Abstract
Brand image is supposed to influence consumers’ product evaluations. The goal of this study was to enlighten this phenomenon. A total of 220 participants rated fictitious but realistic articles from newspapers that have different images: Blick, a popular tabloid newspaper and NZZ, a traditional quality newspaper. Articles were created that appeared as if they were copied from Blick or NZZ but, in fact, both contained the same text. The main hypothesis that product ratings would differ as a result of the manipulation of image was confirmed. Participants evaluated the fictitious articles completely differently. As expected, product ratings were in line with the related brand images. Also, more salient stimuli elicited stronger image effects. The effect persisted at general as well as detailed product-rating levels. Next to product ratings, image effects also influenced participants’ consumption experiences. Involvement, knowledge, and usage did not moderate the image effect.
References
1991). Managing brand equity: Capitalizing on the value of a brand name. New York: Free Press.
(1964). Influence of beer brand identification on taste perception. Journal of Marketing Research, 1, 36–39.
(2006). The evolution of brand choice. The Journal of Brand Management, 13, 339–352.
(2007). The predictive validity of multiple-item versus single-item measures of the same constructs. Journal of Marketing Research, 44, 175–184.
(2004). Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A field experiment on labor market discrimination. The American Economic Review, 94, 991–1013.
(2006). Rental discrimination and ethnicity in names. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36, 934–952.
(1989). Heuristic and systematic information processing within and beyond the persuasion context. In , Unintended thought (pp. 212–252). New York: Guilford.
(1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2005). Advertising and the image of politicians in evolving and established democracies: Comparative study of the Polish and the US presidential elections in 2000. Journal of Political Marketing, 4(2/3), 29–54.
(2003). You are what they eat: The influence of reference groups on consumers’ connections to brands. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13, 339–348.
(2005). Self-construal, reference groups, and brand meaning. Journal of Consumer Research, 32, 378–389.
(2003). Das Image von Produkten, Marken und Unternehmen
([The image of products, brands, and companies] . Sternenfels: Wissenschaft & Praxis.1999). Imagetransfer im Sponsoring: Entwicklung eines Erklärungsmodells
([Image transfer in sponsoring: Development of an explanatory model] . Frankfurt a. M.: Lang.2005). Destination brand images: A business tourism perspective. Journal of Services Marketing, 19, 24–32.
(2006). Destination image and destination personality: An application of branding theories to tourism places. Journal of Business Research, 59, 638–642.
(1951). The influence of source credibility on communication effectiveness. Public Opinion Quarterly, 15, 635–650.
(1953). Communication and persuasion: Psychological studies of opinion change. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
(2005). The placebo effect in marketing: Sometimes you just have to want it to work. Journal of Marketing Research, 42, 406–409.
(2000). Social cognition: Thinking categorically about others. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 93–120.
(1994). Stereotypes as energy-saving devices: A peek inside the cognitive toolbox. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 37–47.
(1994). Out of mind but back in sight: Stereotypes on the rebound. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 808–817.
(1994). Country of origin as a stereotype: Effects of consumer expertise and attribute strength on product evaluations. Journal of Consumer Research, 21, 354–365.
(2007). Corporate brand image, satisfaction, and store loyalty: A study of the store as a brand, store brands, and manufacturer brands. International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 35, 544–555.
(1981). Effects of brand labeling on ratings of product quality. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 53, 407–410.
(2008). Persuasion: From single to multiple to meta-cognitive processes. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 137–147.
(1986). The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. In , Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 19, pp. 123–205). New York: Academic Press.
(1998). Novizen- und Expertenwissen
([Lay and expert knowledge] . In , Wissen. Enzyklopädie der Psychologie, Serie II: Kognition, Themenbereich C: Theorie und Forschung (pp. 336–367). Göttingen: Hogrefe.1973). Natural categories. Cognitive Psychology, 4, 328–350.
(1978). Principles of categorization. In , Cognition and categorization (pp. 27–48). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2002). The C-OAR-SE procedure for scale development in marketing. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 19, 305–335.
(2005). Placebo effects of marketing actions: Consumers may get what they pay for. Journal of Marketing Research, 42, 383–393.
(1985). Using self-congruity and ideal congruity to predict purchase motivation. Journal of Business Research, 13, 195–206.
(1986). Self-congruity: Toward a theory of personality and cybernetics. New York: Praeger.
(1997). Assessing the predictive validity of two methods of measuring self-image congruence. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 25, 229–241.
(2004). Konsumentenverhalten (6. Aufl.)
([Consumer behavior (6th ed.)] . Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.1999). A review and meta-analysis of country-of-origin research. Journal of Economic Psychology, 20, 521–546.
(2000). How soy labeling influences preference and taste. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, 3, 85–94.
(1972). A general model for understanding organizational buying behavior. Journal of Marketing, 36, 12–19.
(1994). Ironic processes of mental control. Psychological Review, 101, 34–52.
(2002). The role of image-makers in the Greek political scene. Journal of Political Marketing, 1, 67–89.
(