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This work identifies the differences in the relevance of online endorsers' physical attractiveness and expertise depending on whether an endorsed product is related to attractiveness. It provides a new perspective regarding the source-credibility model and explores unprecedented relationships. To date, many studies investigating online endorsers have focused on attractiveness-related products, but online endorsers are also employed for attractiveness-unrelated products. Practitioners therefore need to know which requirements are relevant to attractiveness-unrelated products. However, no existing study has compared online endorsers of attractiveness-related or attractiveness-unrelated products. Our investigation is based on an empirical experiment including 576 participants, analyzed with structural equation modeling. The subsamples are compared by multigroup analysis, resulting in counterintuitive results. Both online endorsers and practitioners can greatly benefit from our findings. Our findings indicate that attractiveness is a relevant requirement for both types of products, although attractiveness has a stronger impact on brand-related variables of attractiveness-related products. Male attractiveness is also more relevant than female attractiveness regarding attractiveness-related products. Concerning expertise, we find no differences between the two types of products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper examines in detail how the use of storytelling with parallax technology can influence the user experience (UX) in online shops as well as brand- and behavior-relevant variables. Furthermore, this study analyzes the causal relationships between UX, brand attitudes and brand-related behavioral intentions in terms of purchase intention and price premiums. Explicit and implicit paths of human information processing are considered. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 266 respondents completed a web-based experiment under two conditions (text-based vs parallax storytelling online shop). An existing and operational online shop was used. The causal relationships were assessed by using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). To measure implicit information processing, a single category implicit association test was applied. Findings: By applying the storytelling technique with parallax scrolling, the online shop increased visitors' UX on explicit and implicit information processing levels and increased the online shop's overall perceived attractiveness. Storytelling with parallax motion enables an efficient transmission of brand-related associations to consumers' minds, enhances their explicit and implicit brand attitudes and increases their willingness to pay a higher price. Moreover, this study provides empirical evidence on the effects of UX on brand-related measures by applying PLS-SEM and thus reveals a causal chain of effects from UX on online shop attractiveness, brand attitude and behavioral intentions. Again, explicit and implicit perceptions were considered. Originality/value: Science and practice are increasingly emphasizing that storytelling emotionalizes content, which facilitates effective communication and builds strong relationships with customers. Little evidence exists about its efficient implementation in an online shopping context and in fulfilling hedonic and pragmatic needs throughout the online journey. This study provides novel insights into managing online shoppers' UX, brand-related perceptions and behavioral intentions with the optimal use of techniques to implement storytelling. Furthermore, this is one of the first studies to holistically consider the human perception of online shops by drawing on theories and methods of psychology, marketing, consumer behavior, brand research and consumer neuroscience and considering explicit and implicit information processing in terms of hedonic and pragmatic UX and brand-related measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the researchers investigate the issue of social influencers as endorsers of healthy nutrition. This issue is highly underexplored and involves two aspects that might pose a special challenge: (1) overshadowing and (2) consumers' lack of involvement in healthy nutrition. Based on an experiment that included 289 valid observations, the researchers tested two influencer archetypes, namely, an attractive influencer and a sporty influencer. The data were analyzed with structural equation modeling in SmartPLS. For the attractive influencer, the researchers found a small overshadowing effect. The sporty influencer did not elicit any overshadowing. Furthermore, the sporty influencer appeared to have more favorable effects on highly involved consumers. The opposite was true for low-involved consumers: the attractive influencer had a stronger impact. Based on these surprising results, the researchers propose implications for theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of the authors of this paper is to observe the German Government's rhetorical communication measurements during the 2008 financial crisis. Design/methodology/approach - The authors compiled approaches of organizational rhetoric and pragma-linguistics first to offer a consistent concept and method for observation and analysis. Later on, they give an overview of the problem of trust and confidence according to Luhmann's approach and its meaning for crisis rhetoric and marketing and managing approaches. Findings - In the following case study, the authors offer a rhetorical text analysis, combined with a pragmatic perspective of accompanying legal measurements of the government as non-verbal communication. The authors show how the government re-established trust among German consumers and eventually overcame the crisis mainly by rhetorical action. Research limitations/implications - Regarding future crises, the authors suggest that the interaction of trust, financial markets and rhetorical approaches could be better understood. This could include both more quantitative research and qualitative rhetorical approaches. Practical implications - Practical implications clearly show the importance of rhetorical education, especially for crises. This counts for governmental managers, as well as entrepreneurs and spokesmen. Social implications - The authors also revealed the problem of unjustified trust which can become dangerous for social welfare, even if it is only produced by misleading communication. This problem can only be solved by a careful public regulation. Originality/value - Finally, the authors could describe the importance of effective language and communication as a tool for the German Government in the financial crisis in 2008. It can be also described as an example for decision-makers in similar situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Development of a new conception of consumer acceptance of food innovations. • Several antecedent factors of innovation-related perception were identified. • PSL-SEM was used for the empirical tests of the developed model. • Relative advantage, naturalness, and trust affect innovation-related perception. • Value, risk, & innovation-related perception are drivers of consumer acceptance. Innovations are an important part of the further advancement of societies in general as well as of companies in particular. Individuals can benefit from the advantages of innovations, while companies can maintain or increase their market share and profitability. However, especially in the food sector, scientific or technological innovations often encounter mistrust and rejecting reactions from consumers, resulting in decreasing acceptance of those innovations. Therefore, this paper aims to gain a deeper comprehension of consumer acceptance of innovative food products as well as to identify antecedent factors of innovation-related perception. For the empirical investigation of our conceptualized model, an online survey was conducted in Germany (n = 617) and the collected data were analyzed through structural equation modeling. The results confirmed a high predictive power of the multi-dimensional model of consumer acceptance. Our first major finding indicates that relative advantage, naturalness, novelty, and discomfort are the most important driving factors of the innovation-related perception of food products. Further important findings show that innovation-related perception has a strong positive and highly significant impact on customer perceived value, respectively a strong negative and highly significant impact on the customer perceived risk. In summary, innovation-related perception, customer perceived value, as well as customer perceived risk, are all important variables related to the acceptance of an innovative food product. The food sector can benefit from the insights provided by this study to communicate and market their products accordingly to the results to reduce mistrust and increase acceptance of food innovations on the consumer side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of event-related sports sponsorship and ambushing activity using social media video advertising that aim to affect spectators' implicit and explicit brand information processing. Design/methodology/approach - A dual model of brand knowledge is used that considers the implicit and explicit information processing of marketing-induced brand messages. A web study was conducted prior to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Each participant implicitly and explicitly evaluated either one sponsor brand or one ambush brand before and after watching the video advertisement (within-subject design). A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to evaluate each change of the pre-post testing scores. Findings - Implicit and explicit brand associations as well as brand behavior were partially affected by the short contact with the advertisements of sponsor brands and ambush brands. In this regard, the implicit association measurements were more sensitive to reveal changes in the brand knowledge structure than their explicit counterparts. Furthermore, sponsorship advertising was slightly more effective than ambush advertising. Originality/value - The current exploratory study evaluated for the first time the performance of event-related video advertisements that were originally released on social media of sponsor brands and ambush brands. The findings emphasize the necessary requirement of evaluating the implicit processing in addition to the explicit processing of sponsorship information to ensure a holistic evaluation of consumers' memory with regard to the effectiveness of a sponsorship activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the concept of sustainability-rooted anticonsumption ( SRAC), which refers to consumers' anticonsumption practices of voluntary simplicity in living and, on a smaller level, collaborative consumption and boycotting with the goal of supporting sustainable economic development. The SRAC measurement approach is validated based on three empirical studies. Results of a representative German sample (Study 2) reveal that SRAC is predominantly negatively linked to consumer overconsumption dispositions. Exemplary, voluntary simplification and boycott intention may result in declining levels of indebtedness. Study 3 shows that psychosocial well-being is positively related to SRAC and overconsumption. However, a simplified lifestyle and a greater willingness to boycott are not necessarily associated with psychosocial well-being. This article provides insights for practitioners and policymakers to leverage existing SRAC values via 'new' business models (sharing offers) or to influence the existing level of consciousness to effectively pave the way for solid progress in the sustainability movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of brands rely on ecolabelling as associative branding strategy for communicating their sustainability performance. Specifically, associative branding aims to link a brand to an ecolabel to embed sustainability into brand knowledge to provide an added value for consumers. In this regard, the present study applies a combined measurement approach that examines both implicit and explicit information processing to assess consumers’ brand associations related to sustainability. Specifically, a pre/post-testing is conducted to evaluate the framing effect of ecolabel exposure in a brand advertisement on the enhancement of brand knowledge. The results of the current study provide evidence that in particular implicit brand sustainability is a favorable brand association that positively affects consumers’ decision-making and preferences. Furthermore, the results reveal a relevant framing effect of ecolabelling on the enhancement of brand knowledge, on both implicit and explicit levels. In addition, the study results indicate the existence of three efficacy parameters that influence brand knowledge transfer: adequate ecolabel-brand fit, early ecolabel recognition time, and distinct implicit-explicit knowledge acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]