Abstract
In the present study, using both implicit and explicit measures, we addressed the issue of whether strongly developed relationships towards brands could be modified through the use of evaluative conditioning. Using an online survey, individual participant brand lists were created, and formed the basis of this experiment. Participants were then exposed to conditioning during a longitudinal study. Throughout the experiment, a combination of explicit and implicit measures was used to assess changes in attitude. Specifically, participants were asked to rate the brand names on a Likert-type scale. Simultaneously, changes in the brains electrical activity in response to the brands were recorded via electroencephalography (EEG). Upon completion of this task, participants underwent two Implicit Association Tests (IAT; one for liked brands and one for disliked brands). There were two main findings of this study. Firstly, no significant changes in attitude were observed via the use of explicit measures, and those that were found relating to the IAT were regarded as questionable. Secondly, EEG presented consistent results which showed that conditioning elicited changes in cortical activity towards both liked and disliked brands, which suggest it may be a useful tool in measuring the impact of evaluative conditioning that is not reflected in verbal responses.
Highlights
For the majority of existing businesses, progressive growth is stimulated by the successful marketing of products and/or services
Implicit Association Test (IAT) and self-report measures appear to be capable of distinguishing between liked and disliked brand names at baseline and after subsequent conditioning, our results indicate that they are incapable of detecting changes in strong and established brand attitudes as a result of evaluative conditioning
The current research adds to the vast amount of research that promotes the inclusion of implicit measures to assess brand attitude with a strong emphasis on EEG
Summary
For the majority of existing businesses, progressive growth is stimulated by the successful marketing of products and/or services. Consumers are driven to purchase brands or products they like, and avoid those they don’t. Marketers are constantly looking to modify consumer’s attitudes towards their brands or products. The most utilised method of changing consumer attitudes is evaluative conditioning [1]. This process involves the repeated pairing of a conditioned stimulus (CS; e.g., a brand name) with an unconditioned stimulus (US; e.g., affective sound or picture). The repeated pairings result in a transfer of affect from the US to the CS. A well-known example of evaluative conditioning in advertising, are the “Just Do It” commercials run by Nike
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