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.
– Opinions
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 then
you want to keep them so disposed
If they are unfavorably disposed then
you want to change their attitude.
Therefore we need to know
Why Consumers Form Attitudes?
(The Functions of Attitudes)
How Consumers Form Attitudes?
(Attitude Formation)
How to Measure Consumers Attitudes
(The Functions of Attitudes)
How Consumers Change Their Attitudes?
(Attitude Change and Persuasion)
Development of Attitudes
Attitudes are learned predispositions; therefore, their
development is influenced by
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–
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–
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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 selfexpressive.
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 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
Hierarchy of Effects: The
Three Components of Attitude
Gets its name from advertising
– The effects which advertisers seek to generate
from mass advertising appeals - reinforce
positive beliefs/ lessen negative ones, create
positive feelings, stimulate intention to
purchase
– Beliefs - cognitive component
– Feelings - affective component
– Intention - behavioural component
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: Obtain the mathematical solution, applying
Fishbein’s Formula.
Fishbein’s Multi-attribute Theory
Aijk =  (Bijk x Iik):
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–
–
–
–
–
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
clients have to each
 Step One: List of Attributes: quickness in service,
office hours, locality, parking facilities, etc
 Step Two: Obtain the relative importance of them
(weights). Service 1, Parking 2 Locality 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
Locality
Parking
Total
1
4
3
2
4
5
4
2
___
40
TD
CIBC
3
3
3
2
___
28
1
4
3
5
___
36
Which Bank does the customer have the best attitude toward?
Which the worst attitude?
What would you do if you were responsible for TD?
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
 Distribution: select outlets for which consumers
have favorable attitudes
Problems with Fishbein’s Model
 Measure of Attitude not equal to Behaviour
 Does not address situational factors e.g.
 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.
Attitude-Behavior Consistency
 Consumer Characteristics
Resources, experience, degree of conviction
with which attitude is held
 Situational Characteristics
 Intervening time, unforeseen events, social
influences, message repetition
 Measurement Characteristics
– timing of measurement, reliability of
measurement
Attitude-Behavior Consistency
A positive attitude toward a product does not
necessarily mean that the consumer will buy
Attitude-behavior consistency, the extent to
which attitudes lead to purchase, is determined
by a variety of consumer, situational, and
measurement factors
Consumers can also have attitudes towards the act of buying
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.
Measuring Attitudes
Ideally one would measure
– consumers’ beliefs towards a product class and a
brand
– consumers’ feelings towards the product class
and owning or using the brand
– consumers’ intentions towards purchasing the
brand
In practice most measures focus on
measuring beliefs and feelings
ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT
 Likert scale
 Semantic differential scale
 Rank-order scales
Semantic Differential Scale
For each statement tick ( X ) the box that best
describes your feelings about K-Mart.
Modern Store
Old- fashioned store
Low prices
High prices
Unfriendly staff
Friendly staff
Narrow product range
Wide product range
Sophisticated customers
Unsophisticated customers
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
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,
security, economy, cost, style, acceleration.
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
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?
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.
Interactive Communications
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.
source credibility
 a credible source can be particularly persuasive
Expertise
Attractiveness
Trustworthiness
Objectivity
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 this campaign
has been to reverse the 30year decline in milk
consumption by increasing
consumers’ awareness of the
nutritional value of milk and
changing their attitudes
toward the product.
Terrell Davis is an
appropriate endorser for a
product such as milk.
Davis drew attention to the
ad since he is a highly
recognizable athlete and he
fits well with the message
that milk can help build
muscle.
Drawbacks of using Celebrities
$$
Pepsi
Shaquille O'Neal
$25 million
Nike
Tiger Woods
$40 million
Reebok
Venus Williams
$40 million
Reebok
Allen Iverson
$100 million (lifetime)
Shick
Andre Agassi
$19 million
Nike
Michael Jordan
$40 million
Drawbacks of using Celebrities
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)
Guidelines For selecting a spokesperson (FRED)
Familiarity: The target market must recognize the celebrity, and
perceive the person as friendly, likeable, and trustworthy. The more
familiar an endorser, the more likely consumers are to buy the
endorsed product
Relevance For credibility there should be some link between the
celebrity and the product, and between the celebrity and the
audience. It is important for audience to identify with the celebrity.
E.g. older consumers feel a tie to Arnold Palmer. If consumers can
associate with the endorser, they will feel more comfortable
accepting and buying the product or service.
Esteem: Consumers must respect celebrity for the commercial
credibility.
Differentiation: The public must see the endorser as different from
all the rest. Michael Jordan is an example of a celebrity that stands
apart from the normal athlete, one of the contributing factors to his
success as an endorser.
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
 people incidental to the message
 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
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
 don't convey factual information well
Verbal
 Take 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 Puerto Rican Rum, 1974 Cosmopolitan, 2003
Small Print:
"MAD AS A WET HEN? That's
natural when little annoyances
ruffle you. But the psychological
fact is: pleasure helps your
disposition. That's why everyday
pleasures, like smoking for
instance, are important. If you're a
smoker, you're wise to choose the
cigarette that gives the most
pleasure. And that's a Camel!"
"Gene Nelson, screen and stage
star, says: 'I've tried 'em all. It's
Camels for me!' "
1950s
VIVIDNESS
 precise descriptions or vivid graphics
 command attention
 remembered more than vague messages
Companies that focused attention on the 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.
• By presenting the opposing side, the advertiser causes its
audience to question the product or service.
•By questioning it, the individuals are made to think about the
attributes.
•The more these attributes are considered...the longer the
product or service is in the mind of the consumer.
 When topics are made more interesting or involving messages are
processed more thoroughly.
•Consumers think more highly of products, brands, and services
which make them think.
•The process is viewed as novel and pleasant.
 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.
•That is: the negative aspects of the message can yield a positive,
desired attitude after exposure
provides a built-in counter claim, or opposing message.
•By providing only mild negative information to the consumer,
the consumer is prevented from concocting potentially worse
negative images on their own.
•Thus, it leads the consumer to perceive that the positive
attributes presented are the stronger attributes.
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
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.
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
advertised brand or of engaging in unsafe behaviour
 Fear of social physical harm or social disapproval
 Fear stimulates message involvement
 common factor for public-policy issues e.g. stop smoking
 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
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
ATTITUDES
Which ad is more effective?
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