Showing papers in "Journal of Consumer Research in 2002"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors trace the rise of the modern cultural engineering paradigm of branding, premised upon a consumer culture that granted marketers cultural authority, and describe the current post-postmodern consumer culture, which is premised on the pursuit of personal sovereignty through brands.
Abstract: Brands are today under attack by an emerging countercultural movement. This study builds a dialectical theory of consumer culture and branding that explains the rise of this movement and its potential effects. Results of an interpretive study challenge existing theories of consumer resistance. To develop an alternative model, I first trace the rise of the modern cultural engineering paradigm of branding, premised upon a consumer culture that granted marketers cultural authority. Intrinsic contradictions erased its efficacy. Next I describe the current postmodern consumer culture, which is premised upon the pursuit of personal sovereignty through brands. I detail five postmodern branding techniques that are premised upon the principle that brands are authentic cultural resources. Postmodern branding is now giving rise to new contradictions that have inflamed the antibranding sentiment sweeping Western countries. I detail these contradictions and project that they will give rise to a new post-postmodern branding paradigm premised upon brands as citizen-artists.
1,797 citations
TL;DR: In this article, three causes of self-control failure are described: conflicting goals and standards undermine control, failure to keep track of (monitor) one's own behavior renders control difficult.
Abstract: Self-control is a promising concept for consumer research, and self-control failure may be an important cause of impulsive purchasing. Three causes of self-control failure are described. First, conflicting goals and standards undermine control, such as when the goal of feeling better immediately conflicts with the goal of saving money. Second, failure to keep track of (monitor) one's own behavior renders control difficult. Third, self-control depends on a resource that operates like strength or energy, and depletion of this resource makes self-control less effective. Trait differences in self-control predict many behaviors. Implications for theory and research in consumer behavior are discussed.
1,275 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the relationship between material values and other important life values and found that the individual orientation of material values conflicts with collective-oriented values, such as family values and religious values, and that this state of values conflict creates psychological tension, and this tension is associated with a reduced sense of well-being.
Abstract: Over the past decade, materialism has emerged as an important research topic Materialism is generally viewed as the value placed on the acquisition of material objects Previous research finds that high levels of material values are negatively associated with subjective well-being However, relatively little is known about the relationship between materialism and well-being within the broader context of an individual's value system In this article, we examine the relationship between material values and other important life values In addition, we draw on values theory to examine a novel conceptualization of why materialism is antithetical to well-being Specifically, our theory proposes that the individual orientation of material values conflicts with collective-oriented values, such as family values and religious values This state of values conflict creates psychological tension, and this tension is associated with a reduced sense of well-being Using both a survey sample of 373 adults from across the United States and an experimental study of 120 college students, we find considerable support for this conflicting values perspective
1,135 citations
TL;DR: Burning Man as mentioned in this paper explores the emancipatory dynamics of the Burning Man project, a one-week-long antimarket event, and reveals several communal practices that distance consumption from broader rhetorics of efficiency and rationality.
Abstract: This ethnography explores the emancipatory dynamics of the Burning Man project, a one-week-long antimarket event. Practices used at Burning Man to distance consumers from the market include discourses supporting communality and disparaging market logics, alternative exchange practices, and positioning consumption as self-expressive art. Findings reveal several communal practices that distance consumption from broader rhetorics of efficiency and rationality. Although Burning Man's participants materially support the market, they successfully construct a temporary hypercommunity from which to practice divergent social logics. Escape from the market, if possible at all, must be conceived of as similarly temporary and local.
1,122 citations
TL;DR: This article developed and tested a conceptual framework for the practice of product placement, and found that the modality of presentation (visual and auditory) and the degree of connection between a brand and the plot of the show interact to influence memory and attitude change.
Abstract: This article develops and tests a conceptual framework for the practice of product placement. The empirical testing introduces a controlled experimental approach called the theater methodology. Results show that the modality of presentation (visual and auditory) of the placements and the degree of connection between a brand and the plot of the show interact to influence memory and attitude change. Memory improves when modality and plot connection are incongruent but persuasion is enhanced by congruency. While congruous placements appear natural, incongruent placements adversely affect brand attitudes because they seem out of place and are discounted.
750 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors extend the idea that priming can influence preferences by making selected attributes focal, and demonstrate that these effects occur for both experts and novices, albeit by different mechanisms.
Abstract: This article extends the idea that priming can influence preferences by making selected attributes focal. Our on-line experiments manipulate the background pictures and colors of a Web page, affecting consumer product choice. We demonstrate that these effects occur for both experts and novices, albeit by different mechanisms. For novices, priming drives differences in external search that, in turn, drive differences in choice. For experts, we observe differences in choice that are not mediated by changes in external search. These findings confirmed that on-line atmospherics in electronic environments could have a significant influence on consumer choice.
568 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that consumers expect others to evaluate their decision more favorably if they choose variety and that this sometimes leads individuals to incorporate more variety into their public than private decisions, and that pressure to choose variety in public is eliminated when a social cue signals the appropriateness of consuming one's favorites.
Abstract: Three experiments demonstrate that people incorporate more variety into their consumption decisions when their behavior is subject to public scrutiny. Studies 1 and 2 indicate that consumers expect others to evaluate their decision more favorably if they choose variety and that this sometimes leads individuals to incorporate more variety into their public than private decisions. Results of study 2 confirm predictions that a relevant individual difference variable (self-monitoring) moderates the effects of expected evaluation on variety seeking. The final study demonstrates that pressure to choose variety in public is eliminated when a social cue signals the appropriateness of consuming one's favorites.
556 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that a substantial segment of consumers choose hedonic luxury rewards over cash of equal or greater value; consumers typically explain such choices based on the need to precommit to indulgence, to make sure that the award does no...
Abstract: Prior research has examined consumers’ use of self‐control to avoid hedonic (myopic) temptations, such as overspending and smoking. In this research we investigate the opposite form of self‐control, whereby consumers force themselves to indulge and avoid default forms of spending on utilitarian necessities and/or savings. In particular, consumers who have difficulty choosing items that are perceived as indulgences or luxuries (e.g., a cruise) over necessities (e.g., saving for college education) and cash in everyday decisions may use precommitments to indulgence, especially when the psychological cost of such commitments is less concrete. These propositions were tested in a series of studies involving real and hypothetical choices as well as process measures. The results indicate that a substantial segment of consumers choose hedonic luxury rewards over cash of equal or greater value; consumers typically explain such choices based on the need to precommit to indulgence, to make sure that the award does no...
542 citations
TL;DR: The consumer research domain appears ideal for the necessary next wave of social cognition research: the assessment of how much of a role nonconscious influences play in real life in decisions and behavior that are of real consequence to the individual.
Abstract: Consumer research has largely missed out on two key developments in social cognition research: the growing evidence that much of social judgment and behavior occur without conscious awareness or intent and the substantial moderating influence of social‐ and self‐related goal pursuits on basic cognitive and reasoning processes. This evidence is described and its implications are drawn for nonconscious—including subliminal—influences on consumer behavior. The consumer research domain appears ideal for the necessary next wave of this research: the assessment of how much of a role nonconscious influences play in real life in decisions and behavior that are of real consequence to the individual.
532 citations
TL;DR: The negativity effect, or the greater weighing of negative as compared with equally extreme positive information in the formation of overall evaluations, is widely believed by media planners and appears to be a well-proven phenomenon in consumer psychology as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The negativity effect, or the greater weighing of negative as compared with equally extreme positive information in the formation of overall evaluations, is widely believed by media planners and appears to be a well-proven phenomenon in consumer psychology. Although this effect has been extensively documented under conditions of moderate to high processing involvement in the literature, its robustness in consumer environments may be overstated. Specifically, there are important differences between the experimental settings in which this effect has typically been obtained and marketplace conditions. For instance, subjects in past studies have typically evaluated unknown or hypothetical targets with the goal of forming an accurate impression. In the marketplace, consumers may be familiar with brands and likely to process brand-related information with a variety of other processing goals, such as impression and defense motivation. Using two experiments, this re-inquiry delineates conditions under which the negativity effect is likely to emerge and those under which it may be less likely to occur.
403 citations
TL;DR: For example, experience is viewed as nonpartisan, devoid of the didacticism of formal education and the self-serving interests of advertisers as discussed by the authors, and experience supports a pseudodiagnosticity that draws the consumer in as a willing partner in the seduction.
Abstract: Product experience seduces consumers into believing that they learn more than is actually so. There are several reasons for this. First, experience is more engaging than most attempts at education, both more vivid and intentional, and consequently more memorable. Second, experience is viewed as nonpartisan, devoid of the didacticism of formal education and the self-serving interests of advertisers. Third, much of experience is ambiguous, but not recognized as such. Experience supports a pseudodiagnosticity that draws the consumer in as a willing partner in the seduction. Finally, the endogeneity of tastes allows consumers to accommodate to chosen alternatives and results in infrequent regrets about being seduced.
TL;DR: For instance, this article found that emotional appeals that highlight conflicting emotions (e.g., both happiness and sadness) lead to less favorable attitudes for individuals with a lower propensity to accept duality relative to those with a higher propensity.
Abstract: This research sheds insight on the psychological impact of mixed emotions on attitudes. In three experiments, we show that persuasion appeals that highlight conflicting emotions (e.g., both happiness and sadness) lead to less favorable attitudes for individuals with a lower propensity to accept duality (e.g., Anglo Americans, younger adults) relative to those with a higher propensity (e.g., Asian Americans, older adults). The effect appears to be due to increased levels of felt discomfort that arise for those with a lower, but not higher, propensity to accept duality when exposed to mixed emotional appeals. Theoretical implications regarding boundary conditions of emotional dissonance and distinctions between emotional and cognitive dissonance are discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined and interpreted ethnographic fieldwork and the consumer accounts of 44 gay men interviewed during a study of a gay urban community, and found that the oppositional character of subcultural consumption is captured well by the proposed theoretical framework that takes into account contested meaning clusters; fluid subcultural boundaries; flexible subcultural, interpretive frameworks for consuming; and negotiation of individual tastes through subculture consumption.
Abstract: Previous work on subcultural consumption presents structure, ethos, and subcultural boundaries as key theoretical aspects. These concepts are critically reconsidered through examining and interpreting ethnographic fieldwork and the consumer accounts of 44 gay men interviewed during a study of a gay urban community. Original insights are developed in relation to consuming in a subcultural context. The findings include consideration of the following key aspects of subcultural consumption: (1) contested meanings of gay subcultural consumption, (2) consuming and constructing subcultural boundaries, and (3) negotiating individual distinction with consumption practices. Overall, findings indicate that the oppositional character of subcultural consumption is captured well by the proposed theoretical framework that takes into account contested meaning clusters; fluid subcultural boundaries; flexible subcultural, interpretive frameworks for consuming; and negotiation of individual tastes through subcultural consumption.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors extend postmodern theories of consumption-oriented microcultures by analyzing the natural health value system and the microcultural meanings through which it is constructed, focusing on the narratives that natural health consumers use to articulate the values manifest in their wellness-oriented consumption outlooks and practices.
Abstract: This article extends postmodern theories of consumption-oriented microcultures by analyzing the natural health value system and the microcultural meanings through which it is constructed. We first compare our theoretical approach to the conventional, Rokeachian view of the consumer value system. Drawing from a range of cultural and postmodern theories, we argue that the Rokeachian view is not sufficiently attuned to the meaning-based aspects of consumer value systems. Furthermore, it largely ignores the intracultural diversity among consumer value systems that arises from the fragmentation of postmodern consumer culture into diverse consumption microcultures. Our analysis focuses on the narratives that natural health consumers use to articulate the values manifest in their wellness-oriented consumption outlooks and practices. These narratives reveal the meaning-based linkages between these articulated values and the consumption goals being pursued through natural health practices. We further contextualize the natural health value system by highlighting four higher-order postmodern orientations that are inflected in this microculture. We discuss the implications of our analysis for conceptualizations of the fragmented postmodern marketplace, means-end analyses of consumer values, and generative theories of consumer goal formation.
TL;DR: The authors examined the consequences of repeat purchasing versus switching in the context of information regarding the reason for the decision (e.g., prior consumption episode, brand history), and argued that there are situations in which repeat purchasing may cause as much or even more regret than switching.
Abstract: The decision-making literature has consistently reported that decisions to maintain the status quo tend to be regretted less than decisions to change it. We examine the consequences of repeat purchasing (maintaining the status quo) versus switching in the context of information regarding the reason for the decision (e.g., prior consumption episode, brand history), and we argue that there are situations in which repeat purchasing may cause as much or even more regret than switching. We contend that this effect depends on whether or not there is a justifiable basis for the decision. In a series of four studies, we show that if there is sufficient motivation to warrant a switch, consumers will feel less regret in the face of a subsequent negative outcome realized via a switch than in one realized via a repeat purchase. Our results imply that feelings of regret are mitigated when the consumer reflects and concludes that the decision was appropriate under the circumstances.
TL;DR: The authors discuss recent work in personality psychology that may serve as the foundation for the development of a personology of the consumer, in which people are seen as dispositional, goal-striving, and narrative entities engaged in consumption in the broadest sense.
Abstract: Personality research has long been a fringe player in the study of consumer behavior. Little research is directly devoted to personality issues, and if consumer personality is investigated at all, it tends to be from the narrow perspective of developing yet another individual difference measure in an already crowded field of personality scales or considering the moderating effects of a given trait on some relationship of interest. Understanding the individual person in his or her role as a consumer should be a key issue in the study of consumer behavior, but in order to realize this vision the scope of personality research has to be broadened. In this essay I discuss recent work in personality psychology that may serve as the foundation for the development of a personology of the consumer, in which people are seen as dispositional, goal-striving, and narrative entities engaged in consumption in the broadest sense.
TL;DR: In this paper, an ethnographic investigation into choice for postsecondary education is presented, which highlights choice experience during which the consumer finds the object of choice to be a perfect fit or to fit like a glove.
Abstract: This article presents an ethnographic investigation into choice for postsecondary education Findings from the investigation highlight choice experience during which the consumer finds the object of choice to be a perfect fit or to fit like a glove The article seeks to expand consumer research's repertoire of choice models to grasp more effectively such choices Practice theory, which emphasizes the sociohistorical and embodied qualities of everyday experience, is used to develop the Fits-Like-a-Glove (FLAG) framework of choice Overall, the data suggest that FLAG choice entails an embodied, holistic experience of perfect fit arising during a consumer's in situ encounter with an object of choice FLAG choice is explained by highlighting the sociohistorical shaping of this encounter By comparing and contrasting it with dominant models of choice in consumer research, the implications of the FLAG framework of choice are brought into relief
TL;DR: This article found that the standard that people use to evaluate products can be influenced by exposure to high and low stimulus values that are below participants' perceptual thresholds, and that the effects of internal standards on product judgments can occur without an awareness of the conditions that led to the construction of this standard.
Abstract: The context in which a product is seen influences the internal standard that consumers use to judge both this and other products. Two experiments showed that a product was judged as less expensive in a high-priced context than in a lowpriced context even though the product’s actual price was recalled as higher in the first condition than in the second. This effect of the initial context carried over to a new product encountered 48 hours later and also influenced price estimates of products from other categories. Additional experiments demonstrated that the standard that people use to evaluate products can be influenced by exposure to high and low stimulus values that are below participants’ perceptual thresholds. Thus, the effects of internal standards on product judgments can occur without an awareness of the conditions that led to the construction of this standard.
TL;DR: The authors explored Thompson and Haytko's interpretation of fashion discourses by bringing together two opposing perspectives on consumers' use of objects as signs, i.e., the consumer has free reign in the play of signs and the consumer is imprisoned by the signs and codes of the historical moment, and the dialectical and discursive tension between these two perspectives is used as an orienting framework in the hermeneutic analyses of 14 phenomenological interviews.
Abstract: This article explores Thompson and Haytko's ([1997][1]) interpretation of fashion discourses by bringing together two opposing perspectives on consumers' use of objects as signs. The first perspective assumes that the consumer has free reign in the play of signs (i.e., the consumer is constituting). The second assumes that the consumer is imprisoned by the signs and codes of the historical moment (i.e., the consumer is constituted). The dialectical and discursive tension between these two perspectives is used as an orienting framework in the hermeneutic analyses of 14 phenomenological interviews. Thompson and Haytko's ([1997][1]) findings/claims remain pertinent in a professional, middle-class context. In addition, this research contributes to their lived hegemony premise by emphasizing the dominating tendencies of marketing systems.
[1]: #ref-42
TL;DR: The authors examine how the exclusion of a neutral or fence-sitting option changes an expressed attitude or preference judgment, and find that the judgment of extreme options (strong positive and negative features) more significantly affects the judgment on all features, and that respondents prefer the option superior on the more important attribute, and result in more risk aversion.
Abstract: This article examines how the exclusion of a neutral or fence-sitting option changes an expressed attitude or preference judgment. Over a series of six studies, we find that the exclusion of a neutral response option (1) affects the judgment of extreme options (strong positive and negative features) more significantly than the judgment of options that are average on all features, (2) results in respondents favoring the option superior on the more important attribute, and (3) results in more risk aversion. We also provide evidence for the underlying process and show that our findings are moderated by individual differences on need for cognition and tolerance for ambiguity.
TL;DR: This paper examined the role of prior knowledge in learning new product information and found that consumers with higher prior knowledge learn less about a new product compared to consumers with lower prior knowledge, while higher knowledge consumers are able to learn more but learn less due to motivational deficits.
Abstract: Our research examines the role of prior knowledge in learning new product information. Three studies demonstrate that, compared to consumers with lower prior knowledge, those with higher prior knowledge learn less about a new product. Further, higher knowledge consumers are able to learn more but learn less due to motivational deficits; inferior learning of new product information by those with higher prior knowledge is caused by inattention at encoding rather than reconstructive errors at retrieval. These results hold both when prior knowledge is manipulated experimentally (studies 1 and 2) and when it is an individual difference factor (study 3).
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the effect of evaluative inconsistencies in product attribute information on the strength of the resultant attitude, as manifested in its predictive ability, and investigate the likelihood of inconsistency reconciliation by investigating whether or not people elaborate on inconsistencies with the goal of achieving an integrated evaluation.
Abstract: This article examines the effects of evaluative inconsistencies in product attribute information on the strength of the resultant attitude, as manifested in its predictive ability. The existing literature makes opposing predictions regarding the effects of information inconsistency on attitude strength. We seek to resolve this dilemma by investigating the likelihood of inconsistency reconciliation—that is, whether or not people elaborate on inconsistencies with the goal of achieving an integrated evaluation. A strengthening effect should result when the processing goal is conducive to reconciliation and goal-facilitating factors are present in the environment; however, a weakening effect should be obtained when conditions are unfavorable to inconsistency reconciliation. Results from three experiments provide support for this conceptualization and offer a possible resolution of the opposing theoretical perspectives present in the literature.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the importance of studying marketplace metacognition and social intelligence and of research-based consumer education programs on those topics, drawing from the recent study of evolutionary psychology, theory of mind, multiple life-span intelligences, and everyday persuasion knowledge.
Abstract: Consumers develop over their life span a pragmatic expertise in marketplace metacognition and marketplace interactions. Marketplace metacognition and social intelligence refer to people's beliefs about their own mental states and the mental states, strategies, and intentions of others as these pertain directly to the social domain of marketplace interactions. Drawing from the recent study of evolutionary psychology, theory of mind, multiple life-span intelligences, and everyday persuasion knowledge, I discuss the importance to our field of studying marketplace metacognition and social intelligence and of research-based consumer education programs on those topics.
TL;DR: The authors found that an antismoking advertisement shown in conjunction with cigarette advertising made salient negative smoker stereotypes, evoked unfavorable thoughts about peers shown smoking, and prevented cigarette advertising from promoting smoking.
Abstract: Ninth graders were randomly exposed to one of eight slice-of-life videotapes showing stimulus advertising (cigarette, antismoking, both, neither) and unfamiliar peers who either did or did not smoke cigarettes. The findings indicate that the cigarette advertising primed positive smoker stereotypes, which caused subjects to seek out favorable information about the peers shown smoking. Subjects' beliefs and intentions about cigarette consumption were thereby enhanced by the joint effects of advertising and peers. However, an antismoking advertisement shown in conjunction with cigarette advertising made salient negative smoker stereotypes, evoked unfavorable thoughts about peers shown smoking, and prevented cigarette advertising from promoting smoking.
TL;DR: This paper found that consumers selectively look for information that suggests the product will deliver the desired benefit and categorize any additional evidence, be it irrelevant or disconfirming, as not confirming, as a consequence, irrelevant information weakens consumers' beliefs in the product's ability to deliver the benefit.
Abstract: When consumers try to assess the performance of a product on a key benefit, their information search often reveals both diagnostic information and irrelevant information. Although one would expect irrelevant information to have little impact on predictions of product performance, we present evidence that the irrelevant information systematically weakens consumers' beliefs that the product will provide the benefit. We show that this dilution effect persists after subjects have acknowledged the irrelevance of the additional information but that it does depend on whether the product information is processed with the desired benefit in mind. We conclude that consumers are selectively looking for information that suggests the product will deliver the desired benefit and that they categorize any additional evidence, be it irrelevant or disconfirming, as not confirming. As a consequence, irrelevant information weakens consumers' beliefs in the product's ability to deliver the benefit.
TL;DR: The authors found that making people feel part of an ad hoc group increased not only their use of equality as a basis for allocating resources to themselves and others, but also their tendency to compromise in individual consumer choice situations.
Abstract: Calling consumers' attention to their cultural identity can make them aware of their membership in a group and, therefore, can induce a group mind-set. This mind-set, in turn, leads them to make decisions that minimize the risk of negative outcomes to both themselves and others. The effects of this mind-set generalize over both group and individual choice situations. These possibilities were confirmed in a series of six experiments. Results showed that making people feel part of an ad hoc group increased not only their use of equality as a basis for allocating resources to themselves and others, but also their tendency to compromise in individual consumer choice situations. Moreover, calling Asian and Western participants' attention to their cultural identity also induced feelings of being part of a group and, as a result, had analogous effects on decisions in both group and consumer choice situations.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors demonstrate the robustness of the face value dinar p 1 effect across different currencies, exchange rate frames, and with samples from two countries, and two studies show that ability-related factors such as time pressure and experience moderate face value effect.
Abstract: ringgits p 1 U.S. dollar). Four studies demonstrate the robustness of the face value dinar p 1 effect across different currencies, exchange rate frames, and with samples from two countries, and two studies show that ability-related factors such as time pressure and experience moderate the face value effect. The article concludes by discussing the theoretical implications of the findings.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors use their own experiences as researcher-poets to illustrate how the writing and close reading of poetry can take us directly to the heart of consumption, and provide a philosophical basis for the inclusion of poetry between the covers of this journal.
Abstract: Consumer researchers are wrestling with the crisis of representation that has challenged contiguous disciplines over the past decade. Traditional or conventional prose articles seem increasingly insufficient as vessels for representing our understandings and experiences. In this article, we demonstrate how poetry contributes to the research enterprise. We use our own experiences as researcher-poets to illustrate how the writing and close reading of poetry can take us directly to the heart of consumption. Our essay is intended to provide a philosophical basis for the inclusion of poetry between the covers of this journal. One aim of the physical sciences has been to give an exact picture of the material world. One achievement of physics in the twentieth century has been to prove that that aim is unattainable. (Bronowski 1973)
TL;DR: The authors identify the process by which risk-behavior cues provided in the message affect people's estimates of their vulnerability (self-risk estimates), depth of message processing, attitudes, and behavioral intentions, and demonstrate that message cues can reduce this bias and engage people in more precautionary thinking and behavior.
Abstract: One of the greatest challenges in advertising health-related information is overcoming the target audiences' self-positivity bias (i.e., the tendency for people to believe that they are invulnerable to disease). In this article, we show that the self-positivity bias hinders message processing, and we demonstrate that message cues can reduce this bias and engage people in more precautionary thinking and behavior. We identify the process by which risk-behavior cues provided in the message affect people's estimates of their vulnerability (self-risk estimates), depth of message processing, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. We test and find support for our theory in three studies that specify the types of risk behaviors that make the contraction of a disease seem easy versus difficult (study 1), that examine their interactive effects with the number of risk behaviors that are enumerated (study 2), and that delineate the underlying process by which these effects manifest (study 3). We demonstrate that the self-positivity bias acts as an a priori hypothesis on the basis of which people process and test incoming risk-behavior information, as would be predicted by confirmatory hypothesis testing theory. Our findings affect the theoretical understanding of how memory- and message-based factors work in opposing ways and suggest a more comprehensive framework for understanding memory- versus message-based judgments. Our results also have implications for media strategy and public health policy by differentiating between commonly used risk-behavior messages that are beneficial to the communicator's goals (e.g., increase compliance) and those that are detrimental to the communicator's goals (e.g., decrease compliance).
TL;DR: This article showed that rhetorical figures differentially affect the extent of ad processing, with tropes deviating more from expected language use than schemes, with the greater deviation yielding more extensive ad processing.
Abstract: Previous research demonstrates that rhetorical figures differentially affect the extent of ad processing. Specifically, tropes (a type of figure) deviate more from expected language use than schemes, with the greater deviation yielding more extensive ad processing. We extend previous research in two ways by focusing on the incongruity differences that exist between schemes and tropes. Study 1 uses syndicated data (Starch readership scores) to test how figures combine to affect the extent of processing. Results show that when figures leverage unique mechanisms (i.e., schemes and tropes), their combination yields incremental processing gains. Alternatively, when figures leverage redundant mechanisms (e.g., multiple tropes), their combination yields no incremental processing. Study 2 is an experiment that tests how figures separate in affecting the focus of ad processing. Results show that schemes generate a generalized focus on the entire ad, including both ad-stylistic and message-related aspects, while tropes generate a more selective focus on message-related aspects.