The use of ethnic imagery in visual identities of brands, such as those used by professional sports franchises, has long been a contentious issue in American society. This research investigates the oft‐voiced argument that ethnic brand imagery perpetuates negative stereotypes (a claim that has been subject to very little empirical scrutiny) and identifies conditions under which encountering such brand imagery strengthens both positive and negative implicit stereotypes. Within the context of American Indian brand imagery, two laboratory experiments (Studies 1 and 2) and a quasi‐experimental field study (Study 3) revealed that the effects of ethnic brand imagery on stereotypes depend on the viewer's political identity. Exposure to ethnic brand imagery strengthened implicit stereotypes only among more liberal individuals, consistent with the idea that liberals tend to hold more malleable views. These findings demonstrate measurable negative effects of ethnic brand imagery on implicit stereotypes and support the view that the use of such imagery can carry detrimental societal consequences.

Prior research has identified product improvement perceptions as critical to consumers’ product upgrade decisions (e.g., upgrading to a new iPhone), but little work has examined factors influencing these improvement perceptions. This research shows that drawing consumers’ attention to their global self-improvement can increase product improvement judgments and upgrade intentions when self–brand connection is high, a phenomenon the authors refer to as egocentric improvement evaluation. In line with egocentric categorization theory, which identifies the self as a dominant reference category in product judgment, the authors demonstrate cognitive drivers of the effect. Specifically, egocentric improvement evaluations are moderated by self-focus, which determines whether the self is an accessible reference category. Furthermore, the authors propose that egocentric improvement evaluations also have a motivational driver: consumers project their self-improvement onto self-connected brands to satisfy self-enhancement motives. The core effect is moderated by self-affirmation, which quells the need for self-enhancement, and by self-threat, which heightens the need for self-enhancement. The authors investigate this effect in five studies and discuss the theoretical and practical implications.

Orienting a logo upward or downward may seem like an arbitrary graphic design decision, but we propose that it can have important implications for consumer judgments. In particular, we find across four experimental studies and a content analysis that diagonal direction can convey different levels of activity with upward—or ascending—diagonals conveying greater activity and effort than downward—or descending—diagonals. Consequently, when the context highlights the benefits of activity (vs. passivity), upward (vs. downward) diagonals lead to more favorable product judgments, greater product efficacy beliefs, and greater post‐consumption satisfaction. Furthermore, we provide process evidence that perceived product efficacy beliefs mediate these effects, and that the effect is strongest when the object being visually oriented is text rather than images. These findings are particularly important in light of our content analysis findings that diagonal orientation is a relatively underutilized design feature. Collectively, our findings suggest that firms should use upward diagonals when the product context highlights a favorable view of activity. Otherwise, the firm should use downward diagonals, especially when the product context encourages consumers to view passivity favorably.

Consumers increasingly feel that time is scarce. To guide time expectations, many marketers have begun communicating duration metrics-information about how long most consumers typically spend on a given activity. Despite the rising prevalence of duration metrics, little is known about how they shape consumption experiences. Five

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