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Promotion- vs. Prevention-Focused Youth Consumers

-- Persuasiveness of Antismoking Ads

中国市场营销中心中山大学 管理学院

May 2006

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报告的目的 给大家介绍一个新兴的有关个体自我调管 (self

regulation) 的心理学理论

用一个研究实例向大家演示该理论对消费者研究的指导意义及其在该领域里的应用

给大家展示一个典型的西方消费者试验实证研究 - Experiment study

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Which Ad Is More Persuasive?

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Which Ad Is More Persuasive?

It depends ?

Boundary conditions Why are boundary conditions important?

It is the reason and base for market segmentation For example,

Since male vs. female consumers respond differently to the same marketing strategy, marketers design different Products for the two segments, charge different Price, sell the product at different Place, and use different Promotion strategy

The goal of many, if not most, consumer research is to identify the boundary conditions for various marketing phenomena

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Regulatory Focus Theory

Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins 1997, American Psychologist) has emerged as A powerful new theory For predicting how advertising persuasion

might depend on a viewer characteristic called the viewers’ regulatory focus

Currently, one of the hottest consumer research topic

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Regulatory Focus Theory

At any moment in time, an individual is guided by one of two regulatory foci Promotion FocusPromotion Focus

Motivated to make advancements Pay attention to achievement information

PreventionPrevention FocusFocus Motivated to attain security Pay attention to safety information

Predisposition; approx. 50/50 split (Higgins 1987)

Situational activation

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Two Types of Consumers

Two types of consumers Promotion-focusedPromotion-focused consumers

Motivated by achievements and advancements Prevention-focused consumersPrevention-focused consumers

Motivated by security and safety

Behaviors of adults are steered by regulatory focus Preference for status quo (Chernev 2004)

Arguments vs. affective responses (Pham & Avnet 2004)

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Two Types of Youths or One?

Are there two types of youth consumers? Promotion- vs. prevention-focused No empirical evidence

Many social advertising messages adopt a prevention orientation, e.g., antismoking ad: smoking causes lung

cancers (Pechmann et al. 2003)

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Two Types of Youths or One?

Research in adolescent psychology tends to indicate youths are predominantly prevention-focused Stressful transitions and negative life events

Bodily changes, transition to schools, peer expectations, and relationships and roles within the family (Larson et al. 2002)

Emotional changes More frequent and intense negative emotions and emotional turmoil

(Buchanan et al. 1992) Cognitive changes

Envision social threats to their well-being that they never previously considered (Larson and Richards 1994)

Self-control Psychological immaturity, or weak inhibitory control Pursue reckless and risky activities (Cauffman & Steinberg 2000)

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Two Types of Youths or One?

Consumer research highlights another aspect of youth behavior – demonstrate self-worth Adolescents are highly attuned to image advertising

Look better, feel better, attract sexual interest, and impress friends (Masten 2004)

Interest in high-status products with image (vs. functional) attributes (Solomon 1983)

Symbolic interactionism theory (Solomon 1992) Consumers buy products not for functional attributes but

rather for image attributes as consumption symbols In periods of transition, a person’s uncertainty about his

ability to attain a desired role state can cause a greater reliance on consumption symbols

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Two Types of Youths or One?

Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins 1997) RF develops from early childhood socialization

experiences such as caretaker-child interactions Promotion focus is instilled when caretakers

repeatedly set up opportunities for the child to engage in rewarding activities

Prevention focus is implanted when caretakers constantly train the child to be alert to potential dangers

RF roots in early childhood development & further develop in adolescence

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Promotion vs. Prevention-Focused Youths

Two types of youths Promotion focused youths

Motivated to realize achievements & accomplishments Prevention focused youths

Motivated to meet responsibilities & security

Distinct motivation process Motivated by different types of pleasures, though in

general both are driven to approach pleasure Promotion -- pleasure of social approval Prevention -- pleasure of evading social disapproval

Approach same end-state & fulfill same goal for different reasons

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Promotion vs. Prevention-Focused Youths: An Example

One effective approach is to convey that smoking leads to social disapproval (Flynn et al. 1992; Pechmann et al. 2003)

Prevention focus Not smoking to avoid social disapproval

Other youths might respond better to messages about how not smoking leads to social approval Promotion focus Not smoking to attain social approval

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Four Antismoking Messages

IncurIncurDisapprovalDisapproval

Forgo Approval

Avoid Disapproval

AttainAttain

ApprovalApproval

IncurIncurDisapprovalDisapproval

Forgo Approval

Avoid Disapproval

AttainAttain

ApprovalApprovalMessageMessageFocusFocus

ApprovalApproval

DisapprovalDisapproval

Message Frame

Positive Negative

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Four Antismoking Messages

MessageMessageFocusFocus

Message FramePositive Negative

BenefitBenefit

CostCost

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Study Overview

Subjects About 1,200; 9th graders; 5 local high schools

Experimental Design 2 x 2 x 2: Message Focus, Message Frame, and

Viewer Regulatory Focus Between-subjects factorial Regulatory focus measured in Study 1; Regulatory focus manipulated in Study 2; Results

were virtually identical to those in Study 1 Main dependent variable

Intention not to smoke

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Findings

*: significantly different from other messages, p < .05

Promotion Focus

Ben

efit

-Neg

ativ

e

Co

st-P

osi

tive

Co

st-N

egat

ive

Co

ntr

ol

Ben

efit

-Po

siti

ve *

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Messages

Inte

nti

on

No

t to

Sm

oke

Prevention Focus

Ben

efit

-Po

siti

ve

Ben

efit

-Neg

ativ

e

Co

st-P

osi

tive

Co

ntr

ol

Co

st-N

egat

ive

*

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Messages

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Marketing Implications

Use for Use for PreventionPrevention focused focused

consumersconsumers

Use for Use for PromotionPromotion focused focused

consumersconsumers

Social Marketing

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Marketing Implications

Use for Use for PreventionPrevention focused focused

consumersconsumers

Use for Use for PromotionPromotion focused focused

consumersconsumers

Consumer Marketing