No abstract

Using a sample of 43 7-8-year olds and their parents, we examined the extent to which children's judgments about food products are influenced by the same factors as their parents'. The factors manipulated were healthiness of product, brand name familiarity, and use of licensed cartoon characters (children) or celebrity endorsers (parents). Brand name familiarity was a more important factor than familiar cartoon characters or celebrity endorsers on food product evaluations. Parents and girls but not boys rated healthy products higher than unhealthy ones (e.g., breakfast cereal vs. pastries). However, parents placed greater weight on healthiness when choosing products for themselves than when choosing for their children. Discussion focuses on the promotion of healthy eating habits in children.

A model of context effects in product evaluations is tested in which brand alliances play a key role. This three-part study examined the extent to which evaluations of two restaurants are assimilated by virtue of their dual-branding strategic linkage. Key factors in the assimilation process are thought to be the ambiguity of the target restaurant's description and the degree of linkage between the target and the context as operationally defined by varying the shared features of the dual brands. Results support a model in which inferences about the qualities of an incompletely described target product arise from the assumed similarity between target and context, which is directly related to the degree of linkage between the two brands. These inferences include both specific attribute values and global evaluations of quality.Brand alliances are becoming more frequent as marketers try to capitalize on the complementary features of different brands. A key issue is how the impressions of one brand are transferred to or affected by the impressions of other brands to which it is strategically linked. Some limited research has been done on this problem, but there are significant gaps in developing conceptual models for the transfer process. In this article, we describe a model, methods, and some new results concerning the transfer of affect from one brand to another in a dual-branding alliance where two restaurants share the same facilities.Exposure to prior stimuli can influence the evaluation of subsequent stimuli. This simple principle has formed the cornerstone of a great deal of research and theory development in cognitive psychology; social psychology; and, more recently, consumer psychology. The key issue, of course, is under what conditions are particular forms of context effects observed. Helson's (1964) adaptation level theory, Parducci's (1965) range frequency theory, and so-Requests for reprints should be sent to Irwin P. Levin,

The study employs two experiments to examine the effectiveness of various strategies used to dissuade consumers from downloading music illegally. The research investigates two specific strategies that the recording industry has used: (1) fear or threat appeals (e.g., the threat of punishment, such as fines and/or jail time), and (2) attribution of harm (informing consumers of the harm caused by the illegal downloading of music, such as financial loss to either the artist or the recording company). The study also considers whether past illegal downloading behavior reduces the effectiveness of these disincentive strategies. Finally, the impact of subjective norms (i.e., whether subjects think their friends would approve of downloading music) was also investigated. A 3 (level of threat: low, moderate, or high) X 2 (who is harmed by illegal downloading: artist or recording company) experimental design was employed for study one. Undergraduate students (n ¼ 388) participated in the study. Study two expanded on the design of the first study by adding a variable of subjective norms and by including previous downloading behavior in the model. Undergraduate students (n ¼ 211) also participated in the second experiment. Findings indicate a significant effect of threat appeal such that stronger threat appeals were found to be more effective than weaker threat appeals in reducing illegal downloading. The first study also showed that prior illegal downloading behavior does not curtail the effects of threat appeals aimed at reducing illegal downloading. In addition, results reveal no differences in downloading behavior in terms of attribution of harm deterrent strategy (harm to either the recording artist or company). The most interesting finding from the second study is that subjective norms appear to equalize low versus high past downloaders, but only under conditions of weak fear. The current manuscript is the first to examine the impact of four different variables (threat appeals, attribution of harm, subjective norms, and previous downloading

No abstract