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Chapter 6 Consumer Attitude Formation and Change LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading, studying and analyzing this chapter, students should be able to understand: 6.1 What attitudes are, how they are formed, and their role in consumer behavior. 6.2 The tri-component attitude model and its applications. 6.3 The structures of multi-attribute models and their use in altering consumers’ attitudes. 6.4 How to alter consumers’ attitudes by making particular needs prominent. 6.5 The role of cognitive elaboration in altering attitudes. 6.6 How attitudes can precede behavior in the form of cognitive dissonance and the resolution of conflicting attitudes. 6.7 The ways people assign causality to events and apply this knowledge to consumer behavior. CHAPTER SUMMARY Learning Objective 6.1: To understand what attitudes are, how they are formed, and their role in consumer behavior. An attitude is a learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way toward a given object. In the context of consumer behavior, object is interpreted broadly to include the product, brand, service, price, package, advertisement, promotional medium, retailer selling the product, and many other aspects of consumption. Attitudes are learned from direct experience with the product, word-of-mouth, exposure to mass media, and other information sources. Attitudes reflect either favorable or unfavorable evaluations of the attitude object and they motivate consumers to either buy or not buy particular products or brands. Consumers buy products toward which they have favorable inclinations, so marketers must ensure that consumers maintain positive attitudes following purchases and remain loyal to the marketers’ offerings. Attitudes are relatively consistent with the behavior they reflect. However, despite their consistency, attitudes are not necessarily permanent; they do change, and sometimes even frequently. Attitudes occur within and are affected by situations, that is, by events or circumstances that, at a particular point in time, influence the relationship between an attitude and behavior. Personality traits significantly influence the formation of attitudes. Learning Objective 6.2: To understand the tri-component attitude model and its applications. The tri-component attitude model proposes that attitudes consist of three components: cognitive, affective, and conative. The cognitive component represents the knowledge and perceptions of the features of an attitude object. The affective component reflects emotions and feelings regarding the attitude object, which are considered evaluations, because they capture the person’s global assessment of the attitude object. The conative component is the likelihood that an individual will undertake a specific action or behave in a particular way with regard to the attitude object (i.e., consumer’s intention to buy). Learning Objective 6.3: To understand the structures of multi-attribute models and their use in altering consumers’ attitudes. Multi-attribute attitude models portray consumers’ attitudes as functions of their assessments of the objects’ prominent attributes. Multi-attribute models include the attitude-toward-object model, the attitude-toward-behavior model, the theory of reasoned action, the theory of trying-to-consume, and the attitude-toward-ad model. Multi-attribute models can be used when adding product attributes, changing consumers’ perceptions of attributes, and developing new products. Learning Objective 6.4: To understand how to alter consumers’ attitudes by making particular needs prominent. Altering attitudes according to consumer motivations is termed the functional approach, which classifies attitudes into four functions: the utilitarian, ego-defensive, value-expressive, and knowledge functions. Associating a brand with an admired object can also alter attitudes. Learning Objective 6.5: To understand the role of cognitive elaboration in altering attitudes. Attitudes can sometimes be changed by either one of two different routes to persuasion, which depend on the degree of cognitive elaboration used when consumers process applicable information. One route requires extensive thought and cognitive processing, and is typically employed in situations where consumers are highly involved and perceive a lot of risk regarding the purchase considered. The second route, which requires relatively little thought and information processing, is followed during less important purchases. Learning Objective 6.6: To understand how attitudes can precede behavior in the form of cognitive dissonance and the resolution of conflicting attitudes. In most cases, attitudes precede and guide behavior. Sometimes, though consumers act first and only afterward develop attitudes about actions already undertaken, which creates conflicting thoughts about the attitude object. Because important purchase decisions (i.e., buying a new home) require compromise and choices among similar alternatives, post-purchase conflicts in such instances are common. Marketers must ensure that customers resolve cognitive conflicts by changing their attitudes to conform to their behavior. Learning Objective 6.7: To understand the ways people assign causality to events and apply this knowledge to consumer behavior. People assign causality (i.e., blame or credit) to events, their own behaviors, and the behaviors of others. The way people see themselves is reflected in the causalities they form about prior behaviors and the attitudes they develop thereafter. In trying to change consumption-related attitudes, especially with regard to marketing products that require self-participation during usage, marketers must understand how people make attributions, both toward others and objects, and while analyzing their own attributions after having acted upon them. CHAPTER OUTLINE Introduction 1. An attitude is a learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way with respect to a given object. a) Attitudes are learned from direct experience with the product, word-of-mouth, exposure to mass media and other information sources. b) Attitudes reflect favorable or unfavorable evaluations of the attitude object. 2. People are often unreceptive to the unfamiliar. 3. Attitudes can be related to social or cultural events. ***** Use Key Term attitude Here; Use Figure 6.1 Here ***** Attitudes and Their Formation 1. Attitudes are directed at objects. a) Object refers to such things as: product, product category, brand, service, possessions, product use, causes or issues, people advertisement price, Internet site, price, medium, or retailer. b) Attitude “can be conceptualized as a summary evaluation of an object.” c) Attitudes might or might not lead to behavior 2. Attitudes are learned. a) Attitudes are formed as a result of direct experience with the product, information acquired from others, and exposure to mass media, the Internet, and various forms of direct marketing. b) Personality traits significantly influence the formation of attitudes. i) Consumers with a high need for cognition are likely to form positive attitudes in response to promotions that include a lot of detailed, product-related information. ii) Innovativeness also affects attitudes (especially toward new products) ***** Use Learning Objective #6.1 Here; Use Review and Discussion Questions #6.1 and 6.2 Here***** 3. Attitudes are relatively consistent with the behavior they reflect. a) Attitudes are not necessarily permanent; they do change. b) We should consider situational influences on consumer attitudes and behavior. 4. Consumer attitudes occur within, and are affected by, the situation. ***** Use Table #6.1 Here***** The Tri-Component Attitude Model 1. Psychologists have sought to construct models that capture the underlying dimensions of an attitude. The focus has been on specifying the composition of an attitude to better explain or predict behavior. *****Use Learning Objective #6.2 Here***** 2. According to the tri-component attitude model, attitudes consist of three major components: the cognitive component, the affective component and the conative component. a) Cognitions are knowledge and perceptions that are acquired by a combination of direct experience with the attitude object and related information from various sources. i) This previous knowledge and perceptions commonly take the form of beliefs ii) The consumer believes that the attitude object possesses various attributes and that specific behavior will lead to specific outcomes. b) The affective component of an attitude consists of the consumer’s emotions or feelings which are considered evaluations. i) Affect-laden experiences manifest themselves as emotionally charged states (such as happiness or sadness). ii) These states may enhance positive or negative experiences (and recollections of those experiences) for the consumer. iii) A semantic differential scale, which has bi-polar adjectives as anchors and asks the respondent to rate on a continuum, is often used to measure affect. *****Use Key Term tri-component attitude model, cognitive component, affective component, semantic differential scale Here; Use Figure #6.2 Here; Use Tables #6.3, #6.4 Here***** c) Conation, the final component of the tri-component attitude model, is concerned with the likelihood or tendency that an individual will undertake a specific action or behave in a particular way with regard to the attitude object. i) The conative component may include the actual behavior itself. ii) In marketing and consumer research, the conative component is frequently treated as an expression of the consumer’s intention to buy. iii) Intention to buy scales are used to assess the likelihood of a consumer purchasing a product or behaving in a certain way. *****Use Key Term conative component Here; Use Table 6.5 Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #6.3 Here; Use Hands-on Assignment #6.9 Here***** 3. Altering consumer attitudes is an important marketing strategy. a) In these market situations, marketers have an opportunity to persuade consumer’s to “crossover,” or to shift their favorable attitude toward another version of the product. b) Changing beliefs about products is the most common form of advertising appeal. i) Advertisers constantly remind us that their product has “more,” or is “better,” or “best” in terms of some important product attribute. ii) Information suggesting a change in attitude needs to be compelling and repeated enough to overcome the natural resistance to letting go of established attitudes. c) Changing brand image attempts to alter consumers’ overall assessment of the brand. d) Changing consumer beliefs about competitive brands or product categories is another attitude-change strategy. i) One tool is comparative advertising. ii) Another tool is a two-sided message. *****Use Figures #6.4 and #6.5 Here; Use Key Terms comparative advertising, two-sided message Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #6.5 Here***** Multi-Attribute Attitude Models 1. Multi-attribute attitude models portray consumers’ attitudes with regard to an attitude object as a function of consumers’ perception and assessment of the key attributes or beliefs held with regard to the particular attitude object. 2. There are many variations of the attitude model, five to consider are: attitude-toward-object model, attitude-toward-behavior model, the theory-of-reasoned-action model, the theory of trying-to-consume, and the attitude-toward-the-ad-model. a) According to the attitude-toward-object model, the consumer’s attitude toward a product or specific brands of a product is a function of i) the presence (or absence) and evaluation of certain product-specific beliefs and/or attributes. ii) The importance of each of these attributes *****Use Learning Objective 6.3 Here; Use Key Terms multi-attribute attitude models, attitude-toward-object model, attitude-toward-behavior model, theory-of-reasoned-action model, theory of trying-to-consume model and attitude-toward-the-ad model Here***** b) Attitudes can be changed by i) Adding a previously ignored attribute or adding an attribute that reflects an actual product or technological innovation. a) Adding an attribute reflects an actual product change or technological innovation is easier to accomplish than stressing a previously ignored attribute. b) Sometimes eliminating a characteristic or feature has the same enhancing outcome as adding a characteristic or attribute. ii) Changing the perceived importance of attributes iii) Developing new products *****Use Table 6.6 Here; Use Figures #6.5, #6.6, #6.7A and #6.7B Here***** c) The attitude-toward-behavior model is designed to capture the individual’s attitude toward behaving or acting with respect to an object, rather than the attitude toward the object itself (so attitudes correspond somewhat more closely to actual behavior than the attitude-toward-object model). d) The theory-of-reasoned-action incorporates a cognitive component, an affective component, and a conative component arranged in a pattern different from that of the tri-component model. i) It includes subjective norms that influence an individual’s intention to act before measuring intentions. ii) Subjective norms are based on normative beliefs and motivation to comply with the preferences of relevant others. *****Use Hands-on Assignment #6.10 Here***** e) The theory of trying-to-consume is designed to account for the cases where the action or outcome is not certain but reflects the consumer’s efforts to consume. Sometimes personal impediments or environmental impediments prevent the desired outcome. *****Use Table #6-7 Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #6.4 Here***** f) As the attitude-toward-the-ad model depicts, the consumer forms various feelings as the result of exposure to an ad that impact attitudes towards the brands advertised. *****Use Hands-on Assignments #6.10 and #6.11 Here***** Changing the Motivational Functions of Attitudes 1. An effective strategy for changing consumer attitudes toward a product or brand is to make particular needs prominent. 2. One method for doing this is called the functional approach and suggests attitudes can be classified into four functions: the utilitarian function, the ego-defensive function, the value-expressive function, and the knowledge function. a) The utilitarian function stems from the belief that consumers’ attitudes reflect the utilities that brands provide. i) When a product has been useful or helped us n the past, our attitude toward it tends to be favorable. ii) One way of changing attitudes in favor of a product is by showing people that it can serve a utilitarian purpose they may not have considered. b) The ego-defensive function maintains that people want to protect their self-images from inner feelings of doubt – they want to replace their uncertainty with a sense of security and personal confidence. c) The value-expressive function suggests attitudes are an expression or reflection of the consumer’s values and beliefs. d) The knowledge function holds that individuals generally have a strong need to know and understand the people and things they encounter. *****Use Learning Objective 6.4 Here; Use Key Terms functional approach, utilitarian function, ego-defensive function, value-expressive function, and knowledge function Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #6.5 Here; Use Hands-on Assignment #6.12 Here; Use Figures #6.8, #6.9 #6.10 ,and #6.11 Here***** 3. It is possible to alter attitudes toward products by pointing out their relationships to worthy objects or causes. *****Use Figures #6.11 and #6.12 Here***** The Elaboration Likelihood Model 1. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) involves a more global view that two different persuasive routes change attitudes. a) The central route to persuasion is particularly relevant to attitude change when a consumer’s motivation or ability to assess the attitude object is high; that is, attitude change occurs because the consumer actively seeks out information relevant to the attitude object itself. b) When consumers are willing to exert the effort to comprehend, learn, or evaluate the available information about the attitude object, learning and attitude change occur via the central route. c) In contrast, when a consumer’s motivation or assessment skills are low (e.g., low-involvement), learning and attitude change tend to occur via the peripheral route to persuasion, without the consumer focusing on information relevant to the attitude object itself. d) In such cases, attitude change often is an outcome of secondary inducements (e.g., cents-off coupons, free samples, beautiful background scenery, great package, or the encouragement of a celebrity endorsement). 2. Research indicates that even in low-involvement conditions (e.g., like exposure to most advertising), where both central and secondary inducements are initially equal in their ability to evoke similar attitudes, it is the central inducement that has the greatest “staying power”—that is, over time it is more persistent. *****Use Learning Objective 6.5 Here; Use Key Terms elaboration likelihood model (ELM), central route to persuasion, peripheral route to persuasion Here ***** Cognitive Dissonance Theory 1. According to cognitive dissonance theory, discomfort or dissonance occurs when a consumer holds conflicting thoughts about a belief or an attitude object. 2. Post-purchase dissonance occurs after the purchase. a) Purchase decisions often require compromise. b) Post-purchase dissonance is quite normal. c) Dissonance gives consumers an uneasy feeling about their prior beliefs or actions – a feeling that they seek to resolve by changing their attitudes to conform to their behavior. d) Attitude change is frequently an outcome of an action or behavior. e) Conflicting thoughts and dissonant information following a purchase are prime factors that induce consumers to change their attitudes so that they will be consonant with their actual purchase behavior. f) Dissonance propels consumers to reduce the unpleasant feelings created by the rival thoughts. 3. Tactics that consumers can use to reduce dissonance include reduction: a) By rationalizing the decision as being wise b) By seeking out advertisements that support the original reason for choosing the product c) By trying to “sell” friends on the positive features of the brand d) By looking to known satisfied owners for reassurance 4. Marketers can help reduce postpurchase uncertainty by aiming specific messages at reinforcing consumer decisions by complimenting their wisdom, offering stronger guarantees or warranties, increasing the number and effectiveness of its services, or providing detailed brochures on how to use its products correctly. *****Use Learning Objective 6.6 Here; Use Key Terms cognitive dissonance and post-purchase dissonance Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #6.8 Here; Use Hands-on Assignment #6.13 Here***** 5. Attitude-change strategies are designed to resolve actual or potential cognitive conflicts between two attitudes. Assigning Causality and Attribution Theory 1. Attribution theory attempts to explain how people assign causality to events on the basis of either their own behavior or the behavior of others. 2. Self-perception attribution addresses individuals’ inferences or judgments as to the cause of their own behavior. a) Attitudes develop as consumers look at and make judgments about their own behavior. b) These judgments can be divided into internal, external, and defensive attributions. c) Internal attribution—giving yourself credit for the outcomes—your ability, your skill, or your effort. d) External attribution—the purchase was good because of factors beyond your control—luck, etc. e) Defensive attribution—consumers are likely to accept credit personally for success, and to credit failure to others or to outside events. *****Use Learning Objective 6.7 Here; Use Key Terms attribution theory, self-perception attribution, and defensive attribution Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #6.7 Here ***** 3. Foot-in-the-door technique—the foot-in-the-door technique is based on the premise that individuals look at their prior behaviors (e.g., compliance with a minor request) and conclude that they are the kind of person who says “Yes” to such requests (i.e., an internal attribution). a) Such self-attribution serves to increase the likelihood that they will agree to a similar, more substantial request. b) Research into the foot-in-the-door technique has concentrated on understanding how specific incentives (e.g., cents-off coupons of varying amounts) ultimately influence consumer attitudes and subsequent purchase behavior. c) It appears that different size incentives create different degrees of internal attribution that, in turn, lead to different amounts of attitude change. i) It is not the biggest incentive that is most likely to lead to positive attitude change. ii) What seems most effective is a moderate incentive, one that is just big enough to stimulate initial purchase of the brand but still small enough to encourage consumers to internalize their positive usage experience and allow a positive attitude change to occur. 4. In contrast with the foot-in-the-door technique is the door-in-the-face technique, in which a large, costly first request that is probably refused is followed by a second, more realistic, less costly request. *****Use Key Terms foot-in-the-door technique and door-in-the face technique Here ***** 5. Every time a person asks “Why?” about a statement or action of another or “others”—a family member, a friend, a salesperson, a direct marketer, a shipping company— attributions toward others theory is relevant. 6. It is in the area of judging product performance that consumers are most likely to form product attributions toward objects. a) Specifically, they want to find out why a product meets or fails to meet their expectations. a) In this regard, they could attribute the product’s successful performance (or failure) to the product itself, to themselves, to other people or situations, or to some combination of these factors. 7. Individuals acquire conviction about attributions by collecting additional information in an attempt to confirm (or disconfirm) prior inferences. ***** Use Table #6.8 Here***** Chapter 7 Persuading Consumers LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading, studying and analyzing this chapter, students should be able to understand: 7.1 The elements and persuasive capabilities of communication, as well as the barriers to effective communication. 7.2 To understand the distinctions between broadcasting and narrowcasting. 7.3 To understand how to design persuasive messages effectively. 7.4 To understand the effectiveness and limitations of prominent advertising appeals. 7.5 To understand how to measure the effectiveness of advertising messages. CHAPTER SUMMARY Learning Objective 7.1: To understand the elements and persuasive capabilities of communication, as well as the barriers to effective communication. Communication is the transmission of a message from a sender to a receiver via a medium (or channel) of transmission. In addition to four basic components—sender, receiver, medium, and message—the fifth essential component of communication is feedback, which alerts the sender as to whether the intended message was, in fact, received. Senders encode their messages by using words, pictures, symbols, spokespersons, and persuasive appeals, and then the receivers decode them. If the messages are to be persuasive, the receivers must decode them as the senders intended. Communications can be either impersonal or interpersonal. Impersonal communications consist of messages that companies transmit through their marketing departments, advertising or public relations agencies, and spokespersons. The senders of interpersonal communications can be either formal sources (e.g., a salesperson in a physical or virtual retail location) or informal sources (e.g., peers with whom the consumer communicates face-to-face or via electronic means). The key factor underlying the persuasive impact of a personal or interpersonal message received from either a formal or informal source is the extent to which the receiver trusts and believes the source sending the message. Media are the channels for transmitting communications. Traditional media are the original communications channels that advertisers have used, and are generally classified as print (newspapers, magazines, billboards) and broadcast (radio, television). New media are online channels, social networks, and mobile electronic devices. These media are drastically more advanced than traditional media because they allow marketers to send personalized messages to individual consumers who can respond to the messages immediately. The two most important barriers that affect the accuracy with which consumers interpret messages are selective exposure and psychological noise. Selective exposure refers to consumers’ selectivity in paying attention to advertising messages. Psychological noise, in the form of competing advertising messages or distracting thoughts, can affect the reception of a promotional message. Learning Objective 7.2: To understand the distinctions between broadcasting and narrowcasting. The term traditional media is synonymous with broadcast media (or mass media) and consists of channels where all receivers receive the same one-way messages from marketers (i.e., they cannot send direct responses to the source of the messages). New media are channels of narrowcasting, defined as channels that permit marketers to send addressable, customized messages, based on data gathered from tracing consumers’ surfing and clicks online, in combination with other information, to either small groups or individual consumers. Addressable advertising consists of customized messages sent to particular consumers. These messages are based mostly on the consumers’ prior shopping behavior, which marketers have observed and analyzed. Learning Objective 7.3: To understand how to design persuasive messages effectively. Some of the decisions that marketers must make in designing a message include selecting images, creating advertising copy, using positive or negative message framing, choosing between one-sided or two-sided messages, and determining the order of presentation. Messages that depict images are often more effective that those with text only. Positive message framing stresses the benefits to be gained by using a specific product. Negative message framing stresses the benefits to be lost by not using the product. A one-sided message pretends that the product advertised is the only one in existence. Two-sided messages acknowledge competing products. The primacy effect indicates that material presented first is more noticeable and persuasive than subsequent materials. The recency effect holds that the material presented last is more noticeable and persuasive than preceding materials. Learning Objective 7.4: To understand the effectiveness and limitations of prominent advertising appeals. Marketers have many options to choose from when selecting promotional appeals, but the ones most widely used are comparative advertising, humor, fear or sexual appeals, and well-timed ads. Comparative advertising is a very common marketing strategy in which a marketer claims product superiority for its brand over one or more explicitly named or implicitly identified competitors, either on an overall basis or on selected product attributes. Though some critics of the technique maintain that comparative ads often assist recall of the competitor’s brand at the expense of the advertised brand, the wide use of comparative advertising indicates that marketers are confident that comparative ads exert positive effects on brand attitudes, purchase intentions, and actual purchases. Fear is an effective appeal often used in marketing communications. Some researchers have found a negative relationship between the intensity of fear appeals and their ability to persuade, in that strong fear appeals tend to be less effective than mild fear appeals. Humor is the most widely used approach because many marketers believe that humor will increase the acceptance and persuasiveness of their advertising communications. Humor attracts attention, enhances liking of the product advertised, and also enhances consumer comprehension of the ads. Humor that is relevant to the product is more effective than humor unrelated to the product. Humor is more effective in ads of existing products than in ads of new products, and more effective in targeting consumers who already have a positive attitude toward the product. Punning is wordplay, often consisting of a humorous double meaning. Sexual appeals have attention-getting value, but studies show that they rarely encourage actual consumption behavior. Often, sexual advertising appeals detract from the message content and tend to interfere with message comprehension, particularly when there is substantial information to be processed. When using sex to promote a product, the advertiser must be sure that the product, the ad, the target audience, and the use of sexual themes and elements all work together. Timely appeals are exemplified by the many ads that appeared during and following the financial crisis of September 2008, which contained messages designed specifically for tough economic times. Learning Objective 7.5: To understand how to measure the effectiveness of advertising messages. Marketers measure their communications’ persuasion effects (whether the message was received, understood, and interpreted correctly) and their sales effects (whether the messages of a given campaign have generated the sales level defined in the campaign objectives). Advertisers also gauge the exposure and persuasion effects of their messages using data purchased from firms that monitor media audiences and conduct audience research to find out which media are read, which television programs are viewed, and which advertisements are remembered by their target audience(s). Physiological measures track bodily responses to stimuli. Attitudinal measures gauge consumers’ cognitive responses to messages, including their levels of engagement and involvement with the messages tested. Semantic differential and Likert scales are used in testing ad copy to assess whether respondents like the message, understand it correctly, and regard it as effective and persuasive. Researchers also use day-after recall tests, in which viewers of TV shows or listeners to radio broadcasts are interviewed a day after watching or listening to a given program and asked to describe the commercials they recall. CHAPTER OUTLINE INTRODUCTION 1. Communication is the transmission of a message from a sender to a receiver via a medium of transmission. 2. The five basic components of communications are: sender, receiver, medium, message and feedback. a) Senders encode their messages using words, pictures, symbols, spokespersons and persuasive appeals. b) Receivers decode the messages; to be persuasive, the messages must be decoded as the senders intended. c) Advertising appeals are the encoding used by marketers, and include humor, fear, sex, and comparative appeals. *****Use Key Learning Term communication Here; Use Figures #7.1, #7.2, #7.3, #7.4, and #7.5 Here***** The Communication Process 1. Communications can be either impersonal or interpersonal. a) The sources of impersonal communications are organizations that develop and transmit appropriate messages through their marketing departments, advertising or public relations agencies and spokespersons. b) The sources of interpersonal communications can be either formal or informal. i) A formal communications source represents either a for-profit or not-for-profit organization (e.g. a salesperson). ii) An informal source might be a parent or a friend who gives product information or advice. c) The key factor underlying the persuasive impact of messages is the source’s credibility (the extent to which the receiver trusts/believes the source sending the message. d) A key advantage of interpersonal communications is their ability to obtain immediate feedback. *****Use Key Learning terms impersonal communications, interpersonal communications, formal sources, informal sources Here; Use Learning Objective #7.1 Here***** 2. Media are the channels for transmitting communications. a) Traditional media are the original communications channels that advertisers have used and are generally classified as print and broadcast. b) New media are online channels, social networks and mobile electronic devices. *****Use Key Learning terms media, traditional media, new media Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #7.3 Here***** 3. Selective exposure refers to consumers’ selectivity in paying attention to advertising messages. a) Technology provides consumers with greater ability to control their exposure to media. b) Viewers can time shift by recording TV shows and may skip commercials when they watch them at their leisure. *****Use Key Learning terms selective exposure, time shift Here***** 4. Psychological noise includes competing advertising messages or distracting thoughts that can affect the reception of the promotional message. a) Strategies to overcome or limit psychological noise include: i) Repeated exposure to an advertising message (principle of redundancy) ii) Using contrast: featuring an unexpected outcome, increasing sensory input, identifying message appeals that attract more attention. iii) Customizing messages via monitoring on digital technologies b) Positioning and providing value are the most effective ways to ensure that a promotional message stands out and is received and decoded appropriately by the target audience. *****Use Key Learning terms psychological noise, positioning Here***** Broadcasting versus Narrowcasting 1. The term traditional media is synonymous with broadcast media (or mass media) and consists of channels where all receivers receive the same one-way messages from marketers (i.e., they cannot send direct responses to the message sources). 2. New media are channels of narrowcasting, defined as means that permit marketers to send messages that are: a) Addressable and directed to specific persons rather than groups of consumers. b) Customized, and based on data gathered from tracing consumers’ surfing and clicks online, in combination with other information, to either small groups or individual consumers. c) Interactive because, in most narrowcasts, an action by the consumer—in the form of a click on a link or banner—triggers the transmission of a message. d) More response-measurable than traditional broadcasted ads because communication feedback is more accurate and received sooner. 3. Addressable advertising consists of customized messages sent to particular consumers. a) These messages are based mostly on the consumers’ prior shopping behavior, which marketers have observed and analyzed. b) Some of this data comes from data aggregators that use data from users’ browsers, Google, Yahoo!, and Facebook to build models that marketers in turn use to design the different ads customers see, which are also a function of the viewers’ demographics and past advertising exposure. *****Use Key Learning terms traditional media, new media, narrowcasting, addressable advertising, data aggregators Here; Use Learning Objective #7.2 Here; Use Review and Discussion Questions #7.4 and #7.5***** Designing Persuasive Messages 1. The message (thought, idea, attitude, image, or other information that the sender wishes to convey to the intended audience) can be verbal, (spoken or written) or nonverbal (a photograph, an illustration, or a symbol), or a combination of the two. 2. The sponsor, who may be an individual or an organization, must first establish the objectives of the message, select an appropriate medium for sending it, and design (encode) the message in a manner that is appropriate to each medium and to each audience. a) The objectives of a persuasive message include creating awareness of a service, promoting sales of a product, encouraging (or discouraging) certain practices, attracting retail patronage, reducing post-purchase dissonance, creating goodwill or a favorable image, or any combination of these and other communications objectives. b) Marketers encode messages by using words, pictures, symbols, spokespersons, and special channels. c) The message receivers decode the messages they receive on the basis of their personal experiences, characteristics, and motives. d) Cognitive learning models suggest message exposure leads to interest, desire and buying behavior. *****Use Key Learning term message Here; Use Learning Objective #7.3 Here***** 3. Some of the decisions that marketers must make in designing the message include selecting images, creating ad copy, positive or negative message framing, one-sided or two-sided messages, and the order of presentation. a) Messages that depict images are often more effective that those with text only. Advertisements are visually complex when they contain dense perceptual features and/or when they have elaborate creative designs. i) A study found that feature complexity hurts attention to the brand and attitude toward the ad, whereas design complexity enhances paying attention to the ad, raises its comprehensibility, and improves attitude toward the ad ii) The study demonstrated that marketers must assess the visual complexity of advertisements and use their findings to enhance their ads’ “stopping power.” b) Message framing: whether a marketer should stress the benefits to be gained by using a specific product (positive message framing), or the benefits to be lost by not using the product (negative message framing) depends on the consumer’s attitudes and characteristics as well as the product itself. *****Use Key Terms positive and negative message framing Here; Use Figure 7.7 Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #7.6 Here; Use Hands-on Assignment #7.15 Here***** c) One-sided messages tell consumers only the good points (benefits). i) This is most effectively used if the audience is friendly, if it initially favors the communicator’s position, or if it is not likely to hear an opposing argument. ii) Two-sided messages tell consumers both good (benefits) and bad (disadvantages) points of the product. iii) These are most effectively used when the target audience is critical or unfriendly, if it is well educated, or if it is likely to hear opposing claims. *****Use Key Terms one-sided and two-sided messages Here; Use Hands-on Assignment #7.13 & #7.15 Here***** d) Order Effects—communications researchers have found that the order in which a message is presented affects audience receptivity. i) The television commercials shown first are recalled best, those in the middle the least. ii) Magazine publishers recognize the impact of order effects by charging more for ads on the front, back, and inside covers of magazines than for the inside magazine pages, because of their greater visibility and recall. iii) Order is also important in listing product benefits within an ad. iv) If audience interest is low, the most important point should be made first to attract attention (primacy effect). v) If interest is high, however, it is not necessary to pique curiosity, and so product benefits can be arranged in ascending order, with the most important point mentioned last (recency effect). e) When both favorable information and unfavorable information are to be presented (e.g., in an annual stockholders’ report), placing the favorable material first often produces greater tolerance for the unfavorable news. f) It also produces greater acceptance and better understanding of the total message. *****Use Key Terms order effects, recency effect, primacy effect Here***** Persuasive Advertising Appeals 1. Several factors influence ad persuasiveness/appropriateness of different promotional appeals. a) Informational appeals are more effective in high-consumer involvement situations; emotional appeals did better in low-involvement situations. b) Promotional appeal impact is greater for new brands than brand extensions. c) People with higher need for cognition (NFC) are less likely to consider peripheral cues. *****Use Key Terms consumer involvement, need for cognition (NFC) Here; Use Learning Objective 7.4 Here***** 2. Comparative advertising claims product superiority for its brand over one or more explicitly named or implicitly identified competitors, either on an overall basis or on selected product attributes. a) Comparative advertising is useful in exerting positive effects on brand attitudes, purchase intentions, and actual purchases. . b) A downside to comparative ads may be that they assist recall of the competitor’s brand at the expense of the advertised brand. c) Among more sophisticated consumers, comparative ads elicit higher levels of cognitive processing and better recall, and are likely to be perceived as more relevant than noncomparative ads. d) A study that tested the degree of negativity in comparative messages (by using positive, negative, and mildly negative comparative messages) for several products reported that negative elements in an ad contributed to its effectiveness as long as they were believable or were offset by some elements that made the ad appear neutral. e) Another study uncovered gender differences in response to comparative ads; comparative ads generated greater levels of brand-evaluation involvement among men but not among women. Among women, attention-getting comparative appeals produced inferences regarding the ads’ manipulative intentions and reduced purchase likelihood. f) Yet another study found that “promotion-focused” consumers (i.e., those focused on the aspirational aspects and the likely positive consequences of a purchase) reacted to comparative messages differently than “prevention-focused” consumers (i.e., those focused on the presence or absence of negative outcomes such as safety). In comparative ads, negative framing led prevention-focused consumers to evaluate the advertised brand positively and the other brand negatively. Among promotion-focused consumers, positive framing led to positive evaluation of the advertised brand but did not affect evaluations of the comparison brand. g) The law requires companies to produce “reasonable factual evidence” in support of comparative claims, deciding what constitutes such evidence is difficult. *****Use Key Term comparative advertising Here; Use Figure 7.10 Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #7.7 Here ***** 3. Fear appeals are often used in marketing communications. a) Some researchers have found a negative relationship between the intensity of fear appeals and their ability to persuade, so strong fear appeals tend to be less effective than mild fear appeals. b) Issue familiarity affects the persuasiveness of fear appeals. c) Fear appeals are unlikely to be effective among persons who score high on the personality variable termed sensation seeking. d) Males and females may have different responses to fear appeals. e) Several studies showed that adding disgust to a fear appeal enhanced message persuasion and compliance beyond that of appeals that elicited only fear. f) Marketers should follow several guidelines: i) Understand the audience’s reaction to a fear appeal and its previous experiences. ii) Beware the boomerang effect. iii) Realize changing behavior is a long and complex process. iv) Study the extent to which the fear appeal encourages people to take action without arousing too much anxiety, which may cause message rejection/avoidance. v) Determine whether to use a rational or emotional fear appeal. vi) Plan to repeat advertising using fear appeals over the long term, but recognize repetition may damage credibility. vii) Accept that some addicts may not respond to fear appeals. viii) Consider alternatives to fear appeals. *****Use Key Term sensation seeking Here; Use Figure #7.11 Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #7.9 Here ***** 4. A significant portion of ads use humor because marketers believe it increases the acceptance and persuasiveness of the communication a) Humor is the most widely used of all advertising appeals; by some estimates, it is used in 80 percent of all ads. b) Humor attracts attention and enhances liking of the product advertised. c) Humor does not harm the comprehension of ads, and, in some cases, it actually aids comprehension. d) Humor does not always increase an ad’s persuasive impact or a source’s credibility, and might actually distract from cognitive processing of the central benefits of the brand. e) Humor that is relevant to the product is more effective than humor unrelated to the product. f) Humor is more effective in ads for existing products than in ads for new products, and more effective in targeting consumers who already have a positive attitude toward the product. g) Using humor is more appropriate for advertising low-involvement than high-involvement products. h) The effects of humorous ads vary by the audience demographics. i) The impact of humor is related to the receiver’s personality. For example, higher sensation seekers were found to be more receptive to humorous appeals than lower sensation seekers j) A study developed a measure of a personality trait, named need for humor that is focused on a person’s tendency to enjoy, engage, or seek out amusement and suggested that these cognitive factors can better explain how consumers respond to humorous advertisements. k) Another study discovered that ad recall was damaged when the humor was expected, and this adverse effect was more pronounced in individuals with low need for humor. *****Use Key Term need for humor Here; Use Figure #7.12 Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #7.8 Here***** 5. Punning is wordplay, often consisting of a humorous “double meaning.” a) The Start Ad Readership Studies suggest consumers are more likely to read ads that employ puns than those that do not. b) Punning can be used in imagery 6. Sexual appeals have attention-getting value, but studies show that they rarely encourage actual consumption behavior and are only effective with sex-related products. a) Often, sexual advertising appeals detract consumers from the message content and tend to interfere with message comprehension, particularly when there is substantial information to be processed. b) Nudity may negatively affect the product message. c) Receptivity to sexual appeals varies among consumers. i) “Sexual self-schema,” which is one’s cognitive view of the self with regard to sexuality, originates in persons’ past experiences and influences their reactions to sex-related promotional themes. ii) Sensation seeking, which is the pursuit of novel and exciting sensations and experiences, may increase favorable responses to nudity in advertising. iii) Extroverted people may be more receptive to sexual appeals and that such appeals should not be used in targeting consumers who are quiet, shy, and reserved. ***** Use Review and Discussion Question #7.10; Use Hands-on Assignment #7.14 Here***** 7. Timeliness appeals: During and following the financial crisis of September 2008, many marketers came up with advertising appeals designed specifically for tough economic times. Measures of Message Effectiveness 1. Communication feedback is an essential component of both interpersonal and impersonal communications because it enables the sender to reinforce or change the message to ensure that it is understood in the intended way. 2. An important advantage of interpersonal communications is the ability to obtain immediate feedback through verbal as well as nonverbal cues. a) Because of the high cost of space and time in mass media, it has always been very important for sponsors of impersonal communications to obtain feedback as promptly as possible, so that they could revise a message if its meaning is not being received as intended or if the messages did not reach the intended audience. 3. In evaluating the impact of their advertising messages, marketers must measure media exposure effects (i.e., how many consumers were exposed to the message?), the persuasion effects (i.e., was the message received, understood, and interpreted correctly?), and the sales effects (i.e., did the ad increase sales?) of their advertising messages. *****Use Key Terms exposure effects, persuasion effects, & sales effects Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #7.1& #7.2 Here; Use Learning Objective 7.5 Here ***** a) Advertisers gauge the exposure and persuasion effects of their messages by buying data from firms monitoring media audiences and conducting audience research to find out which media are read, which television programs are viewed, and which advertisements were remembered by their target audience(s). b) Physiological measures track bodily responses to stimuli. c) Attitudinal measures gauge consumers’ cognitive responses to messages i) Researchers measure levels of engagement and involvement with messages tested. ii) Marketers use semantic differential scales and Likert scales to test ads and find out whether they were liked and understood. d) Researchers use recall and recognition tests and day-after recall tests in which viewers of TV shows or listeners to radio broadcasts are interviewed a day after watching or listening to a given program *****Use Key Terms physiological measures, attitudinal measures, day-after recall tests Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #7.11 and #7.12 Here ***** Instructor Manual for Consumer Behaviour Leon G. Schiffman, Leslie Lozor Konuk, S. Ramesh Kumar 9789332555099, 9780134734828
