Consumer social identity: cool and single or caring and attached

Abstract

This research examines identity-based brand judgments by exploring consumers' preferences for the media environment and their ensuing perceptions of social identity congruence between themselves and media characters. Using lab experiments, we provide evidence that consumers regard brands differently when media characters are presented in a social environment versus an isolated environment, and that such variance is dependent on a consumer's key salient social identity dimensions: gender and ethnicity. Specifically, our evidence indicates that male and Western consumers prefer an isolated environment, whereas female and Asian consumers prefer a social environment. This preference translates to brand preferences and in some instances purchase intention. Further, when the branded product is identified as private, females and Asian consumers retain their preferences. This suggests that images of being cool and single in an isolated environment or caring and attached in a social environment should be tailored wisely for specific market segments.