Stimulus Control of Consumer Opinion by Brand Names: A Social Conditioning Analysis

Abstract

A field experiment is reported that investigated the relationship between brand names (conditioned stimuli) and consumers’ opinion (evaluation) responses. Product trademarks (Pepsi or Coke), but not actual products (Classic Coke or Pepsi), influenced consumers’ ratings during a cola’ laste test.” The effect of brand names depended on the initial attitudes of consumers (conditioning history). Consumers with positive-initial attitudes to a brand (Coke) showed higher opinion and evaluation scores to products with this brand name than to products with an alternate-brand name (Pepsi), regardless of the actual products sampled. In contrast, consumers with negative (or neutral) attitudes to the brand (Coke) rated products higher in the presence of an alternate-brand name (Pepsi) than when the brand name accompanied the sampled product. This interaction of brand name with initial attitude was not mediated by product knowledge (i.e., cognitive responses). Additionally, as consumer preference for the brand (Coke) increased, the magnitude of the opinion and evaluation responses decreased for products with an alternate-brand name (Pepsi). Consumers with exclusive preference for a brand thus derogated any product with a competing-brand name. Generally, these results are compatible with a social-conditioning analysis of attitudes that emphasizes the multiple-stimulus functions of product trademarks, labels, and brand names.