Chapter 8

Attitude Change and

Interactive Communications

CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR, 8e
Michael Solomon
Chapter Objectives
When you finish this chapter you should understand
why:
• The communications model identifies several
important components for marketers when they try
to change consumers’ attitudes toward products and
services.
• The consumer who processes such a message is not
necessarily the passive receiver of information
marketers once believed him to be.
• Several factors influence a message source’s
effectiveness.

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Chapter Objectives (cont.)
• The way a marketer structures his message
determines how persuasive it will be.
• Audience characteristics help to determine whether
the nature of the source or the message itself will be
relatively more effective.

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Changing Attitudes Through
Communication
Persuasion: effectiveness of marketing
communications to change attitudes
What influences people to change their minds or
comply:

Reciprocity Scarcity

Authority Consistency

Liking Consensus

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Tactical Communications Options
• Who will be source of
message?
• How should message be
constructed?
• What media will transmit
message?
• What target market
characteristics will influence
ad’s acceptance?

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Traditional Communication Model
• Communications model: a number of elements are
necessary for communication to be achieved

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Figure 8.1 8-6

Interactive Communications
• Consumers have many more choices available and
greater control to process messages
• Permission marketing: marketer will be much more
successful in persuading consumers who have
agreed to let him try

Click to view
Quicktime video on Sony Metreon’s
interactive entertainment store

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Updated Communications Model
• Consumers are now proactive in communications
process: VCRs, DVRs, video-on-demand, pay-per-
view TV, Caller ID, Internet

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Figure 8.2 8-8

New Message Formats
• M-commerce (mobile commerce): marketers
promote goods and services via wireless devices
• Blogging: people post messages to the Web in diary
form
• New forms of blogging:
• Moblogging
• Video blogging (vlogging)
• Podcasting
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
• Flogs (fake blogs)
• Twittering
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The Source
• Source effects: the same words by different people
can have very different meanings
• A “source”often a spokesperson in an ad—may be
chosen because s/he is expert, famous, attractive, or
a “typical” consumer
• What makes a good source?
• Source credibility: a source’s perceived expertise,
objectivity, or trustworthiness
• Source attractiveness: movie star, super model

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Sleeper Effect
• Sometimes sources become
irritating or disliked
• Sleeper effect: over time,
disliked sources can still
get a message across
effectively
• We “forget” about negative
source while changing our
attitudes

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Source Biases
• Consumer beliefs about product can be weakened
by a source perceived to be biased
• Knowledge bias: source’s knowledge about a topic
is not accurate
• Reporting bias: source has required knowledge but
source’s willingness to convey it is compromised

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Hype versus Buzz
• Buzz: authentic message generated by customers
• Hype: inauthentic message generated by corporate
propaganda

Hype Buzz

Advertising Word-of-mouth
Overt Covert
Corporate Grass-roots
Fake Authentic
Skepticism Credibility
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Table 8.1 8-13

Hype versus Buzz (cont.)
• “Stealth” buzz building: marketers create buzz by
implying that they had nothing to do with the buzz
• Example: Blair Witch Project

 Click for
Blairwitch.com

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Source Attractiveness
• Source attractiveness: perceived social value of
source
• Physical appearance
• Personality
• Social status
• Similarity

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“What Is Beautiful Is Good”
• Halo effect: people who rank high on one
dimension are assumed to excel at other
dimensions
• Example: good-looking people are thought to be
smarter, cooler, happier
• Physically attractive source leads to attitude
change
• Directs attention to marketing stimuli
• Beauty = source of information

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Star Power
• Celebrities as communications sources
• Tiger Woods—$62 million/year in endorsements!
• Famous faces capture attention and are
processed more efficiently by the brain
• Enhance company image and brand attitudes
• Celebrities embody cultural and product meanings
• Q-Score for celebrity endorsers
• Match-up hypothesis: celebrity’s image and that of
product are similar

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Discussion
• Many marketers use celebrity endorsers to
persuade. These spokespeople often are “cool”
musicians, athletes, or stars.
• Who would overall be the most effective celebrity
endorser today, and why?
• Who would be the least effective, and why?

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Nonhuman Endorsers
• Often, celebrities’ motives are
suspect as endorsers of
mismatched products
• Thus, marketers seek
alternative endorsers:
• Cartoon characters
• Mascots/animals
• Avatar: cyberspace
character that can be
moved around in a virtual
world
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The Message
• Positive and negative effects of elements in TV commercials
• Most important feature: stressing unique product
attribute/benefit

Positive Effects Negative Effects

Showing convenience of use
Showing new product/improved
features
Casting background (i.e., people
are incidental to message)
Extensive information on
components, ingredients, nutrition
Outdoor setting (message gets
lost)
Large number of onscreen
characters

Indirect comparison to other Graphic displays

products
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Table 8.2 8-20

The Message (cont.)
• Message: is it conveyed in words or pictures?
• Message issues facing a marketer
• How often should message be repeated?
• Should it draw an explicit conclusion?
• Should it show both sides of argument?
• Should it explicitly compare product to
competitors?

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Sending the Message
• Visual versus verbal communication of message
• Visual images: big emotional impact
• Verbal message: high-involvement situations
• Factual information
• More effective when reinforced by a framed
picture
• Require more frequent exposures (due to decay)

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Dual Component of Brand Attitudes

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Figure 8.3 8-23

Vividness
• Powerful
description/graphics
command attention and are
strongly embedded in
memory
• Concrete discussion of
product attribute

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Repetition and the Two-Factor Theory
• Two-factor theory: fine line between familiarity and
boredom

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Figure 8.4 8-25

One- versus Two-Sided Arguments
• One-sided: supportive arguments
• Two-sided: both positive and negative information
• Refutational argument: negative issue is raised,
then dismissed
• Positive attributes should refute presented
negative attributes
• Effective with well-educated and not-yet-loyal
audiences

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Comparative Advertising
• Comparative advertising: message compares two+
recognizable brands on specific attributes
• “Unlike McDonalds, all of Arby's chicken
sandwiches are made with 100% all-natural
chicken”
• But, confrontational approach can result in source
derogation
• An ad for a new product should not:
• Merely, say it is better than leading brand
• Compare itself to an obviously superior
competitor

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Emotional versus Rational Appeals
• Appeal to the head or to the heart?
• Many companies use an emotional strategy when
consumers do not find differences among brands
• Especially brands in well-established, mature
categories (e.g., cars and greeting cards)
• Recall of ad contents tends to be better for
“thinking” ads
• Although conventional ad effectiveness measures
may not be entirely valid to assess emotional ads

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Sex Appeals
• Sexual appeals vary by country
• Nude models generate negative feelings/tension
among same-sex consumers
• Erotic ads draw attention, but strong sexual
imagery may make consumers less likely to:
• Buy a product (unless product is related to sex)
• Process and recall ad’s content

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Discussion
• Name ads that rely on sex appeal to sell products
• What benefits are communicated in the ad?
• Is the message implicit or explicit? How?

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Humorous Appeals
• Different cultures have different senses of humor
• Humorous ads get attention
• They’re a source of distraction
• They inhibit counterarguing, thus increasing
message acceptance

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Humorous Appeals (cont.)
Humor is more effective when it:
• Doesn’t “swamp” message of clearly defined brand
• Doesn’t make fun of potential consumer
• Is appropriate to product’s image

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Fear Appeals
• Emphasize negative consequences that can occur
unless consumer changes behavior/attitude
• Fear is common in social marketing
• Most effective when:
• Threat is moderate
• Solution to problem is presented
• Source is highly credible
• The strongest threats are not always the most
persuasive

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Message As Art Form
Advertisers use literary elements to communicate
benefits and meaning
• Allegory: story about an abstract concept
personified in a fictional character
• Metaphor: two dissimilar objects in a close
relationship (“A is B”)
• Simile: compares two objects (“A is like B”)
• Resonance: play on words with pictures

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Examples of Advertising Resonance
Product Headline Visual

Embassy Suites “This Year, We’re Unwrapping Chocolate kisses with hotel
Suites by the Dozen” names underneath each

Toyota auto parts “Out Lifetime Guarantee May Man holding a shock absorber
Come as a Shock”

Bucks filter “Herd of These?” Cigarette pack with a picture of

cigarettes a stag

Bounce fabric “Is There Something Creeping Woman’s dress bunched up on

softener Up Behind You?” her back due to static

Pepsi “This Year, Hit the Beach Pepsi bottle cap lying on the
Topless” sand

ASICS athletic “We Believe Women Should Woman jogging in a rural

shoes Be Running the Country” setting

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Table 8.3 8-35

Forms of Story Presentation
• Lecture: speech in which
the source speaks directly
to the audience
• Attempts to
persuade • Drama: story that draws
• Cognitive viewers into the action
responses may • Characters
occur indirectly address
the audience
• Interact with each
other in an
imaginary setting
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Discussion
Sell the steak or the sizzle?
• What’s more important in an advertisement:
• What is said? or
• Who says it?
• Give examples of ads that use one strategy versus
the other. What types of ads are more effective for
each strategy?

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Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of
Persuasion
• ELM: assumes that once consumers receive
message, they begin to process it

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Figure 8.5 8-38

Support for the ELM
• Variables crucial to the ELM:
• Message-processing involvement
• Argument strength
• Source characteristics
• High-involvement consumers are swayed by
powerful arguments
• Low-involvement consumers are swayed by source
attractiveness

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