Promotion- vs. PreventionFocused Youth Consumers
-- Persuasiveness of Antismoking Ads
中国市场营销中心
中山大学 管理学院
May 2006
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报告的目的

给大家介绍一个新兴的有关个体自我调管 (self
regulation) 的心理学理论

用一个研究实例向大家演示该理论对消费者研究的
指导意义及其在该领域里的应用

给大家展示一个典型的西方消费者试验实证研究 Experiment study
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Which Ad Is More Persuasive?
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Which Ad Is More Persuasive?
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It depends
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
?
Boundary conditions
Why are boundary conditions important?
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It is the reason and base for market segmentation
For example,
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Since male vs. female consumers respond differently to the
same marketing strategy, marketers design different
Products for the two segments, charge different Price, sell
the product at different Place, and use different Promotion
strategy
The goal of many, if not most, consumer research is to
identify the boundary conditions for various marketing
phenomena
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Regulatory Focus Theory

Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins 1997,
American Psychologist) has emerged as
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A powerful new theory
For predicting how advertising persuasion
might depend on a viewer characteristic

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called the viewers’ regulatory focus
Currently, one of the hottest consumer
research topic
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Regulatory Focus Theory

At any moment in time, an individual is
guided by one of two regulatory foci

Promotion Focus
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Prevention Focus
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Motivated to make advancements
Pay attention to achievement information
Motivated to attain security
Pay attention to safety information
Predisposition; approx. 50/50 split (Higgins 1987)
Situational activation
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Two Types of Consumers
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Two types of consumers
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Promotion-focused consumers
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Prevention-focused consumers
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Motivated by achievements and advancements
Motivated by security and safety
Behaviors of adults are steered by regulatory
focus

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Preference for status quo (Chernev 2004)
Arguments vs. affective responses (Pham & Avnet
2004)
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Two Types of Youths or One?

Are there two types of youth consumers?
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

Promotion- vs. prevention-focused
No empirical evidence
Many social advertising messages adopt a
prevention orientation,

e.g., antismoking ad: smoking causes lung
cancers (Pechmann et al. 2003)
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Two Types of Youths or One?

Research in adolescent psychology tends to
indicate youths are predominantly preventionfocused

Stressful transitions and negative life events

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Emotional changes
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More frequent and intense negative emotions and emotional turmoil
(Buchanan et al. 1992)
Cognitive changes
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Bodily changes, transition to schools, peer expectations, and
relationships and roles within the family (Larson et al. 2002)
Envision social threats to their well-being that they never
previously considered (Larson and Richards 1994)
Self-control

Psychological immaturity, or weak inhibitory control
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Pursue reckless and risky activities (Cauffman & Steinberg 2000)
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Two Types of Youths or One?

Consumer research highlights another
aspect of youth behavior – demonstrate
self-worth

Adolescents are highly attuned to image advertising

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Look better, feel better, attract sexual interest, and
impress friends (Masten 2004)
Interest in high-status products with image (vs.
functional) attributes (Solomon 1983)
Symbolic interactionism theory (Solomon 1992)

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Consumers buy products not for functional attributes but
rather for image attributes as consumption symbols
In periods of transition, a person’s uncertainty about his
ability to attain a desired role state can cause a greater
reliance on consumption symbols
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Two Types of Youths or One?

Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins 1997)

RF develops from early childhood socialization
experiences such as caretaker-child interactions

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Promotion focus is instilled when caretakers
repeatedly set up opportunities for the child to
engage in rewarding activities
Prevention focus is implanted when caretakers
constantly train the child to be alert to potential
dangers
RF roots in early childhood development &
further develop in adolescence
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Promotion vs. Prevention-Focused
Youths

Two types of youths
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Promotion focused youths
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Prevention focused youths
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Motivated to realize achievements & accomplishments
Motivated to meet responsibilities & security
Distinct motivation process
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Motivated by different types of pleasures, though in
general both are driven to approach pleasure
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Promotion -- pleasure of social approval
Prevention -- pleasure of evading social disapproval
Approach same end-state & fulfill same goal for
different reasons
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Promotion vs. Prevention-Focused
Youths: An Example

One effective approach is to convey that
smoking leads to social disapproval (Flynn et al.
1992; Pechmann et al. 2003)

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Prevention focus
Not smoking to avoid social disapproval
Other youths might respond better to
messages about how not smoking leads to
social approval
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Promotion focus
Not smoking to attain social approval
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Four Antismoking Messages
Message Frame
Positive
Approval
Message
Focus
Disapproval
Negative
Attain
Approval
Forgo
Approval
Avoid
Disapproval
Incur
Disapproval
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Four Antismoking Messages
Message Frame
Positive
Negative
Benefit
Message
Focus
Cost
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Study Overview
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Subjects
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Experimental Design
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About 1,200; 9th graders; 5 local high schools
2 x 2 x 2: Message Focus, Message Frame, and
Viewer Regulatory Focus
Between-subjects factorial
Regulatory focus measured in Study 1;
Regulatory focus manipulated in Study 2; Results
were virtually identical to those in Study 1
Main dependent variable

Intention not to smoke
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3.5
3
Control
Cost-Negative
Cost-Positive
Benefit-Negative
Benefit-Positive
4
4
3.5
3
Messages
*: significantly different from other messages, p < .05
Control
4.5
*
4.5
Cost-Negative
5
Cost-Positive
5
Benefit-Negative
Promotion Focus
Benefit-Positive
*
Intention Not to Smoke
Findings
Prevention Focus
Messages
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Marketing Implications
Use for
Prevention focused
consumers
Use for
Promotion focused
consumers
Social Marketing
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Marketing Implications
Use for
Prevention focused
consumers
Use for
Promotion focused
consumers
Consumer Marketing
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