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While accent effects have been studied in Western advertising contexts, there are contradictory findings on accent effects, and the moderating role of country‐of‐origin (COO), in other contexts. Few studies extended such accent effects to non‐English‐speaking cultural settings, particularly in emerging countries. This article fills this knowledge gap by examining accent and language effects on consumers' perceived effectiveness of a spokesperson in Chinese advertising contexts. We explore how Chinese consumers evaluate spokespersons with standard and non‐standard accents, whether these accents are associated with belongingness, sophistication, and modernity, and whether COO moderates such accent and language effects on the perceived effectiveness of spokespersons. Across three studies, the findings demonstrate that compared with a spokesperson with a non‐standard accent (i.e., English‐accented Mandarin), spokespersons with standard accents (i.e., standard Mandarin and standard English) are perceived to be more effective. Furthermore, Chinese consumers associate standard Mandarin with belongingness, and standard English with sophistication and modernity, whereas English‐accented Mandarin has the lowest degree of these associations among the three accents. Although the moderating effect of COO is observed in Study 3, standard English is preferred for both advertised domestic and foreign products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More and more companies are using virtual endorsers (VEs) for digital marketing and promotion. However, it is unclear whether there is a country-of-origin (COO) effect for VEs. Based on theories related to congruent explanations and four experiments (n = 550 in total), this study found that, first, consumers' willingness to pay for products endorsed by VEs from a different COO does not differ significantly when the COO of the product is not considered. Second, when the COO of both the VE and the product is considered, people's willingness to pay increases significantly when the two COOs are consistent; when they are inconsistent, the effect of domestic VE endorsing foreign products is greater than that of foreign VE endorsing domestic products. Third, the effect of VE–product COO consistency on consumers' willingness to pay is significantly weaker when a less human-like VE is adopted. Finally, the effect of VE–product COO consistency on consumer willingness to pay is mediated first through the parallel mediation of perceived VE image and product value, and then through the sequential mediation of product attitude. This study has important theoretical and practical implications for companies as they design VEs, grasp target markets and develop individualised marketing promotion strategies. • Dual cues of country-of-origin (COO) have a more significant impact on payment intention than a single cue. • People prefer to buy foreign goods endorsed by local virtual endorsers (VEs) than local goods endorsed by foreign VEs. • The degree of anthropomorphism has an impact on the COO effect of VEs. • There are parallel and sequential mediators in the VE–product COO consistency path on payment intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers in Western markets are often called against foreign‐made products and their country‐of‐origin (COO), particularly against controversial COOs and products. As a result, Asian emerging countries and their manufacturing industries (e.g., apparel, toys, or chemicals) have become major targets of anti‐consumption in the West, with criticism rooted in political‐economic, social, and/or environmental issues. In addition, Western consumers' ethnocentric tendencies are often reinforced by campaigning for domestic product/service alternatives. This backdrop raises questions about the degree of consumers' macro COO knowledge and ethnocentrism, and of their importance as levers of consumer concern about (i.e., risk perceptions) and anti‐consumption of foreign products from a controversial COO. This article thus sheds light on the extent to which COO knowledge (whether macro or based on usage experience), along with consumer ethnocentrism, can be considered antecedents of two risk perception types and, in turn, of country‐driven anti‐consumption (CDAC)—in the context of this work, Spanish consumers' reluctance to buy and (non‐)ownership of Chinese apparel products. The findings reveal that consumer ethnocentrism heightens both psycho‐social and performance risk perceptions and contributes to reluctance to buy. Macro COO knowledge affects CDAC only indirectly through performance risk perceptions. By contrast, usage experience attenuates both performance and psycho‐social risk perceptions and directly affects foreign product ownership. Risk perceptions predict and mediate most of the effects of COO knowledge, consumer ethnocentrism, and usage experience on CDAC outcomes. Implications for research, policy, and practice are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Country Branding -a relatively new type of marketing and public diplomacy- is a developing field and a tool that governments use to promote their goods and services and to enhance awareness about their country, promote tourism, increase trade and attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and talent. A Country Brand is more than a sum of its products. The purpose of this literature review is to investigate the key components of international and intercultural transactions and to focus on how these influence the Nation Brand. In the global marketplace, where products and services from different countries are competing for market share, it is important to understand how a product’s place of origin contributes its overall image, and how consumers relate to the foreign product. By identifying the consumer it is possible to gain an understanding of the cultural influences that determine the consumers’ relation to the product, service, or Nation Brand. Likewise, this paper relates previous studies in the fields of country-of-origin (COO) and consumer studies as influential factors the evolution of Country Branding. By gaining a clear idea of the relationship between these three fields –COO, consumer and Country Branding-, scholars and professionals can assess the influence that a product’s country-of-origin has on its audience, and create country brands that effectively define the product and reach target consumers.

Country Branding -a relatively new type of marketing and public diplomacy- is a developing field and a tool that governments use to promote their goods and services and to enhance awareness about their country, promote tourism, increase trade and attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and talent. A Country Brand is more than a sum of its products. The purpose of this literature review is to investigate the key components of international and intercultural transactions and to focus on how these influence the Nation Brand. In the global marketplace, where products and services from different countries are competing for market share, it is important to understand how a product's place of origin contributes its overall image, and how consumers relate to the foreign product. By identifying the consumer it is possible to gain an understanding of the cultural influences that determine the consumers' relation to the product, service, or Nation Brand. Likewise, this paper relates previous studies in the fields of country-of-origin (COO) and consumer studies as influential factors the evolution of Country Branding. By gaining a clear idea of the relationship between these three fields -COO, consumer and Country Branding-, scholars and professionals can assess the influence that a product's country-of-origin has on its audience, and create country brands that effectively define the product and reach target consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the research was to determine consumer perceptions of meat products regarding their origin and the potential impact of their origin on the sensory evaluation of other meat properties. Data were collected during the experiment. By testing the correlation model with multiple analyses of variance for repeated measures, it was determined that there was a statistically significant correlation between the factors. The important contribution of the research is the surveyed issue and the approach to researching the impact of product origin on scientific field of marketing and field of consumer behavior. The research represents a deeper investigation of impact of country-of-origin (COO) on consumer perceptions. An integrated approach to the research of the impact of meat origin was chosen to form interlinks between meat origin and its other sensorical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Country-of-Origin (COO) information has been used as an advertising appeal. Although it has been confirmed to influence advertising effectiveness, previous research in advertising has not fully taken different COO facets into consideration. This study proposes that two COO facets (Country-of-Assembly (COA) and Country-of-Design (COD)) in advertisements are processed distinctively by consumers. Specifically, COA is processed cognitively, while COD is processed affectively. This study tested the interplay between COO facets and country stereotypes (functional and emotional) on advertising effectiveness. The results present a matchup effect between COO facets and country stereotypes. The results presented a matchup effect, such that participants express more favorable attitude towards the advertisement when they saw COA with a functional country or COD with an emotional country. Product types (utilitarian vs. hedonic) do not influence such a matchup effect. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings as well as future research directions are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this study is to examine the influences of multiple extrinsic cues (ingredient brand, price, country-of-origin (COO)) on perceived quality, perceived risk and purchase intent of PLB. Mass merchandisers were selected as the research industry. A field survey, two consumers' focus groups and a pre-test were conducted to select two product categories(personal computer and cotton underwear) and the relevant extrinsic cues for main study. A 2 (ingredient brand) *2 (price) * 2 (COO) between-subject experimental design was conducted to collect information of 360 systematically sampled consumers from six randomly sampled mass merchandiser stores in Taipei area. There are eight kinds of questionnaire, 45 copies each, each copy including two categories of products. The results are as follows: For cotton underwear, consumers' perceived quality of PLB with an ingredient of national brand is superior to PLB without adopting the strategy of ingredient branding. Private label brands from better image of COO have better perceived quality and lower perceived risk than those from worse image of COO. Perceived quality of PLB has positive impact on its purchase intent. As for personal computer, PLB from better image of COO have better perceived quality than those from worse image of COO. Perceived quality of PLB has positive influence on its purchase intent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of the country-of-origin (COO) upon consumer perceptions and purchase intentions remain of interest to marketing researchers. Our paper analyses the perception of the COO and of brands, and their influence on consumer perception and purchasing intention. A cross-national sample was set up in order to obtain a more complex understanding of how the COO concept operates in various countries across different product categories (convenience products, shopping goods and specialty/luxury products).Journal of Brand Management (2009) 16, 323–337. doi:10.1057/bm.2008.52 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify selected predictors of country-of-origin (COO) information placed on food packaging. The dependent variable was operationalized in two ways: (1) as a Likert-style question about COO importance in general, and (2) as an indication of COO as the most important food attribute at first purchase, which I called top-of-mind COO importance. The survey was conducted with the use of the internet panel of a research agency in a representative sample of 1051 Polish consumers. In bivariate analyses, I identified the characteristics of consumer segments attaching high importance to each type of COO information. In a multivariate log-normal regression, general COO importance was affected to the largest extent by the product originating from Poland, which confirmed the strong relation between COO importance and consumer ethnocentrism. In multivariate logit regressions, top-of-mind COO importance depended also on the Polish origin of the product to the largest extent. The remaining predictors were sex (men were over 1.5 times more likely to indicate COO as the most important attribute) and age (each year of life contributing to a 2% increase in the likelihood of indicating top-of-mind COO). A theoretical implication is to differentiate between general and top-of-mind COO measures, as different results were obtained depending on whether the COO effect was measured as a response to questions such as "How important is the product COO for you?" or "What is the most important product attribute for you?—COO" Not only were the answer patterns different, but their determinants also varied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]