The physical form or design of a product is an unquestioned determinant of its marketplace success. A good design attracts consumers to a product, communicates to them, and adds value to the produc...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/1252116.pdf

Seeking the Ideal Form: Product Design and Consumer Response:

Mandler theorized that the level of congruity between a product and a more general product category schema may influence the nature of information processing and thus product evaluations. Products that are moderately incongruent with their associated category schemas are expected to stimulate processing that leads to a more favorable evaluation relative to products that are either congruent or extremely incongruent. Data from three experiments conducted in new product contexts are consistent with Mandler's hypothesis and serve as a basis for theorizing about the process.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2489300.pdf

Schema congruity as a basis for product evaluation.

This article examines two factors that differentiate between successful and unsuccessful brand extensions: product feature similarity and brand concept consistency. The results reveal that, in identifying brand extensions, consumers take into account not only information about the product-level feature similarity between the new product and the products already associated with the brand, but also the concept consistency between the brand concept and the extension. For both function-oriented and prestige-oriented brand names, the most favorable reactions occur when brand extensions are made with high brand concept consistency and high product feature similarity. In addition, the relative impact of these two factors differs to some extent, depending on the nature of the brand-name concept. When a brand's concept is consistent with those of its extension products, the prestige brand seems to have greater extendibility to products with low feature similarity than the functional brand does. Copyright 1991 by the University of Chicago.

Evaluation of Brand Extensions: The Role of Product Feature Similarity and Brand Concept

This article examines two factors that differentiate between successful and unsuccessful brand extensions: product feature similarity and brand concept consistency. The results reveal that, in identifying brand extensions, consumers take into account not only information about the product-level feature similarity between the new product and the products already associated with the brand, but also the concept consistency between the brand concept and the extension. For both function-oriented and prestige-oriented brand names, the most favorable reactions occur when brand extensions are made with high brand concept consistency and high product feature similarity. In addition, the relative impact of these two factors differs to some extent, depending on the nature of the brand-name concept. When a brand's concept is consistent with those of its extension products, the prestige brand seems to have greater extendibility to products with low feature similarity than the functional brand does.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2489554.pdf

Evaluation of Brand Extensions: The Role of Product Feature Similarity and Brand Concept Consistency

Across four experiments, the authors find that when information pertaining to the assessment of the healthiness of food items is provided, the less healthy the item is portrayed to be, (1) the better is its inferred taste, (2) the more it is enjoyed during actual consumption, and (3) the greater is the preference for it in choice tasks when a hedonic goal is more (versus less) salient. The authors obtain these effects both among consumers who report that they believe that healthiness and tastiness are negatively correlated and, to a lesser degree, among those who do not report such a belief. The authors also provide evidence that the association between the concepts of “unhealthy” and “tasty” operates at an implicit level. The authors discuss possibilities for controlling the effect of the unhealthy = tasty intuition (and its potential for causing negative health consequences), including controlling the volume of unhealthy but tasty food eaten, changing unhealthy foods to make them less unhealthy...

The Unhealthy = Tasty Intuition and Its Effects on Taste Inferences, Enjoyment, and Choice of Food Products

A categorization approach to inference making was used to determine when the effects of comparative advertising would differ from those of noncomparative advertising. Comparative advertising led to different responses for experts relative to either product class or product type level noncomparative advertising, but for novices only when the noncomparative ad referred to a broad product class. These differences were for measures of similarity, distinctiveness, and ad informativeness. Mean values on brand attitudes were not differentially influenced by comparative versus noncomparative advertising, though comparative advertising resulted in more polarized attitudes. These results were interpreted within the categorization framework and point to the general usefulness of this conceptual framework.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2489498.pdf

Christine Dekleva

Papers

Product Categorization and Inference Making: Some Implications for Comparative Advertising