Branding with the in–out effect: The impact of consonantal articulation on brand evaluation

Abstract

Recent research has shown that mouth movements, produced even during silent reading, can affect stimulus evaluation. Words featuring systematic wanderings of consonantal stricture spots ranging from the front to the rear of the mouth (inward) are preferred to words with wanderings in the opposite direction (outward). In four experiments, the authors extended this in-out effect from a basic laboratory setting to a more ecologically relevant domain and examined the boundary conditions of possible applications to marketing. In this research, the inward/outward words presented were embedded in common brand imagery such as labels, logos, and product packages.Either with plain graphic information or with more visually informative packaging, inward names were always preferred (all p-values < 0.001). These results indicate that concurrent information that competitively feeds into the preference judgment did not have diagnostic value when compared to the articulation direction. Such prevalence of the effect even when embedded in more complex stimulus emphasizes the relevance of investigating oral kinematics effects and the need to further research other sensorimotor phenomena in consumer behavior. K E Y W O R D Sapproach-avoidance, branding, embodiment, oral articulation

My username is IN! The influence of inward vs. outward wandering usernames on judgments of online seller trustworthiness

“…The results of the two experiments support that the effect of username consonantal direction on perceived seller trustworthiness is resistant to the presence of other sources of seller information that are not especially diagnostic about his or her past interactions. This is in line with Godinho and Garrido's () results showing that presenting inward vs. outward words as brand names embedded in different packaging designs does not eliminate the preference for inward brand names. In the next, final experiment, we aimed at generalizing the in–out effect to a different dependent variable that may relate more directly to consumers’ behavior and choices in real e‐commerce sites.…”

“…It shows how such a superficial and unconsciously processed name characteristic has the potential to influence trustworthiness and choice of commercial partners. Our findings also make a relevant contribution to the literature on the in-out effect, extending it to perceived trustworthiness and choice of private sellers in e-commerce sites and identifying variables containing additional seller information that do and do not block the advantage of inward usernames (see also Godinho & Garrido, 2017).…”

“…This original and surprising in–out effect occurred under silent reading for both German and English‐speaking participants (Topolinski et al., ) and was replicated by independent research groups in English (Kronrod, Lowrey, & Ackerman, ), Portuguese (Godinho & Garrido, , ), and French language (Rossi, Pantoja, & Borges, ; Rossi, Pantoja, Borges, & Werle, ). The mechanism that is assumed to underlie the in–out effect is the activation of motor‐associated motivational states promoted by the inward and outward oral muscle movements involved in the articulation of words (e.g., the articulation of inward and outward words is similar to approach and avoidance movements of swallowing and spitting, respectively; e.g., Topolinski & Bakhtiari, ; Topolinski & Boecker, ; Topolinski et al., ).…”

The “ins” and “outs” of person perception: The influence of consonant wanderings in judgments of warmth and competence

“…So far, this phenomenon has been tested and replicated in different research labs (e.g., Godinho & Garrido, 2015). The preference for inward-wandering words (over outward-wandering ones) has also been observed in different contexts such as food pictures (Topolinski & Boecker, 2016) or brands (Godinho & Garrido, 2017). In the person perception domain, inward (vs. outward) names of foreign politicians, online users or villains were always preferred (Topolinski, et al, 2014).…”

Oral kinematics: examining the role of edibility and valence in the in-out effect

“…That is, it features outward muscle strictures, from the back of the mouth (rear tongue) to the lips. This preference for inward over outward wandering words has been demonstrated in a wide variety of experimental settings (e.g., Godinho & Garrido, 2017;Lindau & Topolinski, 2018a, 2018bSilva & Topolinski, 2018;Topolinski & Boecker, 2016a;Topolinski, Zürn, & Schneider, 2015) and across different languages and research groups (Godinho & Garrido, 2016;Kronrod, Lowrey, & Ackerman, 2014;.…”