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This study tested the matchup hypothesis regarding choice of celebrity spokesperson by examining the fit or congruence between image type and the product advertised from an Identification and Internalization viewpoint (Kelman, 1961). Spokesperson type (celebrity versus noncelebrity) was varied, aong with congruence between spokesperson image and product (higher versus lower congruence) in a 2x2 factorial design. Results showed that increased congruence for the spokesperson/product combination resulted in the perception of higher believability and attractiveness of the spokesperson and a more favorable product attitude. The implications of these and other findings for advertising and marketing strategy are discussed. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Three experiments examined the manner in which consumers are influenced by information about firms’ ethical behaviors and product attribute information when forming attitudes toward the firm. Confirming principles drawn from evaluations of individuals, results showed that a superior product attribute enhances attitudes toward ethically behaving firms more than toward unethically behaving firms. Furthermore, consumers’ attitudes toward superior products differed depending on the type of ethical behavior enacted by the firm—whether refraining from unethical behavior or acting prosocially. However, when a product attribute was inferior, firms’ ethics had less impact.

Negative publicity has the potential to create negative corporate associations. However, consumers' identification with a company might moderate the extent of this effect. This article examines the impact of consumer-company identification on reactions to variable levels of negative publicity about a company. Exposing consumers who had strong identification with a company to moderately negative publicity was found to result in less negative corporate associations than for consumers who had relatively weak identification. In contrast, consumers'levels of identification did not affect reactions to extremely negative information, resulting in equally negative corporate associations for those with strong versus weak consumer-company identification. Thus, strong identification mitigates the effects of moderately negative publicity but does not attenuate the effects of extremely negative publicity. Consumers' perceptions of and thoughts regarding negative information about a company partially mediated the effect of identification on attitudes and behavioral intentions.

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This study examines the effect of the mood induced by television program content on subjects' evaluations of commercials. Specifically, happy or sad commercials are viewed in the context of a television program designed to induce these respective moods. The competing predictions of Mood Congruence Theory versus the Consistency Effect are examined to interpret the results. For all dependent measures considered, findings were in accordance with a Consistency Effect interpretation of the results. For two such measures (i.e., liking for the commercial and purchase intention) the Consistency Effect was statistically supported. Hence for these measures, it was found that a happy commercial viewed in the context of a happy program was evaluated more favorably than the same commercial viewed after exposure to a sad program. For the sad commercial, the reverse effects for these measures were evident as this commercial performed more favorably in the context of a sad program relative to a happy one. The dominance of a Consistency Effect interpretation of the results over that of Mood Congruence are interpreted in the context of advertising strategy.

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A field experiment investigated the impact of two external reference points under the seller's control on the final price of an auction. When an item's seller specified a high external reference price (a reserve price), the final bid was greater than when the seller specified a low external reference price (a minimum bid). When the seller provided both high and low reference prices, the reserve influenced the final bid more. The low reference price led to a lower outcome compared to when the seller did not communicate any reference price. The number of bidders influenced outcomes in the absence of seller-supplied reference prices. P ricing researchers agree that consumers form internal reference prices about items and that those standards influence their purchase behavior (e.g., Monroe 2003; Winer 1986). Many studies have shown that a marketer-supplied description of a price promotion serves as an anchor for a buyer's formation of a new reference price. Although those findings are well established in a promotional context, one might question whether they could be replicated in a more dynamic environment. In an auction context, seller-supplied reference prices might have little or no impact because other buyers supply pricing cues and those prices are subject to change. Replicating previous laboratory research on reference prices in real-life auctions would provide valuable assurance of the robustness of seller-supplied reference price effects. Pricing research emphasizes that consumers compare an item's sale price to a reference point or standard when arriving at their own valuation of the item (Della Bitta, Monroe, and McGinnis 1981; Monroe 1977). In a promotional