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AbstractThe current research examines the impact of point‐of‐purchase (POP) discounts on consumers' counterfactual thinking (CFT). Study 1 reveals that consumers tend to engage in upward CFT (what might have been better) rather than downward CFT (what might have been worse) in response to POP discounts. Study 2 shows that upward CFT depends on how the discount information is framed. A discount with a lower‐quantity restriction (e.g., "X % off if you buy at least Y items") leads consumers to counterfactually wish to buy more, but a discount with an upper‐quantity restriction ("X % off – limit Y items per customer") leads consumers to wish to buy less. Study participants in both conditions report they would buy the same POP‐suggested amount, but for completely opposite reasons. In Study 3, this convergence effect in purchase quantity disappears when the maximum and minimum restrictions are lifted, suggesting that quantity restrictions in POP discounts guide quantity decisions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We studied whether or not men and women respond differently to product failure by investigating how the level of satisfaction changes according to the failure severity and the locus of causality. We conducted an experiment with 2 types of failure attribution (company or consumer) and
2 different levels of failure severity (less severe or severe) with 237 participants. Results showed that, when product failure was severe, the women had lower satisfaction than the men did for consumer-caused failure, but not for company-caused failure. Utilizing a defensive attribution framework,
we ran a mediation analysis to identify why such differences occur. The analysis suggested that defensive motivation, whereby the individual avoids self-blame for severe failure, was heightened more for women than for men. Our findings suggest that, when a product failure is consumer-caused,
companies must react more rapidly when managing female consumers than when managing male ones. Further, companies should carefully consider recovery strategies that mitigate dissatisfaction, even for less severe company-caused failure.

Although product failure causes both marketers and consumers to incur substantial damage and losses, failures are often very difficult for marketers to control. Building on the defensive attribution literature, we investigated how locus of causality and outcome severity of product failure
interactively shape consumers' (N = 366) brand evaluation. The results showed that after a product failure experience, consumers responded with the least favorable evaluation for brand-caused failure, a more favorable evaluation for natural disaster-caused failure, and the most favorable
evaluation for consumer-caused failure. However, outcome severity moderated the effects: When the failure resulted in a severe outcome, positive brand evaluation deteriorated in the case of consumer-caused failure only. In addition, brand-blame attribution mediated these relationships. Our
findings provide a foundation for recovery strategies in accordance with failure severity and responsible parties.

AbstractAdvertising within videogames has grown in importance over the last few years. This research investigates the impact of character presence in advergames on brand attitude and game performance, and how such effects depend on national culture. A total of 130 students participated in an experiment conducted in the US and Korea. Results show that when the featured brand in an advergame was a publicly consumed product, character's presence (vs. absence) had a positive effect on attitude toward the brand and gaming performance, but when the featured brand was a privately consumed product, character's presence had a negative effect on these variables. Furthermore, the emergence of the character–product interaction effect was dependent on national culture. Theoretical and practical implications are provided. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We investigated how consumer and message characteristics affect the consistency between message acceptance and purchase intention for green products (viz., green gap). Participants were 231 adults who were approached in various public places in South Korea (e.g., shopping malls). We
used 2 mock advertisements with fictitious brand names. Our data showed that participants who were committed to environmentally friendly behaviors, as measured by their past proenvironmental behaviors, displayed a tighter relationship between accepting green advertising messages and intending
to purchase green products. Furthermore, the acceptance–intention relationship was even stronger among participants who were strongly committed to environmentally friendly behaviors and who also found the advertising message believable. Our research findings add to the literature on
the attitude–behavior relationship by demonstrating that both dispositional and message factors strengthen thought–action connections.

AbstractThe purpose of this research is to examine how the COVID‐19 pandemic has impacted the luxury goods industry. The authors hypothesize that pandemic threats drive consumers toward luxury consumption to increase their perceptions of control. The article reports results of three experimental studies conducted in the United States. In Study 1, after participants read an article about COVID‐19, they respond favorably to an advertisement for a luxury brand. The comparative control participants read an article about a tofu dish and respond less favorably to the luxury advertisement. Study 2 provides further evidence that perceived control acts as a mediator, while ruling out alternative explanations. Study 3 indicates that threat evokes luxury preferences only when advertisements for both luxury and nonluxury products use abstract messages, as opposed to concrete messages. The findings provide practical insights showing that the most effective advertising strategy for luxury brand managers is to use abstract rather than concrete messages for targeting consumers who feel highly threatened by COVID‐19.

AbstractThe consumer behavior literature shows that men are externally focused and women are internally focused consumers. The authors conduct three studies to test gender differences in the use of media‐posted public ratings for deciding whether to recommend branded entertainment films. The Study 1 results indicate that men are more (less) likely to recommend films that have high (low) star ratings, but women are equally likely to recommend films regardless of star ratings. In an interesting twist, Study 2 results show that if women are momentarily distracted by being made more aware of their surroundings, they process information similarly to men and are more persuaded by public ratings. In Study 3, the authors replicate and extend the findings by including a no‐star control group and examining additional variables—film and brand attitudes and recommendations—with a no star rating control group. The overall results show that men (women) are more (less) likely to look to public ratings for forming film and brand attitudes and recommendations.