Lec-Chap 7

3: Consume**
as Decision N'a*
Section 3 • Consumers akers
This section explores how we make consumption decisions and discusses the many influ
ences others exert during this process. Chapter 7 discusses how marketers form and change
our a ttitudes-our evaluations of all these products and messages-and how we as individual
consumers engage in an ongoing dialogue with the marketplace. Chapter 8 focuses on the
basic sequence of steps we undergo when we make decisions. Chapter 9 considers how the
particular situation in which we find ourselves affects these decisions and how we go about
evaluating the results of our choices. Chapter 10 goes on to consider the many instances
in which we make our purchase decisions in conjunction with others, especially coworkers
or family members.
CHAPTERS AHEA D
Chapter 7 Attitudes and Persuasion
Chapter 8 Decision Making
Chapter 9 Buying and Disposing
Organizational and Houseliold
Source: Courtesy of Y&R Dubai.
Chapter 10
Decision Making
271
Chapter 7 Attitudes and Persuasion
Chapter When you finish reading this chapter you will understand why:
Objectives 1. It is important for consumer researchers to understand the nature and power of attitudes.
2. Attitudes are more complex than they first appear.
3. We form attitudes in several ways.
4. A need to maintain consistency among all of our attitudinal components often motivates
us to alter one or more of them.
5. We use attitude models to identify specific components and combine them to predict
a consumer’s overall attitude toward a product or brand.
6. The communications model identifies several important components for marketers when
they try to change consumers’ attitudes toward products and services.
7. The consumer who processes a message is not necessarily the passive receiver
of information marketers once believed him or her to be.
8 . Several factors influence the effectiveness of a message source.
9. The way a marketer structures his or her message determines how persuasive it will be.
10. Audience characteristics help to determine whether the nature of the source or the
message itself will be relatively more effective.
MyMarketingLab
V isitwww.pearsonglobaleditions.com /
mymarketinglab to find activities that
help you learn and review in order to
succeed in this chapter.
N
atalie is sorting through tod ay’s mail: bill,
ad, bill, fund-raising letter from political
Source: Lucky Business/Shutterstock.
candidate, offer for another credit card.
Aha! Here it is - th e envelope she ’s been waiting for: an invitation to a posh cocktail party at her
friend Evelyn’s ad agency. This will be her chance to see and be seen, to mingle, network, and maybe
even land a job offer. But, what to wear? Somehow her industrial grunge clothes don’t seem appro
priate for the new life she imagines as an account executive. Natalie needs help, so she does what
comes naturally. First, she Tweets her friends to let them know about the event; then she fires up her
computer to check out wha t the fashionistas who roam the blogosphere recommend this season. She
browses Polyvore to see wha t looks celebrities are posting, and she’s immediately grabbed by a sheer
royal-blue tunic tha t actress Blake Lively is w e a ring-though the set tha t features a Nanette Lepore
jazz band dress isn’t bad either. But wait: She might make a real entrance if she turns up in the Rachel
Pally Aphrodite Fame Dress that Kim Kardashian wears, an off-the-shoulder Grecian-inspired dress “for
the modern goddess.” Hey, if it works for Kim, it works for her!1 Natalie quickly copies some snapshots
from the site and posts them on her Facebook page to get the ir votes. It’s fun to get a reality check
from her “peeps” in addition to fashion industry snobs.
o b je c t iv e 1 The Power of Attitudes

It is important for
consumer researchers to People use the term attitude in many contexts. A friend might
unoerstano tne nature askyou, “What is your attitude toward abortion?” A parent might
and power of attitudes. scoldj «Young manj j don't Iike your attitude." Some bars even
euphemistically refer to happy hour as "an attitude adjustment
period." For our purposes, though, an attitude is a lasting, general evaluation of people
(including oneself), objects, advertisements, or issues.2 We call anything toward which
one has an attitude an attitude object (A0).
An attitude is lasting because it tends to endure over time. It is general because it ap-
plies to more than a momentary event, such as hearing a loud noise, though you might,
over time, develop a negative attitude toward all loud noises. Consumers have attitudes
toward a wide range of attitude objects, from very product-specific behaviors (e.g., you
use Crest toothpaste rather than Colgate) to more general, consumption-related behav-
iors (e.g., how often you should brush your teeth). Attitudes help to determine whom
you choose to date, what music you listen to, whether you will recycle aluminum cans, or
whether you choose to become a consumer researcher for a living. In this chapter we'll
consider the contents of an attitude, how we form attitudes, and how we measure them.
We will also review some of the surprisingly complex relationships between attitudes and
behavior and then take a closer look at how marketers can change these attitudes.
Psychologist Daniel Katz developed the functional theory of attitudes to explain
how attitudes facilitate social behavior.3According to this pragmatic approach, attitudes
273
274 SECTION 3 Consum ers as Decision Makers
exist because they serve some function for the person. Consumers who expect that they
will need to deal with similar situations at a future time will be more likely to start to form
an attitude in anticipation.4 Two people can each have an attitude toward some object
for very different reasons. As a result, it's helpful for a marketer to know why an attitude
is held before she tries to change it. These are different attitude functions:
• Utilitarian function—The utilitarian function relates to the basic principles of re-

ward and punishment we learned about in Chapter 3. We develop some attitudes
toward products simply because they provide pleasure or pain. If a person likes the
taste of a cheeseburger, that person will develop a positive attitude toward cheese-
burgers. Ads that stress straightforward product benefits (e.g., you should drink Diet
Coke "just for the taste of it") appeal to the utilitarian function.
• Value-expressive function—Attitudes that perform a value-expressive function re-
late to the consumer's central values (Chapter 4) or self-concept (Chapter 5). A per-
son forms a product attitude in this case because of what the product says about him
as a person (e.g., "What sort of man reads Playboy?"). Value-expressive attitudes also
are highly relevant to the psychographic analyses we discussed in Chapter 6, which
consider how consumers cultivate a cluster of activities, interests, and opinions to
express a particular social identity.
• Ego-defensive function —Attitudes we form to protect ourselves either from external
threats or internal feelings perform an ego-defensive function. An early marketing
study showed that housewives in the 1950s resisted the use of instant coffee because
it threatened their conception of themselves as capable homemakers (this doesn't
seem to be a very big issue for most anymore!).5 Products that promise to help a man
project a "macho" image (e.g., Marlboro cigarettes) appeal to his insecurities about
his masculinity. Another example is deodorant campaigns that stress the dire, embar-
rassing consequences when you're caught with underarm odor in public.
• Knowledge function—We form some attitudes because we need order, structure, or
meaning. A knowledge function applies when a person is in an ambiguous situation
("it's OK to wear casual pants to work, but only on Friday") or she confronts a new
product (e.g., "Bayer wants you to know about pain relievers").
My Marketi ngLab OBJECTIVE 2 The ABC Model of Attitudes

Attitudes are more
Visitwww.pearsonglobaleditions.com / complex than they first When Subaru of America began work on a new marketing strat-
mymarketinglab to test your understanding appear egy, the automaker discovered that even though most auto
of chapter objectives. _________________ buyers had heard of the brand, very few had strong emotional
connections to it. However, Subaru owners expressed strong
passion and even love for the brand. To ramp up this emotional connection for nonown-
ers, the new campaign targets people who are in three different stages of buying a car—
what Subaru calls the heart, the head, and the wallet. The heart stage focuses on the love
owners show for their cars; commercials share personal stories of their attachment. The
head-stage ads, in contrast, present the rational side of specific models as they emphasize
how the cars benefit their owners in terms of reliability, economy, and so on. Then, the
wallet ads deal with the financial details of actually buying a Subaru; these include special
offers from local dealers.6
Like the Subaru campaign, an attitude has three components: affect, behavior, and
cognition. Affect describes how a consumer feels about an attitude object. Behavior re-
fers to his intentions to take action about it (but, as we will discuss at a later point, an
intention does not always result in an actual behavior). Cognition is what he believes to be
true about the attitude object. You can remember these three components of an attitude
as the ABC model of attitudes.
The ABC model emphasizes the interrelationships among knowing, feeling, and do-
ing. We can't determine consumers' attitudes toward a product if we just identify their
cognitions (beliefs) about it. For example, a researcher may find that shoppers "know" a
CHAPTER 7 Attitudes and Persuasion 275
particular camcorder has an 8:1 power zoom lens, auto focus, and a flying erase head, but
simply knowing this doesn’t indicate whether they feel these attributes are good, bad, or
irrelevant, or whether they would actually buy the camcorder.
Hierarchies of Effects
Which comes first: knowing, feeling, or doing? It turns out that each element may lead
things off, depending on the situation. Attitude researchers developed the concept of a
hierarchy of effects to explain the relative impact of the three components. Each hier-
archy specifies that a fixed sequence of steps occurs en route to an attitude. Figure 7.1
summarizes these three different hierarchies.
The Standard Learning Hierarchy

Think -» Feel -> Do: The standard learning hierarchy assumes that a person approaches
a product decision as a problem-solving process. First, she forms beliefs about a product
as she accumulates knowledge (beliefs) regarding relevant attributes. Next, she evalu-
ates these beliefs and forms a feeling about the product (affect).7 Then she engages in
a relevant behavior, such as when she buys a product that offers the attributes she feels
good about. This hierarchy assumes that a consumer is highly involved when she makes
a purchase decision.8 She's motivated to seek out a lot of information, carefully weigh
alternatives, and come to a thoughtful decision.
The Low-lnvolvement Hierarchy

Do -> Feel -> Think: The low-involvement hierarchy of effects assumes that the con-
sumer initially doesn't have a strong preference for one brand over another; instead, she
acts on the basis of limited knowledge and forms an evaluation only after she has bought
the product.9The attitude is likely to come about through behavioral learning, as good or
bad experiences reinforce 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 concern about influencing beliefs and carefully communicating
information about product attributes may often be wasted. Consumers aren't necessar-
ily 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!
Figure 7.1 HIERARCHIES OF EFFECTS

This ad for New York’s famous Smith &
Steakis ourlife.
Woliensky restaurant emphasizes that
marketers and others associated with a
product or service are often more involved
Allwe ask is thatyou

with it than are their customers.
Source: Courtesy of Smith & Woliensky Steak
House.
make ityourlunch.
Smith &Woliensky.
Tlic quintessential NewY&rkCity stcakhousc.
49th Sr. &3rdAvc. (212)753-1530.
Winner of The Mine Spectatory 1987 Grand Award.
The notion of consumers' low involvement is a bitter pill for some marketers to swal-
low. Who wants to admit that what they market is not very 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 be-
lieve that consumers don't put that much thought into purchasing her product, because
she herself spends many of her 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
(discussed in Chapter 3).
The Experiential Hierarchy

Feel -> Think -» Do: 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).
Even the emotions the communicator expresses have an impact. A smile is infec-
tious; in a process we term emotional contagion, messages that happy people deliver en-
hance our attitude toward the product.10Numerous studies demonstrate that the mood a
person is in when she sees or hears a marketing message influences how she will process
CHAPTER 7 Attitud es and Persuasion 277
the ad, the likelihood that she will remember the information she sees, and how she will
feel about the advertised item and related products in the future.11
OBJECTIVE 3
We form attitudes
How Do We Form Attitudes?
in several ways. W e all have lots of attitudes, and we don't usually question how
we got them. Certainly, you're not born with the heartfelt con-
viction that, say, Pepsi is better than Coke, or that alternative music liberates the soul.
From where do these attitudes come?
We form an altitude in several different ways, depending on the particular hierarchy of
effects that operates. As we saw in Chapter 3, we may form an attitude toward a brand due to
classical conditioning: A marketer repeatedly pairs an attitude object such as the Pepsi name
with a catchy jingle ("You're in the Pepsi Generation"). Or we can form an attitude due to
instrumental conditioning: The marketer reinforces us when we consume the attitude object
(e.gề, you take a swig of Pepsi and it quenches your thrirst). Or this learning can result from a
very complex cognitive process. For example, a teenager may model the behavior of friends
and media endorsers, such as Beyoncé, who drink Pepsi because they believe that this will
allow them to fit in with the desirable lifestyle that Pepsi commercials portray.
All Attitudes Are Not Created Equal

It's important to distinguish among types of attitudes, because not all are formed in the
same way.12One consumer may be highly brand-loyal; she has an enduring, deeply held
positive attitude toward an attitude object, and it would be difficult to weaken this in-
volvement. However, another woman may be a more fickle consumer: She may have a
mildly positive attitude toward a product but be quite willing to abandon it when some-
thing better comes along. In this section, we'll consider the differences between strongly
and weakly held attitudes and briefly review some of the major theoretical perspectives
researchers use to explain how attitudes form and relate to our other attitudes.
Consumers vary in their commitment to an attitude; the degree of commitment re-
lates to their level of involvement with, the attitude object (see Chapter 4)Ể13 Let's look at
three (increasing) levels of commitment:
1 C o m p l i a n c e —At the lowest level of involvement, c o m p l i a n c e , we form an attitude

because it helps us to gain rewards or avoid punishment. This attitude is very su-
perficial; 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.
2 I d e n t i f i c a t i o n — I d e n t i f i c a t i o n occurs when we form an attitude to conform to an-
other person's or group's expectations. Advertising that depicts the dire social con-
sequences 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).
3 I n t e r n a l i z a t i o n — A t a high level of involvement called i n t e r n a l i z a t i o n , deep-seated
attitudes become part of our value system. These attitudes are very difficult to change
because they are so important to us. The infamous Coke debacle of the 1980s (still a
standard in marketing textbooks today) illustrates what can happen when a marketer
messes with strongly held attitudes. In this case Coca-Cola decided to change its fla-
vor formula to meet the needs of younger consumers who often preferred a sweeter
taste (more characteristic of Pepsi). The company conducted rigorous blind taste
tests that showed people who didn't know what brands they were drinking preferred
the flavor of the new formula. Much to its surprise, when New Coke hit the shelves,
the company faced a consumer revolt as die-hard Coke fans protested. This alle-
giance to Coke was obviously more than a minor taste preference for these people;
the brand had become intertwined with their social identities and took on intense
patriotic and nostalgic properties.
OBJECTIVE 4 The Consistency Principle

A need to maintain
consistency among Have you ever heard someone say, "Pepsi is my favorite soft
all of our attitudinal drink. It tastes terrible," or "I love my boyfriend. He's the biggest
components often idiot I've ever met"? Probably not (at least until the couple gets
motivates us to alter one married!), because these beliefs or evaluations don't go together.
or more of them. According to the p r i n c i p l e o f c o g n i t i v e c o n s i s t e n c y , 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
noob 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.
The t h e o r y o f c o g n i t i v e d i s s o n a n c e states that when a person is confronted with
inconsistencies among attitudes or behaviors, he will take some action to resolve this
Advertisers often need to resort to creative

imagery to capture consumers’ attention
and build awareness for their clients.
Source: Courtesy of Energy BBDO.
"dissonance"; perhaps he will change his attitude or modify his behavior to restore con-
sistency. The theory has important ramifications for consumer behavior. We often con-
front situations in which there is some conflict between our attitudes toward a product
or service and what we actually do or buy.14
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 can be something a
person believes about himself, a behavior he performs, or an observation about his sur-
roundings. For example, the two cognitive elements "I know smoking cigarettes causes
cancer" and "I smoke cigarettes” are dissonant with one another. This psychological in-
consistency creates a feeling of discomfort that the smoker tries to reduce. The magnitude
of dissonance depends on both the importance and num ber of dissonant elements.15
In other words, we're more likely to observe dissonance in high-involvement situations
where there is more pressure to reduce inconsistencies.
We reduce dissonance when we eliminate, add, or change elements. For example,
a person can stop smoking (eliminating), or remember Great-Aunt Sophie who smoked
until the day she died at age 90 (adding). Alternatively, he might question the research
that links cancer and smoking (changing), perhaps by believing industry-sponsored stud-
ies that try to refute this connection.
Dissonance theory 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 post-
purchase 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, she reduces dissonance as she increases the attractiveness of the
chosen alternative relative to the unchosen ones.16One implication of this phenomenon
is that consumers actively seek support for their decisions so they can justify them; there-
fore, marketers should supply their customers with additional reinforcement after they
purchase to bolster these decisions.
Self-Perception Theory
Do we always change our attitudes to be in line with our behavior because we're moti-
vated to reduce cognitive dissonance? S e l f - p e r c e p t i o n t h e o r y provides an alternative
explanation of dissonance effects.17 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."
Self-perception theory helps to explain the effectiveness of a strategy salespeople
call the f o o t - i n - t h e - d o o r t e c h n i q u e : They know that a consumer is more likely to com-
ply with a big request if he agrees to a smaller one.18 The name for this technique comes
from the practice of door-to-door selling; salespeople learn to plant their foot in a door
so the prospect (they hope) doesn't slam it on them. A good salesperson knows that she
is more likely to get an order if she can persuade the customer to open the door and talk.
By agreeing to do so, the customer signals that he's 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."19 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 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.20
Social Judgment Theory

Social judgm ent theory also assumes that people assimilate new information about atti-
tude objects in light of what they already know or feel.21 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.
One important aspect of the theory is that people differ in terms of the information
they will find acceptable or unacceptable. They form latitudes of acceptance and rejection
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.22 As a person becomes more involved with an attitude object, her
latitude of acceptance gets smaller. In other words, the consum er accepts fewer ideas
farther from her own position and she tends to oppose even mildly divergent p o -
sitions. Discriminating buyers have a smaller latitude of acceptance (e.g., "choosy
mothers choose Jif peanut butter"). However, relatively uninvolved consum ers con-
sider a wider range of alternatives. They are less likely to be brand loyal and are more
likely to switch brands.
Balance Theory
Have you ever heard the expression, "Any friend of Joe's is a friend of mine?" How about
"My enemy's enemy is my friend?" Balance theory considers how a person perceives
relations among different attitude objects, and how he alters his attitudes so that these
remain consistent (or "balanced").23This perspective involves relations (always from the
perceiver's subjective point of view) among three elements, so we call the resulting at-
titude structures triads. Each triad contains (1) a person and his 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 in order 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
sentiment relation. On getting married, they will have a positive unit relation. If they get
divorced, they sever the unit relation.
To see how balance theory might work, consider the following scenario:
# Alex would like to date Elliott, who is in her consumer behavior class. In balance
theory terms, Alex has a positive sentiment relation with Elliott.
# One day, Elliott shows up in class wearing an earring. Elliott has a positive unit rela-
tion with the earring.
# Alex is turned off by men who wear earrings. She has a negative sentiment relation
with men's earrings.
According to balance theory, Alex faces an unbalanced triad. As Figure 7.2 shows, she
will experience pressure to restore balance by altering some aspect of the triad. How can
she do this? She could decide that she does not like Elliott after all. Or her liking for Elliott
could prompt her to decide that earrings on men are really pretty cool. She might even
try to negate the unit relation between Elliott and the earring by deciding that he must
wear it as part of a fraternity initiation (this reduces the free-choice element). Finally,
Figure 7.2 BALANCE THEORY
she could choose to "leave the field" by accepting a date with Elliott's roommate Byron
who doesn't wear an earring (but who has an awesome tattoo). Note that although the
theory does not specify which of these routes Alex will choose, it does predict that she will
change one or more of her perceptions to achieve balance. Although this example is an
oversimplified representation of most attitude processes, it helps to explain a number of
consumer behavior phenomena.
Balance theory reminds us that when we have balanced perceptions, our attitudes
also are likely to be stable. However, when we experience inconsistencies, we also are
more likely to change our attitudes. Balance theory helps explain why consumers like
to be linked to positively valued objects. Forming a unit relation with a popular product
(e.g., buying and wearing fashionable clothing, driving a flashy car, or even being part
of a rap singer's posse) may improve the chances that other people will include you as a
positive sentiment relation in their triads.
This "balancing act" is at the heart of celebrity endorsements, in which marketers
hope that the star's popularity will transfer to the product or when a nonprofit organiza-
tion recruits a celebrity to discourage harmful behaviors.24We will consider this strategy
at length later in this chapter. For now, it pays to remember that creating a unit rela-
tion 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.
Marketing Opportunity
OBJECTIVE 5 Attitude Models
We use attitude models
to identify specific When market researchers want to assess consumers' attitudes
components and toward beer brands, they might simply go to a bar and ask a
Consumers often like to
combine them to predict bunch of guys, "How do you feel about Budweiser?" However,
publicize their connections
a consumer’s overall as we saw earlier, attitudes can be a lot more complex than that.
with successful people or
organizations (no matter attitude toward a product One problem is that many attributes or qualities may link to
how shaky the connection) to enhance their or brand. a product or service and, depending on the individual, some
own standing. Researchers call this tactic of these will be more or less important ("Less filling!" "Tastes
basking in re fle cted glory. A series of great!"). Another problem is that when a person decides to take
studies at Arizona State University (ASU) action toward an attitude object, other factors influence his behavior, such as whether
showed how students’ desires to identify he feels that his family or friends would approve. Attitude models specify the different
with a winning im a ge-in this case, ASU’s elements that might work together to influence people's evaluations of attitude objects.
football te am-influenced their consumption
behaviors. After the team played a game
Multiattribute Attitude Models
each weekend, observers recorded the inci
dence of school-related items, such as ASU
A simple response does not always tell us everything we need to know, either about why
T-shirts and caps, that students walking the consumer feels a certain way toward a product or about what marketers can do to
around campus wore. The researchers cor change her attitude. Our beliefs (accurate or not) about a product often are key to how
related the frequency of these behaviors to we evaluate it. Warner-Lambert discovered this when it conducted research for its Fresh
the team’s performance. If the team won on Burst Listerine mouthwash. A research firm paid 37 families to allow it to set up cameras
Saturday, students were more likely to show in their bathrooms and watch their daily routines (maybe they should have just checked
off their school affiliation (basking in re out YouTube). Participants who bought both Fresh Burst and rival Scope said they used
flected glory) the following Monday than if the mouthwash to make their breath smell good. But Scope users swished around the liquid
team lost. And the bigger the point spread, and then spit it out, whereas Listerine users kept the product in their mouths for a long
the more likely they were to observe students time (one respondent held the stuff in until he got in the car and finally spit it out in a
who wore clothes with the ASU logo.25
sewer a block away!). These findings told Listerine that the brand still hadn't shaken its
At the college level, many schools in ad
medicine-like image.27
dition to ASU reap huge revenues when they
license their school’s name and logo. Uni Because attitudes are so complex, marketing researchers may use m ultiattribute
versities with strong athletic programs, such attitude models to understand them. This type of model assumes that a consumer's at-
as Michigan, Penn State, and Auburn, clean titude toward an attitude object 04o) depends on the beliefs she has about several of its
up when they sell millions of dollars worth of attributes. When we use a multiattribute model, we assume that we can identify these
merchandise (everything from T-shirts to toi specific beliefs and combine them to derive a measure of the consumer's overall attitude.
let seats). Yale was a relative latecomer to We'll describe how these models work with the example of a consumer who evaluates a
this game, but the director of licensing ex complex attitude object that should be very familiar to you: a college.
plained the decision to profit from the use of Basic multiattribute models contain three specific elements:28
the school’s name and the likeness of bulldog
mascot Handsome Dan: “We recognize that
• Attributes are characteristics of the A0. A researcher tries to identify the attributes
our name means a lot-e ven to people who
that most consumers use when they evaluate the Aa. For example, one of a college's
didn’t go here. Plus, this way we can crack
down on the Naked Coed Lacrosse shirts out
attributes is its scholarly reputation.
there with Yale on them.”26 • Beliefs are cognitions about the specific A0 (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,
since your humble author got his PhD there!).
• Importance weights reflect the relative priority of an attribute to the consumer. Al-
though people might consider an A0 on a num ber 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 opportu-
nities, whereas another might assign greater weight to athletic programs.
The Fishbein Model. 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 A0 (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 ac-
curacy). The basic formula is:
Ajk = ^fiijkhk
where
i = attribute
j = brand
k = consumer
I = the importance weight given attribute i by consumer k
P= 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 a consumer's rating of each
attribute for all the brands she 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 a high school senior 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 atti-
tude 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 impor-
tance), we compute an overall attitude score for each school. Table 7.1 shows these hy-
pothetical 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.
The Basic Multiattribute Model: Saundra’s College Decision
Beliefs ( B )
Attribute (/) Importance (/) 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 Applications of the Multiattribute Model

Marketing Pitfall Suppose you were the director of marketing for Northland College, another school Saun-
dra considered. How might you use the data from this analysis to improve your image?
The gulf between what
consumers say and what Capitalize on Relative Advantage. If prospective students view one brand as superior
they do is apparent when on a particular attribute, a marketer needs to convince consumers like Saundra that this
we look at sales of envi particular attribute is important. For example, although Saundra rates Northland's social
ronmentally friendly products. Especially since atmosphere highly, she does not believe this attribute is a valued aspect for a college. As
the Great Recession hit, people continue Northland's marketing director, you might emphasize the importance of an active social
to insist that they want green a lterna tives- life, varied experiences, or even the development of future business contacts that a stu-
but they’re just not willing to pay extra for dent forges when she makes strong college friendships.
them. For example, when Clorox unveiled
its Green Works cleaning line in 2008, it Strengthen Perceived Product / Attribute Linkages. A marketer may discover that con-
seemed poised for success as it secured an
sumers do not equate his brand with a certain attribute. Advertising campaigns often
endorsement from the Sierra Club, a national
launch at Walmart, and a vow to “move natu
address this problem when they stress a specific quality to consumers (e.g., “new and
ral cleaning into the mainstream.” Today, improved"). Saundra apparently does not think much of Northland's academic quality,
sales are stagnant or worse, just like those athletic programs, or library facilities. You might develop an informational campaign to
of similar products from major brands like improve these perceptions (e.g., "little-known facts about Northland").
Arm & Hammer, Windex, Palmolive, Hefty,
and Scrubbing Bubbles. As an industry con Add a New Attribute. Product marketers frequently try to distinguish themselves from
sultant observed, “Every consumer says, ‘I their competitors when they add a product feature. Northland College might try to em -
want to help the environment, I'm looking for phasize some unique aspect, such as a hands-on internship program for business majors
eco-friendly products.’ But if it’s one or two that takes advantage of ties to the local community.
pennies higher in price, they’re not going to
buy it. There is a discrepancy between what Influence Competitors’ Ratings. Finally, you can decrease your competitors' higher rat-
people say and what they do.”34
ings 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 favor-
ably 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 her behaviorề
In a classic demonstration of "do as I say, not as I do," many studies report a very low cor-
relation between a person's reported attitude toward something and her 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.
This questionable linkage between attitudes and behavior is a big headache for ad-
vertisers: Consumers can love a commercial, yet still not buy the product. For example,
one of the most popular TV commercials in recent years featured basketball player Sha-
quille O'Neal for Pepsi. Although the company spent $67 million on this spot and other
similar ones in a single year, sales of Pepsi-Cola fell by close to 2 percent, even as sales of
archrival Coca-Cola increased by 8 percent during the same period.30
The Extended Fishbein Model

In response, researchers tinkered with the Fishbein model to improve its predictive abil-
ity. They call the newer version the theory of reasoned action.31 This model contains
several important additions to the original, and although the model is still not perfect,
it does a better job of prediction.32 Let's look at some of the modifications to this model.
Intentions versus Behavior

Like the motivations we discussed in Chapter 4, attitudes have both direction and
strength. A person may like or dislike an attitude object with varying degrees of confi-
dence or conviction. It is helpful to distinguish between firmly held attitudes 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 consis-
tency between attitudes and behavioral intentions.33
However, as the old expression goes, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
Many factors might interfere with performing the intended behavior. Say you save up
to buy a new Apple iPhone. Although you have every intention to get it, stuff happens:
You might lose your job, get mugged on the way to the Apple store, or arrive at the store
only to find they've run out of the item. It is not surprising, then, that in some instances
researchers find that instead of knowing our intentions, our past purchase behavior does
a better job of predicting our future behavior (this is one of the foundations of direct
marketing techniques that identify likely customers based on their purchase histories).
The theory of reasoned action aims to measure behavioral intentions—it recognizes that
certain uncontrollable factors (such as that mugger) limit our ability to predict the future
with 100 percent accuracy.
Social Pressure
Perhaps most importantly, the theory acknowledges the power of other people to influ-
ence 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. Some research approaches assess the extent to
which people's "public" attitudes and purchase decisions might differ from what they do
in private. For example, one firm uses a technique it calls "engineered theatre.” Research-
ers go to the actual site where people use a product, such as a bar. They arrange for the This Vietnamese ad employs social pressure
bartender to "mistakenly" serve the wrong drink and then observe the consumer's "naked (the subjective norm) to address people’s
response" to the new brand and her reaction to consuming the brand in a social context.35 attitudes tcward wearing helmets.
Source: Couitesy of Ogilvy & Mather/ Asia Injury
Prevention Foundation; Photo by Pro-1 Studio.
“I W O N ' T W E A R A H E L M E T
(Ph a n d i n h - me n t a l a g e 2y r s )
IT MAKES ME L O O K S T U P I D "
Returning to Saundra's college choice, you can see in Table 7.1 that she was very pos-
Marketing Opportunity itive about going to a predominantly female school. However, if she felt that this choice
would be unpopular (perhaps her friends would think she was crazy), she might ignore
or downgrade this preference when she made her decision. Researchers added a new
Social pressure can play
a useful role in motivat element, the subjective norm (SN), to account for the effects of what we believe other
ing consumers to engage people think we should do. They use two factors to measure SN: (1) the intensity of a nor-
in socially responsible be mative belief (NB) that others believe we should take or not take some action and (2) the
haviors. One study assessed this possibility motivation to comply (MC) with that belief (i.e., the degree to which the consumer takes
when it compared the effectiveness of differ others' anticipated reactions into account when she evaluates a purchase).
ent ways a hotel might encourage guests to
reuse their towels. When researchers used a Attitude Toward Buying
social appeal ( “the majority of guests reuse The newer model also measures attitude toward the act of buying {Aac^, rather than
their towels”), this worked better than a func only the attitude toward the product itself. In other words, it focuses on the perceived
tional appeal (“help save the environment”).
consequences of a purchase. Knowing how someone feels about buying or using an ob-
They also found that compliance was boosted
ject turns out to be more valid than merely knowing the consumer's evaluation of the
when they phrased the requests in terms of
directly relevant others ( “the majority of
object itself.37
guests in this room reuse their towels”) com To understand this distinction, consider a marketing researcher who wants to mea-
pared to more general group appeals (such sure college students' attitudes toward safe sex and wearing condoms. Although many
as the “majority of men and women reuse college students she interviews would probably report a positive attitude toward condom
their towels”).36 use, can she conclude from these responses that these respondents will actually buy and
use them? She might get more accurate results if she simply asks the same students how
likely they are to buy condoms. A person might have a positive A0 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 6 showed, sometimes
researchers use a model in ways it was not intended or where certain assumptions about
hum an behavior may not be warranted.38 Here are some other obstacles to predicting
behavior:
• 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 co-
operation 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.
• 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 sim-
ple 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.39
• Measures of attitude often do not really correspond to the behavior they are supposed
to predict, either in terms of the A0 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 she will purchase a
BMW Z4. It is very 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 she will buy a house in the next week
as opposed to within the next five years.
• We form stronger and more predictive attitudes through direct, personal experi-
ence with an A0 than those we form indirectly through advertising.40 According to
the attitude accessibility perspective, behavior is a function of the person's immediate

perceptions of the Aol in the context of the situation in which she encounters it. An
attitude will guide the evaluation of the object but only if a person's memory acti-
vates it when 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, by taste tests, test drives, etc.) as well as those
that maximize exposure to marketing communications.
In addition, most researchers apply the theory of reasoned action in Western set-
tings. 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:41
• The model predicts the perform ance of a voluntary act. Across cultures, how-
ever, 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 harmoni-
ous 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 as-
sumes that consumers have a linear time sense; they think in terms of past, present,
and future. As we’ll discuss in Chapter 9, not all cultures subscribe to this perspective
on time.
• A consumer who forms an intention implicitly claims that he is in control of his ac-
tions. 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, Iordan, and Thailand found evidence for cultural differences in
assumptions about fatalism and control over the future.
Trying to Consume
Other theorists propose different perspectives on the attitude-behavior connection. For
example, a model its authors call the m ultiple pathway anchoring and adjustm ent
(MPAA) model emphasizes multiple pathways to attitude formation, including outside-
in (object-centered) and inside-out (person-centered) pathways.42
Another perspective tries to address some of these problems as 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 7.3 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 ex-
ample, 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.43
Figure 7.3 TH E O R Y O F TRYING
Attitude toward
success
Frequency of Recency of
Expectation of past trying past trying
success
Attitude toward Attitude toward

failure trying
Expectation of
failure
Attitude toward Social norm

process toward trying
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 ce-
lebrities 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 #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 prin-
ciples that influence people to change their minds or comply with a request:44
• Reciprocity—We are more likely to give if first we receive. That's why including
money in a mail survey questionnaire increases the response rate by an average of
65 percent over 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. Partici-
pants 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 "limited-edition"
items.
• Authority—We believe an authoritative source much more readily than one that is
less authoritative. That explains why the American public's opinion on an issue can
shift by as much as 2 percent when the New York Times (but not the National En-
quirer) runs an article about it.
• Consistency—As we saw earlier in this chapter, people try not to contradict them -
selves 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 two weeks before they actually asked for the donations.
CHAPTER 7 Attitudes a rd Persuasion 289
• Liking—We agree with those we like or admire. In one study, 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 hip-hop star?
The source of a message helps determine whether consumers will accept it.
• How should we construct the message? Should it emphasize the negative conse-
quences 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?
• 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 Face-
book 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 over-
all product image and quality, whereas specialized expert magazines do a better job
when we want to convey factual information.45
• 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 bystand-
ers who swoon with admiration as the car cruises by.
OBJECTIVE 6 The Elements of Communication

The communications
model identifies several Marketers traditionally rely on the com m unications m odel
important components shown in Figure 7.4. This model specifies the elements they
for marketers when they need to control in order to communicate with their customers.
try to change consumers’ One of these is a source, where the communication originates.
attitudes toward productsAnother is the message itself. There are many ways to say some-
and services. thing, and the structure of the message has a significant effect
on how we perceive it. We must transmit the message via a me-
dium, which could be TV, radio, magazines, billboards, personal
contact, or even a matchbook cover. One or more receivers (such as Natalie) 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

Although Natalie managed to ignore most of the “junk mail" that arrived at her door,
she didn't avoid every marketing message; instead, she chose which ones she wanted to
see. 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
Figure 7.4 TH E TRAD ITION AL FEEDBACK

COM M UNICATIONS M ODEL
Consumer
3r
Source w Message > Medium
Ai.
Consumer
have many more choices available to them and greater control over which messages they
choose to process.46
In fact, the popular strategy we call permission m arketing acknowledges that a m ar-
keter will be much more successful when he communicates with consumers who have
already agreed to listen to him; consumers who "opt out" of listening to the message
probably weren't good prospects in the first place.47 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 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 communica-
tions 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 very small
groups of receivers (sometimes even one person at a time).
Viral marketing techniques rely on

consumers to spread an ad message to
others in their social network because they
find it cool, interesting, or just plain funny.
The “subservient chicken” viral campaign
for Burger King was a very successful
application to promote BK’s chicken
sandwiches. You could type a command into
the box and the “chicken” would execute it
in real-time.
Source: The BURGER KING® trademarks and
image are used with permission from Burger King
Corporation.
OBJECTIVE 7 How long has it been since you posted to your Facebook
The consumer who page? Exciting technological and social developments make
processes a message us rethink the picture of passive consumers as people increas-
is not necessarily the ingly play more proactive roles in communications. In other
passive receiver of words, we are to a greater extent partners—rather than couch
information marketers potatoes—in the communications process. Our input helps to
once believed him or her shape the messages we and others like us receive, and further-
to be. more we may seek out these messages rather than sit home and
wait to see them on TV or in the paper. Figure 7.5 illustrates this
updated approach to interactive communications.
One of the early instigators of this communications revolution was the humble hand-
held 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 Mork and Mindy 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 m ush-
roomed. 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 com-
mercials.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 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 sugges-
tions to product designers and market researchers.
New Message Formats

An array of new ways to transmit information in both text and picture form offers market-
ers exciting alternatives to traditional advertising on TV, billboards, magazines, and so on.49
M -co m m erce (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 be-
come 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 Linkedln (and the odds are good that you are),
you're one of the one billion people whom analysts project will use so cial m e d ia appli-
cations globally within five years.50 This label refers to the set of technologies that enable
Sender Receiver
Sender <4------------ Communication

Medium
Figure 7 .Î) AN UPDATED

Sender Receiver COM M UN ICATIO NS MODEL
users to create content and share it with a large number of others. Social media are so
widespread that in the United States and other developed countries more people use
these platforms than use email—and the time people spend on these networks is growing
three times faster than the rate of overall participation online.51 Social media platforms
include:
• Blogs—Users post messages to the Web in diary form. Blogging started as a grass-
roots movement where individuals shared their thoughts on a range of topics from
the mundane to the profound. Analysts estimate that two-thirds of all American In-
ternet users will post and read blogs on a regular basis by 2012.52
€ Video blogging (vlogging)—You can post video diaries on sites such as YouTube or
photos on Flickr.
# Podcasting—You can create your own radio show that people can listen to either on
their computers or iPods.
# Virtual worlds—Immersive 3-D digital environments (e.g., Second Life). By the be-
ginning of 2011, already more than one billion people worldwide (yes, that's one bil-
lion) were registered with at least one virtual world.
• Twitter—Postings limited to 140 characters. Twitter boasts more than 175 million
members and the site continues to grow exponentially as more celebrities (like Sha-
quille O'Neal and Oprah) post "tweets" to their followers.53
• Widgets—Small programs that users can download onto their desktops, or embed
in their blogs or profile pages, that import some form of live content. For example, a
football blogger can place an ESPN.com widget on his blog that displays up-to-the-
minute NFL rankings.
# Transm edia form ats—As new platforms evolve, they mix in intriguing ways be-
cause creative marketers harness multiple formats to allow consumers to express
themselves and participate in campaigns. These approaches may take the form of
transm edia storytelling; they typically include communications media that range
from Web sites, blogs, and email to recorded phone calls and even graffiti messages
scrawled in public spaces. Often these are alternate reality games (ARGs), where
thousands of people participate in a fictional story or competition to solve a mystery.
One successful ARG campaign was created by the band Nine Inch Nails to publicize
its Year Zero album. Players in the game found clues and received phone calls direct-
ing them to Web sites revealing 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 are highlighted that spell out "I am trying to believe." The words led
fans to the website iamtryingtobelieve that describes a drug nam ed "Parepin" that,
in the Year Zero story, is being added to the water supply to cloud people's minds.34
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 print-
able 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.55
o b j e c t iv e 8 The Source
Several factors influence
the effectiveness of a Regardless of whether we receive a message by snail mail (net-
message source heads' slang for the postal service), email, or SMS text, common
_________________ sense tells us that if different people say or write the very same
words, the message can affect us differently. Researchers have
discussed the power of source effects for more than 50 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.56
Under most conditions, the source of a message can have a big impact on the likeli-
hood 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 trustwor-
thy. Credibility and attractiveness are two particularly important source characteristics
(i.e., how much we either believe or like the communicator).57
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 recipi-
ent 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' opin-
ions, whereas a credible, expert source is more powerful when she speaks to internally
oriented people.58 However, even a credible source's trustworthiness evaporates if she
endorses too many products.59
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 user is
more concerned about the impression others have of him. 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.60
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 she
will provide the necessary information we need when we evaluate competing products.
Sincerity is particularly important when a company tries to publicize its corporate social
responsibility (CSR) activities that benefit the community in some way. When consumers
believe it's genuinely doing good things, a company's image can skyrocket. 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).61 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 very credible—a true case of poisoning the
well for other marketers!62
A credible source is particularly persuasive when the consumer has yet to learn much
about a product or form an opinion of it.63 Indeed, a recent study demonstrated that sim-
ply letting consumers know a firm is profitable leads them to put more stock in what the
company says in its advertising.64
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, typi-
cally 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.65 Indeed, a new report
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 that appeared in 2009-2010, Starch Advertising
Research concluded that "in terms of helping with the first task in . . . getting consum-
ers to read your ad, these data show that a celebrity endorsement moves the readership
needle."66The 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 efficientiy process information about these images.67 Celebrities increase aware-
ness of a firm's advertising and enhance both company image and brand attitudes.68 A
celebrity endorsem ent strategy can be an effective way to differentiate among similar
products. This is especially im portant when consumers do not perceive many actual
Even actors who play doctors on TV may be

credible communicators.
Source: Courtesy of Old Spice / The Procter &
Gamble Company.
YOU DON’T NEED A REAL DOCTOR TO GET PROTECTION AG AIN ST TH E TORM ENT OF CHRO NIC BODY ODOR
AND WETN ESS. YOU NEED OLD SPICE PRO STRENGTH ANTIP E RSPIRAN T. IT'S PR E SCRIPTIO N-STR E N GTH
WETNESS PROTECTIO N WITH OUT THE PRE SCRIPTIO N . TAK E IT FROM ME, I USED TO BE A FAK E D OCTOR.
PRO STRENG TH
STR E N GTH
differences among competitors, as often occurs when brands are in the mature stage of
The Tangled Web the product life cycle.
What's more, the early evidence indicates that celebrities exert the same impact on
;
messages we receive from social media platforms. One study found that brand endorse-
In recent years we’ve wit
nessed a new attempt to
ments streamed by celebrities directly to friends and followers on platforms such as Face-
manipulate attitudes that book and Twitter are significantly more effective (in fact, greater than 50 percent more)
some call sock puppet- than conventional display ads placed on social media pages. The celebrities in the study
ing. This term describes a company executive included Drew Brees, Snoop Dogg, Matt Hasselbeck, Enrique Iglesias, Khloe Kardashian,
or other biased source who poses as some Nick Swisher, and Kendra Wilkinson.69
one else as he touts his organization in social Although in general more positive sources tend to increase attitude change, there
media. For example, in 2007 it came to light are exceptions to this rule. Sometimes we can think a source is obnoxious, yet it is still
that the CEO of Whole Foods had posted de effective. A case in point is Mr. Whipple, the irritating but well-known TV character who
rogatory comments about rival Wild Oats with scolds toilet paper shoppers, "Please don't squeeze the Charmin!" In some instances the
out revealing his true identity. More recently,
differences in attitude change between positive sources and less positive sources become
CHAPTER 7 Attitud es a id Persuasion 295
erased over time. After a while, people appear to "forget" about the negative source and a nonprofit research organization called
change their attitudes anyway. We call this process the sleeper effect.70 GiveWell that rates the effectiveness of chari
ties had to discipline two of its founders who
What Factors Affe ct Credibility? pretended to be other people on blogs and
then referred people to the group’s Web site.71
A message's credibility increases if receivers think the source's qualifications are relevant
Similar problems potentially dilute the
to the product he or she endorses. This linkage can overcome other objections people
credibility of W ikipedia, the open-source
may have to the endorser or the product. Ronald Biggs, whose claim to fame was his 1963 online encyclopedia that is beloved by many
role in the Great Train Robbery in the United Kingdom, successfully served as a spokes- students. Anyone can edit entries, so their re
m an in Brazil for a company that makes door locks—a topic about which he is presum - liability is not assured. Although other alert
ably knowledgeable!73 contributors may eventually correct false or
It's important to note that what is credible to one consumer segment may be a turn- self-serving entries, there is still room for
off to another. Indeed, rebellious or even deviant celebrities may be attractive to some organizations to color content in a way that
simply for that reason. Tommy Hilfiger cultivated a rebellious, street-smart image when serves their goals. For example, a visitor ed
he used rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg (who was acquitted of murder charges) to help launch ited the Wikipedia entry for the SeaWorld
his clothing line and Coolio, a former crack addict and thief, as a runway model.74Parents theme parks to change all mentions of “or-
cas” to “killer whales” and he or she also de
may not be thrilled by these message sources—but isn't that the point? Charlie Sheen,
leted a paragraph that criticized SeaWorld’s
please report to the studio ...
“lack of respect toward its orcas.” It turns
A consumer's beliefs about a product's attributes will weaken if he or she perceives out the changes originated at a computer lo
that the source is biased.75 Knowledge bias implies that a source's knowledge about a cated in Ariheuser-Busch-the company that
topic is not accurate. Reporting bias occurs when a source has the required knowledge happens to own SeaWorld. An employee of
but we question his willingness to convey it accurately—as when a racket manufacturer PepsiCo deleted several paragraphs of the
pays a star tennis player to use its products exclusively. The source's credentials might Pepsi entry that focused on its detrimental
be appropriate, but the fact that consumers see the expert as a "hired gun" com pro- health effects, and a person at Walmart al
mises believability. The Federal Trade Commission is considering steps to toughen the tered an entry about how the retailer pays its
rules for testimonials by requiring advertisers to produce evidence that the results for a employees.
spokesperson are likely to be typical for others. One other possible measure will require Another form of sock puppeting is so-
called paid influence r progra ms that attempt
celebrities who mention products in TV interviews to disclose any connections they have
to start online conversations about brands
to the manufacturers of those products. Finally, bloggers who receive free products and
when they encourage bloggers to write about
recommend them in their blogs will have to docum ent that they got the items at no
them. These “sponsored conversa tions”
charge.76 can be effective, but again marketers need
to be careful about the potential to distort
Source Attractiveness: “What Is Beautiful Is Good” source recommendations. For example,
A British dairy company enlisted Johnny Rotten, the lead singer of the Sex Pistols, to ap- Kmart awarded a shopping spree to a group
pear in a commercial (or advert, as they say in the United Kingdom) to promote its butter. of bloggers who agreed to post about their
Sales went up 85 percent when the punk legend plugged the product (rotten butter?).77 experiences;. Panasonic flew bloggers to the
Source attractiveness refers to the social value recipients attribute to a communicator. Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas,
This value relates to the person's physical appearance, personality, social status, or simi- where they posted about the show and Pana
larity to the receiver (we like to listen to people who are like us). sonic products unveiled there. Mercedes gave
a blogger use of an SUV for a week in ex
Some sources like Johnny Rotten appeal to us because they are cool, brainy, or just
change for oosts about it.
plain famous. However, many simply are nice to look at. Almost everywhere we turn,
This practice got the attention of the U.S.
beautiful people try to persuade us to buy or do something. As Chapter 5 showed us, our Federal Trade Commission, which recently
society places a very high premium on physical attractiveness. We assume that good- updated its truth-in-advertising guidelines
looking people are smarter, hipper, and happier than the rest of us. This is an example of a to require anyone paid in cash or in kind to
halo effect, which occurs when we assume that persons who rank high on one dimension provide an online endorsement to disclose
excel on others as well. We can explain this effect in terms of the consistency principle the financial relationship to the audience.
discussed earlier in this chapter; we are more comfortable when all of our judgments The agency jumped into action in response
about a person correspond. to the campaign by a California public rela
Clearly, beauty sells—so how does this happen?78 One explanation is that physical tions agency hired by video game developers
attractiveness is a cue that facilitates or modifies information processing because it di- that had employees pose as consumers who
posted positive game reviews at the iTunes
rects our attention to the message. Some evidence indicates that consumers pay more
store.72
attention to ads that contain attractive models, though not necessarily to the ad copy.79 In
other words, we're more likely to notice an ad with a beautiful person in it, but we won't
necessarily read it. We may enjoy looking at a handsome person, but these positive feel-
ings do not necessarily affect product attitudes or purchase intentions.80
Under the right circumstances, however, beauty can indeed be a source of
information—especially when the advertised product actually (or so the marketer claims)
enhances attractiveness or sexuality.81 The social adaptation perspective assumes that

Marketing Pitfall the perceiver weights information more heavily if he feels it will help him to evaluate
the subject of a message. As we saw in Chapter 2, we filter out irrelevant information to
Celebrities (and their
minimize cognitive effort. So, in these situations, a hot endorser provides appropriate
managers) don’t neces information and this becomes a central, task-relevant cue. For example, attractiveness
sarily jump at the chance affects attitudes toward ads about perfume or cologne (where attractiveness is relevant)
to endorse just any prod but not toward coffee ads (where attractiveness is not relevant).82
uct. After all, they have a brand image to pro
tect as well. For years one popular strategy has Star Power: Celebrities as Communications Sources
been to film commercials overseas and stipulate Celebrities hawk everything from grills (George Foreman) to perfumes (J. Lo). As our
that they are not to air at home. The practice discussion about the consistency principle illustrates, these messages are more effective
is so widespread in Japan that one Web site when there's a logical connection between the star and the product. When Bob Dylan—
even coined a term to describe it: Japander (a who wrote lyrics such as "Advertising signs that con you/into thinking you're the one/
combination of Japanese and pandering)-“. . .
That can do what's never been done/That can win what's never been won . . —pitches
1. a western star who uses his or her fame to
Victoria's Secret lingerie (yes, he really did), marketers may need to reread their con-
make large sums of money in a short time by
advertising products in Japan that they would
sumer behavior textbook.83Then again, teen idol Justin Bieber has been putting his name
probably never use . . . (see sinecure [sic.], on almost everything including. .. nail polish!84
prostitute) 2. to make an ass of oneself in Japa Star power works because celebrities embody cultural meanings—they symbolize
nese media.” Check out japander.com to see important categories like status and social class (a "working-class hero," such as Kevin
actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, George James of King o f Queens), gender (a "ladies man," such as Brad Pitt), age (the boyish
Clooney, and Jennifer Aniston in commercials Michael J. Fox), and even personality types (the nerdy but earnest Andy Bernard on The
they’d prefer their American fans don’t see.85 Office). 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.86
Nonhuman Endorsers
Celebrities can be effective endorsers, but there are drawbacks to using them. As we
previously noted, their 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—the Milk Processor Education Program suspended "Got Milk?" ads featuring
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen after Mary-Kate entered a treatment facility for an undis-
closed health issue.
For these reasons, some marketers seek alternative sources, including cartoon char-
acters and mascots. As the marketing director for a company that manufactures cos-
tumed characters for sports teams and businesses points out, "You don't have to worry
about your mascot checking into rehab."87 researchers report that spokescharacters,
such as the Pillsbury Doughboy, Chester the Cheetah, and the Snuggle Bear, do, in fact,
boost viewers' recall of claims that ads make and also yield higher brand attitudes.88 The
most popular spokescharacters in 2011 included Old Spice's The Man Your Man Could
Smell Like (played by former NFL athlete Isaiah Mustafa), Snoopy (who appears in com-
mercials for MetLife), the talking M&Ms, and Allstate's Mayhem Man.89
As we saw in Chapter 5, an avatar is one increasingly popular alternative to a flesh-
and-blood 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 Entropia Universe design their avatars to reflect their own unique per-
sonalities, desires, and fantasies.
The advantages of using virtual avatars compared to flesh-and-blood models in-
clude 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 a personal selling and customer service perspective, they handle
multiple customers at one time, they are not geographically limited, and they are op-
erational 24/7 so they free up company employees and sales personnel to perform other
activities.90
A German firm called NoDNA offers its own

stable of cybermodels such as Tyra, who is
shown here.
Source: Used with permission of NoDNA
c /o Vierte Art.
OBJECTIVE 9 The Message

The way a marketer
structures his or her A major study of more than 1,000 commercials identified factors
message determines how that determine whether a commercial message will be persua-
persuasive it will be. sive. The single most important feature: Does the communica-
tion stress a unique attribute or benefit of the product?91Table 7.2
lists some other good and bad elements of commercial messages.
Consumers increasingly find commercials confusing, but what's even worse is when
we find them annoying. In a landmark study of irritating advertising, researchers exam-
ined more than 500 prime-time network commercials that had registered negative reac-
tions 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 em pha-
sizes its usage.
• The situation is contrived or overdramatized.
Characteristics of Good and Bad Messages
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)
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.
• A person is put down in terms of appearance, knowledge, or sophistication.

• 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 whul we say. Depending on the
marketer's objectives and the nature of the product, different kinds of messages product
different results. For example, a recent study examined the responses of actual viewers
to four televised fund-raising drives by a public television station over a two-year period.
The most effective fund-raising appeals stressed the benefits that contribution to the sta-
tion would provide to others in the community rather than to the donor, and they evoked
negative rather than positive emotions.92 Obviously, these results would differ in other
circumstances; the point here is that the content of the message does matter.
A marketer faces some crucial issues when she creates a message:
• Should she convey the message in words or pictures?

• How often should she repeat the message?
• Should it draw a conclusion, or should this be left up to the listener?
• Should it present both sides of an argument?
• Should it explicitly compare the product to competitors?
• Should it include a blatant sexual appeal?
• Should it arouse negative emotions such as fear?
• How concrete or vivid should the arguments and imagery be?
• Should it be funny?
How Do We Send the Message?

Pictures or words?The saying, "One picture is worth a thousand words" captures the idea
that visuals are very effective, especially when the communicator wants to influence re-
ceivers' emotional responses. For this reason, advertisers often rely on vivid illustrations
or photography.93
THE
H A RVEY N I C H O L S
S ALE
STARTS T O D A Y
* N * C *TS M ' 9 G Ï MANCHIJ*!»
IBihSi i lO« ■ittOi
This British clothing ad uses vivid

(and perhaps a bit scary?) imagery to
communicate.
Source: Courtesy of DDB, London.
However, a picture is not always as effective when it communicates factual informa-
tion. 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 fram e the illustration (the message in the picture strongly relates to
the copy).94
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 3). Chunking
results in a stronger memory trace that aids retrieval over time.95
Powerful descriptions or graphics command attention and are more strongly em -
bedded in memory. This may be because vivid images tend to activate mental imagery,
whereas abstract stimuli inhibit this process.96 For example major companies such as
Google, Nokia, and France Telecom SA's Orange are experimenting with advertising
campaigns that allow a passerby to interact with posters in bus stops, phone booths, train
stations, and airports. As of now, they are using the new format to distribute wireless ap-
plications or ringtones for smartphones. But outdoor advertisers and marketers say the
ads could also be used to distribute games, video ads, and coupons, and even as a way
to sell physical or digital goods and services. A Google poster in Boston proclaims, "You
have to wait here. You don't have to be bored," and it allows the person to download
Google's mobile app through a free Wi-Fi router installed in the location.97Of course, this
effect can cut both ways: Negative information a marketer presents in a vivid manner may
result in more negative evaluations at a later time.98
The concrete discussion of a product attribute in ad copy also influences the impor-
tance 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 indus-
try sources, many watch breakdowns are due to water getting into the case."99
Repeat the message? Repetition can be a double-edged sword for marketers. As we
noted in Chapter 3, we usually need multiple exposures to a stimulus before learning oc-
curs. 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.100 Psycholo-
gists 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.101 However, as we saw in Chapter 2, too much repetition
creates habituation, whereby the consumer no longer pays attention to the stimulus be-
cause 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.102
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 in-
creases 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 7.6 depicts this
pattern. Its effect is especially pronounced when each exposure is of a fairly long duration
(such as a 60-second commercial).103
The theory 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 commer-
cials). 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 infor-
mation 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 counterat-
tack by a competing brand.104
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.
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.105
Why would a marketer want to devote advertising space to publicize a product's
negative attributes? Under the right circumstances, refutational argum ents that
first raise a negative issue and then dismiss it can be quite effective. This approach
increases source credibility because it reduces reporting bias. Also, people who are
POSITIVE
AF FECT
NEUTRAL
AF FECT
NEGATIVE
Figure 7.6 TWO-FACTOR THEORY OF AF FECT
MESSAGE REPETITION
skeptical about the product may be more receptive to a balanced argument instead of
a “whitewash.”106 For example, after General Motors declared bankruptcy, an ad de-
clared: “Let's be completely honest: No company wants to go through this."107Research
evidence indicates that when experts have strong arguments on their side, they are
actually more effective if they express some uncertainty rather than stating unequivo-
cally that they are correct.108
This is not to say that 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 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.109A two-sided strategy appears to be the most
effective when the audience is well-educated (and presumably more impressed by a
balanced argum ent).110 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.
Should the argument draw conclusions, or should the marketer merely present thefacts
and let the consumer arrive at his 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.111
Should we compare our product to our competitors'? In 1971, the FTC issued guide-
lines that encouraged advertisers to name competing brands in their adsềThe govern-
ment 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.112
Comparative advertising refers to a strategy in which a message compares two or
more recognizable brands and weighs them in terms of one or more specific attributes.113
A recent Arby's campaign to promote its chicken sandwiches uses this approach: One
commercial, set in a fictitious McDonald's boardroom, features a young m an trying to
convince McDonald's executives to serve a healthier type of chicken as he proclaims,
"I propose that McDonald's stops putting phosphates, salt and water into its chickenế
Consider replacing your chicken that is only about 70 percent chicken, with 100 percent
all-natural chicken." The room erupts with laughter. At the end of the spot, a voice-over
chimes in: "Unlike McDonald's, all of Arby's chicken sandwiches are made with 100 per-
cent all-natural chicken---- ”114 Research indicates that this strategy is more effective for
products that already have a positive brand image.115
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 desừed 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).116 Indeed, in some cultures (such as
Asia), comparative advertising is rare because people find such a confrontational ap-
proach offensive.
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 alterna-
tives 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 as it emphasized To-
tal's germ-fighting abilities. In newer ads, however, former model Brooke Shields cavorts
with two children (not hers) as soft music plays in the background. She states, “Having a
healthy smile is important to me. Not just as an actress but as a mom."117
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 as-
sess 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.118
Sex Appeals
In a recent campaign that lit up the Twittersphere, vodka maker Skyy Spirits launched a
print and billboard campaign that shows—from the thighs down—a woman in red tights
and red heels appearing to have sex with a giant Skyy blue vodka bottle. One critic com-
plained, "This is just ridiculous, it's porn-a-hol. Underage kids will look at this and associ-
ate sexual prowess with drinking Skyy."119
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 sexual appeals
varies from country to country. Even American firms run ads elsewhere that would not
go over at home. For example, a "cheeky" ad campaign designed to boost the appeal of
American-made Lee jeans among Europeans features a series of bare buttocks. The mes-
sages are based on the concept that if bottoms could choose jeans, they would opt for Lee:
"Bottoms feel better in Lee Jeans."120
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.121 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.122
Women also respond more positively to sexual themes when they occur in the context of
a committed relationship rather than just gratuitous lust.123
So, does sex work? Although erotic content does appear to draw attention to an
ad, its use may actually be counterproductive. In one 2010 survey, an overwhelming
61 percent of the respondents said that sexual imagery in a product's ad makes them less
likely to buy it.124 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).125
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 10 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, liked the products advertised in them more, and would be more likely
to buy those products. Women scored the sexual ads lower than the nonsexual ones on
all three of those criteria.126
This ad from Dubai clearly appeals

to the heart.
Source: Courtesy of Y&R Dubai.
Humorous 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 fa-
mous geyser “regular." Yellowstone National Park started getting letters from offended
viewers such as this one who wrote, “I suppose that in an era when people sell naming
rights to sports arenas . . . that some in the National Park Service would see nothing
wrong with selling the image of a National Park ranger for the marketing of a product
promoting bowel regularity." 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
Marketing Pitfall into it!127
Does humor work? Overall, humorous advertisements do get attention. One study
found that recognition scores for humorous liquor ads were better than average. How-
A series of funny ads a
German agency created ever, the verdict is mixed as to whether hum or affects recall or product attitudes in a
didn’t make everyone significant way.128One reason silly ads may shift opinions is that they provide a source of
laugh. Grey Germany did distraction. A funny ad inhibits counterarguing (in which a consumer thinks of reasons
three condom ads for a pharmacy chain. They why he doesn't agree with the message), so this increases the likelihood of message ac-
implied that if more people used condoms the ceptance because he doesn't come up with arguments against the product.129
world would have been spared such figures as Humor is more likely to be effective when the ad clearly identifies the brand and
Mao Tse-Tung, Adolf Hitler, and Osama bin the funny material does not "swamp" the message. This danger is similar to one we've
Laden. Each execution depicted a swimming already discussed about beautiful models who divert attention from copy points. Subtle
sperm with a likeness of one of the despised humor is usually better, as is humor that does not make fun of the potential consumer.
characters. Critics complained that the ads
Finally, humor should be appropriate to the product's image. Hint: An undertaker or a
were racist, offensive, and inappropriate; the
bank might want to avoid humor, as might as a company that has accepted U.S. govern-
campaign apparently didn’t exactly enhance
the retailer’s im age.130 ment bailout money.
Fear Appeals
Volkswagen's advertising campaign to promote the safety of its Jetta model really got
people's attention. The spots depict graphic car crashes from the perspective of the pas-
sengers who chatter away as they drive down the street. Without warning, other vehicles
come out of nowhere and brutally smash into their cars. In one spot, viewers see a pas-
senger's head striking an airbag. The spots end with shots of stunned passengers, the
damaged Jetta, and the slogan: "Safe happens." The ads look so realistic that consumers
called the company to ask if any of the actors were hurt.131
Fear appeals emphasize the negative consequences that can occur unless the con-
sumer changes a behavior or an attitude. Fear appeals 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 contra-
ception, or relying on a designated driver. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration)
is currently executing an aggressive fear appeal tactic as it releases new guidelines for
cigarette advertising and packaging for the first time in more than 25 years. The agency
is selecting a range of horrific images to be depicted directly on the cigarette packaging
(and in the advertising) showing people who have suffered from the ravages of ciga-
rettes. One version has a visual of a terminal cancer patient with copy that says "ciga-
rettes cause cancer."132
This tactic may well scare away would-be smokers, but does a fear appeal work more
generally for marketers? Most research on this topic indicates that these negative mes-
sages 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.133
When a weak threat is ineffective, there may be insufficient elaboration of the harm -
ful consequences of engaging in 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 ap-
ply to her to pay attention to the offered solution.134 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.135
Similarly, scare tactics have not generally been an effective way to convince teenag-
ers to curb their use of alcohol or drugs. Teens simply tune out the message or deny its
relevance to them .136 However, a study of adolescent responses to social versus physical
threat appeals in drug prevention messages found that social threat (such as being ostra-
cized by one's peers) is a more effective strategy.137
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 story-
teller, 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 com-
municate 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: a story about an abstract trait or concept that advertisers tell in the
context of a person, animal, vegetable, or object.
A m etaphor 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.138
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 m et-
aphor 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 TWs Chinese detergent ad uses a handcuff
country" as it depicted a woman jogging, while a Bounce fabric softener ad asked "Is metaphor as it urges the viewer, “Free
yourself from the burden of handwash.”
Source: Courtesy of Saatchi & Saatchi.
CB AS I SEE IT
Professor Edward McQuarrie, Santa Clara University
The answer, my colleague Professor of words. Open a contemporary maga

David Mick and I discovered, goes to zine and look at the full-page color
the heart of what makes mass-media ads: How many words do you see? Not
advertising a distinctive kind of hu very many anymore. What you will see
man communication.142 The thing to is carefully crafted photographic imag
remember is that no one has to look ery, heavily altered by computer graph
at a magazine ad, or spend much time ics software. In fact you will se e visual
on it. It’s the exact opposite of being puns, and visual m etaphors— figures
in school, where you have to pay of speech in pictorial form. My col
attention— or flunk. And th a t’s why ad league Professor Barbara Phillips and
vertisers put puns, rhymes, and every I have shown why it might be smart
E a r l y in my career, I became fas other rhetorical device in ad headlines: for advertisers to make their pitch in
cinated by wordplay in magazine Such wordplay functions as a lure and pictures rather than words; briefly, the
advertisem ents. Puns, rhymes, and a snare for attention. It’s fun to get very ambiguity of pictorial persuasion
much more complex figures of speech the joke. Result: Consum ers linger a makes it more effective, because the
abound in advertising headlines, in second longer, and absorb at least one reader has to generate more infer
fact, virtually any figure of speech point from the ad, even if they never ences to comprehend the ad.143
catalogued by the ancient Gre eks can read the rest. And a small jot of plea What I like about being a consum er
be found in the he adlines of American sure gets associated with the brand. rese archer is that I get to study real
advertisem ents today. But why is that? Traditional consum er research is ity. Every ad represents an attempt by
After all, a dvertisers are under a tied to an experimental paradigm in someone working very hard, under the
lot of pressure. Th e y have to spend which the subjects are forced to read gun to keep his or her job, to get an
tons of money in the often forlorn the whole ad; within that paradigm, invisible m ass of consum ers to spend
hope of getting a consum er to spend a there is no way to discover the impor a second or two more with his or her
second or two glancing at an ad. Why tance of rhetorical figures. A related creation. In my view, it’s the study of
m ess around with complicated word problem that I believe continues to these real efforts at persuasion that
play and risk confusing or alienating handicap consum er research is an ex hold the most promise for advancing
consum ers? cessive focus on persuasion by means scientific understanding.
there something creeping up behind you?" as it showed a woman's dressed bunched up

on her back due to static. Because the text departs from expectations, it creates a state of
tension or uncertainty on the part of the viewer until he figures out the wordplay. Once
the consumer "gets it," he may prefer the ad to a more straightforward message.139 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.140
One important distinction is between a drama and a lecture.141A 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 m es-
sage 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.
In contrast, a drama is similar to a play or movie. Whereas a lecture holds the viewer
at arm's length, a drama draws the viewer into the action. The characters indirectly ad-
dress the audience: They interact with each other about a product or service in an imagi-
nary setting. Dramas are experiential because they involve the audience emotionally. The
transformational advertising method encourages the recipient to associate the experi-
ence of product usage with some subjective sensation—like the feeling you get when you
watch a silhouetted actor on TV as he dances energetically to his iPod.
o b je c t iv e 10 The Source versus the Message:

Audience chara cterises D q W e S e || t h e S t e a k o r t h e S i z z l e ?
help to determine
whether the nature of the We've discussed two major components of the communications
source or the message model: the source and the message. At the end of the day, which
itself will be relatively component persuades consumers to change their attitudes?
more effective. 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 4, a consumer's level of
involvement determines which cognitive processes will activate when she receives a mes-
sage. This in turn influences which aspects of a communication she processes. Like a
traveler who comes to a fork in the road, she chooses one path or the other. The direc-
tion she takes 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 in-
volvement, we take the central route to persuasion. Under conditions of low involvement,
we take a peripheral route instead. Figure 7.7 diagrams this model.144
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 a person gener-
ates counterarguments in response to a message, it's less likely that she will yield to the
message, whereas if she generates further supporting arguments, it's more likely she'll
comply.145
The central route to persuasion involves the standard hierarchy of effects we dis-
cussed earlier in this chapter. Recall this assumes that we carefully form and evaluate
beliefs and the strong attitudes that result 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 num ber of counterarguments.146
F ig u r e 7 .7 TH E ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD M ODEL (E LM ) O F PERSUASION
High-lnvolvement Cognitive ____ . Belief and Behavior

Processing Responses Attitude Change Change
Central Route
COMMUNICATION
(source, message, Attention and
channel) Comprehension
Peripheral Route
Low-lnvolvement ^ Belief ____ ^ Behavior Attitude

Processing Change Change Change
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 dis-
cussed in Chapter 4: When we don't care about a product, the style in which it's presented
(e.g., who endorses it or the visuals that go with it) increases in importance. The impli-
cation 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 shop-
ping environment. 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 prod-
uct benefit is to enhance attractiveness.147
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Now that you have finished reading this chapter you should is, we alter some parts of an attitude to be in line with oth-
understand why: ers. Such theoretical approaches to attitudes as cognitive
dissonance theory, self-perception theory, and balance
1. It’s important for consumer researchers to understand theory stress the vital role of our need for consistency.
the nature and power of attitudes.
5. We use attitude models to identify specific components
An attitude is a predisposition to evaluate an object or and combine them to predict a consumer’s overall
product positively or negatively. We form attitudes to- attitude toward a product or brand.
ward products and services, and these attitudes often de-
termine whether we will purchase or not. Multiattribute attitude models underscore the complexity
of attitudes: They specify that we identify and combine a
2. Attitudes are more complex than they first appear. set of beliefs and evaluations to predict an overall attitude.
Researchers integrate factors such as subjective norms
Three com ponents make up an attitude: beliefs, affect, and the specificity of attitude scales into attitude measures
and behavioral intentions. to improve predictability.
3. We form attitudes in several ways. 6. The communications model identifies several important
Attitude researchers traditionally assumed that we learn
components for marketers when they try to change
attitudes in a fixed sequence: First we form beliefs (cog-
consumers’ attitudes toward products and services.
nitions) about an attitude object, then we evaluate that Persuasion refers to an attempt to change consumers' atti-
object [affect), and then we take some action {behavior). tudes. The communications model specifies the elements
Depending on the consumer's level of involvement and marketers need to transmit meaning. These include a
the circumstances, though, his attitudes can result from source, a message, a medium, a receiver, and feedback.
other hierarchies of effects as well. A key to attitude for-
mation is the function the attitude holds for the consumer 7. The consumer who processes a message is not
(e.g., is it utilitarian or ego defensive?). necessarily the passive receiver of inform ation
marketers once believed him or her to be.
4. A need to maintain consistency among all of our
The traditional view of communications regards the per-
attitudinal components motivates us to alter one or
ceiver as a passive element in the process. New develop-
more of them. ments in interactive communications highlight the need
One organizing principle of attitude formation is the impor- to consider the active roles a consumer plays when he or
tance of consistency among attitudinal components—that she obtains product information and builds a relationship
with a company. Advocates of permission marketing argue message in words or pictures; employment of an em o-
that it's more effective to send messages to consumers who tional or a rational appeal; frequency of repetition; conclu-
have already indicated an interest in learning about a prod- sion drawing; presentation of both sides of the argument;
uct than trying to hit people “cold" with these solicitations. and inclusion of fear, humor, or sexual references. Adver-
tising messages often incorporate elements from art or lit-
8. Several factors influence the effectiveness of a message erature, such as dramas, lectures, metaphors, allegories,
source. and resonance.
Two important characteristics that determine the effec-
10. Audience characteristics help to determine whether
tiveness of a source are its attractiveness and credibility.
the nature of the source or the message itself will be
Although celebrities often serve this purpose, their cred-
relatively more effective.
ibility is not always as strong as marketers hope. Market-
ing messages that consumers perceive as buzz (those that The relative influence of the source versus the message
are authentic and consumer generated) tend to be more depends on the receiver's level of involvement with the
effective than those they categorize as hype (those that are communication. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM)
inauthentic, biased, and company generated). specifies that source effects are more likely to sway a less-
involved consumer, whereas a more-involved consumer
9. The way a marketer structures his or her message will be more likely to attend to and process components
determines how persuasive it will be. of the actual message.
Some elements of a message that help to determine its
effectiveness include the following: conveyance of the
KEY TERMS
ABC model of attitudes, 274 functional theory of attitudes, 273 sleeper effect, 295
affect, 274 hierarchy of effects, 275 social judgment theory, 280
allegory, 305 identification, 277 social media, 291
alternate reality games (ARGs), 292 internalization, 277 sock puppeting, 294
attitude, 273 knowledge function, 274 source attractiveness, 295
attitude object (v40), 273 latitudes of acceptance source credibility, 293
attitude toward the act of buying and rejection, 280 spokescharacters, 296
U**), 286 low-involvement hierarchy of effects, 275 standard learning hierarchy, 275
balance theory, 280 M-commerce, 291 subjective norm (SN), 286
basking in reflected glory, 282 metaphor, 305 theory of cognitive dissonance, 278
behavior, 274 multiattribute attitude models, 282 theory of ree.soned action, 284
blogs, 292 multiple pathway anchoring and theory of trying, 287
cognition, 274 adjustment (MPAA) model, 287 transmedia formats, 292
communications model, 289 permission marketing, 290 transmedia storytelling, 292
comparative advertising, 301 persuasion, 288 Twitter, 292
compliance, 277 podcasting, 292 two-factor theory, 300
ego-defensive function, 274 principle of cognitive consistency, 278 utilitarian fu nction, 274
elaboration likelihood model (ELM), 307 refutational arguments, 300 value-expressive function, 274
experiential hierarchy of effects, 276 resonance, 305 video blogging (vlogging), 292
fear appeals, 304 self-perception theory, 279 virtual worlds, 292
foot-in-the-door technique, 279 simile, 305 widgets, 292
REVIEW
1 How can an attitude play an ego-defensive function? 4 How do levels of commitment to an attitude influence
2 Describe the ABC model of attitudes. the likelihood that it will become part of the way we think
3 List the three hierarchies of attitudes, and describe the m a- about a product in the long term?
jor differences among them.
5 We sometimes enhance our attitude toward a product af- 16 What are blogs and how can marketers use them?
ter we buy it. How does the theory of cognitive dissonance 17 What is source credibility, and what are two factors that
explain this change? influence our decision as to whether a source is credible?
6 What is the foot-in-the-door technique? How does self- 18 What is the difference between buzz and hype? How does
perception theory relate to this effect? this difference relate to the corporate paradox?
7 What are latitudes of acceptance and rejection? How does 19 What is a halo effect, and why does it happen?
a consumer's level of involvement with a product affect his 20 What is an avatar, and why might an advertiser choose to
latitude of acceptance? use one instead of hiring a celebrity endorser?
8 According to balance theory, how can we tell if a triad is 21 When should a marketer present a message visually versus
balanced or unbalanced? How can consumers restore bal- verbally?
ance to an unbalanced triad? 22 How does the two-factor theory explain the effects of mes-
9 Describe a multiattribute attitude model and list its key sage repetition on attitude change?
components. 23 When is it best to present a two-sided message versus a
10 "Do as I say, not as I do." How does this statement relate to one-sided message?
attitude models? 24 Do humorous ads work? If so, under what conditions?
11 What is a subjective norm, and how does it influence our 25 Should marketers ever try to arouse fear in order to per-
attitudes? suade consumers?
12 What are three obstacles to predicting behavior even if we 26 Why do marketers use metaphors to craft persuasive mes-
know a person's attitudes? sages? Give two examples of this technique.
13 Describe the theory of reasoned action. Why might it not 27 What is the difference between a lecture and a drama?
be equally valuable when we apply it to non-W estern 28 Describe the elaboration likelihood model, and summarize
cultures? how it relates to the relative importance of what is said ver-
14 List three psychological principles related to persuasion. sus how it's said.
15 Describe the elements of the traditional communications
model, and tell how the updated model differs.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHALLENGE
DISCUSS
1 Contrast the hierarchies of effects outlined in this chapter. buy the advertised product.148As a consumer, is this good
How should marketers take these different situations into news or bad news? How do you feel about getting ads on
account when they choose their marketing mix? your smartphone? How do you think the marketplace will
2 Many universities use commercial companies to run cam- react to this new advertising medium as it becomes more
pus Web sites and email services. These agreements pro- commonplace?
vide Web services to colleges at little or no cost. But these 4 An antismoking ad sponsored by The New York City De-
actions arouse controversy because major companies partment of Health crossed the line for many viewers. The
pay to place advertising on the sites. That gives marketers spot showed a young boy who cries hysterically as a crowd
the opportunity to influence the attitudes of thousands of of adults walk by him. The voiceover says, "This is how
students who are involuntarily exposed to product mes- your child feels after losing you for a minute. Just imagine
sages. University administrators argue that they could not if they lost you for life.”
provide the services by themselves—students expect to be The ad aroused a lot of controversy because it wasn't
able to fill out financial aid forms and register for classes clear if the child was merely acting or if the spot's pro-
online. Colleges that do not offer such services may lose ducers provoked his tears for the camera. Is this genre of
their ability to attract students. How do you feel about this "scared straight" advertising an effective way to convince
situation? Should companies be able to buy access to your people to curb unhealthy behaviors like smoking?
eyeballs from the school you pay to attend if it means you 5 The Coca-Cola company pulled a UK Internet promotion
get access to enhanced online services in return? campaign after parents accused it of targeting children
3 As more of us rely on our smartphones, advertisers are fol- by using references to a notorious pornographic movie.
lowing us onto this platform. The first iAds now appear on As part of its efforts to reach young social media users for
iPhones and iPods, and the early evidence is that they work its Dr. Pepper brand, the company took over consenting
well. In one study (funded by Apple), people who were users' Facebook status boxes. Then, the company would
exposed to an iAd for Campbell’s were more than twice post mildly embarrassing questions such as "Lost my spe-
as likely to recall it than those who had seen a TV ad. Re- cial blankie. How will I go sleepies?," and "What's wrong
cipients were also four times more likely to say they would with peeing in the shower?" But, when a parent discovered
that her 14-year-old daughter's profile had been updated organizations, journalists, professors, and others endorse
with a message that directly referred to a hardcore porn specific products at the expense of other offerings?
film, the plan backfired and Coke had to pull the pro 10 A marketer must decide whether to incorporate rational
m otion.149 What does it take to get the attention of jaded or emotional appeals in its communications strategy. De
young people, who get exposed to all kinds of messages scribe conditions that are more favorable to one or the
in cyberspace? What guidelines (if any) should marketers other.
follow when they try to talk to young people on social m e 11 Many, many com panies rely on celebrity endorsers as
dia platforms? com m unications sources to persuade. Especially when
6 Aflo g is a fake blog a company posts to build buzz around they target younger people, these spokespeople often are
its brand. Is this ethical? "cool" musicians, athletes, or movie stars. In your opinion,
7 The sleeper effect implies that perhaps we shouldn't worry who would be the most effective celebrity endorser today,
too much about how positively people evaluate a source. and why? Who would be the least effective? Why?
Similarly, there's a saying in public relations that “any pub 12 Swiss Legend, a watch brand, gets famous people to wear
licity is good publicity." Do you agree? its colorful timepieces. One way it does this is to give away
8 Discuss some conditions that would cause you to advise a its products at awards shows. Publicists call this common
marketer to use a comparative advertising strategy. practice "gifting the talent": Companies provide stars with
9 The American Medical Association encountered a fire "goody bags" full of complimentary products.150 What do
storm of controversy when it agreed to sponsor a line of you think about the practice of "gifting the talent" to accu
health-care products that Sunbeam m anufactured (a mulate endorsements? Is this a sound strategy? Is it ethical
decision it later reversed). Should trade or professional for celebrities to accept these gifts?
A PPLY
1 Think of a behavior someone does that is inconsistent with 7 Collect ads that rely on sex appeal to sell products. How
his or her attitudes (e.g., attitudes toward cholesterol, drug often do they communicate benefits of the actual product?
use, or even buying things to make him or her stand out or 8 Observe the process of counterargumentation by asking a
attain status). Ask the person to elaborate on why he or she friend to talk out loud while he watches a commercial. Ask
does the behavior, and try to identify the way the person him to respond to each point in the ad or to write down
resolves dissonant elements. reactions to the claims the message makes. How much
2 Devise an attitude survey for a set of competing automo skepticism regarding the claims can you detect?
biles. Identify areas of competitive advantage or disadvan 9 Make a log of all the com m ercials a network television
tage for each model you include. channel shows during a 2-hour period. Assign each to a
3 Construct a multiattribute model for a set of local res product category and decide whether each is a drama or
taurants. Based on your findings, suggest how restaurant an argument. Describe the types of messages the ads use
managers could improve their establishm ent's image via (e.g., two-sided arguments), and keep track of the types of
the strategies described in this chapter. spokespeople who appear (e.g., TV actors, famous people,
4 Locate foreign ads at sites like japander.com in which ce animated characters). What can you conclude about the
lebrities endorse products that they don't pitch on their dominant forms of persuasive tactics that marketers cur
home turf. Ask friends or classmates to rate the attractive rently employ?
ness of each celebrity, then show them these ads and ask 10 Collect examples of ads that rely on the use of metaphors or
them to rate the celebrities again. Does the star's "brand resonance. Do you feel these ads are effective? If you were
image" change after it's paired with cheesy ads? Based on marketing the products, would you feel more comfortable
these results, what advice would you give to a manager with ads that use a more straightforward, "hard-sell" ap
who has to choose among endorsement offers for a famous proach? Why or why not?
client? 11 Create a list of current celebrities whom you feel typify
5 A government agency wants to encourage people who cultural categories (e.g., clown, mother figure, etc.). What
have been drinking to use designated drivers. What advice specific brands do you feel each could effectively endorse?
could you give the organization about constructing persua 12 Conduct an "avatar hunt" on e-com merce Web sites, on
sive communications? Discuss some factors that might be line video game sites, and online communities such as The
important, including the structure of the communications, Sims that let people select what they want to look like in
where they should appear, and who should deliver them. cyberspace. What seem to be the dominant figures people
Should it use fear appeals? If so, how? choose? Are they realistic or fantasy characters? Male or
6 Why would a marketer consider saying negative things female? What types of avatars do you believe would be
about her product? When is this strategy feasible? Can you most effective for each of these different kinds of Web sites
find examples of it? and why?
M yM a rk e tingLa b N o w th a t you h a ve c o m p le t e d th is c h a p te r, re tu rn to www

.pearsonglobaleditions.com / mymarketinglab to a p p ly co n c e p ts a nd exp lore th e a dd ition a l s tu d y m a teria ls.
Case Study
DOMINO’S DILEMMA Domino's also announced that the store where the vid
eos were taken was shut down and sanitized. In addition, the
Social media sites are so much part of mainstream culture that company opened a Twitter account to deal with consum er
the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) recently reported they questions. The two employees involved were fired (duh!) and
have exceeded the reach of television. Social media marketing charged with the felony of delivering prohibited foods.
describes the use of social media to engage with customers to Was this a strong enough response by Domino's? Most so
meet marketing goals. It's about reaching customers via online cial media marketing experts grade Domino's actions as excel
dialogue. According to Lloyd Salmons, chairman of the IAB, it's lent but a bit delayed. In fact, an Advertising Age survey revealed
really about brands having conversations. that 64 percent of readers believed that the company did the
But sometimes use of social media backfires for companies. best it could to deal with the crisis. Still, there's no doubt this
This certainly was the case for Domino's, the national pizza de incident was a pie in the eye for the company.
livery company. Two employees of a North Carolina Domino's
store posted a YouTube video of themselves in the kitchen as
they performed disgusting practices with pizza ingredients: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1 Do you think customers who saw this video changed their
In about five minutes it'll be sent out on delivery where somebody
attitude toward Domino's?
will be eating these, yes, eating them, and little did they know that
cheese was in his nose and that there was some lethal gas that 2 Which source—the rogue employees or the company's
ended up on their salam i. . . that how we roll at Domino's. CEO—would be more credible?
3 The video included vivid, disgusting im ages of the
What steps should a company take when it faces a social Domino's product. Was a "talking head" response by the
media marketing disaster like this? Should Domino’s just ig CEO the most effective countermessage? What type of
nore the videos and assume that the buzz will die down, or message structure and/or content might the company
should it take quick action? Domino's did nothing for the first have used instead to push back against this depiction?
48 hours but eventually—after more than one million people
viewed the spot—got the video removed from YouTube. Domi
no's also posted a YouTube clip of its CEO who stated: Sources: Stephanie Clifford, "Video Prank at Domino's Taints Brand," New
York Times (April 15, 2009), www.nytimes.com, accessed June 13, 2011;
Ben Levisohm and Ellen Gibson, "An Unwelcomed Delivery," Business
We sincerely apologize for this incident. We thank members of the
Week (May 4, 2009): 15; Emily Bryson York, "What Domino's Did Right—
online com munity who quickly alerted us and allowed us to take and Wrong—in Squelching Hubbub over YouTube Video," Advertising Age
immediate action. Although the individuals in question claim it's (April 20, 2009), http://adage.com/article?article_id= 136086, accessed
a hoax, we are taking this incredibly seriously. June 8, 2009.
NOTES
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PART 3 NIELSEN NUGGET III

E X E R C IS E #3 for C h a p te r 7, A t t itu d e s and P e rsu a sion
Scenario: Healthy Clean, Inc., has a strong presence in competitive perform ance advantages. The company also
surface disinfection under the “Germ Destructor” brand. se e ks to identify those product a ttributes tha t may have to
It is important for the company to enter the hand-hygiene be adjusted or those consum er perceptions it may se e k to
segment, in order to be able to provide a complete range of influence.
germ-kill solutions and to maintain the perception of cate After reviewing the data provided:
gory leadership. Healthy Clean company wants to investigate 1 Identify specific attributes tha t Healthy Clean should
entering the hand-wash m arket with the launch of a no-touch emphasize in promotions if it proceeds with the new
dispensing system . product launch.
Ch allenge: Hea lthy Clean se e ks to be tter understand
2 Identify specific attributes, if any, that should be consid
consum er perceptions as they relate to various product ered for reengineering.
a ttributes and the general a cceptance of the product 3 Which of the marketing applications of the multiattrib
concept. Among other rese arch objectives, He althy Clean
ute model discussed in this chapter could be suggested
hopes to determine where it may be able to achieve by the data?
Concept-Product Fit
Is ideal to use in the
3.60 Is Ideal for use by the whole family kitchen
Exceeded Expectations is easy to set up/ install 4 |s converleptfo use
the cartridge Is effective « * |s midem / up to date
Is more
are hygienic to use than regular soap dispensers Is an innovative product
Stc
Stops the spread of bacteria as it is dispensed «* , .* , / . L
it. a„ high
Is ______ _ product
quality Is ideaKo use in the bathroom
Has a nice fragrance ^ Kil & of bacteria
Is gentle on your skin * Has a coj rnporary design
jComes in fragrances you like
Comes in a
Does not dry out the skin
Fits well with my home decor Encourages people in my family
to wash their hands more often
Leaves your hands moisturized
Automatically dispenses just
the right amount of soap
Ignore effective than other
land soaps in killing germs
Is good value fi
2.60
2.60 3.60
Concept Static Mean Rating
• Attributes in Bold are Significantly Different at the 90% Confidence Level

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3: Consume**

Section 3 • Consumers akers

2. Attitudes are more complex than they first appear.

3. We form attitudes in several ways.

8 . Several factors influence the effectiveness of a message source.

o b je c t iv e 1 The Power of Attitudes

• Utilitarian function—The utilitarian function relates to the basic principles of re-

My Marketi ngLab OBJECTIVE 2 The ABC Model of Attitudes

The Standard Learning Hierarchy

The Low-lnvolvement Hierarchy

Figure 7.1 HIERARCHIES OF EFFECTS

This ad for New York’s famous Smith &

Allwe ask is thatyou

Winner of The Mine Spectatory 1987 Grand Award.

The Experiential Hierarchy

All Attitudes Are Not Created Equal

1 C o m p l i a n c e —At the lowest level of involvement, c o m p l i a n c e , we form an attitude

OBJECTIVE 4 The Consistency Principle

Advertisers often need to resort to creative

Social Judgment Theory

Figure 7.2 BALANCE THEORY

• Object-attribute linkages, or the probability that a particular object has an important

When we combine these three elements, we compute a consumer's overall attitude

The Basic Multiattribute Model: Saundra’s College Decision

Marketing Applications of the Multiattribute Model

Do Attitudes Predict Behavior?

The Extended Fishbein Model

Intentions versus Behavior

Obstacles to Predicting Behavior in the Theory of Reasoned Action

the attitude accessibility perspective, behavior is a function of the person's immediate

Figure 7.3 TH E O R Y O F TRYING

Attitude toward Attitude toward

Attitude toward Social norm

How Do Marketers Change Attitudes?

OBJECTIVE 6 The Elements of Communication

An Updated View: Interactive Communications

Figure 7.4 TH E TRAD ITION AL FEEDBACK

Viral marketing techniques rely on

New Message Formats

Sender <4------------ Communication

Figure 7 .Î) AN UPDATED

Even actors who play doctors on TV may be

enhances attractiveness or sexuality.81 The social adaptation perspective assumes that

A German firm called NoDNA offers its own

OBJECTIVE 9 The Message

Characteristics of Good and Bad Messages

Positive Effects Negative Effects

Showing convenience of use Extensive information on components, ingredients, or nutrition

• A person is put down in terms of appearance, knowledge, or sophistication.

• Should she convey the message in words or pictures?

How Do We Send the Message?

This British clothing ad uses vivid

How Do We Structure the Argument?

Types of Message Appeals

Emotional versus Rational Appeals

This ad from Dubai clearly appeals

The Message as Art Form: Metaphors Be with You

The answer, my colleague Professor of words. Open a contemporary maga

there something creeping up behind you?" as it showed a woman's dressed bunched up