Consumer satisfaction and confirmation of habits of comprehension: The effect of inductive print advertisements – Peircean comments

Abstract

The purpose of this article is twofold: First, within a Peircean framework it shall be demonstrated how there is a relation between the compositional structure of certain types of print advertisements and their bringing about inductive comprehension, and how the consumer can be understood as a bundle of habits. It is the assumption that advertising that supports an inductive effect particularly appeals to the cognitive tendency of habit formation in the consumer. Second, it is asked whether advertisements that predominantly invite inductive processes of comprehension also influence the formation of consumer satisfaction; the perspective is that of the confirmation paradigm within advertisement research. Inductive advertisements support cognitive habit formation through confirmation, and the confirmation paradigm explains exactly consumer satisfaction with reference to confirmation. Hence, the article can be seen as a contribution to a Peircean inspired semiotics of advertising that also concerns the discussion of some of the many processes and parameters active in the influence and formation of consumer satisfaction.