer lurks on the other end before we pick up the phone. A bit of Web surfing allows us to identify kindred spirits around the globe, to request information about products, and even to provide suggestions to product designers and market researchers. the Source Regardless of whether we receive a message by "snail mail" (netheads' slang for the postal service), email, or SMS text, common sense tells us that if different people say or write the same words, the message can still affect us differently. Researchers have discussed the power of source effects for more than 60 years. When we attribute the same message to different sources and measure the degree of attitude change that occurs after listeners hear it, we can isolate which characteristics of a communicator cause attitude change.49 Under most conditions, the source of a message can have a big impact on the likelihood that receivers will accept it. Marketers can choose a spokesperson because she is an expert, attractive, famous, or even a "typical" consumer who is both likable and trustworthy. Credibility and attractiveness are two particularly important source characteristics (i.e., how much we either believe or like the communicator).50 How do marketing specialists decide whether to stress credibility or attractiveness when they select a message source? There should be a match between the needs of the recipient and the potential rewards the source offers. When this match occurs, the recipient is more motivated to process the message. An attractive source, for example, is more effective for receivers who tend to be sensitive about social acceptance and others' opinions, whereas a credible, expert source is more powerful when she speaks to internally oriented people.51 However, even a credible source's trustworthiness evaporates if she endorses too many products.52 The choice may also depend on the type of product. A positive source can reduce risk and increase message acceptance overall, but particular types of sources are more effective to reduce different kinds of risk. Experts excel when we want to change attitudes toward utilitarian products that have high performance risk, such as vacuums, because they are complex and may not work as we expect. Celebrities work better when they focus on products such as jewelry and furniture that have high social risk, where the users are more concerned about the impression others have of them. Finally, "typical" consumers, who are appealing sources because of their similarity to the recipient, tend to be most effective when they provide real-life endorsements for everyday products that are low risk, such as cookies.53 Source Credibility Source credibility refers to a communicator's expertise, objectivity, or trustworthiness. This dimension relates to consumers' beliefs that this person is competent and that he or she will provide the necessary information we need when we evaluate competing products. Communication Medium Receiver Receiver Sender Sender Sender Receiver Figure 8.5 AN UPDATeD COMMUNICATIONS MODel OBjeCtive 8-8 Several factors influence the effectiveness of a message source. ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 307 A credible source is particularly persuasive when the consumer has yet to learn much about a product or form an opinion of it.54 Indeed, a study demonstrated that simply letting consumers know a firm is profitable leads them to put more stock in what the company says in its advertising.55 On the other hand, some subtle cues can diminish credibility: Consider for example those super fast disclaimers you often hear at the end of a commercial message that supply additional information the advertiser is required to provide ("possible side effects may include nausea, diarrhea, or death"). Although people tend to assume that people who speak faster are more intelligent, they may trust them less. When consumers don't already have a positive attitude toward a product, a fast-paced disclaimer leads them to think the advertiser has ulterior motives and they trust the company less.56 Sincerity is particularly important when a company tries to publicize its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities that benefit the community. As we saw in Chapter 2, a company's image can skyrocket when consumers believe it's genuinely doing good things. But this effort can backfire if people question the organization's motivations (e.g., if they think the firm spends more to talk about its good deeds than to actually do them).57 Not too surprisingly, people who see deceptive advertising experience a feeling of distrust that carries over to other messages from that source and even to other sources because they are more likely to assume that advertising in general is not credible—a true case of poisoning the well for other marketers!58 One widely used technique to generate credibility is to pay an expert or a celebrity to tout a product, but this kind of endorsement doesn't come cheap. However, typically the investment is worth it simply because market analysts use the announcement of an endorsement contract to evaluate a firm's potential profitability, which affects its expected return. On average, then, the impact of endorsements on stock returns appears to be so positive that it offsets the cost of hiring the spokesperson.59 Indeed, a study on the use of celebrities in marketing reported that ads containing a celebrity endorser produced 9.4 percent higher consumer readership than ads without a celebrity endorser. In its analysis of almost 80,000 print ads, Starch Advertising Research concluded, "in terms of helping with the first task in ... getting consumers to read your ad, these data show that a celebrity endorsement moves the readership needle."60 The drawing power of famous people may even be "wired in": One study found that compared to "ordinary" faces, our brains pay more attention to famous faces and more efficiently process information about these images.61 Celebrities increase awareness of a firm's advertising and enhance both company image and brand attitudes.62 A celebrity endorsement strategy can be an effective way to differentiate among similar products. This is especially important when consumers do not perceive many actual differences among competitors, as often occurs when brands are in the mature stage of the product life cycle. Although in general more positive sources tend to increase attitude change, there are exceptions to this rule. Sometimes we can think a source is obnoxious, yet it is still effective. A case in point is the irritating redhead in Wendy's commercials who says "Now That's Better." In some instances the differences in attitude change between positive sources and less-positive sources become erased over time. After a while, people appear to "forget" about the negative source and change their attitudes anyway. We call this process the sleeper effect.63 The source effects issue has gained even more attention recently as a result of a hot trend in marketing known as native advertising. This term refers to digital messages designed to blend into the editorial content of the publications in which they appear. The idea is to capture the attention of people who might resist ad messages that pop up in the middle of an article or program. These messages may look a lot like a regular article, but they often link to a sponsor's content. For example, native ads on Vanity Fair magazine's Web site resemble editorial contributions complete with a byline, but the author is listed as "Vanity Fair Agenda." An advertising executive commented, native ads "should not come across as anything that doesn't belong. That is what we mean by native; it belongs."64 A message's credibility increases if receivers think the source's qualifications are relevant to the product he or she endorses. This linkage can overcome other objections people may have to the endorser or the product. Ronald Biggs, whose claim to fame was In recent years we've witnessed a new attempt to manipulate attitudes that some call sock puppeting. This term describes a company executive or other biased source that poses as someone else as he or she touts the organization in social media. For example, it came to light that the CeO of Whole Foods had posted derogatory comments about rival Wild Oats without revealing his true identity. More recently, a nonprofit research organization called giveWell that rates the effectiveness of charities had to discipline two of its founders who pretended to be other people on blogs and then referred people to the group's Web site.65 Similar problems may dilute the credibility of Wikipedia, the open-source online encyclopedia that is beloved by many students. Anyone can edit entries, so their reliability is not assured. Although other alert contributors may eventually correct false or self-serving entries, there is still room for organizations to color content in a way that serves their goals. For example, a visitor edited the Wikipedia entry for the SeaWorld theme parks to change all mentions of "orcas" to "killer whales"; he or she also deleted a paragraph that criticized SeaWorld's "lack of respect toward its orcas." It turns out the changes originated at a computer located in Anheuser-Busch—the company that happens to own SeaWorld. An employee of PepsiCo deleted several paragraphs of the Pepsi entry that focused on its detrimental health effects, and a person at Walmart altered an entry about how the retailer pays its employees. Another form of sock puppeting is socalled paid influencer programs that attempt to start online conversations about brands when they encourage bloggers to write about them. These "sponsored conversations" can be effective, but again marketers need to be careful about the potential to distort source recommendations. Kmart awarded a shopping spree to a group of bloggers who agreed to post about their experiences. Panasonic flew bloggers to the Consumer electronics Show in las Vegas, where they posted about the show and Panasonic products unveiled there. Mercedes gave a blogger use of an SUV for a week in exchange for posts about it. the tangled Web 308 SeCtiOn 3 Choosing and Using Products his role in the Great Train Robbery in the United Kingdom, successfully served as a spokesman in Brazil for a company that makes door locks—a topic about which he is presumably knowledgeable!68 It's important to note that what is credible to one consumer segment may be a turnoff to another. Indeed, rebellious or even deviant celebrities may be attractive to some simply for that reason. Tommy Hilfiger cultivated a rebellious, street-smart image when he used rappers Snoop Doggy Dogg—aka Snoop Dog, aka Snoop Lion, aka Snoopzilla—to help launch his clothing line and Coolio, a former crack addict and thief and Diddy (aka Puffy) as a runway model.69 Parents may not be thrilled by these message sources—but isn't that the point? Charlie Sheen, please report to the studio .... A consumer's beliefs about a product's attributes will weaken if he or she perceives that the source is biased.70 Knowledge bias implies that a source's knowledge about a topic is not accurate. Reporting bias occurs when a source has the required knowledge but we question his or her willingness to convey it accurately—as when a racket manufacturer pays a star tennis player to use its products exclusively. The source's credentials might be appropriate, but the fact that consumers see the expert as a "hired gun" compromises believability. Source Attractiveness: "What is Beautiful is Good" A British dairy company enlisted Johnny Rotten, the lead singer of the Sex Pistols, to appear in a commercial (or advert, as they say in the United Kingdom) to promote its butter. Sales went up substantially when the punk legend plugged the product (rotten butter?).71 Source attractiveness refers to the social value recipients attribute to a communicator. This value relates to the person's physical appearance, personality, social status, or similarity to the receiver (we like to listen to people who are like us). Our desire to know what our peers think helps to explain why both Facebook and Google now allow shared endorsements; users who follow or rate a product or service may find that their endorsements show up on the advertiser's page.72 Some sources like Johnny Rotten appeal to us because they are cool, brainy, or just plain famous. However, many simply are nice to look at. Almost everywhere we turn, beautiful people try to persuade us to buy or do something. As Chapter 6 showed us, our society places a high premium on physical attractiveness. We assume that good-looking people are smarter, hipper, and happier than the rest of us. This is an example of a halo effect, which occurs when we assume that persons who rank high on one dimension excel on others as well. We can explain this effect in terms of the consistency principle we discussed previously in this chapter; we are more comfortable when all of our judgments about a person correspond. As a result, physically attractive people often get a boost in life because people assume they excel on other dimensions as well. Occasionally this halo effect can backfire if observersthey excel on other dimensions as w infer that someone has exploited their attractiveness (e.g. women who get labeled as "gold diggers"). One study found that good-looking children are less likely to get assistance from adults (at least for fairly mild problems) because people assume they are more competent and thus better able to help themselves. One implication of this work is that ironically charitable organizations may want to consider using less attractive kids as models to solicit donations!73 Note: Psychologists also refer to the opposite, forked-tail effect that describes our assumptions that an unattractive person also isn't good at other things. There are a lot of angels and devils out there. Star Power: Celebrities as Communications Sources Celebrities hawk everything from grills (George Foreman) to perfumes (Jennifer Lopez). As our discussion about the consistency principle illustrates, these messages are more effective when there's a logical connection between the star and the product. When Bob Dylan pitches Victoria's Secret lingerie (yes, he really did), marketers may need to reread their consumer behavior textbook.74 Then again, teen idol Justin Bieber puts his name on almost everything ... including nail polish!75 Marketing messages that consumers perceive as buzz (those that are authentic and consumer generated) tend to be more effective than those they categorize as hype (those that are inauthentic, biased, and company generated). however, the digital environment makes it easier for a hype message to masquerade as buzz if the source does not disclose that it is in fact sponsored. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) toughened its stance on this problem in 2013, when the regulatory agency issued guidelines for organizations that advertise in digital media. For example, the FTC says, "required disclosures must be clear and conspicuous. In evaluating whether a disclosure is likely to be clear and conspicuous, advertisers should consider its placement in the ad and its proximity to the relevant claim. The closer the disclosure is to the claim to which it relates, the better."66 The agency is trying to address abuses like the situation in which a the Pr firm for a video game developer had its own employees pose as consumers and post positive game reviews at the iTunes store.67 ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 309 Star power works because celebrities embody cultural meanings—they symbolize important categories like status and social class: A "working-class hero" (Mike of Mike & Molly), gender (the effeminate Cam on Modern Family), age (the youthful President Grant on Scandal), and even personality types (the nerdy Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, cool Adam Levine on The Voice). Ideally, the advertiser decides what meanings the product should convey (that is, how it should position the item in the marketplace) and then chooses a celebrity who embodies a similar meaning. The product's meaning thus moves from the manufacturer to the consumer, using the star as a vehicle.76 nonhuman endorsers A celebrity endorsement strategy has its drawbacks. As we previously noted, stars' motives may be suspect if they plug products that don't fit their images or if consumers begin to believe the celebrities never met a product they didn't like (for a fee). They may be involved in a scandal or deviate from a brand's desired image—for example, the Milk Processor Education Program suspended "Got Milk?" ads featuring Mary- Kate and Ashley Olsen after Mary-Kate entered a treatment facility for an undisclosed health issue. For these reasons, some marketers seek alternative sources, including cartoon characters and mascots. As the marketing director for a company that manufactures costumed Celebrities, major and minor, frequently serve as communications sources in advertisements, promotions and infomercials. Source: Blend Images/Corbis. Marketing Pitfall Celebrities (and their managers) don't necessarily jump at the chance to endorse just any product. After all, they have a brand image to protect as well. For years one popular strategy has been to film commercials overseas and stipulate that they are not to air at home. The practice is so widespread in Japan that it's even got its own portmanteau word: Japander, a combination of Japanese and pandering, which describes a western star acting in Japan advertisements and endorsing products they are unlikely to use in order to make a large amount of money quickly. It also implies embarrassing oneself in Japanese media. Check out japander.com to see actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, george Clooney, and Jennifer Aniston in commercials they'd prefer their U.S. fans didn't see.77 310 SeCtiOn 3 Choosing and Using Products characters for sports teams and businesses points out, "You don't have to worry about your mascot checking into rehab."78 Researchers report that spokescharacters, such as the Pillsbury Doughboy, Chester Cheetah, and the GEICO Gecko, do, in fact, boost viewers' recall of claims that ads make and also yield higher brand attitudes.79 Some of the most popular spokescharacters in recent years include Old Spice's The Man Your Man Could Smell Like (played by former NFL athlete Isaiah Mustafa), Snoopy (who appears in commercials for MetLife), the talking M&Ms, Flo for Progressive insurance, and Allstate's Mayhem Man.80 As we saw in Chapter 7, an avatar is one increasingly popular alternative to a flesh-andblood endorser. Avatar is a Hindu term for a deity that appears in superhuman or animal form. In the computing world, it means a character you can move around inside a visual, graphical world. Consumers who inhabit virtual worlds such as Second Life, Habbo Hotel, and The Sims design their avatars to reflect their own unique personalities, desires, and fantasies. Spokescharacters boost the effectiveness of advertising claims. Source: Pat Canova/Alamy. ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 311 The advantages of using virtual avatars compared to flesh-and-blood models include the ability to change the avatar in real time to suit the needs of the target audience. From an advertising perspective, they are likely to be more cost effective than hiring a real person. From personal-selling and customer-service perspectives, they handle multiple customers at one time, they are not geographically limited, and they are operational 24/7; therefore, they free up company employees and sales personnel to perform other activities.81 the Message Subtle aspects of the way a source delivers a message can influence our interpretation of what he or she says. For example, if a source refers to the brand as "you," "we," or more abstractly "the brand" this changes how people feel about the product. A more intimate reference can bolster feelings about brands with whom the consumer has a positive relationship, but it can also be off-putting if it's inconsistent with how the person feels about the product.82 Even the layout in a print ad sends a message about how the consumer should relate to the advertised item. A brand that wants customers to see it as a "friend" by depicting a model using it is more effective when the product image appears horizontally and near the model. On the other hand, if a brand wants customers to see it as a "leader" the advertiser will have better luck if it physically places the brand above the user and farther away "(it's lonely at the top). 83 A major study of more than 1,000 commercials identified factors that determine whether a commercial message will be persuasive. The single most important feature: Does the communication stress a unique attribute or benefit of the product?84 Table 8.2 lists some other good and bad elements of commercial messages. Consumers may find commercials confusing, but what's even worse is when we find them annoying. In a landmark study of irritating advertising, researchers examined more than 500 prime-time network commercials that had registered negative reactions by consumers. The most irritating commercials were for feminine hygiene products, hemorrhoid medication or laxatives, and women's underwear. The researchers identify these as prime offenders: ●● The commercial shows a sensitive product (e.g., hemorrhoid medicine) and emphasizes its usage. ●● The situation is contrived or overdramatized. ●● A person is put down in terms of appearance, knowledge, or sophistication. OBjeCtive 8-9 The way a marketer structures his or her message determines how persuasive it will be. tABLe 8.2 Characteristics of good and Bad Messages Source: Adapted from David W. Stewart and David H. Furse, "The Effects of Television Advertising Execution on Recall, Comprehension, and Persuasion," Psychology & Marketing 2 (Fall 1985): 135-60. Copyright © 1985 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reprinted by permission. Positive effects negative effects Showing convenience of use extensive information on components, ingredients, or nutrition Showing new product or improved features Outdoor setting (message gets lost) Casting background (i.e., people are incidental to message) large number of on-screen characters Indirect comparison to other products graphic displays Demonstration of the product in use Demonstration of tangible results (e.g., bouncy hair) An actor playing the role of an ordinary person No principal character (i.e., more time is devoted to the product) 312 SeCtiOn 3 Choosing and Using Products ●● An important relationship, such as a marriage, is threatened. ●● There is a graphic demonstration of physical discomfort. ●● The commercial created uncomfortable tension because of an argument or an antagonistic character. ●● It portrays an unattractive or unsympathetic character. ●● It includes a sexually suggestive scene. ●● The commercial suffers from poor casting or execution. Characteristics of the message itself help determine its impact on attitudes. These variables include how we say the message as well as what we say. Depending on the marketer's objectives and the nature of the product, different kinds of messages produce different results. A marketer faces some crucial issues when she creates a message: ●● Should the message be conveyed in words or pictures? ●● How often should the message be repeated? ●● Should the message draw a conclusion, or should this be left up to the listener? ●● Should the message present both sides of an argument? ●● Should the message explicitly compare the product to competitors? ●● Should the message include a blatant sexual appeal? ●● Should the message arouse negative emotions such as fear? ●● How concrete or vivid should the arguments and imagery be? ●● Should the message be funny? Should We Use Pictures or Words? The saying "One picture is worth a thousand words" captures the idea that visuals are effective, especially when the communicator wants to influence receivers' emotional responses. For this reason, advertisers often rely on vivid illustrations or photography.85 However, a picture is not always as effective when it communicates factual information. Ads that contain the same information elicit different reactions when the marketer presents them in visual versus verbal form. The verbal version affects ratings on the utilitarian aspects of a product, whereas the visual version affects aesthetic evaluations. Verbal elements are more effective when an accompanying picture reinforces them, especially if they frame the illustration (the message in the picture strongly relates to the copy).86 Because it requires more effort to process, a verbal message is most appropriate for high-involvement situations, such as print contexts where the reader really pays attention to the advertising. Verbal material decays more rapidly in memory, so these messages require more frequent exposures to obtain the desired effect. Visual images, in contrast, allow the receiver to chunk information at the time of encoding (see Chapter 4). Chunking results in a stronger memory trace that aids retrieval over time.87 The concrete discussion of a product attribute in ad copy also influences the importance of that attribute because it draws more attention. For example, in a study where participants read two versions of ad copy for a watch, the version that claimed "According to industry sources, three out of every four watch breakdowns are due to water getting into the case," was more effective than the version that simply said, "According to industry sources, many watch breakdowns are due to water getting into the case."88 Should We repeat the Message? Repetition can be a double-edged sword for marketers. As we noted in Chapter 4, we usually need multiple exposures to a stimulus before learning occurs. Contrary to the saying "familiarity breeds contempt," people tend to like things that are more familiar to them, even if they were not that keen on them initially.89 Psychologists call this the mere exposure phenomenon. Advertisers find positive effects for repetition even in mature product categories: Repeating product information boosts consumers' awareness of the brand, even though the marketer says nothing new.90 However, as we saw in Chapter 6, too much repetition creates habituation, whereby the consumer no longer pays attention to the stimulus ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 313 because of fatigue or boredom. Excessive exposure can cause advertising wear-out, which can result in negative reactions to an ad after we see it too much.91 Research evidence indicates that "three's the charm" when it comes to exposing an audience to a product claim. Additional messages tend to trigger skepticism and actually reverse any positive impact.92 The two-factor theory explains the fine line between familiarity and boredom; it proposes that two separate psychological processes operate when we repeatedly show an ad to a viewer. The positive side of repetition is that it increases familiarity and thus reduces uncertainty about the product. The negative side is that over time boredom increases with each exposure. At some point the amount of boredom exceeds the amount of uncertainty the message reduces, and this results in wear-out. Figure 8.6 depicts this pattern. Its effect is especially pronounced when each exposure is of a fairly long duration (such as a 30-second commercial).93 The two-factor perspective implies that advertisers can overcome this problem if they limit the amount of exposure per repetition (e.g., use 15-second spots instead of longer commercials). They can also maintain familiarity but alleviate boredom if they slightly vary the content of ads over time—although each spot differs, the campaign still revolves around a common theme. Recipients who see varied ads about the product absorb more information about product attributes and experience more positive thoughts about the brand than do those who see the same information repeatedly. This additional information also allows the person to resist attempts to change his or her attitude in the face of a counterattack by a competing brand.94 how Do We Structure the Argument? Many marketing messages are like debates or trials: A source presents an argument and tries to convince the receiver to shift his or her opinion. As you've no doubt guessed, the way we present the argument may be as important as what we say. It's often a good idea to relate the product to a person's identity to ramp up involvement as we discussed in Chapter 5. On the other hand, there's the temptation to push too hard. A recent study shows how that can happen: Respondents were asked to focus on their attitudes toward environmental issues to activate that aspect of their identities. Then they were divided into three groups, each of which was shown a separate slogan for Charlie's Soap, a real biodegradeable cleanser. One message just said the soap was "a good choice for consumers." A second version related to the issue by calling the soap "a good choice for green consumers." The third message pushed the envelope farther: "the only choice for green consumers!" Although many real managers predicted that the last choice would be most effective, in fact the second one was most effective because the last choice just pushed too hard.96 Positive Learning Factor Net Effect Negative Tedium Factor NUMBER OF EXPOSURES POSITIVE AFFECT NEUTRAL AFFECT NEGATIVE AFFECT Figure 8.6 TWO-FACTOr TheOrY OF MeSSAge rePeTITION The Pandora music site attracts about 70 million listeners, who tune in to playlists Pandora creates based on their initial preferences for certain artists. The site uses a music intelligence algorithm to dissect the characteristics of favorite songs and serve up others that are similar. Pandora's engineers constantly tweak the playlists as they experiment with variations of the experience. For example, do listeners want to hear mostly familiar songs, or do they want to discover new music? One of the biggest issues they wrestle with: how frequently should Pandora repeat the same song or artist in a playlist? The site constantly tries new variations to arrive at the optimal number of repetitions, but it turns out a lot depends on other factors such as the time of day and where listeners are when they tune in. For example, Pandora's data show that users welcome new music instead of the same old same old, but when they're at work not so much. The company continues to tweak its algorithm as it tries to answer the elusive question, "Can you have too much of a good thing?"95 net Profit 314 SeCtiOn 3 Choosing and Using Products CB AS i See it Pierre Chandon INSEAD, France taxes, bans) are resisted by the food industry, which has focused on food reformulation instead. Unfortunately, these efforts have all had limited success because they are perceived as a threat to our freedom to eat the food that we know and like. My research shows that regulators and food companies can unite to fight obesity by making people happier to spend more for less food, a triple win for public health, business, and eating enjoyment. Here is how: ●● Improve perception of food portion and package sizes. Visual biases make us strongly underestimate today's supersized portions and resist downsizing. Drawing on our knowledge of these biases, we can increase acceptance of portion downsizing, by bringing original small sizes back to lunchroom menus (to reframe perceptions of and preferences for a "normal" size), or by using "stealth" downsizing that elongates, instead of shortening, packages in supermarkets. ●● Focus on the sensory pleasure of eating, rather than on food quantity, or even health. We show that highlighting sensory pleasure (which peaks with the first mouthful) leads school kids and fast-food patrons to choose, prefer, and pay more for smaller portions. This can be done easily in schools through sensory imagery training and in restaurants with more vivid menu descriptions. Food and eating are fascinating research areas because they touch upon cognitive as well as social psychology, but also economics, sociology, and even the branch of philosophy related to taste (aesthetics). Because we all eat, it is rare to find someone who is not interested in the factors that, unbeknownst to us, influence what, when, and how much we eat. For example, in another study, I showed that people eat more, and less healthy, after their favorite football team was defeated, especially if it was a narrow defeat against a rival of the same strength, and eat less and more healthy after a victory. We also show that this happens because fans see the defeat of their team as their own failure (we say "we lost," not "they lost"), which makes it harder to self-regulate.97 I am interested in food marketing, how it makes people fat, and how consumer research can help find solutions that improve health without killing the pleasure of eating or the food industry. The obesity epidemic is largely driven by ever-increasing food portion sizes. Yet, our efforts to fight obesity have focused on trying to influence what people eat instead of how much they eat. Traditional public policy solutions (warnings, labels, Most messages merely present one or more positive attributes about the product or reasons to buy it. These are supportive arguments. An alternative is to use a two-sided message, in which the message presents both positive and negative information. Research indicates that two-sided ads can be quite effective, yet marketers rarely use them.98 Why would a marketer want to devote advertising space to publicize a product's negative attributes? Under the right circumstances, refutational arguments that first raise a negative issue and then dismiss it can be quite effective. This approach increases source credibility because it reduces reporting bias; this means that the receiver assumes the source has carefully considered both sides of the argument. Also, people who are skeptical about the product may be more receptive to a balanced argument instead of a "whitewash." 99 For example, after General Motors declared bankruptcy, an ad declared: "Let's be completely honest: No company wants to go through this."100 Research evidence indicates that when experts have strong arguments on their side, they are actually more effective if they express some uncertainty rather than stating unequivocally that they are correct.101 This doesn't mean the marketer should go overboard and confess to major problems with the product (though hopefully there aren't any major ones to admit to). The typical refutational strategy discusses relatively minor attributes that may present a problem or fall short when the customer compares a product to competitors. Positive, important ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 315 attributes then refute these drawbacks. For example, Avis got a lot of mileage when it claimed to be only the "No. 2" car rental company, whereas an ad for Volkswagen woefully described one of its cars as a "lemon" because there was a scratch on the glove compartment chrome strip.102 A two-sided strategy appears to be the most effective when the audience is well educated (and presumably more impressed by a balanced argument).103 It is also best to use when receivers are not already loyal to the product—"preaching to the choir" about possible drawbacks may raise doubts unnecessarily. One important structural question: Should the argument draw conclusions, or should the marketer merely present the facts and let the consumer arrive at his or her own decision? On the one hand, consumers who make their own inferences instead of having ideas spoon-fed to them will form stronger, more accessible attitudes. On the other hand, leaving the conclusion ambiguous increases the chance that the consumer will not form the desired attitude. The response to this issue depends on the consumer's motivation to process the ad and the complexity of the arguments. If the message is personally relevant, people will pay attention to it and spontaneously form inferences. However, if the arguments are hard to follow or consumers lack the motivation to follow them, it's safer for the ad to draw conclusions.104 Should We Compare Our Product to Our Competitors? In 1971 the FTC issued guidelines that encouraged advertisers to name competing brands in their ads. The government did this to improve the information available to consumers in ads, and indeed recent evidence indicates that, at least under some conditions, this type of presentation does result in more informed decision making.105 However, advertisers need to tread lightly, especially when they risk ruffling the feathers of other companies. Fox rejected a commercial that Sodastream submitted for the 2015 Super Bowl because the actress Scarlett Johansson sensually sips her homemade soda and says, "Sorry, Coke and Pepsi."106 Comparative advertising refers to a message that compares two or more recognizable brands and weighs them in terms of one or more specific attributes.107 An Arby's campaign to promote its chicken sandwiches used this approach: One commercial, set in a fictitious McDonald's boardroom, featured a young man who tries to convince McDonald's executives to serve a healthier type of chicken. He proposes that McDonald's offers 100 percent all-natural chicken instead of 70 percent chicken—the other 30 percent allegedly consisting of phosphates, salt, and water added to the chicken. The room erupts in laughter. At the end of the spot, a voice-over says that, unlike McDonald's, Arby's chicken sandwiches contain 100 percent natural chicken. This strategy can cut both ways, especially if the sponsor depicts the competition in a nasty or negative way. Although some comparative ads result in desired attitude changes, they may also be lower in believability and stir up source derogation (i.e., the consumer may doubt the credibility of a biased presentation).108 Indeed, in some cultures (such as Asia), comparative advertising is rare because people find such a confrontational approach offensive. new Message Formats: the Social Media revolution The novel "ice-bucket challenge" that swept the Internet in fall 2014 was a novel way to harness social media for a good cause; the movement that asked people to take a selfie of themselves dousing their heads in a bucket of ice water went viral and raised more than $115 million for A.L.S. research. Researchers explain this success by pointing to several elements of the message including: the 24-hour deadline to either take the cold shower or pay the money (a specific goal as opposed to a more abstract one); the public nature of the challenge that allowed participants to share their selfies online; and the slight amount of self-sacrifice that was involved. Yes, people tend to donate more money when they have to suffer a bit for the cause; researchers label this the martyrdom effect. As one put it, "We're supposed to prefer pleasure to pain but, when it comes to charity, you don't hear about massage-a-thons or dessert-a-thons." 109 316 SeCtiOn 3 Choosing and Using Products The "ice-bucket challenge" that swept the Internet was a novel way to harness social media for a good cause. Source: Jurgen Falchle/Fotolia An array of new ways to transmit information in both text and picture form offers marketers exciting alternatives to traditional advertising on TV, billboards, magazines, and so on.110 M-commerce (mobile commerce), where marketers promote their goods and services via wireless devices, including cell phones, PDAs, and iPods, is red-hot. European and Asian consumers already rely on their cell phones to connect them to the world in ways we are only starting to see in the United States. In Asia, tiny cell phone screens have become electronic wallets that buy Cokes from vending machines and devices that dole out McDonald's coupons on the phone screen. Among the Chinese, cell phones have become such important status symbols that relatives at funeral rites burn paper cell phone effigies so the dead will have their mobiles in the afterlife. If you're on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn (and the odds are good that you are), you're one of the billions of people who use social media applications globally. This term refers to the set of technologies that enable users to create content and share it with thousands or even millions of others. We'll dive into social media in more detail in Chapter 14. In addition to "the obvious suspects" (i.e. popular social media platforms including Facebook, ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 317 Pinterest, Foursquare, Tumblr, and so on), there are many other alternatives for marketers that want to harness these new technologies to communicate with customers. Some of these may even use multiple platforms, unfold over a period of time, and integrate social media with real world experiences. A transmedia storytelling strategy typically includes communications media that range from Web sites, blogs, and email to recorded phone calls and even graffiti messages scrawled in public spaces. reality engineering The Pennsylvania city of Altoona temporarily renamed itself "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" to promote a popular movie that parodies product-placement advertising; the movie's producers sold the title to the maker of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice for $1 million.113 Reality engineering occurs when marketers appropriate elements of popular culture and use them as promotional vehicles.114 It's hard to know what's real anymore; specialists even create "used jeans" when they apply chemical washes, sandpaper, and other techniques to make a new pair of jeans look like they're ready for retirement. The industry has a term for this practice that sums up the contradiction: new vintage!115 The grassroots efforts we often witness today to capture our attention epitomize guerrilla marketing: Promotional strategies that use unconventional means and venues to encourage word of mouth about products. This has nothing to do with monkey business; the term implies that the marketer "ambushes" the unsuspecting recipient because the message pops up in a place where he or she wasn't expecting to see an advertisement. These campaigns often recruit legions of real consumers who agree to engage in some kind of street theater or perhaps place messages in unconventional locations like public restrooms or on city sidewalks to get in the face of media-saturated consumers. Reality engineers have many tools at their disposal; they plant products in movies, pump scents into offices and stores, attach video monitors in the backs of taxicabs, buy ad space on police patrol cars, or film faked "documentaries" such as The Blair Witch Project.116 This process is accelerating: Historical analyses of Broadway plays, best-selling novels, and the lyrics of hit songs, for example, clearly show large increases in the use of real brand names over time.117 Here are some examples of reality engineering: ●● Mattel announced that it was putting a "for sale" sign on the Barbie Malibu Dreamhouse, where the doll character supposedly has lived in comfort since the introduction of Malibu Barbie in 1971. The campaign mixed actual and imaginary elements. A section of the real estate Web site Trulia carried the for-sale listing that described the property as "the dreamiest of dream houses."118 ●● The Quill.com division of the office supply retail chain Staples carries a line of products from the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company of Scranton, PA. As any fan knows, that is the fictional setting of the TV show The Office, which recently went off the air after nine seasons.119 ●● The Coachella music festival made headlines with a "virtual performance" (via hologram) of the deceased performer Tupac Shakur. YouTube reported more than 15 million views of the spectacle within 48 hours, and Tupac's greatest hits album made the Billboard 200 for the first time in 12 years. Plans are underway to debut holograms of other dead stars including Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.120 ●● A New York couple funded their $80,000 wedding by selling corporate plugs; they inserted coupons in their programs and tossed 25 bouquets from 1-800-FLOWERS. Product Placement When the new James Bond movie, Spectre, came out in 2015 the heroes and villains chased one another in flashy cars including an Aston Martin, Range Rover, and Jaguar C-X75.121 A music video for the Jennifer Lopez song "Live It Up" (featuring Pitbull) hyped The band Nine Inch Nails was one of the first marketers to use a transmedia storytelling technique. To promote the Year Zero album, game players searched for clues to reveal images from "the future." The first clue appeared on the back of a shirt promoting Nine Inch Nails' european tour. On the back of the shirt several letters were highlighted that spelled out "I am trying to believe." The words led fans to the Web site iamtryingtobelieve, which describes a drug named "Parepin" that, in the Year Zero story, is being added to the water supply to cloud people's minds.111 Other clues linked back to the band, such as a USB flash drive left in a bathroom stall at a concert, which in turn led fans to other Web sites that let them download printable stickers, stencils, and posters. eventually, some players obtained special mobile phones that rang later with instructions to find a bus that took them to—drumroll—a special live performance by the band.112 net Profit OBjeCtive 8-10 Many modern marketers are reality engineers. 318 SeCtiOn 3 Choosing and Using Products Swarovski, Nokia, Ice Watches, and Beluga vodka. Apple took top honors in 2014 movie product placements; its products appeared in about one-fourth of all number-one boxoffice hits during the year that ran the gamut from Birdman to Sex Tape. Target stores played a role in episodes of the CW's Jane the Virgin TV show and a Toyota car was written into the plot of an episode of ABC's Modern Family.122 That's quite a change; In the not-so-distant past, TV networks demanded that producers "geek" (alter) brand names before they appeared in a show, as when Melrose Place changed a Nokia cell phone to a "Nokio."123 Today, real products pop up everywhere. Well-established brands lend an aura of realism to the action, while upstarts benefit tremendously from the exposure. In the movie version of Sex and the City, Carrie's assistant admits that she "borrows" her pricey handbags from a rental Web site called Bag Borrow or Steal. The company's head of marketing commented about the mention, "It's like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. It gives us instant credibility and recognition."124 Bag Borrow or Steal got a free plug (oops, they got another one here!). In many cases, however, these "plugs" are no accident. Product placement is the insertion of real products in fictional movies, TV shows, books, and plays. Many types of products play starring (or at least supporting) roles in our culture; the most visible brands range from Coca-Cola and Nike apparel to the Chicago Bears football team and the Pussycat Dolls band.125 Product placement is by no means a casual process: Marketers pay about $25 billion per year to plug their brands in TV and movies. Several firms specialize in arranging these appearances; if they're lucky, they manage to do it on the cheap when they get a client's product noticed by prop masters who work on the shows. For example, in a cafeteria scene during an episode of Grey's Anatomy, it was no coincidence that the character Izzie Stevens happened to drink a bottle of Izze Sparkling Pomegranate fruit beverage. The placement company that represents PepsiCo paid nothing to insert the prop in that case, but it probably didn't get off so easily when the new brand also showed up in HBO's Entourage and CBS's The Big Bang Theory and The New Adventures of Old Christine.126 Today, most major releases brim with real products, even though a majority of consumers believe the line between advertising and programming is becoming too fuzzy and distracting (though as we might expect, concerns about this blurring of boundaries are more pronounced among older people than younger).127 A study reported that consumers respond well to placements when the show's plot makes the product's benefit clear. Similarly, audiences had a favorable impression when a retailer provided furniture, clothes, appliances, and other staples for the struggling families who get help on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.128 Some researchers claim that product placement aids consumer decision making because the familiarity of these props creates a sense of cultural belonging while they generate feelings of emotional security. Another study found that placements consistent with a show's plot do enhance brand attitudes, but incongruent placements that aren't consistent with the plot affect brand attitudes negatively because they seem out of place.129 Advergaming If you roar down the streets in the Need for Speed Underground 2 video racing game, you'll pass a Best Buy store as well as billboards that hawk Old Spice and Burger King.130 America's Army, produced by the U.S. government as a recruitment tool, is one of the most successful advergames. Twenty-eight percent of those who visit the America's Army Web page click through to the recruitment page. About three-quarters of U.S. consumers now play video games, yet to many marketers the idea of integrating their brands with the stories that games tell is still a well-kept secret. Others, including Axe, Mini Cooper, and Burger King, have figured this out: They create game narratives that immerse players in the action. Orbitz offers playable bannergames that result in the highest click-through rate of any kind of advertising the online travel site does. However, these linkages sometimes draw criticism if they seem to encourage violent behavior. Recently, as the game maker Electronic Arts (EA) took steps to launch its Medal of Honor Warfighter game, the company put up a Web site that included links to the catalogs of the manufacturers of the real kinds of guns, knives, and combat-style gear ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 319 the game includes, such as a powerful sniper's rifle and accessories for assault weapons. After gamers protested, EA disabled the links.131 Even so, the future is bright for advergaming, where online games merge with interactive advertisements that let companies target specific types of consumers. These placements can be short exposures such as a billboard that appears around a racetrack, or they can take the form of branded entertainment and integrate the brand directly into the action. The mushrooming popularity of user-generated videos on YouTube and other sites creates a growing market to link ads to these sources as well. This strategy is growing so rapidly that there's even a new (trademarked) term for it. Plinking™ is the act of embedding a product or service link in a video. Why is this new medium so hot?132 ●● Compared to a 30-second TV spot, advertisers can get viewers' attention for a much longer time. Players spend an average of 5 to 7 minutes on an advergaming site. ●● Physiological measures confirm that players are highly focused and stimulated when they play a game. ●● Marketers can tailor the nature of the game and the products in it to the profiles of different users. They can direct strategy games to upscale, educated users, while they gear action games to younger users. ●● The format gives advertisers great flexibility because game makers now ship PC video games with blank spaces in them to insert virtual ads. This allows advertisers to change messages on the fly and pay only for the number of game players that actually see them. Sony Corporation now allows clients to directly insert online ads into PlayStation 3 videogames; the in-game ads change over time through a user's Internet connection. ●● There's great potential to track usage and conduct marketing research. For example, an inaudible audio signal coded into Activision's Tony Hawk's Underground 2 skating game on PCs alerts a Nielsen monitoring system each time the test game players view Jeep product placements within the game. types of Message Appeals A persuasive message can tug at the heartstrings or scare you, make you laugh, make you cry, or leave you yearning to learn more. In this section, we'll review the major alternatives available to communicators. emotional versus rational Appeals Colgate-Palmolive's Total brand was the first toothpaste to claim that it fights gingivitis, a benefit that let Colgate inch ahead of Procter & Gamble's Crest for the first time in decades. Colgate initially made a scientific pitch for its new entry because it emphasized Total's germ-fighting abilities. In newer ads, however, former model Brooke Shields cavorted with two children (not hers) as soft music played in the background. She stated, "Having a healthy smile is important to me. Not just as an actress but as a mom."133 So, which is better: to appeal to the head or to the heart? The answer often depends on the nature of the product and the type of relationship consumers have with it. It's hard to gauge the precise effects of rational versus emotional appeals. Although recall of ad content tends to be better for "thinking" ads than for "feeling" ads, conventional measures of advertising effectiveness (e.g., day-after recall) may not be adequate to assess cumulative effects of emotional ads. These open-ended measures assess cognitive responses, and they may penalize feeling ads because the reactions are not as easy to articulate.134 Sex Appeals A risqué ad campaign for Kraft's Zesty Italian salad dressing attracted the attention of a conservative activist group called One Million Moms. Members took to the Web to protest a print ad featuring a hunky male model having a naked picnic. They described the ad, which 320 SeCtiOn 3 Choosing and Using Products appeared in an issue of People magazine, as the most disgusting ad they had ever seen produced by Kraft. They implied that the food giant was selling itself through blatant eroticism. Kraft defended its campaign as a light-hearted and coy way of engaging with their consumers. They said that the response they received has been overwhelmingly positive. Echoing the widely held belief that "sex sells," many marketing communications for products from perfumes to autos feature heavy doses of erotic suggestions that range from subtle hints to blatant displays of skin. Of course, the prevalence of sex appeals varies from country to country. Even U.S. firms run ads elsewhere that would not go over at home. For example, a "cheeky" ad campaign designed to boost the appeal of U.S.-made Lee jeans among Europeans features a series of bare buttocks. The messages are based on the concept that if bottoms could choose jeans, they would opt for Lee: "Bottoms feel better in Lee Jeans."135 Perhaps not surprisingly, female nudity in print ads generates negative feelings and tension among female consumers, whereas men's reactions are more positive—although women with more liberal attitudes toward sex are more likely to be receptive.136 In a case of turnabout being fair play, another study found that males dislike nude males in ads, whereas females responded well to undressed males—but not totally nude ones like the guy in the Kraft ad.137 Women also respond more positively to sexual themes when they occur in the context of a committed relationship rather than just gratuitous lust.138 So, does sex work? Although erotic content does appear to draw attention to an ad, its use may actually be counterproductive. In one survey, an overwhelming 61 percent of the respondents said that sexual imagery in a product's ad makes them less likely to buy it.139 Ironically, a provocative picture can be too effective; it can attract so much attention as to hinder processing and recall of the ad's contents. Sexual appeals appear to be ineffective when marketers use them merely as a "trick" to grab attention. They do, however, appear to work when the product is itself related to sex (e.g., lingerie or Viagra).140 A research firm explored how men and women look at sexually themed ads and what effect, if any, what they choose to look at might have on the ads' effectiveness. One part of the study used special software to follow the visual behavior of respondents as they looked at print ads. The ad sample consisted of two U.S. print ads, one sexual and one nonsexual, from each of five product categories. When the participants looked at a sexual ad, men tended to ignore the text as they focused instead on the woman in it, whereas the women participants tended first to explore the ad's text elements. Men said they liked the sexual ads more, they liked the products advertised in them more, and they would be more likely to buy those products. In contrast, women scored the sexual ads lower than the nonsexual ones on all three of those criteria.141 humor Appeals A TV commercial for Metamucil showed a National Park Service ranger who pours a glass of the laxative down Old Faithful and announces that the product keeps the famous geyser "regular." Yellowstone National Park started getting letters from offended viewers. Park officials also had their own concerns: They didn't want people to think that the geyser needed "help" or that it's OK to throw things down into it!142 Do humor appeals work? Overall, funny advertisements do get attention. One study found that recognition scores for humorous liquor ads were better than average. However, the verdict is mixed as to whether humor affects recall or product attitudes in a significant way.143 One reason silly ads may shift opinions is that they provide a source of distraction. A funny ad inhibits counterarguing (in which a consumer thinks of reasons why he or she doesn't agree with the message); this increases the likelihood of message acceptance because the consumer doesn't come up with arguments against the product.144 Fear Appeals Volkswagen's advertising campaign for its Jetta model's safety features got a lot of people to sit up and take notice. The spots show passengers in deep conversation as they drive down the street, completely unprepared for the vehicles that suddenly appear and collide Marketing Pitfall A series of funny ads created by a german agency didn't make everyone laugh. grey germany did three condom ads for a pharmacy chain. They implied that if more people used condoms the world would have been spared such figures as Mao Tse-Tung, Adolf hitler, and Osama bin laden. each execution depicted a swimming sperm with a likeness of one of the despised characters. Critics complained that the ads were racist, offensive, and inappropriate; the campaign apparently didn't exactly enhance the retailer's image.145 ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 321 violently with their cars. One spot also showed a passenger's head striking an airbag. The spots ended with a focus on the stunned passengers and the damaged Jetta. The ads seemed so real that the company received several calls asking whether the people in the ad were hurt. Fear appeals emphasize the negative consequences that can occur unless the consumer changes a behavior or an attitude. These types of messages are fairly common in advertising, although they are more common in social marketing contexts in which organizations encourage people to convert to healthier lifestyles by quitting smoking, using contraception, or relying on a designated driver. Several countries including the United States are looking at tough new guidelines for cigarette advertising and packaging. These options include requiring a range of horrific images to appear directly on the cigarette packaging (and in cigarette ads) to show people who have suffered from the ravages of cigarettes, such as a man with cigarette smoke coming out of a tracheotomy hole in his throat and a cadaver on an autopsy table. In 2013 a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that these images, along with the phone number 1-800-QUIT-NOW, are "unabashed attempts to evoke emotion" and "browbeat consumers" to stop buying the companies' products. However, the FDA still plans to continue the fight.146 This tactic, if and when it's implemented, may well scare away would-be smokers, but do fear appeals work more generally? Most research on this topic indicates that these negative messages are most effective when the advertiser uses only a moderate threat and when the ad presents a solution to the problem. Otherwise, consumers will tune out the ad because they can do nothing to solve or avoid the threat.147 When a weak threat is ineffective, there may be insufficient elaboration of the harmful consequences of the behavior. When a strong threat doesn't work, there may be too much elaboration that interferes with the processing of the recommended change in behavior; the receiver is too busy thinking of reasons the message doesn't apply to him or her to pay attention to the offered solution.148 A study that manipulated subjects' degree of anxiety about AIDS, for example, found that they evaluated condom ads most positively when the ads used a moderate threat. Copy that promoted use of the condom because "Sex is a risky business" (moderate threat) resulted in more attitude change than either a weaker threat that emphasized the product's sensitivity or a strong threat that discussed the certainty of death from AIDS.149 Similarly, scare tactics have not generally been an effective way to convince teenagers to curb their use of alcohol or drugs. Teens simply tune out the message or deny its relevance to them.150 However, a study of adolescent responses to social versus physical threat appeals in drug prevention messages found that social threat (such as being ostracized by one's peers) is a more effective strategy.151 the Message as Art Form: Metaphors Be with You Just like novelists, poets, and artists, marketers are storytellers. Their communications take the form of stories because they describe intangible product benefits. The storyteller, therefore, must express these in some concrete form so that consumers will get the message. Advertising creatives rely (consciously or not) on well-known literary devices to communicate these meanings. For example, characters such as Mr. Goodwrench, the Jolly Green Giant, and Charlie the Tuna may personify a product or service. Many ads take the form of an allegory, which is a story about an abstract trait or concept that advertisers tell in the context of a person, animal, vegetable, or object. A metaphor places two dissimilar objects into a close relationship such that "A is B," whereas a simile compares two objects, "A is like B." A and B, however dissimilar, share some quality that the metaphor highlights. Metaphors allow the marketer to apply meaningful images to everyday events. In the stock market, "white knights" battle "hostile raiders" with the help of "poison pills"; Tony the Tiger equates cereal with strength and "you're in good hands with Allstate" insurance.152 Resonance is another type of literary device advertisers frequently use. It is a form of presentation that combines a play on words with a relevant picture. Whereas 322 SeCtiOn 3 Choosing and Using Products metaphor substitutes one meaning for another by connecting two things that are in some way similar, resonance employs an element that has a double meaning—such as a pun, in which two words sound similar but have different meanings. For example, an ad for a diet strawberry shortcake dessert might bear the copy "berried treasure" so that the brand conveys qualities we associate with buried treasure such as valuable and hidden. An ad for ASICS athletic shoes proclaimed, "We believe women should be running the country" as it depicted a woman jogging, whereas a Bounce fabric softener ad asked "Is there something creeping up behind you?" as it showed a woman's dress bunched up on her back as a result of static. Because the text departs from expectations, it creates a state of tension or uncertainty on the part of the viewer until he or she figures out the wordplay. Once the consumer "gets it," he or she may prefer the ad to a more straightforward message.153 Just as a novelist or artist can tell a story in words or pictures, we can choose several ways to address our consumer audiences. Advertisers structure commercials like other art forms; as we've seen, they borrow conventions from literature and art to communicate. 154 One important distinction is between a drama and a lecture.155 A lecture is like a speech: The source speaks directly to the audience to inform them about a product or to persuade them to buy it. Because a lecture clearly implies an attempt at persuasion, the audience will regard it as such. Assuming it motivates listeners, they weigh the merits of the message along with the source's credibility. Cognitive responses occur (e.g., "How much did Coke pay him to say that?"). Consumers accept the appeal if it overcomes objections and is consistent with their beliefs. the Source versus the Message: Do We Sell the Steak or the Sizzle? We've discussed two major components of the communications model: the source and the message. At the end of the day, which component persuades consumers to change their attitudes? Should we worry more about what we say or how we say it and who says it? Surprise! The answer is it depends. As we saw in Chapter 5, consumers' level of involvement determines which cognitive A fear appeal from South Africa. Source: Courtesy of brandhouse OBjeCtive 8-11 Audience characteristics help to determine whether the nature of the source or the message itself will be relatively more effective. ChAPter 8 Attitudes and Persuasive Communications 323 processes will activate when they receive a message. This in turn influences which aspects of a communication they process. Like travelers who come to a fork in the road, they choose one path or the other. The direction they take determines which aspects of the marketing communication will work and which will fall on deaf ears. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) assumes that, under conditions of high involvement, we take the central route to persuasion. Under conditions of low involvement, we take a peripheral route instead. Figure 8.7 diagrams this model.156 the Central route to Persuasion According to the ELM, when we find the information in a persuasive message relevant or interesting, we pay careful attention to it. In this event, we focus on the arguments the marketer presents and generate cognitive responses to this content. An expectant mother who hears a radio message that warns about drinking while pregnant might say to herself, "She's right. I really should stop drinking alcohol now that I'm pregnant." Or she might offer counterarguments, such as, "That's a bunch of baloney. My mother had a cocktail every night when she was pregnant with me, and I turned out fine." If people generate counterarguments in response to a message, it's less likely that they will yield to the message, whereas if they generate further supporting arguments, it's more likely they'll comply.157 The central route to persuasion involves the standard hierarchy of effects we discussed earlier in this chapter. Recall this assumes that we carefully form and evaluate beliefs; the strong attitudes that result in turn guide our behavior. The implication is that message factors, such as the quality of arguments an ad presents, will determine attitude change. Prior knowledge about a topic results in more thoughts about the message and also increases the number of counterarguments.158 the Peripheral route to Persuasion In contrast, we take the peripheral route when we're not really motivated to think about the marketer's arguments. Instead, we're likely to use other cues to decide how to react to the message. These cues include the product's package, the attractiveness of the source, or the context in which the message appears. We call sources of information extraneous to the actual message peripheral cues because they surround the actual message. The peripheral route to persuasion highlights the paradox of low involvement: When we don't care as much about a product, the way it's presented (e.g., who endorses it or the visuals that go with it) increases in importance. The implication here is that we may buy low-involvement products chiefly because the marketer designs a "sexy" package, chooses a popular spokesperson, or creates a stimulating shopping environment. In Figure 8.7 The elABOrATION lIKelIhOOD MODel (elM) OF PerSUASION High-Involvement Processing Central Route Peripheral Route Attention and Comprehension COMMUNICATION (source, message, channel) Cognitive Responses Belief and Attitude Change Behavior Change Low-Involvement Processing Belief Change Behavior Change Attitude Change 324 SeCtiOn 3 Choosing and Using Products other words, especially when a consumer engages in emotional or behavioral decision making, these environmental cues become more important than when he or she performs cognitive decision making; as a result, he or she looks more carefully at the product's performance or other objective attributes. To recap, the basic idea of the ELM is that highly involved consumers look for the "steak" (e.g., strong, rational arguments). Those who are less involved go for the "sizzle" (e.g., the colors and images in packaging or famous people's endorsements). It is important to remember, however, that the same communications variable can be both a central and a peripheral cue, depending on its relation to the attitude object. The physical attractiveness of a model might serve as a peripheral cue in a car commercial, but her beauty might be a central cue for a product such as shampoo where a major product benefit is to enhance attractiveness.159 MyLab Marketing To complete the problems with the , go to EOC Discussion Questions in the MyLab as well as additional Marketing Metrics questions only available in MyLab Marketing. Now that you have finished reading this chapter, you should understand why: 1. It is important for consumer researchers to understand the nature and power of attitudes. An atti tude 3. We form attitudes in several ways. . ChAPtEr SummAry is, we alter some parts of an attitude to be in line with others. Such theoretical approaches to attitudes as cognitive dissonance theory, self-perception theory, and balance theory stress the vital role of our need for consistency. 5. Attitude models identify specific components and combine them to predict a consumer's overall attitude toward a product or brand. 7. the consumer who processes a message is not the passive receiver of information marketers once believed him or her to be. The traditional view of communications regards the perceiver as a passive element in the process. New developments in interactive communications highlight the need

Attributes

can help to explain why evaluations of a product tend to increase after we buy the product. The cognitive element, "I made a stupid decision," is dissonant with the element, "I am not a stupid person," so we tend to find even more reasons to like something after it becomes ours. A classic study at a horse race demonstrated this postpurchase dissonance. Bettors evaluated their chosen horse more highly and were more confident of its success after they placed a bet than before. Because the bettor financially commits to the choice, he or she reduces dissonance by elevating the attractiveness of the chosen alternative relative to the nonchosen ones.15 One implication of this phenomenon is that consumers actively seek support for their decisions so they can justify them; therefore, marketers should supply their customers with additional reinforcement after they purchase to bolster these decisions

Dissonance theory

occurs when we form an attitude to conform to another person's or group's expectations. Advertising that depicts the dire social consequences when we choose some products over others relies on the tendency of consumers to imitate the behavior of desirable models (more on this in Chapter 11).

Identification

people have about an Ao (i.e., those beliefs about the object a person considers during evaluation). Object-attribute linkages, or the probability that a particular object has an important attribute. ●● Evaluation of each of the important attrib

Salient beliefs

It assumes that we observe our own behavior to determine just what our attitudes are, much as we assume that we know what another person's attitude is when we watch what he does. The theory states that we maintain consistency as we infer that we must have a positive attitude toward an object if we have bought or consumed it (assuming that we freely made this choice). Thus, you might say to yourself, "I guess I must be into Facebook pretty big time. I seem to spend half my life on it." As it gets increasingly difficult for cigarette smokers to indulge their habit in public places like offices, they have to work harder to reduce cognitive dissonance in order to justify the effort to continue this practice. Source: Scott Griessel/Fotolia

Self perception Theory

also assumes that people assimilate new information about attitude objects in light of what they already know or feel.20 The initial attitude acts as a frame of reference, and we categorize new information in terms of this existing standard. Just as our decision that a box is heavy depends in part on the weight of other boxes we lift, we develop a subjective standard when we judge attitude objects

Social judgment theory

in which marketers hope that the star's popularity will transfer to the product or when a nonprofit organization recruits a celebrity to discourage harmful behaviors.26 We will consider this strategy at length later in this chapter. For now, it pays to remember that creating a unit relation between a product and a star can backfire if the public's opinion of the celebrity endorser shifts from positive to negative. For example, Pepsi pulled an ad that featured Madonna after she released a controversial music video involving religion and sex; it also happened when celebrity bad girl Paris Hilton got busted. The strategy can also cause trouble if people question the star-product unit relation: This occurred when the late singer Michael Jackson, who also did promotions for Pepsi, subsequently confessed that he didn't even drink soda

celebrity endorsements,

communications model identifies several important components for marketers when they try to change consumers' attitudes toward products and services. Persuasion refers to an attempt to change consumers' attitudes. The communications model specifies the elements marketers need to transmit meaning. These include a source, a message, a medium, a receiver, and feedback

communications model

underscore the complexity of attitudes: They specify that we identify and combine a set of beliefs and evaluations to predict an overall attitude. Researchers integrate factors such as subjective norms and the specificity of attitude scales into attitude measures to improve predictability.

underscore the complexity of attitudes: They specify that we identify and combine a set of beliefs and evaluations to predict an overall attitude. Researchers integrate factors such as subjective norms and the specificity of attitude scales into attitude measures to improve predictability.

Relates to rewards and punishments

utilitarian function

When market researchers want to assess consumers' attitudes toward beer brands, they might simply go to a bar and ask a bunch of guys, "How do you feel about Budweiser?" However, as we saw previously, attitudes can be a lot more complex than that. One problem is that many attributes or qualities may link to a product or service; depending on the individual, some of these will be more or less important ("Less filling!" "Tastes great!"). Another problem is that when a person decides to take action toward an attitude object, other factors influence his or her behavior, such as whether he or she feels that his family or friends would approve. Attitude models specify the different elements that might work together to influence people's evaluations of attitude

Attitude Models

are characteristics of the Ao. A researcher tries to identify the attributes that most consumers use when they evaluate the Ao. For example, one of a college's attributes is its scholarly reputation

Attributes

considers how people perceive relations among different attitude objects, and how they alter their attitudes so that these remain consistent (or "balanced").22 One study even found that when a person observes two other individuals who are eating similar food, they assume they must be friends! 23 A balance theory perspective involves relations (always from the perceiver's subjective point of view) among three elements, so we call the resulting attitude structures triads. Each triad contains (1) a person and his or her perceptions of (2) an attitude object and (3) some other person or object. The theory specifies that we want relations among elements in a triad to be harmonious. If they are unbalanced, this creates tension that we are motivated to reduce by changing our perceptions to restore balance. We link elements together in one of two ways: They can have either a unit relation, where we think that a person is somehow connected to an attitude object (something like a belief), or they can have a sentiment relation, where a person expresses liking or disliking for an attitude object. You might perceive that a dating couple has a positive senti

Balance Theory

are cognitions about the specific Ao (usually relative to others like it). A belief measure assesses the extent to which the consumer perceives that a brand possesses a particular attribute. For example, a student might believe that the University of North Carolina is strong academically (or maybe this is consistency theory at work because your humble author went to graduate school there!).

Beliefs

is what he or she believes to be true about the attitude object.

C ognition

If prospective students view one brand as superior on a particular attribute, a marketer needs to convince consumers like Saundra that this particular attribute is important. For example, although Saundra rates Northland's social atmosphere highly, she does not believe this attribute is a valued aspect for a college. As Northland's marketing director, you might emphasize the importance of an active soci

Capitalize on relative Advantage.

we form an attitude because it helps us to gain rewards or avoid punishment. This attitude is superficial; it is likely to change when others no longer monitor our behavior or when another option becomes available. You may drink Pepsi because the cafeteria sells it, and it is too much trouble to go elsewhere for a Coca-Cola.

Compliance

we value harmony among our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and a need to maintain uniformity among these elements motivates us. This desire means that, if necessary, we change our thoughts, feelings, or behaviors to make them consistent with other experiences. That boyfriend may slip up and act like a moron occasionally, but his girlfriend (eventually) will find a way to forgive him—or dump him. The consistency principle is an important reminder that we don't form our attitudes in a vacuum: A big factor is how well they fit with other, related attitudes we already hold According to the theory, our motivation to reduce the negative feelings of dissonance makes us find a way for our beliefs and feelings to fit together. The theory focuses on situations in which two cognitive elements clash. A cognitive element is something a person believes about himself or herself, a behavior he or she performs, or an observation about his or her surroundings. For example, the two cognitive elements "I know smoking cigarettes causes cancer" and "I smoke cigarettes" are dissonant with one another. This psychological inconsistency creates a feeling of discomfort that the smoker tries to reduce. The magnitude of dissonance depends on both the importance and number of dissonant elements.14 In other words, we're more likely to observe dissonance in high-involvement situations where there is more pressure to reduce inconsistencies

Consistency

According to the experiential hierarchy of effects, we act on the basis of our emotional reactions. The experiential perspective highlights the idea that intangible product attributes, such as package design, advertising, brand names, and the nature of the setting in which the experience occurs, can help shape our attitudes toward a brand. We may base these reactions on hedonic motivations, such as whether using the product is exciting like the Nintendo Wii or aesthetically pleasing like the Apple iPhone. Even the emotions the communicator expresses have an impact. A smile is infectious; in a process we term emotional contagion, messages that happy people deliver enhance our attitude toward the product.9 Numerous studies demonstrate that the mood a person is in when he or she sees or hears a marketing message influences how he or she will process the ad, the likelihood that he or she will remember the information

Feel u Do u think

At a high level of involvement we call internalization, deep-seated attitudes become part of our value system. These attitudes are difficult to change because they are so important to us

Internalization

argues that affect and cognition are separate systems so that it's not always necessary to have a cognition to elicit an emotional response.

Independence hypothesis

We form some attitudes because we need order, structure, or meaning.

Knowledge

around an attitude standard. They will consider and evaluate ideas falling within the latitude favorably, but they are more likely to reject out of hand those that fall outside of this zone. People tend to perceive messages within their latitude of acceptance as more consistent with their position than those messages actually are. We call this exaggeration an assimilation effect. However, we tend to see messages that fall in our latitude of rejection as even more unacceptable than they actually are; this results in an exaggeration we call a contrast effect.21 As a person becomes more involved with an attitude object, his or her latitude of acceptance gets smaller. In other words, consumers accept fewer ideas farther from their own position and they tend to oppose even mildly divergent positions. Discriminating buyers have smaller latitude of acceptance (e.g., "choosy mothers choose Jif peanut butter"). However, relatively uninvolved consumers consider a wider range of alternatives. They are less likely to be brand loyal and are more likely to switch brands.

Lattitudes of acceptance and rejection

Linkages. A marketer may discover that consumers do not equate his brand with a certain attribute. Advertising campaigns often address this problem when they stress a specific quality to consumers (e.g., "new and improved"). Saundra apparently does not think much of Northland's academic quality, athletic programs, or library facilities. You might develop an informational campaign to improve these perceptions (e.g., "little-known facts about Northland

Strengthen Perceived Product/Attribute Linkages

. A need to maintain consistency among all of our attitudinal components often motivates us to alter one or more of them. One organizing principle of attitude formation

is the importance of consistency among attitudinal components

assumes that the consumer initially doesn't have a strong preference for one brand over another; instead, he or she acts on the basis of limited knowledge and forms an evaluation only after he or she has bought the product.8 The attitude is likely to come about through behavioral learning, as good or bad experiences reinforce his or her initial choice. The possibility that consumers simply don't care enough about many decisions to carefully assemble a set of product beliefs and then evaluate them is important. This implies that all of our well-intentioned efforts to influence beliefs and carefully communicate information about product attributes may fall on deaf ears. Consumers aren't necessarily going to pay attention anyway; they are more likely to respond to simple stimulus-response connections when they make purchase decisions. For example, a consumer who chooses among paper towels might remember that "Bounty is the quicker picker-upper" rather than systematically comparing all the brands on the shelf. Get a life! The notion of consumers' low involvement is a bitter pill for some marketers to swallow. Who wants to admit that what they market is not important to the people who buy it? A brand manager for, say, a brand of bubble gum or cat food may find it hard to believe that consumers don't put that much thought into purchasing the product because he or she spends many waking (and perhaps sleeping) hours thinking about it. For marketers, the ironic silver lining to this low-involvement cloud is that under these conditions, consumers are not motivated to process a lot of complex, brand-related information. Instead, they will be swayed by principles of behavioral learning, such as the simple responses that conditioned brand names or point-of-purchase displays elicit (as we discussed in Chapter 4).

the Low-involvement hierarchy: think u Do u Feel

assumes that a person approaches a product decision as a problem-solving process. First, he or she forms beliefs about a product as she accumulates knowledge (beliefs) regarding relevant attributes. Next, he or she evaluates these beliefs and forms a feeling about the product (affect).6 Then he or she engages in a relevant behavior, such as when he or she buys a product that offers the attributes he or she feels good about. This hierarchy assumes that a consumer is highly involved when he or she makes a purchase decision (see Chapter 5).7 He or she is motivated to seek out a lot of information, carefully weigh alternatives, and come to a thoughtful decis

the high-involvement hierarchy: think u Feel u Do

Consumer researchers have used multiattribute models for many years, but a major problem plagues them: In many cases, a person's attitude doesn't predict behavior. In a classic demonstration of "do as I say, not as I do," many studies report a low correlation between a person's reported attitude toward something and actual behavior toward it. Some researchers are so discouraged that they question whether attitudes are of any use at all when we try to understand behavior. Hence the popular expression, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." In response, researchers tinkered with the Fishbein Model to improve its predictive ability

theory of reasoned action