Consumer Attitudes
Attitudes
What is an attitude?
– Expressions of inner feelings that reflect whether a
person is favorably or unfavorably predisposed to
some object
– in marketing, “object” can be a brand, a brand
name, a service, a service provider, a retail store, a
company, an advertisement, in essence, any
marketing stimuli.
Attitudes
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attitudes are acquired, we are not born with them
attitudes can be positive or negative
attitudes may be complex and contradictory
attitudes are functional for an individual's lifestyle
attitudes have different intensities
attitudes fit our central values
attitudes are unique to each individual
attitudes can be modified and influenced by persuasion
attitudes are assumed to be linked to behaviour (e.g
purchasing)
Why, From a Marketer’s point of view,
is it important to know about Attitudes?
If a consumer is favorably disposed
towards your product or service (i.e. has
a positive attitude) then you want to
keep them so disposed
If they are unfavorably disposed or
neutral then you want to change their
attitude.
Therefore we need to know
Why Consumers Form Attitudes?
How Consumers Form Attitudes?
How to Measure Consumers Attitudes
How to Change Consumers Attitudes?
Development of Attitudes
Attitudes are learned predispositions; therefore, their
development is influenced by
–
–
–
–
–
–
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personality of the individual
family
peers
experience
education
culture
subculture, nationality
Functions of Attitudes
Utilitarian: Do the products provide some benefit or
reward? Any attitude adopted in a person’s own selfinterest
Value-expressive: Does the product say
something about who I am or would like to
be? Is it self-expressive.
Ego-defensive: Does the
product protect my self-esteem
Does it help overcome any self
doubts
Edna's plight: Bad breath. A
Listerine ad from the 1920s.
“If it’s bad you won’t be welcome…
Play safe….use listerine”
Knowledge function: does the product help me to
organize the information – does the product meet the
needs for order and structure
Rooibos ad provides reassurance that product is organic
and caffeine free
Which is more likely to be
affective in forming a positive
attitude toward a particular
brand of coffee?
Copy that said the
coffee was flavourful
Copy that said the person was
discriminating
What type of attitude function do each of the above appeal to?
Three Components of Attitudes
The ABCs of attitudes:
 The Affective Component
(feelings)
I feel good about myself when I
drive a BMW
 The Behavioral Component
(action toward object)
I will buy a BMW next time
 The Cognitive Component
(beliefs)
I think BMWs are quality cars
Attitudes and the HighInvolvement Decision Process
• Need arousal
• Information search
• Evaluation of Alternatives
– Beliefs
– Feelings
– Intention to Act
Hierarchy
of Effects
• Purchase
• Post-Purchase behaviour
Fishbein’s Multi-attribute Theory
 Fishbein’s model argues that consumers’
attitudes towards a brand derive from their
beliefs about the attributes of the brand and
their evaluations of those attributes
 Three factors influence attitude formation:
1. salient attributes for an object/product
2. extent to which consumer believes product
contains these salient attributes
3. Importance of the attribute to the consumer
Fishbein’s Multiattribute Theory
Step One: List of Attributes
Step Two: Obtain the relative importance of them
(weights). The more important the higher the weight
Step Three: Obtain the evaluation of each brand with
respect to each attribute.
(6=Excellent, 5=Very Good, 4=Good, 3=Bad, 2= Very Bad, 1=Poor)
Step Four: Apply Fishbein’s Formula to obtain the
mathematical solution
Fishbein’s Multi-attribute Theory
Aijk =  (Bijk x Iik):
–
–
–
–
–
–
where
A = Attitude toward brand/product/etc.;
i = attribute
j = brand
k = consumer
I = Importance weighting
B = Extent to which the brand is believed to
possess the attribute
Example Application of Fishbein’s
Multi-attribute Theory
 In Crowfoot, there are 3 banks: TD, CIBC, Royal.
 We would like to know the overall or general attitude
consumers have to each
 Step One: List of Attributes: customer service, hours,
products, parking facilities, etc
 Step Two: Obtain the relative importance of them
(weights). Service 2, Parking 1 Products 3, Hours 4
 Step Three: Obtain the evaluation of each bank with
respect to each attribute. (6= Excellent, 5=Very Good,
4=Good, 3=Bad, 2=Very Bad, 1=Poor)
 Step Four: Obtain the mathematical solution, applying
Fishbein’s Model.
Example Application of Fishbein’s
Multi-attribute Theory
Importance Royal
Service
Hours
Products
Parking
Total
2
4
3
1
5
3
5
2
___
39
TD
CIBC
2
5
3
2
___
35
3
3
3
2
___
29
Which Bank does the customer have the best attitude toward?
Which the worst attitude?
What would you do if you were responsible for CIBC?
Implications of Attitude Research for
Marketing Strategy
Product positioning and repositioning
Shows which attribute has a competitive
advantage and which a disadvantage
Advertising-focus on certain
attributes/benefits
Marketing research
Segmentation
Problems with Fishbein’s Model
 Measure of Attitude not equal to Behaviour
 Does not address situational factors
 Not all attitudes are equal - some strongly held others
weakly (conviction)
 Does not consider social factors e.g. influence of
friends and family ‘my family think I should buy X’
Assumes that we have been able to specify adequately
all the relevant attributes (e.g. interest rates)
Fishbein’s Theory of Reasoned Action
A refinement of his multi-attribute model
Now considers conviction with which attitude
held - more of a behavioral intention model
Introduces ideas of importance of opinions of
significant others (subjective norms) and a
consumer’s motivation to comply with the
opinions of these significant others.
Attitudes can
also apply to
ads?
Most people
hate pop-up
ads
How do the
ads influence
attitudes
towards the
brand?
Attitude-Toward-the-Ad Model
A model that proposes that a consumer forms various feelings
(affects) and judgments (cognitions) as the result of exposure
to an advertisement, which, in turn, affect the consumer’s
attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the brand.
Head on
Measuring Attitudes
Ideally one would measure
– consumers’ beliefs towards a brand
– consumers’ feelings towards owning or using the
brand
– consumers’ intentions towards purchasing the brand
In practice most measures focus on measuring
beliefs and feelings
ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT
 Semantic differential scale
 Likert scale
 Rank-order scales
ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT
Semantic Differential Scale
For each statement tick ( X ) the box that best
describes your feelings about WalMart.
Modern Store
Old- fashioned store
Low prices
High prices
Unfriendly staff
Friendly staff
Narrow product range
Wide product range
Sophisticated customers
Unsophisticated customers
ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT
Likert scale
Cost is the
most
important
consideration
when buying a
new car
Strongly
agree
disagree
Neither
agree nor
disagree
agree
Strongly
agree
1
2
3
4
5
AGREEMENT
IMPORTANCE
FREQUENCY
QUALITY
LIKELIHOOD
ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT
Rank-Order Scales
Rank the following soft-drinks from 1 (best) to 5
(worst) according to your taste preference:
Coca-Cola
_____
7-Up
_____
Dr. Pepper
_____
Pepsi-Cola
_____
Mountain Dew
_____
–Top and bottom rank choices are ‘easy’
–Middle ranks are usually most ‘difficult’
General Strategy
e.g. general attitude towards buying a car
1. elicit important attributes. E.g. reliability, safety,
economy, cost, style, performance.
2. quantify the beliefs and feelings about these
attributes by ranking the attributes according to
some scale (e.g. Likert)
3. Compare brands on
various attributes
Attitudes and Marketing Strategy
 Market research to track changes in attitude over
time and for brand comparison
 In new product development - focus on preferred
attributes
 In segmentation - focus on those attributes which
particular segments favour
 In helping tailor promotional strategies and in
measuring the effectiveness of promotions
Attitude Change
How can
marketers
change
attitudes?
The Marketer’s Challenge
 Deep seated attitudes are
internalised and become part
of the person's value system
 Attitudes are difficult to
change because they are so
important to the individual –
e.g. New Coke
What is this ad
trying to do?
“You think smoking makes
you look cool, think again.
Cigarettes stain your teeth
permanently. And there’s
nothing cool about that”
Branding
America
Persuasion
the active attempt to change attitudes
Marketing messages are designed to
persuade consumers to change
brands
The effort to persuade will
influence how to market/advertise
 Who will be depicted using the
product in the ad
 How the message should be
constructed
 What media to use
 Where to advertise
Strategies of Attitude Change
 Changing the Basic Motivational Function.
 Associating the Product With an Admired Group
or Event.
 Resolving Two Conflicting Attitudes.
 Altering Components of the Multi-attribute
Mode.
 Changing Beliefs About Competitors’ Brands.
THE ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION
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THE SOURCE
 Who is delivering the message can have a big impact
on whether it will be accepted.
 a credible source can be particularly persuasive
Expertise
Attractiveness
Trustworthiness
Objectivity
source credibility
Expertise
Source Credibility
Credibility can be enhanced if the source’s qualifications are
perceived as relevant to the product being endorsed. If they are
seen as experts.
Celebrities as Credible Sources
Awareness
Due to their fame and high profile, celebrity endorsers enable
messages to stand out and break through the media clutter.
hold the viewer's attention
a consumer is more likely to keep the television on the channel
showing a commercial with Wayne Gretzky than a commercial
with an unknown actor.
provide testimony for a product or service,
especially effective when the product has contributed to their
celebrity eg. consumers may be more likely to try a motor oil
endorsed by Al Unser, Jr. This relationship can increase a
consumer's belief and trust in the product and its benefits.
Instant credibility
when consumers see a credible celebrity endorsing a product,
consumers think that the product must be at least ‘OK’
 PR coverage:
celebrities are topical and create high PR coverage.
Celebrity-company marriages are covered by most media
 To create positive attitudes towards products and generate sales
EG for sports figures, people know they are not going to be as
good as these athletes, but having their equipment makes them
feel better.
Approximately 20% of all television commercials feature a famous
person from the world of sport, television, movies or musical
entertainment
The goal of the “got Milk”
campaign is to reverse the
30-year decline in milk
consumption by increasing
consumers’ awareness of the
nutritional value of milk and
changing their attitudes
toward the product.
 Celebrities and athletes
are appropriate endorser for
a product such as milk since
they are highly recognizable
and respected (at least most
are)
Drawbacks of using Celebrities
$$
Pepsi
Shaquille O'Neal
$25 million
Nike
Tiger Woods
$105 million
Buick
Tiger Woods
$40 million
Reebok
Venus Williams
$40 million
Reebok
Allen Iverson
$100 million
Shick
Andre Agassi
$19 million
Nike
Michael Jordan
$40 million
Drawbacks of using Celebrities
Buick Onstar
Electronic arts
Consumer cynicism
People know
celebrities get paid
a lot of money for
endorsements and
this knowledge
leads them to
cynicism about
celebrity
endorsements.
There has to be a link
between product and
celebrity
Cybill Shepherd was
endorsing beef industry
when said she did not
eat meat.
Sainsbury’s used Catherine Zeta
Jones for its recipe advertisements
when she was caught shopping in
Tesco (UK grocery stores)
Source Attractiveness
Beautiful people are used
in advertising because
 consumer's pay more
attention to ads
containing attractive
models
 degree of attractiveness
influences consumer's
product evaluation - the
more attractive the higher
we evaluate the product.
Trustworthiness
The Message
What makes a marketing message persuasive?
 stress a unique attribute or benefit of the product - USP
 showing convenience of use
 showing new product or improved features
indirect comparison with other products
 demonstration of the product in use
 demonstration of tangible results
 no principal character - i.e. more time is devoted to the product
people incidental to the message
Words
Versus
Pictures
Message
as Metaphor
Vividness
Factors
Affecting
Persuasiveness
Type of
Appeal
Repetition
Argument
Words or Pictures
Which conveys the message best?
Visual
 affects aesthetic evaluations
 stress on creativity
factual information conveyed poorly
Verbal
 Takes more time for consumer to process
 Better suited to high involvement medium eg print
 harder to remember therefore more
repetition needed
verbal elements are more effective when
reinforced by an accompanying picture
Bloomingdales 1898
Throughout the 20th century pictures
have gradually replaced words.
Early advertising tried to persuade the
reader with a series of facts about the
product contained in the ad.
Corn Flakes, 1933 Royal Crown Cola, 1963 Cosmopolitan, 2004
VIVIDNESS
 precise descriptions or vivid graphics
 command attention
 remembered more than vague messages
Companies that focused attention on their culture kept employee
turnover to just 6.2% compared to 20% for industry at large.
Vs
Companies that focused attention on the culture kept employee
turnover lower than for the industry at large.
according to industry sources three out of every four watch
breakdowns are due to water getting into the case
Vs
according to industry sources, many watch breakdowns are due to
water getting into the case
Repetition
 is the mother of teachers
increases familiarity and brand awareness
The idea behind the use of repetition in advertising is that
we, like Pavlov's dog, will become conditioned to behave in a
certain manner; namely, we will respond by buying the
product
Not only are ads repeated, but repetition is also used
within the ads or commercials themselves
 too much repetition leads to habituation -ignores stimulus because of boredom.
consumer
boredom can be
eliminated by slightly
varying the content of
ads around a common
theme
Constructing the Argument
One-Versus two-sided arguments
One-sided arguments
 persuasive messages
that support one side
of an issue or one
product - stress on
attributes and benefits
 cannot address
questions
 usually more
persuasive with
audiences who have
little or no
comprehension of an
issue..
two-sided arguments
provide information
about both positive and
negative attributes of a
product or service
Negative attributes
trivialised or refuted
 Help to differentiate
the product
 works well when
receivers are not
already loyal to the
product
Why would a marketer want to draw attention to
the negative aspects of their product?
 audience may pay more attention to it.
When topics are made more interesting or involving
messages are processed more thoroughly.
 more credible than one-sided ads because they
admit that the advertised brands have shortcomings.
those exposed to the two-sided messages were more
likely to have a more favourable attitude after the
exposure.
provides a built-in counter claim, or opposing
message.
Comparative advertisement
 type of two-sided
message
 includes positive
attributes about a
product or service and
some negative aspects of
its competitor's product
product A is better than
product B.”
Can be direct or
indirect.
the negative inclusions
may lead a consumer to
believe that there are
more positive attributes to
associated with the
product or service when it
admits that it has
competitors.
 often works in pricedbased advertising in print
media, where
competitors' prices are
compared side-by-side.
This ad positions Savin against Xerox. The X is obviously in
reference to Xerox. Canon and Mita are also mentioned in the ad
Pitfalls of Comparative Advertising
Confusing
 Every mention of a
competitor's name or
product in an advertisement
increases the probability
that the audience will think
the ad is for that competitor.
audience may also doubt
the credibility of the biased
ad
Free exposure for the
compared brand
http:/www.arbys.com/features/arbys_commercial.php?comm_nbr=1
Pitfalls of Comparative Advertising
false or misleading statements could lead to litigation.
Eg. 1992 Ad for Maytag dishwasher said that "Nobody, But Nobody
Cleans Better than Maytag or Holds More Dishes!"
supported by results of a proprietary test. Whirlpool argued that its
dishwasher cleaned better based on independent tests.
Comparative Advertising
The FTC considers comparative advertising
deceptive unless:
1. The comparisons are based on fact.
2. The differences advertised are statistically
significant.
3. The comparisons involve meaningful issues.
4. The comparisons are to meaningful
competitors.
Emotional
Versus
Rational
Fear
Types of
Message
Appeals
Humourous
Sex
EMOTIONAL APPEALS
 emotional
versus rational appeals
to head or heart
 depends on the product and the
type of relationship the consumers
have with it. - ads for cars focus on
emotion
 recall for ad contents tends to be
better for thinking ads than for
feeling ads
 Products are sold today through
the use of emotional appeals and
identifications.
This ad created an
avalanche of response by
featuring a call to action
combined with a highly
charged emotional appeal.
images and text in this ad
are designed to have the
maximum emotional effect
for one purpose: to
persuade the reader to
make an act of charity
Heart or Head?
Humorous appeals
Effective humour surprises the audience, and at the same time,
speaks some sort of truth.
The goal in using humour in advertising is to make the audience
laugh, and, more importantly, have them walk away thinking "this
company understands me"
Advantages of Humorous Appeals
 Effective at catching people's attention.
Recognition scores high for humorous ads
 Inhibit consumer from counter arguing which
increases the likelihood of message acceptance
 more effective when brand is clearly identified –
creates a positive attitude
 subtle humour usually best
Humor enhances liking.
Brands will be remembered more if they are intimately entwined in
the humour
Humor is more
appropriate for lowinvolvement products and
feeling-oriented products
than for high-involvement
products.
1996 advertisers spent
$10 billion on humorous ads
out of the total $100 billion
spent on all ads
72 percent of the 100 Best
Commercials of All Time use
humor to reach the target
audience
Pitfalls of Humorous Appeals
 funny material can dominate the message and thus the
product recognition is lost
Culturally relative
Reduces Comprehension
a punch line that doesn't pay off – can backfire
Fear Factor
 Highlight the risk or negative
consequences of not using the
brand or of engaging in unsafe
behaviour
 Fear of social physical harm
or social disapproval
 Fear stimulates message
involvement
 common factor for publicpolicy issues e.g. stop smoking
Pitfall - distract customer from
focal product (ie. dwell on the
fearful event rather than the
proposed solution)
Ads with fear appeals are also effective in capturing
people’s attention. However, self-defense mechanisms
(distraction and counter arguing) may decrease its evaluative
effects
 Fear appeals are usually most effective when only a
moderate amount of fear is induced increasing levels of fear
do no result in increased change
Which ad is more effective?
And this one…
ATTITUDE CHANGE (cont’d..)
Attitude Change Induced by Shock: “Meth – Not Even
Once”
a solution to the problem should be presented. otherwise consumers
will tune out the ad since they can do nothing it solve the problem
Sex Appeal
Resonance
 a literary device that employs a
play on words (a double meaning)
to communicate a product benefit.
 puns are used as “attentiongrabbers
The ad we’ve all
been waiting for:
THE SACK O'
SAUCE IN A
CAN O' MEAT!