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This research examines the influence of involvement, need for cognition (NFC), and gender on consumer response toward sexual and nonsexual appeals. The results show that sexual appeals lead to better memory and superior attitudes and purchase intent among low-involvement consumers, whereas high-involvement consumers process both sexual and nonsexual ads more thoroughly and exhibit superior attitudes and purchase intent toward nonsexual appeals. Similarly, low-NFC consumers favor sexual appeals, whereas high-NFC consumers favor nonsexual appeals. With respect to gender, women respond favorably to sexual appeals when there is a strong fit between the ad and brand, but not when the fit is weak. In contrast, men respond favorably to sexual appeals irrespective of the level of fit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares effectiveness of comparative and noncomparative advertising for products characterized by different levels of cognitive and affective involvement. Comparative advertisements induce more positive brand attitudes for products which elicit cognitive and affective motivations simultaneously. This happens because brand comparisons facilitate an attribute-based processing style which might otherwise succumb to the competing affective involvement. Noncomparative attribute-based ads yield more favorable attitudes toward the ad when affective involvement is high than when it is low. Comparative ads are also shown to positively influence brand switchers and have a negative impact on consumers loyal to competing brands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two experiments examined the influence of mood and elaboration on consumer processing and evaluation of goal-framed appeals. Subjects displayed more favorable attitudes and purchase intent (PI) when exposed to negative goal frames than equivalent positive ones. These effects were attenuated under high-elaboration conditions. Compared to subjects in positive moods, those in negative moods exhibited more favorable thoughts, attitudes, and PI toward negative goal frames. Finally, mood and frame valence did not affect depth of processing but had a consistent impact on style of processing, that is, positive frames and moods induced relational processing whereas negative frames and moods engendered item-specific processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Counterfeit products and the brand pirates who make, distribute, and sell them continue to be a challenge for many marketers around the globe. Estimates of global sales for bogus products are in the hundreds of billions of dollars and recent evidence suggests that fakes are prevalent in both developed and developing countries. We investigate brand/product counterfeiting from a consumer search perspective. As the quality of counterfeits improves, it is becoming more difficult for the consumer to identify them. Interviews with 102 international informants yield a picture of the cues consumers use to detect counterfeits and the roles of face and taste in decisions to purchase or not to purchase fake goods. We conclude with a discussion of some managerial implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on evidence presented for the Need for Cognition Scale in its original and abbreviated versions, users of the instrument assume its unidimensionality. In three exploratory studies, maximum-likelihood factor analysis reveals the presence of multiple dimensions in both forms of the scale. Four dimensions—enjoyment of cognitive stimulation, preference for complexity, commitment of cognitive effort, and desire for understanding —emerged with some consistency across samples and were found to be fairly resistant to changes in the polarity of scale items and to explain differentially consumer response to advertisements. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research takes a cross-cultural view of the variables influencing dining consumers' perception of the attractiveness of a neighboring country as a venue for dining, and satisfaction with the cross-border dining experience. Specifically, it studies consumers' attractiveness perceptions of neighboring country restaurants as a venue for dining and satisfaction, with the cross-border dining experience as a function of three key individual-difference variables associated with Western and Asian consumers. In a survey of 636 cross-border diners at United States/Canada and Hong Kong/China borders, perceptions of attractiveness and satisfaction were found to vary as a function of variables associated with the cultural attributes of individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and time perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]