Mental accounting and cause related marketing strategies

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to verify if people’s perception of cause related marketing (CRM) strategies is influenced by the mental accounting format used to present the price of the product and the amount of money donated to the social cause. However, such an effect is conditional on the type of product used for the campaign as the mental accounting is only expected to enhance the consumers’ perception of CRM programs supported by hedonic products and not their perception of programs supported by utilitarian products. In Experiment 1, results show that only for hedonic products an integrated mental accounting induces people to perceive the CRM program more positively than a separated one. In Experiment 2, the integrated mental accounting reduces people’s guilt about the purchase of hedonic products, therefore explaining why this manipulation has a different impact on hedonic and utilitarian products.