Representational versus abstract imagery: Effects on purchase intentions between vice and virtue foods

Consumer engagement, stress, and conservation of resources theory: A review, conceptual development, and future research agenda

“…Our fifth article titled “ Engagement in Vice Food and Beverage Consumption: The Role of Perceived Lack of Control ” by Renaud Lunardo, David Jaud, and Esther Jaspers investigates why stress induced by low perceived control leads to consumers' engagement in unhealthy, or vice, food consumption, thus also inversing engagement's proposed effect on eustress/distress in Figure 1b. However, consumers' engagement with vice food consumption may, likewise, be viewed to generate (further) consumer stress (e.g., by feeling guilty about consuming these foods; Ketron et al, 2021), fitting with our proposed view of engagement as a stressor, as shown in Figure 1a. Deploying self‐licensing theory, the authors theorize that a perceived lack of control prompts consumers to engage in vice food and beverage consumption, because lacking control raises consumer stress and, consequently, a need to escape through self‐indulgence.…”

Using representational and abstract imagery to create regulatory fit effects

“…However, to date, the marketing domain has offered few insights into how consumers might respond to representational versus abstract imagery in product‐related contexts. Naletelich and Paswan (2018) found that purchase intentions are influenced differently by abstract versus representational versus no art in a store environment, and Ketron et al (2021) found that these two imagery styles affected purchase intentions more strongly for vice (vs. virtue) foods. In another example, Hagtvedt and Patrick (2008) found that the presence of high art on a product increased perceived luxury; while the focus of this study was not on representational versus abstract imagery, the art in question was not purely representational.…”

The influence of anthropomorphic cues in retailing: The moderating effect of the vice versus virtue products

“…Different desires are behind the consumption of vice versus virtue food products Vice food products are appealing and elicit strong positive affective reactions (Vosgerau et al, 2016). They are usually related to self‐rewarding and seeking a positive mood rather than simply the desire to eat tasty foods (Ketron et al, 2021). However, they are also associated with a lack of self‐control, with feelings of guilt and regret at later stages (Kivetz & Zheng, 2006).…”

“…Meanwhile, virtue food products are often consumed in the pursuit of benefit‐related desires such as health (Mishra & Mishra, 2011). That is why, when deciding about virtues, consumers tend to rely more on the utilitarian attributes of those products (Ketron et al, 2021). Based on the characteristics of these two categories of products, prior work has shown that consumers generally find virtues easier to justify than vices (Kivetz & Zheng, 2006).…”