Hedonic Products Research Articles

Chinese cultural element in brand logo and purchase intention

PurposeThis paper aims to assess the effects of the Chinese cultural element in the brand logo (CCEBL)-product function congruence and CCEBL-brand image congruence on consumer-brand identification and subsequent purchase intention. The authors also explore the moderating role of cultural element authenticity in the process of consumer-brand identification formation.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was conducted in China between January and February 2021. A total of 340 valid responses were collected and analyzed. A bootstrap method was employed to verify the hypotheses.FindingsCCEBL-product function congruence and CCEBL-brand image congruence significantly improve consumers' purchase intentions, and the effects vary among product categories. Consumer-brand identification mediates these relationships. Finally, the relationships between CCEBL-product function congruence, CCEBL-brand image congruence, and consumer-brand identification are moderated by cultural element authenticity.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies to investigate how local cultural elements in brand logos affect purchase intentions in the context of ethnocentrism. Additionally, this study advances the understanding of brand logo design by explaining and comparing the differences in the effectiveness of local cultural elements in brand logos among utilitarian and hedonic products. Additionally, this study links authenticity to cultural marketing and thus contributes to the literature.

제품유형과 통제욕구가 소비자의 자율쇼핑 시스템 채택의향에 미치는 영향

Purpose: With the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous technology, automation has changed many aspects of the retail industry. This research explored the nascent but essential topic of how consumers respond to autonomous shopping systems to which consumers delegate substantial parts of shopping decisions and tasks. Autonomous shopping systems have changed the shopping process tremendously by reducing or eliminating the need for human decision-making. Recommend systems offer personalized recommendations and take a supporting role, but autonomous shopping systems go beyond providing suggestions or recommendations by actively taking over shopping processe without consumers’ intervention. Removing the decision-making process offers advantages such as saving time and effort or alleviating cognitive tradeoffs. On the other hand, consumers may be reluctant to adopt autonomous shopping systems due to the lack of perceived control or higher uncertainty of decision satisfaction. In this study, two experiments were conducted to see when consumers’ adoption intention toward autonomous shopping systems increases by focusing on the moderating role of hedonic vs. utilitarian product type and consumers’ desire for control. Research design, data, and methodology: Study 1 was conducted to verify that the product type moderates the effect of the shopping system type on consumers’ attitudes toward the shopping system, including product evaluation and shopping system adoption intention. The experiment used a 2 × 2 between-subjects factorial design of the shopping system type (recommend system vs. autonomous shopping system) and product type (utilitarian product vs. hedonic product). One hundred and forty-one responses were used in the analysis. The purpose of Study 2 was to test the moderating role of consumers’ desire for control in the effect of shopping system type on attitudes toward the shopping system. For this experiment, a 2 × 2 between-subjects factorial design of shopping system type (recommendation system vs. autonomous shopping system) and desire for control (low vs. high) was used. One hundred and sixty-one responses were used in the analysis. Results: Study 1 found that consumers’ attitudes toward autonomous shopping systems differ by product type. For the hedonic product, product evaluation and shopping system adoption intention was higher in recommend system than autonomous shopping system. For the utilitarian product, however, there was no difference in product evaluation and adoption intention between recommend system and autonomous shopping system. Study 2 revealed that the desire for control could be a psychological barrier to autonomous shopping system acceptance. Specifically, for consumers with a low desire for control, there was no difference in product evaluation and adoption intention between recommend system and autonomous shopping system. On the contrary, for consumers with a high desire for control, product evaluation and adoption intention were lower in the autonomous shopping system than the recommend system. Conclusions: This research provides several theoretical and managerial contributions by adding new insights into the psychology of automation and human-technology interactions in the retail industry. First, this study extends the literature by addressing whether hedonic vs. utilitarian product type leads to the preference for or resistance to autonomous shopping systems. The results suggest that the autonomous shopping system would be more effective in cases of shopping utilitarian (vs. hedonic) products. Managers could apply an effective shopping system introduction in a way that is aligned with the target products. When hedonic attributes are relatively more important, promoting products with recommend system is desirable. On the other hand, when utilitarian attributes are relatively more important, selling products with the autonomous shopping system would be more effective. Second, when the desire for control is high (vs. low), consumers are less willing to adopt the autonomous shopping system. Consistent with this result, marketers should establish and apply an effective marketing strategy by adjusting the autonomy level of the shopping system according to the consumers’ desire for control.

The Interaction of Purchasing Factors in Hedonic Shoppers

Geçmişte yapılan çalışmalar, bireylerin alışveriş süreçlerine dair bilinmeyenleri açıklamaya başlamış olsa da hala tüketici zihnini anlamak tam anlamıyla mümkün olamamaktadır. Tüketici davranışlarına dair yapılan her çalışma, bu bilinmezliği ortadan kaldırmak adına, literatüre katkı sunmaktadır. “Tüketicilerin satın alma davranışlarına etki eden hangi gösterge, hangi hedonik alışveriş motivasyonu içerisinde daha etkilidir?” sorusuna yanıt aramak için yapılan bu çalışma, tüketicilerin satın alma kararlarını verirken yaşadıkları karmaşanın çözümü adına, karar verme yöntemlerinden DEMATEL tekniği kullanılarak hazırlanmıştır. Tüketicilerin satın alma davranışlarına etki eden göstergelerin, hedonik alışveriş motivasyonlarına göre nasıl konumlandıklarını anlamak amacıyla hedonik ürün listesinde yer alan ürünleri yakın zamanda tercih etmiş bireylerden veri toplanmıştır. Katılımcıların hem hedonik alışveriş motivasyonlarını hem de satın alma davranışlarına etki eden göstergelerini bölümlendirerek analize devam edilmiştir. Herhangi bir hedonik alışveriş motivasyonun 3’ün üzerinde hesaplanması (5’li likert için) katılımcının ilgili motivasyona sahip olduğuna yorumlanmıştır. Benzer şekilde, tüketicilerin satın alma davranışlarına etki eden göstergelerde de katılımcıların verdikleri cevaplara göre bir hiyerarşi elde edilmiştir. Hedonik alışveriş motivasyonuna sahip olduğu belirlenen katılımcılar için, DEMATEL analizi yardımıyla tüketicilerin satın alma davranışlarına etki eden göstergeler arasındaki etki ve önemleri hesaplanmıştır. Bu yöntem ile satın alma davranışına etki eden göstergeler arasındaki nedenselliğin yönü de ortaya çıkartılmıştır. Araştırma sonuçlarına göre, bireylerin sosyalleşmek için alışveriş yapma ve fikir edinmek için alışveriş yapma motivasyonlarında göstergelerin önem istatistikleri diğer motivasyonlara göre yüksek hesaplanmıştır. Prestij algısı, fırsatları yakalamak için alışveriş yapma motivasyonunda en yüksek etki değerine sahipken; benlik algısı diğer tüm hedonik alışveriş motivasyonlarında en yüksek etki değerine sahip gösterge olarak hesaplanmıştır. Doğrudan gözlem yoluyla anlaşılması mümkün olmayan örüntülerin ortaya çıkarılmasında kullanılabilecek bu yöntem, çalışmada hedonik alışveriş motivasyonları çerçevesinde kullanılmıştır. Bu çalışmada kullanılan DEMATEL araştırma yönteminin, tüketici psikolojisine etki eden farklı unsurların ortaya çıkarılmasında kullanılabileceği gelecek araştırmalarda kullanılması önerilmektedir.

How Does Green Supply Chain Management Promote the Success of Crowdfunding Projects? Empirical Research Based on the QCA Method

With the advancement of consumers’ awareness of environmental protection, the green supply chain, a modern management model considering environmental impact and resource efficiency, is increasingly valued by managers and consumers and has become an important determinant of crowdfunding success. Different from existing research on crowdfunding with symmetric thinking, this paper employs text mining and the QCA method to identify various configurations of crowdfunding success. Based on the data of the leading Chinese crowdfunding platform, JD Crowdfunding, this paper studies multiple configurations of the green supply chain, delivery time and funding goals of crowdfunding projects in the technology category. The results show that a crowdfunding project that adopts a green supply chain can succeed with a higher funding goal and longer delivery time, and a project without a green supply chain but with a lower funding goal is also a successful configuration. In addition, this study also explores the successful configuration paths of hedonic products and functional products in crowdfunding projects, respectively, and it finds that investors of hedonic products pay more attention to green supply chain management. These findings support complexity theory, deepen the understanding of the success of crowdfunding projects, and provide important management suggestions for fundraisers and crowdfunding platforms.

Feeling and Calculation: The Impact of Lay Rationalism Thinking Mode on Mental Budgeting.

Mental budgeting is a cognitive process that helps individuals control consumption expenditures. Previous literature has shown that mental budgeting is influenced by people’s cognitive capabilities and emotions, which indicates a potential influence of thinking modes on mental budgeting. Under the view of lay rationalism, the present three studies investigated the relationship between thinking modes (i.e., calculation-based thinking and feeling-based thinking) and mental budgeting, as well as the moderating effect of product types that participants consume. It was found that, first, the scores of lay rationalism, which indicate calculation-based thinking, were positively correlated with the mental budgeting levels of college students (Study 1a) and newcomers in the workplace (Study 1b); second, the activation of calculation-based thinking (vs. feeling-based thinking) decreased participants’ consumption willingness (Study 2); and third, the calculation-based thinking exhibited a stronger binding effect in participants who consumed only hedonic products than in participants who consumed only utilitarian products (Study 2). The results demonstrated the effects of lay rationalism thinking mode and product types on mental budgeting, which highlighted different implications for consumers and merchants.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-03689-5.

Information Adoption Patterns and Online Knowledge Payment Behavior: The Moderating Role of Product Type

The development of online knowledge payment platforms in recent years has increased their respective market value by nurturing content resources and improving content ecology. Yet, the underlying factors of knowledge seekers’ payment behaviors and their information adoption mechanisms are poorly understood. Based on the information adoption model, this study develops a research model to examine the relationship between information adoption patterns and knowledge seekers’ payment behavior, and explore the moderating effect of product type on this relationship. To test the research model and hypotheses, we used a multi-analytic approach combining text and regression analysis on a sample of 4366 social Q&A data collected from Quora+ between August 2021 and August 2022. We further classified the product types into utilitarian and hedonic, and compared the differences in influence paths between product types. The results show that the completeness, vividness, and relevance of the product description have a significant positive impact on knowledge payment behavior. The reputation, experience, and integrity of the knowledge provider have a positive impact on knowledge payment behavior. Compared to utilitarian knowledge products, the payment behavior for hedonic products is more related to the reputation and experience of the knowledge provider. This study provides insights into the factors that influence online knowledge payment behavior and practical guidance for the development of online knowledge payment services and platforms.

라이브 커머스 앵커 특성, 제품 속성이 광고효과에 미치는 영향: 시청자 유형(MZ 세대와 기타 세대)의 조절효과를 중심으로

This study conducted a study on how the characteristics and product attributes of live commerce anchors affect advertising effects, and the characteristics of anchors were professionalism, entertainment, interaction, reliability, and attractiveness as important characteristics of live commerce, product attributes, and advertising effects. There are a total of 494 copies of the questionnaire used to verify the hypothesis in this paper.BR First, the entertainment, interaction, reliability, and attractiveness of Chinese live commerce anchor characteristics were found to have a significant positive (+) effect on brand attitude, and the informality, entertainment, interaction, reliability, and attractiveness of Chinese live commerce anchor characteristics were found to have a significant positive (+) effect on purchase intention. Second, it was found that practical products of product attributes had a significant positive (+) effect on brand attitude and purchase intention. Third, it was found that there was a partial difference in the characteristics of live commerce anchors and the influence of product types on advertising effects according to the viewer-type MZ generation and other generations. Specifically, the effect of reliability on brand attitudes was found to be stronger in MZ generation than in other generations, and the effect of hedonic products on brand attitudes was found to be stronger in other generations than in MZ generation.

Consumer reactions to AI design: Exploring consumer willingness to pay for AI‐designed products

AbstractCompanies are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to generate promising concepts for new products which are then marketed to consumers as “AI‐designed.” Drawing on four studies and follow‐up studies, this paper explores consumer perceptions of AI design. Based on the information gap model, the studies determine that, compared with professional‐designed products, consumers are more willing to pay for products designed by AI, in which process curiosity plays an intermediary role (Study 1). Crucially, this research also predicts the boundary conditions for the positive effects of AI design. High levels of consumer knowledge lead to an attenuation in consumer curiosity regarding AI design, thereby decreasing the willingness to pay (Study 2), while the product type also has a moderating effect on the influence of the product design sources. Consumers are more willing to pay for utilitarian products designed by AI than hedonic products (Study 3). In addition, we reverify that consumers prefer AI‐designed products through a field study (Study 4). Finally, the research sheds light on how to utilize AI to promote the success of new product innovation from a marketing perspective, providing important theoretical knowledge and actionable managerial implications for future research.

Increase hedonic products purchase intention through livestreaming: The mediating effects of mental imagery quality and customer trust

Although online retailing is applying livestreaming to promote both hedonic and utilitarian products, the differential effectiveness of utilizing this tool across the two types of products is still unclear. With an online experiment, the study found that livestreaming (vs. traditional e-commerce) is more effective in boosting hedonic products while making no difference in increasing purchase intentions of utilitarian products. By running a moderated serial mediation analysis, the research also demonstrated the underlying mechanism that livestreaming could significantly enhance mental imagery quality and customer trust in hedonic rather than utilitarian products. Therefore, our research has discovered an important boundary condition for the livestreaming effect and also the mechanism for the success of utilizing livestreaming to boost hedonic products. Considering the indiscriminate use of livestreaming regardless of product types and the huge amounts of resources required to sustain livestreaming, the study not only provides a theoretical glimpse of where livestreaming is more effective and why, but also practical insights as to how to apply livestreaming to different types of products and how to leverage mental imagery and customer trust to achieve business growth in an online retailing context.

Emojis to Conversion on Social Media: Insights into Online Consumer Engagement and Reactions

Emojis have become popular in online marketing communications. Marketers use emojis to humanize brand voice and elicit an emotional response from target audiences. However, little is known about how emojis are perceived and what kind of reactions they evoke. The aim of this study was to examine whether exposure to emojis leads to an increased intention to purchase, and whether the use of emojis impacts campaign effectiveness. Surprisingly, it found that the use of emojis had a negative effect on purchase intention, while the effect was positive when mediated by positive affect. Emojis increased the effectiveness of marketing campaigns for hedonic products and had a strong impact on the return on advertising spend. The findings of this study have both theoretical and practical implications in the observed domains, particularly in relation to the type of products emojis are most effective in promoting, gender differences, and real-life consumer behavior.

When Bad Becomes Good: The Role of Congruence and Product Type in the CSR Initiatives of Stigmatized Industries

This study examines how congruence and product type affect consumer responses in the context of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of stigmatized industries. This study conducted two experiments with college students to assess the effects of congruence and CSR type (cause-related marketing vs. advocacy advertising) (Study 1) and effects of congruence and product type (hedonic vs. utilitarian) (Study 2) on consumers’ corporate evaluations. The results of Study 1 showed that congruence generates weaker attributions of corporate altruistic motives and greater negative perceptions of corporate credibility and attitude than incongruence. However, there was no significant effect of CSR type on consumers’ evaluations of a company. The findings of Study 2 revealed significant main effects for product type. When CSR initiatives are associated with hedonic products, consumers’ altruistic attributions, credibility, and attitudes toward the product are more negative than when linked to utilitarian products in stigmatized industries. Moreover, there was a marginally significant interaction effect of congruence and product type on attitude toward the company. This study contributes to the emerging body of CSR literature in stigmatized industries by empirically determining how congruence and hedonic product type may cause backlash effects.

The Effect of Social Crowdedness on Preference for Utilitarian Products

In a modern society with high population density, consumers usually face crowded consumption environment. Meanwhile, the choices they can make are more and more abundant. Is there any correlation between social crowdedness and the preference for different types of products?
 This research investigates whether social crowdedness, defined as the number of people in a given area—impacts consumers’ propensity to choose functional products rather than hedonic products. We propose that social crowdedness increases the likelihood of preference for functional products rather than hedonic products. This effect occurs because density settings make consumers experience a loss of perceived control, which in turn makes them engage in interpretive cognition, exhibit a desire for structured and meaningful products, and practical function of the product as a compensatory method to help them regain control.
 Two studies provide support for this hypothesis. Study 1 confirms the relationship between social crowdedness and the product type preference. Study 2 examined the mediating role of perceived control as the underlying mechanism, which is, social crowdedness gives rise to a feeling of loss of perceived control, to fill up this, consumers seek products with more practical and useful function feature rather than hedonic and pleasure-oriented products as compensation to fill the gap.
 This study expands the research in the fields of social crowdedness from consumer behavioral perspectives. Also, the research may contribute to the marketing planning of different types of commodities in various environments.

Attracting more meaningful interactions: The impact of question and product types on comments on social media advertisings

Despite the extensive use of product-related questions on social media, little is known about what types of questions encourage consumer comments. This research examines product-related questions on social media advertisings, focusing on what the advertisings ask: product search or experience information. Through three studies, we found that search and experience questions are effective in increasing consumer response fluency, and thus commenting, for different product types. Search questions increase response fluency for utilitarian products, whereas experience questions do so for hedonic products. This research makes theoretical contributions to research on advertising content strategy, advertising language, and consumer–brand interaction and has practical implications for social media advertising strategies aimed at encouraging user comments.

Did It Change Your Mind? Neural Substrates of Purchase Intention Change and Product Information

Price and customer ratings are perhaps the two most important pieces of information consumers rely on when shopping online. This study aimed to elucidate the neural mechanism by which the introduction of these two types of information influences the purchase intention of potential consumers for hedonic products. Participants performed a lip-care product shopping task during functional magnetic resonance imaging, in which they re-disclosed purchase intentions referring to the information of price or rating provided about the products that they had previously disclosed their purchase intentions without any information. Data from 38 young female participants were analyzed to identify the underlying neural regions associated with the intention change and product information. The bilateral frontopolar cortex, bilateral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), and left insula activated higher for the unchanged than changed intention condition. The right dACC and bilateral insula also activated more toward the price than the rating condition, whereas the medial prefrontal cortex and bilateral temporoparietal junction responded in the opposite direction. These results seem to reflect the shift to exploratory decision-making strategies and increased salience in maintaining purchase intentions despite referring to provided information and to highlight the involvement of social cognition-related regions in reference to customer ratings rather than price.

Get Your Science Out of Here: When Does Invoking Science in the Marketing of Consumer Products Backfire?

Abstract In this research, we propose that although consumers view the scientific process as competent, they also perceive it as cold. Across 10 experimental studies, we demonstrate that these lay beliefs impact consumers’ reactions to marketers touting the science behind their brands. Specifically, since hedonic attributes are associated with warmth, the coldness associated with science is conceptually disfluent with the anticipated warmth of hedonic products and attributes, reducing product valuation. In contrast, when products are positioned as utilitarian, invoking science in marketing appeals has a positive effect, as the perceived competence of the scientific process is more compatible with the competence associated with utilitarian products. We further demonstrate that when the necessity of science to create a hedonic product is made salient and thus more fluent, this backfire effect is attenuated. Finally, we identify three theoretically and practically relevant individual differences (endorsement of the lay belief, trust in scientists, and whether the consumer works in a STEM field) that moderate the backfire effect of pairing science with hedonically positioned products.

장학금 유형에 따른 심리적 가치 및 저축성향과 소비지출

In the present study, a line is drawn between grade scholarship and state scholarship in an attempt to examine how student recipients of a scholarship perceive the psychological value of the grant, for what purpose they seek to use the scholarship, and what implications such behaviors would have for management of scholarship. The results of the study are as follows. First, the recipients of the grade scholarship feel higher psychological value than those of the state scholarship since the grade scholarship is regarded to be the due price for their efforts and the state scholarship is deemed to have little connection with the efforts invested. Second, a stronger tendency is found to spend the grade scholarship for buying hedonic products than utilitarian products. Third, there is little distinction between the grade scholarship and state scholarship in terms of the saving amounts. Thus, it seems thus necessary to lead students to spend the grade scholarship for buying utilitarian products that are needed for the promotion of academic performance after saving a certain amount of the grade scholarship. The study focuses on grade scholarships and state scholarships, and approaches the psychological value, saving tendency, and the impact of scholarships on the type of product purchased, from the theoretical perspective of psychological and emotional accounting.

Vegan labeling for what is already vegan: Product perceptions and consumption intentions

Given the increasing popularity of vegan labels, our study examines the effect of vegan labeling on product perceptions and consumption intentions. We focus on randomly-vegan products which are products that have neither undergone any special reformulation to be vegan nor explicitly aim to serve the market segment of vegans and vegetarians. Food marketers are often tempted to add a vegan label to their randomly-vegan products to capitalize on the growing popularity of vegan food. Our results show that labeling randomly-vegan products biases the perceived healthiness, expected taste, and perceived sustainability, but only if consumers do not expect such randomly-vegan products to be vegan by default. This translates into altered consumption intentions for these unexpected-vegan products with a vegan label (vs. no label). Importantly, this applies to both utilitarian and hedonic products. No effects attributed to the vegan label (vs. no label) were found for randomly-vegan products that consumers expected to be vegan by default.

Giving electronic word of mouth (eWOM) as a prepurchase behavior: The case of online group buying

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) has traditionally been examined as a prepurchase behavior when it is sought (eWOM-seeking) and a postpurchase behavior when it is given (eWOM-giving). This research extends understanding of referral behavior by providing fresh insights into giving eWOM as a prepurchase behavior using the case of online group buying. Using a between-subjects Solomon experiment, this research finds that consumers are more likely to give prepurchase eWOM for online group purchases for utilitarian products paired with affective messages and larger discount prices than for hedonic products promoted under the same combination of marketing stimuli. This research also furnishes actionable guidelines for marketers to develop marketing-mix strategies that encourage target customers to actively give prepurchase eWOM for online group purchases, including the boundaries in situations in which additional investments beyond what is required do not further enlarge the size of online buyer aggregation.

제품유형과 조절초점이 사전예약판매 전략의 성과에 미치는 영향

Purpose: Many companies pursue advance selling as part of marketing. Advance selling refers to a strategy in which a company receives preorder from consumers before releasing a new product. It offers a variety of advantages to companies and consumers, but has the disadvantage of increasing uncertainty or perceived risk because consumers have to make a order before the product is released. Research on advance selling has mainly focused on the advantages of advance selling, but recently, it has been revealed when this strategy can be applied more effectively. This study also intends to suggest new variables that moderate the effectiveness of advance selling. To this end, two experiments were conducted. Research design, data, and methodology: Study 1 tested whether the response to the advance selling was different according to the product type. Experimental participants were divided into a 2 (purchase method: advance-purchase vs. immediate-purchase) × 2 (product type: utilitarian vs. hedonic) between-subjects design. One-hundred and two responses were used in the analysis. Study 2 examined whether the response to the advance selling was different according to consumers’ regulatory focus priming. Experimental participants were divided into a 2 (purchase method: advance-purchase vs. immediate-purchase) × 2 (regulatory focus priming: prevention vs. promotion) between-subjects design. Ninety-two responses were used in the analysis. Results: The results for Study 1 revealed that, first of all, product attitude and preference for sales method were higher in immediate-purchase than advance-purchase, however, this main effect were moderated by the product type. In other words, for the hedonic product, this main effect remained, but for the utilitarian product, there was no difference in product attitude and preference for sales method between immediate-purchase and advance-purchase. Likewise the result of the Study 1, product attitude and preference for sales method were higher in immediate-purchase than advance-purchase. However, this main effect were moderated by consumers’ regulatory focus priming. In other words, when consumers were primed with prevention focus, this main effect remained, but when they were primed with promotion focus, there was no difference in product attitude and preference for sales method between immediate-purchase and advance-purchase. Conclusions: The study provides the following practical implications. First, it suggests that advance selling may be an inappropriate to use for hedonic products compared to utilitarian products. If consumers perceive a product for utilitarian purposes, it can be assumed that they are less sensitive to the delay in meeting the utilitarian needs for the product. However, if a product is perceived for hedonic purposes, consumers feel uncomfortable satisfying the pleasure expected from the product later. Second, it suggests that advance selling has a negative effect on consumers with prevention focus compared to consumers with promotion focus. This is because consumers with prevention focus are sensitive to anxiety and uncertainty that could occur until they receive the product after a pre-purchase. Therefore, providing special promotion programs may be a good idea for resolving the anxiety and uncertainty. Finally, benefits such as price-discount are essential for implementing advance selling because it is less preferable compared to usual sales strategies except for brands with very high preference.

Nostalgia and Forestalgia: Insights, Evaluation, and Implications for Advertising and Product Typology

While the focus for many advertising academics and practitioners has been on nostalgia, there is a dearth of research on future-focused appeals. We introduce a new concept, forestalgia, or a consumer’s yearning for an idealized future. To understand the impact of nostalgia and forestalgia, qualitative background interviews were conducted with creative directors and other advertising creatives from numerous nationally recognized advertising agencies. Building on the insights from the interviews and using construal level theory as our foundation, we explore consumer response to hedonic and utilitarian products when appeals employ far-past, near-past, near-future, and far-future framing. Thus, we examine whether nostalgia or forestalgia is better suited for certain products. We find utilitarian products are better received with a temporal distance that is far from the present with hedonic products better suited for appeals framed in the far past and near future. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed, along with future research considerations.