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This research shows that spatial distance between visual representations of a product and consumers may enhance or devalue consumers’ perceptions of the brand depending on the brand image (prestigious vs. popular). The authors suggest that spatial distance signals prestige when status and luxury are relevant to the brand image, and decreased distance signals social closeness when popularity and broad appeal are relevant to the brand image. The authors show that for prestigious brands whose brand image is associated with status and luxury, consumers’ attitude toward the product becomes more favorable and their willingness to pay a premium for the product grows as the distance between the visual representations of the product and the consumer increases. In contrast, for popular brands whose brand image is associated with broad appeal and social connectedness, the closer the distance, the more favorable is consumers’ attitude and the higher their willingness to pay a premium. The findings provide useful guidelines to marketers on the use of visual cues in advertising and product displays.

This article examines how the horizontal distance between two images—a product and a model—in conjunction with the focus of the ad appeal (desirability vs. feasibility) impacts the consumer’s product evaluation. The findings indicate that the desirability (feasibility) appeal leads to more favorable product evaluations when the ad presents a spatially distal (proximal) product-model distance. This outcome occurs because the correct match between the product-model distance and the ad appeal enhances processing fluency, thus leading to more positive product evaluations. The findings offer practical insights and actionable strategies to practitioners.

This study focuses on anthropomorphized spokescharacters, classifying them into cute or mature looks. The authors performed three studies to investigate how these two types of anthropomorphized spokescharacters affect consumer perceptions and judgments. Studies 1 and 2 examined advertising language (assertive versus nonassertive) and relationship norm (communal versus exchange) as boundary conditions. Study 3 shows how consumer persuasion knowledge (i.e., suspicions about a company’s intention to persuade) affects the downstream impact of the cute character, especially under the communal norm. The results provide marketers with insights and cautions regarding how to choose between a cute or a mature anthropomorphized spokescharacter.

The authors propose that decisions regarding the duration of cause-related marketing campaigns should depend on the combination of cause type and product type. Results from three studies show that a long duration works when a utilitarian product is paired with a primary cause, such as life necessities, or a hedonic product with a secondary cause, such as quality of life. A short duration is advantageous for a hedonic product paired with a primary cause. Consumers favored these combinations because they attributed positive motives to the company for launching cause-related marketing campaigns. Companies can maximize the success of their cause-related marketing by choosing the duration that best suits their product–cause bundle.

Cause-related marketing (CM) is the creation of a mutually beneficial relationship between a company and a nonprofit organization, with the dual objectives of boosting profit for the company and promoting the cause of the nonprofit. The present research demonstrates that mere exposure to CM evokes in consumers a desire to be prosocial and reduces the likelihood of self-indulgent choices. However, the act of purchasing CM products may provide consumers with a “warm glow” feeling from being prosocial. This feeling of a warm glow licenses subsequent self-indulgent behaviors, especially when the product with a cause is hedonic (vs. utilitarian) in nature. We further find that when the warm glow feeling is misattributed to something else (e.g., weather), the licensing effect is reduced. By distinguishing between the pre- and post-purchase effects of cause-related products, this research offers practical insights to managers on how to design and execute CM strategies.

Drawing on the conceptual metaphor theory, researchers have discovered that the location of product image (Chae et al. 2013; Elder and Krishna 2012) or in packaging design (Sundar and Noseworthy 2014) matters in influencing product attitudes. The metaphor of “distance is worth” is theorized from the perspective of cognitive linguistics and further developed based on the sense of power and prestige evoked by the distance.

Cause-related marketing (CRM) is a common form of activity, which involves a company’s promise to donate a certain amount of money to a nonprofit organization or a social cause when customers purchase their products/services (Varadarajan and Menon 1988). Researchers have suggested that a CRM campaign that promotes a cause for a longer period of time increases spending on a product or service (Brink et al. 2006; Drumwright 1996; Varadarajan and Menon 1988; Webb and Mohr 1998). However, evidence from practice and research appears to be inconsistent that some companies are found to support causes over a short period of time.