The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0007-070X.htm

What do customers want? Impact of

pricing tactic
The impact of pricing tactic persuasion
knowledge
persuasion knowledge and
frequency of exposure 2321
Yen-Ting Chen, Li-Chi Lan and Wen-Chang Fang Received 23 April 2020
Revised 23 August 2020
Department of Business Administration, National Taipei University, 15 December 2020
New Taipei City, Taiwan 16 December 2020
Accepted 16 December 2020

Abstract
Purpose – Previous research has shown that consumers prefer a bonus pack to a price discount for virtue
foods, whereas they prefer a price discount to a bonus pack for vice foods. Acting as a guilt-mitigating
mechanism, a price discount justifies consumers’ purchasing behavior, allowing them to save money and
consume less vice foods. However, for virtue foods, neither the anticipated post-consumption guilt nor the
resulting need for justification lead consumers to prefer a bonus pack to a price discount. This study
investigates whether product promotions remain effective with other moderating variables.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors use pricing tactic persuasion knowledge (PTPK), which
refers to the consumer persuasion knowledge of marketers’ pricing tactics, as a lens to understand whether the
power of these promotions could be enhanced or mitigated. The authors inferred that increasing the frequency
of exposure to these foods could positively influence consumers’ purchasing choices. They conducted three
studies to examine these effects. In Study 1, using pearl milk tea (vice food) and sugar-free tea (virtue food), the
authors contended that consumers would prefer a price discount when purchasing pearl milk tea, but a bonus
pack when purchasing sugar-free tea. In Studies 2 and 3, the authors varied the participants’ frequency of
exposure to photographs of people in everyday situations with vice (virtue) foods.
Findings – In Study 1, PTPK was shown to be more predictive of consumer choices regarding price discounts
and bonus packs. In Studies 2 and 3, the authors contended that increased exposure to vice (virtue) foods
increases the selection of vice (virtue) foods by participants who were unaware of having been exposed to vice
(virtue) foods.
Originality/value – This research has not only made quite managerial and policy implications for marketing
but also brought the theoretical contributions for marketing researches. This research demonstrates that either
for vice foods or virtue foods, a price discount is preferred to a bonus pack.
Keywords Pricing tactic persuasion knowledge, Vice food, Virtue food, Product management,
Consumer marketing, Pricing policy
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Although consumers prefer sales promotions to regular offerings, consumers react
differently to price discounts and bonus packs. In this study, we explore how price- and
quantity-based price tactics can influence the consumption of unhealthy (vice) and healthy
(virtue) foods. Based on the self-rationing framework (Wertenbroch, 1998; see also Read et al.,
1999), “vices” and “virtues” are distinguished by an ordering preference for whether
consumers perceive immediate or delayed consumption consequences. According to previous
studies, we defined vice foods as options that consumers perceive provide immediate
pleasure but sacrifice long-term health benefits. By contrast, we define virtue foods as options
that consumers perceive provide long-term health benefits at the expense of immediate
gratification. For example, vegetables and fruit are often regarded as intrinsically healthy British Food Journal
foods; thus, they are classified as virtue foods. Indulgence foods, such as chocolate, cheese Vol. 123 No. 7, 2021
pp. 2321-2334
cake, and ice cream, are considered intrinsically unhealthy foods; thus, they are classified as © Emerald Publishing Limited
0007-070X
vice foods. DOI 10.1108/BFJ-04-2020-0343
BFJ Besides, we contend that consumers prefer price discounts with vice foods and a bonus
123,7 pack with virtue foods (Arul et al., 2011). We suggest that price discounts may serve as a guilt-
mitigating mechanism justifies consumers’ purchasing behavior, allowing them to save
money and consume less unhealthy foods. Because promotions not only influence the time
and quantity of consumer purchases but also the brand perceptions and reference price
(Blattberg et al., 1995), employing various price tactics for consumers is a significant issue for
marketers. One objective of this study is to provide additional empirical evidence in extent
2322 literature regarding the relationship between various food attributions and sales promotions.
Furthermore, determining consumers’ preferences for sales promotions presented in dollar
versus percentage terms can provide a critical reference for many retail decisions.
Based on the persuasion knowledge model established by Friestad and Wright (1994),
Hardesty et al. (2007) developed a valid and reliable index for measuring pricing tactic
persuasion knowledge (PTPK), which refers to consumers’ persuasion knowledge of the
pricing tactics employed by marketers. According to previous studies (Hardesty et al., 2007),
consumers with a lower level of PTPK are more susceptible to surcharge, and tensile claim
offers are more likely to make suboptimal decisions. Because of the death of related literature
that investigates how this knowledge affects consumer responses to such tactics, this study
aims to compensate for this deficiency by using PTPK as a lens to understand whether sales
promotions can be enhanced or mitigated.
Through not only marketing activities but also everyday encounters, such as observing
others in a coffee shop or walking past people on the journey to school, people are continually
exposed to various advertisements and brands in their daily lives. According to Zajonc (1968),
the “mere repeated exposure of an individual to a stimulus object enhances his/her attitude
toward it.” Thus, the “mere exposure” is a condition that renders the stimulus accessible –
according to the individual’s perception. Therefore, we investigate the effects of consumer
exposure under both vice and virtue conditions. In addition, tea drinking was very common in
ancient China. Chinese tea culture not only includes the material cultural level but also the
profound spiritual civilization level. For thousands of years, China has not only accumulated a
large amount of material culture about tea planting and production but also accumulated a
wealth of tea-related spiritual culture. This is China’s unique tea culture and belongs to the
category of cultural science. So we chose tea as the product for the research. Tea drinking is
becoming more and more popular in various countries, and it is a very important product in our
lives. Although this research only focuses on tea, it actually plays a very important role in the
field of product marketing. In addition, nowadays consumers are paying more and more
attention to healthy diet, so this study further discusses whether consumers will make a
difference in their purchasing decisions when facing the two types of foods, virtual food and
vice food, although, Buy One Get One or Half Price Sale is not innovative in marketing strategy,
but the combination of the product types we researched has more marketing implications.
Based on the above, the purpose of this research is to understand whether product
promotion is still effective under other moderating variables. In other words, whether
increasing the frequency of exposure to these foods will have a positive impact on consumers’
purchasing choices. Therefore, we use pricing tactic persuasion knowledge (PTPK), which
refers to the consumer persuasion knowledge of marketers’ pricing tactics, as a lens to
understand whether the power of these promotions could be enhanced or mitigated. The
results of this study not only offer marketing strategies for firms but also provide society with
implications for public policy implications.

2. Conceptual framework and hypotheses development

2.1 Price discount versus bonus pack
The conflict between immediate gratification and long-term consequences is a trade-off for
consumers, who often encounter these two extreme options in their daily lives (Metcalfe and
Mischel, 1999). Therefore, adopting a compromise option rather than one of the two extreme Impact of
options is more attractive to customers because they enjoy immediate pleasure and have pricing tactic
reasons that mitigate long-term guilt. Despite preferring sales promotions to regular
offerings, consumers react differently to price discounts and bonus packs. Based on the
persuasion
finding of previous studies, people generally prefer a bonus pack to a price discount. This is knowledge
because the increment in quantity can be perceived as a gain, whereas a reduction in price can
be perceived as a reduction in loss (Diamond, 1992; Diamond and Sanyal, 1990). Because
promotions framed as gains are better received than those framed as loss reductions 2323
(Diamond and Sanyal, 1990), a bonus pack promotion may be preferred over a price discount
promotion because of the curvature of prospect theory’s value function (Kahneman and
Tversky, 1979).
Nevertheless, previous studies have suggested that people prefer a bonus pack to the price
discount regardless of the type of food; however, we contend that this inherent preference for
bonus packs does not exist with vice foods. To justify their vice purchases, consumers exert
self-rationing to control their consumption, which not only allows them the immediate
pleasure of consumption but also prevents overconsumption (Wertenbroch, 1998); that is,
when faced with a conflicting situation such as which option provides greater utility, people
tend to choose the option supported by the best overall reasons. Consistent with studies on
the need for justification, these reasons enable consumers to easily rationalize their purchase
behaviors to themselves and others (Okada, 2005; Shafir et al., 1993) and feel less regret
regarding their choices (Inman and Zeelenberg, 2002).
Previous studies have explored several guilt-mitigating justifications, such as Kivetz and
Simonson (2002) who proposed that the enhanced effort of acquisition causes people to
consider a luxury item a necessity; Strahilevitz and Myers (1998) stated that a combination
with a charitable donation increased consumer preference for a hedonic option, and Khan and
Dhar (2006) proposed that preference for a hedonic option increases after performing an
altruistic act. In each of these instances, people did not feel guilt when their choices were
justified. Therefore, compared to a price discount, a bonus pack is less beneficial for
mitigating guilt because it allows consumers to consume more of the vice food and also feel
more guilt when purchasing. By contrast, a price discount can justify consumers’ purchase
behavior, allowing them to save money and not over-consume vice foods. Based on this
reasoning, we propose the following foundational hypotheses.
H1. Compared to (a) bonus packs, (b) price discounts for vice foods increase consumer
purchases.
H2. Compared to (a) bonus packs, (b) price discounts for virtue foods increase purchases.

2.2 Pricing tactic persuasion knowledge

PTPK refers to consumers’ persuasion knowledge of marketers’ pricing tactics. Hardesty
et al. (2007) stated that “PTPK represents a form of domain-specific knowledge gained
through experience.” Pricing tactics refer to “marketers’ efforts to generate favorable price
perceptions regarding their brands, stores and offerings” (Hardesty et al., 2007). Consumer
PTPK regards the marketer as the agent of persuasion, the consumer as the target of
persuasion, and the pricing tactic as the persuasion attempt (Hardesty et al., 2007). To
compensate for the literature gap regarding the effects of such persuasion knowledge,
Hardesty et al. (2007) developed a valid and reliable index for measuring PTPK, and called for
further research in this area. The operational PTPK measure recommended for investigating
the effects of the varying consumer knowledge level is a 17-item true–false objective index of
formative indicators (Moorman et al., 2004). This measure provides a global evaluation
(Haynes et al., 1995) of knowledge regarding various tactics that comprise the content of
PTPK (Hardesty et al., 2007).
BFJ According to the persuasion knowledge model, consumers can elaborate on the message
123,7 tactics included in persuasion attempts, and these elaborations include an evaluation of prior
knowledge (Ahluwalia and Burnkrant, 2004). Therefore, PTPK is expected to moderate the
influence of marketers’ persuasion attempts. Based on previous studies, low-knowledge
people are less likely to have thoughts related to pricing-tactic knowledge. By contrast, high-
knowledge people are more likely to have thoughts related to pricing-tactic knowledge and to
effectively cope with persuasion attempts (Petty and Cacioppo, 1981). In addition, high
2324 knowledge people are less likely to be persuaded by pricing-persuasion appeals, which is
consistent with the opinions of Compeau and Grewal (1998) regarding the higher probability
of less knowledgeable people being deceived by marketers’ offers. The main purpose of this
study is to investigate whether PTPK moderates consumer responses to marketplace
persuasion efforts, that is, we use PTPK as a lens to understand whether the power of
marketing promotions can be enhanced or mitigated. Therefore, consistent with previous
studies, we propose the following hypotheses:
H3. PTPK has moderating effect on the food attributes ((a) vice foods, (b) virtue foods) to
promotions ((a) bonus packs, (b) price discounts)

2.3 Frequency of exposure

According to Zajonc (1968), the “mere repeated exposure of an individual to a stimulus object
enhances his/her attitude toward it.” Thus, “mere exposure” is a condition that renders the
stimulus accessible according to the individual’s perception. To examine the effect of mere
repeated exposure, Johnson et al. (1960) were the first to conduct a series of experiments
regarding the relationship between exposure and the meaning of words. Their results showed
that, compared to words with negative meanings, the frequency of words with positive
meanings was higher. In addition, they also observed a significant exposure effect; that is,
increase in word frequency also raised their evaluation score.
Extending the research by Johnson, Thomson, and Frincke, Zajonc conducted a series of
experimental studies to examine the effects of mere exposure and explain the relationship
between frequency and value, which Johnson, Thomson, and Frincke had not explored. In the
first experiment conducted by Zajonc’s (1968), the participants were shown a series of
nonsense words, with the exposure frequencies ranging from 0 to 25. They then rated every
stimulus word by using a seven-point scale to assess the suitability of the word meaning. The
result of Experiment 1 indicated that a positive relationship exists between the exposure
frequency and the average suitability rating for a word. Subsequently, using a similar
procedure but altering the stimuli to Chinese ideographs in Experiment 2, Zajonc found that
the results were consistent to those of his first study, where the rating of word meaning
suitability was positively related to exposure frequency. To investigate the exposure effect
with socially relevant stimuli in Experiment 3, the participants were shown a series of faces
with varying exposure frequencies and were required to rate their liking of each face by using
a seven-point scale. We found that a significantly positive relationship exists between
exposure frequency (the highest number of presentations in this experiment was 25) and the
mean liking score for each stimulus.
In summary, these studies indicate that a close relationship exists between word
frequency and meaning. This can generally be considered the relationship between mere
exposure and attitude enhancement, which also evidences an exposure-effect relationship.
Thus, the results of previous studies have shown that the importance of the exposure-attitude
relationship is worthy of investigation. Furthermore, mere exposure is a necessary
precondition that can be employed for various experimental manipulations. As a method
of persuasive communication, marketers expose their products, brand, or name to consumers
in contiguity, intending to attract consumers and enhance their preference for the marketers’
companies/products. Using repeated presentations of commercials, the marketers not only Impact of
save production costs but also increase their persuasive effectiveness. pricing tactic
In summary, we infer that repeated exposure to a product reinforces the product’s in-
memory representation and generates familiarity (Zajonc, 1968). When selecting from a
persuasion
variety of products, consumers are more likely to choose familiar products. knowledge
H4. Increasing the frequency of people’s exposure to (a) vice foods, (b) virtue foods
positively influences their choice of (a) vice foods, (b) virtue foods (increases their 2325
selection of the food).
H5. Compared to increasing the frequency of people’s exposure to virtue foods,
increasing the frequency of people’s exposure to vice foods is more likely to increase
consumers’ buying choices.

3. Methodology
We conducted three studies to examine these effects. In Study 1, using pearl milk tea (vice
food) and sugar-free tea (virtue food), we contended that consumers would prefer a price
discount when purchasing pearl milk tea, but a bonus pack when purchasing sugar-free tea.
Furthermore, PTPK was shown to be more predictive of consumer choices regarding price
discounts and bonus packs. In Studies 2 and 3, we varied the participants’ frequency of
exposure to photographs of people in everyday situations with vice (virtue) foods.

3.1 Sample and data collection

In Study 1, a total of 160 participants participated, and there were 80 participants in vice food
condition (Group A) and 80 participants in virtue food condition (Group B). (Group A: pearl
milk tea; Group B: sugar-free tea). In Study 2, a total of 122 participants participated, and there
were 36, 50 and 36 participants in the 0, 4 and 12 exposure conditions and in the daily-life
scenario with pearl milk tea (vice food). After deducting invalid questionnaires, valid
questionnaires were 35, 46 and 34 in the 0, 4 and 12 exposure conditions respectively.
Therefore, there were 115 participants employed in the analysis (35, 46 and 34 in the 0, 4 and
12 exposure conditions respectively). In Study 3, a total of 114 participants participated, and
there were 21, 49 and 44 participants in the 0, 4 and 12 exposure conditions and in the daily-
life scenario with sugar-free tea (virtue food). After deducting invalid questionnaires, valid
questionnaires were 20, 48 and 43 in the 0, 4 and 12 exposure conditions respectively.
Therefore, there were 111 participants employed in the analysis (20, 48 and 43 in the 0, 4 and
12 exposure conditions, respectively).

3.2 Pretest-identifying vice and virtue foods

First part, we have posted relevant information about the experiment on the Internet
(such as social networking sites, like Facebook, line) to solicit participants, and there were
106 participants invited to join. 106 participants were randomly divided into two groups
(A and B) before showing them two types of product employed for the studies. The
participants in Group A were shown a pearl milk tea and the participants in Group B were
shown a sugar-free tea. During the first part of the survey, for the specific product, we
instructed participants to rate the guilt they would feel from consuming it by using a
seven-point scale (1 5 no guilt, and 7 5 feel very guilty). An Independent Samples T Test
was conducted to analyze the data (see Table 1), and the results shown that participants
considered pearl milk teas are more guilt than sugar-free teas when they consuming
(t 5 7.710, Sig. p 5 0.000 < 0.05). Therefore, we used a pearl milk tea as a vice food and
a sugar-free tea as a virtue food in our study 1.
BFJ Second part, 572 participants were invited to join of pretest on the Internet. We presented
123,7 four brands of pearl milk tea and four brands of sugar-free tea to both participant groups,
instructing them to rate their preference for each brand using a seven-point Likert-type scale,
which comprised four bipolar evaluative items: bad-good, unpleasant-pleasant, poor quality-
good quality, and dislike very much-like very much (Mitchell and Olson 1981). One-Way
ANOVA was conducted to analyze the data and a Games–Howell Test found that
participants had no different brand preference of pearl milk tea for Fifty-Lan and COME BUY
2326 (Mean Difference 5 0.06643, Sig. 5 0.927 > 0.05). Similarly, a Games–Howell Test shown that
participants had no different brand preference of sugar-free tea for Cool Fitness Tea and
Asahi Sixteen Tea (Mean Difference 5 0.22203, Sig. 5 0.131 > 0.05). Therefore, we used Fifty-
Lan and COME BUY in our study 2, while Cool Fitness Tea and Asahi Sixteen Tea in the
study 3.

3.3 Study 1
For this study, 160 participants were recruited and randomly assigned to the virtue or vice
food conditions. The participants in Group A were shown a cup of pearl milk tea with a tasty
description emphasizing its sweet and delicious content (the pearls), and the participants in
Group B were shown a bottle of sugar-free tea with a healthy description emphasizing its lack
of sugar. The participants of Group A were separated into two types of promotional offer
conditions, which were a price discount and a bonus pack. Then, the participants in the price
discount-condition were told that 500 cc of pearl milk tea, typically priced at NT$30, was
being sold with a price discount of 50% (i.e. 500 c.c. of pearl milk tea for NT$15); and the
participants in the bonus pack-condition were told that 500 cc of pearl milk tea, typically
priced at NT$30, was being sold with a bonus pack, giving them 50% more content for the
same price (i.e., 750 c.c. of pearl milk tea for NT$30). Thereafter, we asked the participants to
indicate their preference for the specific promotional offer by using a five-point Likert-type
scale (1 5 dislike very much; 5 5 like very much).
The participants in Group B were also separated into two types of promotional offer
conditions, which were a price discount and a bonus pack. Then, the participants in the price
discount-condition were told that a bottle of sugar-free tea, typically priced at NT$30, was
being sold with a price discount of 50% (i.e., one bottle of sugar-free tea for NT$15); and the
participants in the bonus pack-condition were told that a bottle of sugar-free tea, typically
priced at NT$30, was being sold with a bonus pack, giving them 50% more content for the
same price (i.e., two bottles of sugar-free tea for NT$30). Thereafter, we asked the participants
to indicate their preference for the specific promotional offer by using a five-point Likert-type
scale (1 5 dislike very much; 5 5 like very much). Subsequently, all participants were
instructed to complete filler tasks regarding the PTPK measurement items. An ONEWAY
ANOVA and a regression analysis were employed to analyze the data.

3.4 Study 2
For this study, we used 20 different space backgrounds and took 20 photos. Then, we
randomly selected 12 backgrounds from these 20 different space backgrounds to place the tea

Food N Mean Std. deviation Std. error mean

Table 1. Pearl milk tea 53 4.45 2.189 0.301

Consumers’ guilt of Sugar-free tea 53 1.68 1.438 0.198
vice food and Note(s): We instructed participants to rate the guilt they would feel from consuming it by using a seven-point
virtue food scale (1 5 no guilt, and 7 5 feel very guilty)
and take pictures. We manipulated the exposure frequency (the number of photos with tea in Impact of
one of the 20 photos) by varying the number of photographs that showed people in everyday pricing tactic
situations with Fifty-Lan pearl milk tea. We use the projector to play these photos. In the
experiment space, the order of the photos is the same, only the exposure frequency of the tea is
persuasion
different. 122 students were recruited and randomly assigned to one of three groups. The knowledge
exposure frequency was 0 for Group A (There is no tea in the 20 photos), 4 for Group B
(4 photos of tea in 20 photos) and 12 for Group C (12 photos of tea in 20 photos). The students
were first informed that they would be showed 20 photographs for several seconds each, and 2327
to focus on the clothing, facial expressions, or the sex of the people in the photographs, to
reduce the likelihood that they would notice our actual purpose and focus on Fifty-Lan pearl
milk tea. After viewing the photographs, the students were told that they would receive a cup
of pearl milk tea for their participation. Two brands of pearl milk tea were provided on a table;
that is Fifty-Lan and COME BUY (a target brand, which obtained from the pretest). The
students could take one cup after they submitted their questionnaires. We recorded their
choice on the questionnaire. A regression analysis and a Chi-square Test were conducted to
analyze the data.

3.5 Study 3
For this study, 114 students were recruited and randomly assigned to one of three groups. We
manipulated the exposure frequency by varying the number of photographs that showed
people in everyday situations with Cool Fitness Tea. The exposure frequency was 0 for Group
D, 4 for Group E, and 12 for Group F. The students were first informed that they would be
shown 20 photographs for several seconds each, and to focus on the clothing, facial
expressions, or the sex of the people in the photographs, to reduce the likelihood that they
would notice our actual purpose and focus on Cool Fitness Tea. After viewing the
photographs, the students were told that they would receive a bottle of sugar-free tea for their
participation. Two brands of sugar-free tea were provided on a table; that was, Cool Fitness
Tea and Asahi Sixteen Tea (a target brand, which obtained from the pretest). The students
could take one bottle after submitting their questionnaire. We recorded their choice on the
questionnaire. A regression analysis and a Chi-square test were conducted to analyze
the data.

4. Results
4.1 Measurement model
By employing SPSS 17.0, the reliability scores (Cronbach’s α) of this research are all above 0.7,
which indicate that this scale have high reliability (Nunnally, 1978). The validity of PTPK
measurement was tested by a content validity. The PTPK measurement of this research was
adopted from a valid and reliable index which developed by Hardesty et al. (2007) and called
for further research in this area. This measure provides a global evaluation (Haynes et al.,
1995) of knowledge regarding various tactics that comprise the content of PTPK (Hardesty
et al., 2007). The operational PTPK measure recommended for investigating the effects of the
varying consumer knowledge level is a 17-item true–false objective index of formative
indicators (Moorman et al., 2004). For accuracy of examinations, two marketing PhDs were
invited to provide with an appropriate and representative items from 17-item; in the end, there
were ten items applied in our study.

4.2 Structural model

4.2.1 Study 1. The ONEWAY ANOVA was employed to examine the prediction that people
have discriminative preference for a price discount versus a bonus pack for vice (and virtue)
BFJ food items. In the vice food condition, there was a significant main effect of type of promotions
123,7 emerged (F (2, 78) 5 40.954, p 5 0.000), and Mean (price discount) 5 4.55 > Mean (bonus
pack) 5 3.23, which means that people prefer a price discount to a bonus pack when they
consuming a pearl milk tea (vice food). Therefore, Hypothesis 1 was supported. Similarly, an
ONEWAY ANOVA was used to analyze the data in the virtue food condition. The results
showed that there was a significant main effect of type of promotions emerged (F (1,
78) 5 5.706, p 5 0.019), and Mean (price discount) 5 4.15 > Mean (bonus pack) 5 3.60, which
2328 means that people prefer a price discount to a bonus pack when they consuming a sugar-free
tea (virtue food). Therefore, Hypothesis 2 was not supported.
Furthermore, we also used an ONEWAY ANOVA to examine the relationship between
discriminative preference of people for a price discount versus a bonus pack for vice (and
virtue) food items. The descriptive statistics of comparing a price discount and a bonus pack
in different food condition are shown on Table 2 respectively. As the results showed
(see Table 3), there was a significant main effect of type of food items emerged in price
discount (F (1, 78) 5 4.379, p 5 0.040); however, there was not a significant main effect
in bonus pack (see Table 3).
The effect of the pricing tactics persuasion knowledge (PTPK) to moderate the product
promotion-choice was evaluated by analyzing participants’ selection using a regression
analysis. For accuracy of examination, the PTPK scores were only counted when participants
choose the exactly correct answer. In the analysis, there was a significant interaction of bonus
pack with knowledge in the virtue food condition was observed as predicted (t 5 3.428,
p 5 0.001 < 0.05, see Table 4); Besides, we also found that participants who with high PTPK
were more likely preferred a bonus pack to a price discount. However, in the vice food
condition, there were not a significant main effect of level of PTPK emerged (t 5 1.586,
p 5 0.121 > 0.05, see Table 4).

95.0% C.I. for mean

N Mean Std. deviation Std. error Lower bound Upper bound

Price discount
Pearl milk tea 40 4.55 0.597 0.094 4.36 4.47
Sugar-free tea 40 4.15 1.051 0.166 3.81 4.49
Table 2. Total 80 4.35 0.873 0.098 4.164.47 4.54
Comparing price
discount and bonus Bonus pack
pack in different food Pearl milk tea 40 3.23 1.165 0.184 2.85 3.60
condition preference Sugar-free tea 40 3.60 1.008 0.159 3.28 3.92
degree Total 80 3.41 1.009 0.123 3.17 3.66

Sum of squares df Mean square F Sig

Price discount
Between groups 3.200 1 3.200 4.379 0.040
Within groups 57.000 78 0.731
Table 3. Total 60.200 79
ANOVA table – price
discounts, bonus packs Bonus pack
and consumer Between groups 2.813 1 2.813 2.370 0.128
purchases in different Within groups 92.575 78 1.187
food condition Total 95.388 79
4.2.2 Study 2. In study 2 (vice food condition / daily-life scenario), a logistic regression was Impact of
employed to analyze the data, with the dependent variable coded as 1 5 chose Fifty-Lan or pricing tactic
0 5 did not chose Fifty-Lan. Frequency of exposures was treated as a continuous variable in
order to test for a linear trend in exposure accounting for unequal intervals (i.e. zero, four, and
persuasion
12 exposures). As prediction, there was a significant effect of frequency of exposure. 57.1% of knowledge
participants chose the Fifty-Lan in the zero exposure control condition, as compared to 69.6%
in the four exposure control condition and 85.3% in the twelve exposure control condition. As
the results showed, the linear trend analysis, accounting for unequal intervals, indicated a 2329
significant increase in the percentage choosing Fifty-Lan with increased frequency of
exposure (χ 2(1) 5 6.089, p 5 0.014 < 0.05, see Table 5). We also used a Chi-square Tests to
examine the relationship between exposure frequency and food item choice, with the
dependent variable coded as 1 5 chose Fifty-Lan or 0 5 did not chose Fifty-Lan. The results
showed that there was a significant main effect of frequency of exposure between zero-
exposure, four-exposure and twelve-exposures condition (χ 2(2) 5 6.591, p 5 0.037 < 0.05, see
Table 6). Consequently, Hypothesis 4a was supported (see Table 7).
4.2.3 Study 3. In study 3 (virtue food condition / daily-life scenario), a logistic regression
was employed to analyze the data, with the dependent variable coded as 1 5 chose Cool
Fitness Tea or 0 5 did not chose Cool Fitness Tea. Frequency of exposures was treated as a
continuous variable in order to test for a linear trend in exposure accounting for unequal
intervals (i.e., zero, four, and 12 exposures). Not as predicted, there was not a significant
effect of frequency of exposure. 40% of participants chose the Cool Fitness Tea in the zero

Unstandardized
coefficients Standardized coefficients
Model B Std. error Beta t Sig Table 4.
A regression analysis –
Vice food Constant 4.446 0.114 39.156 0.000
pricing tactics
PTPK 0.060 0.038 0.249 1.586 0.121 persuasion knowledge
Virtue food Constant 3.186 0.186 17.155 0.000 (PTPK) to moderate the
PTPK 0.195 0.057 0.486 3.428 0.001 product promotion-
Note(s): a. Dependent Variable: Preference for product promotion-choice (price discount and bonus pack) choice

95.0% C.I. for

EXP(B)
B S.E. Wald df Sig Exp (B) Lower Upper Table 5.
a Logistic regression –
Step 1 0.123 0.050 6.089 1 0.014 1.130 1.026 1.246 the frequency of
Frequency constant 0.309 0.288 1.146 1 0.284 1.362 people’s exposure to
Note(s): a. Variable(s) entered on step 1: Frequency vice foods

Frequency of exposure Chi-square tests

0 vs. 4 vs. 12 χ (1) 5 6.591, p 5 0.037**

2

0 vs. 4 χ 2(1) 5 1.334, p 5 0.248 Table 6.

0 vs. 12 χ 2(1) 5 6.640, p 5 0.010** Chi-square tests – the
4 vs. 12 χ 2(1) 5 2.671, p 5 0.102 frequency of people’s
Note(s): ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.1 exposure to vice foods
BFJ exposure control condition, as compared to 52.1% in the four exposure control condition
123,7 and 55.8% in the twelve exposure control condition. As the results showed, the linear trend
analysis did not account for unequal intervals neither indicated a significant increase in the
percentage choosing Cool Fitness Tea with increased frequency of exposure (χ 2(1) 5 0.973,
p 5 0.324 > 0.05, see Table 8). Consequently, hypothesis 4b was not supported. We also
conducted a Chi-square Tests to examine the relationship between exposure frequency and
food item choice, with the dependent variable coded as 1 5 chose Cool Fitness Tea or
2330 0 5 did not chose Cool Fitness Tea. The results showed that there was not a significant
main effect of frequency of exposure (see Table 8). Especially, we used Chi-square Tests to
examine that whether increased frequency of exposure to vice food is more likely to
increase people buying choices than the increased frequency of exposure to virtue food.
As the results showed (χ 2(1) 5 8.651, p 5 0.003 < 0.05, see Table 9), the hypothesis 5 was
supported.

5. Discussion and managerial implications

Study 1 was aimed at examining the differential preference of pricing promotions of people
for vice and virtue food; in addition, the moderating effect of pricing tactic persuasion
knowledge (PTPK) on these preferences. The results of study 1 showed that either for vice
foods or virtue foods, a price discount is more effective than a bonus pack; specifically, the
effectiveness of a price discount is more apparent for vice foods than virtue foods. On the

95.0% C.I. for

EXP(B)
Table 7. B S.E. Wald df Sig Exp(B) Lower Upper
Logistic regression – a
the frequency of Step 1 0.040 0.041 0.973 1 0.324 1.041 0.961 1.128
people’s exposure to Frequency constant 0.202 0.321 0.394 1 0.530 0.817
virtue food Note(s): a. Variable(s) entered on step 1: Frequency

Frequency of exposure Chi-square tests

0 vs. 4 vs. 12 χ (1) 5 1.385, p 5 0.500

2

Table 8. 0 vs. 4 χ 2(1) 5 0.825, p 5 0.364

Chi-square Tests – the 0 vs. 12 χ 2(1) 5 1.366, p 5 0.243
frequency of people’s 4 vs. 12 χ 2(1) 5 0.127, p 5 0.722
exposure to virtue food Note(s): ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.1

Table 9. Frequency of exposure Chi-square tests

Chi-square tests – the
frequency of people’s Vice 4 vs. Virtue 4 χ (1) 5 3.008, p 5 0.083
2

exposure to virtue Vice 12 vs. Virtue 12 χ 2(1) 5 7.691, p 5 0.006***

foods (vice foods) and Vice 4,12 vs. Virtue 4,12 χ 2(1) 5 9.312, p 5 0.002***
consumers’ buying Vice 0,4,12 vs. Virtue 0,4,12 χ 2(1) 5 8.651, p 5 0.003***
choices Note(s): ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.1
moderate effect, PTPK did not effect of the consumer purchase of vice foods with a price Impact of
discount; however, it did effect of consumer purchase of virtue foods with a bonus pack. pricing tactic
Study 2 was aimed at examining the effect of vice food exposure frequency (0, 4 and 12) that
had on consumers’ purchase choices. The results of study 2 indicated that increased
persuasion
frequency of exposure to people with Fifty-Lan pearl milk tea had a positive effect on own knowledge
choice of pearl milk tea for participants. Study 3 was aimed at examining the effect of virtue
food exposure frequency (0, 4 and 12) that had on consumers’ purchase choices. However, the
results of study 3 demonstrated that exposure of Cool Fitness Tea did not have an influence 2331
on consumers’ purchase choices. Particularly, in the examination of that whether increased
frequency of exposure to vice food is more likely to increase people buying choices than the
increased frequency of exposure to virtue food; we found that comparing to a virtue food,
increasing the frequency of exposure with vice foods could have a positive effect on
consumers’ choice.

5.1 Managerial implications

This research has not only made quite managerial and policy implications for marketing but
also brought the theoretical contributions for marketing researches. Differ from the previous
study which proposed that people prefer a price discount for vice foods, whereas a bonus
pack for virtue food (Mishra and Mishra, 2011); however, this research demonstrates that
either for vice foods or virtue foods, a price discount is preferred to a bonus pack.
Furthermore, we also found that comparing to be employed in virtue foods, a price discount
for vice foods is more effective on consumers’ purchasing choices. Based on the antecedent
reviews proposed that a price discount could play a guilty- mitigated role to justify
consumers’ vice purchases (Wertenbroch, 1998) which consistent with the present research
for people in pearl milk teas buying situation.
Although many of the previous literatures suggest that people generally prefer a
promotion framed as gains to those framed as reduced losses (Diamond and Sanyal, 1990),
which indicates a preference to obtain more or a surplus of a product; however, in this
research, the results in sugar-free teas situation which did not need to justify their
purchase, people still preferred a price discount rather a bonus pack. Hence, we proposed
that the preference for a bonus pack for virtue foods may not agree with beverage
products purchasing conditions. Accordingly, differ from the food domain that marketers
should consider a price-based pricing promotion might have more influences on increasing
their product consumptions. In other words, we can find that regardless of vice and
virtue foods, price marketing strategies (such as half-price sale) are more effective than
buy one get one free, but there are different interpretations in the psychological level of
consumers.
In other words, cheaper prices will make consumers feel less guilty and are willing to buy
again. However, buying one get one free will increase consumers’ guilt and unwilling to buy.
Because in the case of buy one get one free, consumers will drink more vice food and cause
more psychological guilt; For virtual foods, the price strategy is still effective, but it is less
obvious than vice foods, because consumers do not feel guilty when they eat virtual foods.
Therefore, there is no need to increase consumption because of its low price. Consumers buy
virtual foods at a lower price, but they are only lucky to find cheap. In summary, the company
can consider the range of the promotional price when targeting these two products. For
example, the company can use the half-price sale for vice foods and the second 30% off
pricing strategy for virtual foods, etc.
Following, we found that the ability of pricing tactic persuasion knowledge has impacted
on consumers’ buying choice of virtue food with a bonus pack. Particularly, people who have
a high knowledge level of PTPK prefer a bonus pack to a price discount when they consuming
BFJ virtue foods. Therefore, we suggest that when the marketers employing a bonus pack
123,7 promotion on their virtue foods, they should emphasize the healthy features of their virtue
foods so as to increase consumers purchasing intension.
Establishing on Zajonc (1968) proposed, the “mere repeated exposure of an individual to
a stimulus object enhances his/her attitude toward it.” In the present research, we found
that increasing the frequency of exposure with vice foods is more effective than with virtue
foods to influence consumers’ purchasing choices. Specifically, though the effect of
2332 exposure is indeed effective for vice foods, but the frequency of exposure have to be as
enough as possible. Additionally, we also infer that a hedonic function of vice foods is more
fascinating to people to arouse their buying intention than virtue foods. Therefore,
according to the results research, we increasing the frequency of exposure with vice foods
could have a positive effect on consumers’ choice. In particular, 12 pictures about vice food
are exposed in 20 pictures is more effective. We suggest the marketers who engage in vice
food products should increase their products exposure to people as many as possible to
increase people buying choices of specific products. In other words, vice food needs to have
60% exposure in advertising projection. Besides, this research also provides the means of
advertising design and elevates the effective of adverting; furthermore, the marketers
could control the frequency of exposure for best seller and the other products in order
to cost down the promotion budgets. In addition, the company can also increase the
exposure frequency of advertisements in social media, such as Facebook, twitter, line or
image, etc. so that consumers can unknowingly receive the stimulation of these messages
in their lives.

5.2 Limitations and future research

There are a few limitations of this research. First, the present research is concentrate on the
beverage consumption setting. Future researches might consider the impact of a price
discount versus bonus pack on other products which have a conflicting decision between
hedonic-utilitarian. We acknowledge that a price discount may not always be preferred,
therefore, it might be worthwhile to study other price-based promotions or different
percentage of price discounts to provided more insights into the suggested effect.
Additionally, concerning to the effect of PTPK, personal variables, such as educational
background or purchasing experiences, may have the potential to influence the scores.
Our research employed only one product; however, in the real world people do not just
encounter one product. In fact, they often encounter many products in short of time; therefore
we should consider the effect when other competing products or similar items emerge.
Besides, the situation of people’s daily life is dynamic not static, whereas our study was using
photos to simulate the situation. Therefore, in the future study could employ films or
television show to create the exposure scenarios, which would be more appropriate.

References
Ahluwalia, R. and Burnkrant, R.E. (2004), “Answering questions about questions: a persuasion
knowledge perspective for understanding the effects of rhetorical questions”, Journal of
Consumer Research, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 26-42.
Blattberg, R.C., Briesch, R. and Fox, E.J. (1995), “How promotions work”, Marketing Science, Vol. 14
No. 3, pp. 122-132.
Compeau, L.D. and Grewal, D. (1998), “Comparative price advertising: an integrative review”, Journal
of Public Policy and Marketing, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 257-273.
Diamond, W.D. (1992), “Just what is a ‘dollar’s worth’? Consumer reactions to price discounts vs. Extra
product promotions”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 68 No. 3, pp. 254-270.
Diamond, W.D. and Sanyal, A. (1990), “The effect of framing on the choice of supermarket coupons”, Impact of
in Goldberg, M.E. and Pollay, R.W. (Eds), Advances in Consumer Research, Association for
Consumer Research, Provo, UT, Vol. 17, pp. 488-493. pricing tactic
Friestad, M. and Peter, W. (1994), “The persuasion knowledge model: how people cope with
persuasion
persuasion attempts”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 21 June, pp. 1-31. knowledge
Hardesty, D.M., Bearden, W.O. and Carlson, J.P. (2007), “Persuasion knowledge and consumer
reactions to pricing tactics”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 83 No. 2, pp. 199-210.
2333
Haynes, S.N., Richard, D.C.S. and Kubany, E.S. (1995), “Content validity in psychological assessment:
a functional approach to concepts and methods”, Psychological Assessment, Vol. 7 No. 3,
pp. 238-247.
Inman, J.J. and Zeelenberg, M. (2002), “Regret in repeat purchase versus switching decisions: the
attenuating role of decision justifiability”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 29 June,
pp. 116-128.
Johnson, R.C., Thomoson, C.W. and Frincke, G. (1960), “Word values, word frequency, and visual
duration thresholds”, Psychological Review, Vol. 67, pp. 332-342.
Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. (1979), “Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk”,
Econometrica, Vol. 47 No. 2, pp. 263-291.
Khan, U. and Ravi, D. (2006), “Licensing effect in consumer choice”, Journal of Marketing Research,
Vol. 43 May, pp. 259-266.
Kivetz, R. and Simonson, I. (2002), “Earning the right to indulge: effort as a determinant of customer
preferences toward frequency program rewards”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 39 May,
pp. 155-170.
Metcalfe, J. and Walter, M. (1999), “A hot/cool-system analysis of delay of gratification: dynamics of
willpower”, Psychological Review, Vol. 106 No. 1, pp. 3-19.
Mishra, A. and Himanshu, M. (2011), “The influence of price discount versus bonus pack on the
preference for virtue and vice foods”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 48 February,
pp. 196-206.
Mitchell, A.A. and Olson, J.C. (1981), “Are product attribute beliefs the only mediator of advertising
effects on brand attitude?”, Journal of Marketing Researching, Vol. 18, pp. 318-332.
Moorman, C., Diehl, K., Brinberg, D. and Kidwell, B. (2004), “Subjective knowledge, search locations,
and consumer choice”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 31 December, pp. 673-680.
Nunnally, J.C. (1978), Psychometric Theory, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Okada, E.M. (2005), “Justification effects on consumer choice of hedonic and utilitarian goods”, Journal
of Marketing Research, Vol. 42 February, pp. 43-53.
Petty, R.E. and Cacioppo, J.T. (1981), Attitudes and Persuasion: Classic and Contemporary Approaches,
Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers, Dubuque, IA.
Read, D., Loewenstein, G. and Kalyanaraman, S. (1999), “Mixing virtue and vice: combining the
immediacy effect and the diversification heuristic”, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making,
Vol. 12 December, pp. 257-273.
Shafir, E.B., Simonson, I. and Tversky, A. (1993), “Reason-based choice”, Cognition, Vol. 49 October–
November, pp. 11-36.
Strahilevitz, M. and Myers, J.G. (1998), “Donations to charity as purchase incentives: how well they
work may depend on what you are trying to sell”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 24 March,
pp. 434-446.
Wertenbroch, K. (1998), “Consumption self-control by rationing purchase quantities of virtue and
vice”, Marketing Science, Vol. 17 Fall, pp. 317-337.
Zajonc, R. (1968), “Attitudinal effects of mere exposure”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Monographs, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 1-27.
BFJ Further reading
123,7 Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. (1972), “Subjective probability: a judgment of representativeness”,
Cognitive Psychology, Vol. 3, pp. 430-454.

About the authors

Yen-Ting Chen is the master of Business Administration in National Taipei University. She has major in
the marketing, and she has received the best paper award.
2334 Li-Chi Lan is the doctor of Department of Business Administration in National Taipei University. She
has major in the international business and marketing, especially in service failure recovery. Her
research papers have been published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public
Health, and International Journal of Conflict Management, and she have presented in the 10th Annual
Academic Conference of New Paradigms of Management, 2011. Li-Chi Lan is the corresponding author
and can be contacted at: blueliki1214@hotmail.com
Wen-Chang Fang is the professor of Business Administration Department in National Taipei
University, and is a distinguished leader in international management, and education. He was served as
the Chairperson of Department during 2000–2003, and undertook the position of Chairperson of the
Graduate Institute of Information Management during 2001 and 2004. He was also served as the Dean of
Business College. Dr Fang earned his Ph.D. in Northwestern University. His research expertise includes
information management, electronic commerce, and consumer behavior. His research papers have been
published in several top journals including the Journal of Management, Journal of Information
Management, Management Review, Chiao Da Management Review, Journal of Management & Systems,
Journal of Business Ethics, etc.

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com