Abstract
Disgust represents an undesired state that signals the presence of threats in the external environment, leading to a change in needs and motivations aimed at coping with the threats. The present research aims at studying the effects of disgust in a consumer setting, proposing that once disgusted consumers show an immediate avoidance for familiar (vs. unfamiliar) brands. However, this avoidant reaction is followed by an opposite response of preference for familiar (vs. unfamiliar) brands. Moreover, conversely to the immediate response of avoidance of familiar brands, the subsequent response of preference for familiar brands is even stronger in case the consumer is depleted, showing a more deliberative nature of that response. The proposed results contribute to both emotion and consumer research debates demonstrating how an externally induced emotion, as disgust, influences consumers’ brand choice over time. Moreover, the present findings offer interesting suggestions to brand managers and retailers in order to better promoting the commercialized brands.
Highlights
Emotions influence our everyday behavior over time giving rise to different psychological patterns for which we develop opposite coping strategies
The influence of negative emotions on consumer reactions has received extended attention by previous research, especially regarding brand reactions (e.g Babin et al 1998; Romani et al 2012) and social advertising appeals (Brennan and Binney 2010), research about the effects of situational negative emotions on consumer choices seems to be less studied. This lack of research is especially verified for disgust, a negative emotion often related to anxiety disorders that involves feelings of nausea and revulsion when individuals are exposed to repulsive stimuli (Ekman 1970)
Previous research found that disgust is the underlying mechanism that explains the negative relationship between advertising content and purchase intention (Shimp and Stuart 2004), it lowers the evaluations towards an associated object (Morales and Fitzsimon 2007), and the related customer satisfaction and brand attitude (Machleit and Eroglu 2000)
Summary
Emotions influence our everyday behavior over time giving rise to different psychological patterns for which we develop opposite coping strategies. It is very likely that consumers experience disgust in their daily life (e.g., exposure to a revolting stimulus, or to a disease threat), this negative feeling is likely to influence their immediate reactions, but the subsequent ones This is quite relevant, considering that consumers are involved in several consequential choices everyday, and the study of the effect of disgust on these choices and the eventual influence of ego-depletion may be quite relevant for a consumer reasearch perspective. The nature of the immediate response is totally instinctive, and not depending by the cognitive resources available for the individual These results contribute to both emotion and consumer research debates, as they show how a negative emotion, such as disgust, can influence a typical consumer decision, that is familiar (vs unfamiliar) brand choice. The paper will discuss the found results presenting managerial implications, limitations, and further avenues for future research
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