1. Chapter 6
Consumer Attitudes
Consumer Attitudes

2. What Are Attitudes?
In a consumer behavior context, they are learned predispositions to behave in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way with respect to a given object (e.g., people, places, products, services or events)
Attitudes are not observable; thus attitude research is important for marketers
OK, so what do we know about attitudes? (next slide)

3. Attitudes are Learned We are not born with attitudes
Attitudes relative to purchase behavior are formed as a result of
direct experience with the product
word-of-mouth
exposure to mass media advertising, the internet, and direct marketing
Attitudes are not synonymous with behavior
Attitudes may result from behavior
Where do we learn attitudes relative to purchase behavior?
Are attitudes and behavior the same thing?

4. Attitudes Have Consistency
Attitudes are not permanent and can and do change
Once attitudes develop, they are not always easy to change
Often the goal of marketing is to change attitudes about a product or company
Circumstances sometimes preclude consistency between attitudes and behavior
Does this mean attitudes don’t change?
But are they easily changed?
How does that relate to marketing?
Example: attitude towards American cars
A fact marketers need to be aware of is that (#4)
Example: Consumer may prefer Swedish cars to Korean, but may have to buy Korean cars due to price
May want to drive a Beamer, but have to buy a minivan because he’s got 3 kids

5. Attitudes Occur Within a Situation
How attitudes affect behavior depends on the situation in which the behavior occurs
Thus a specific situation may cause consumers to behave in ways that are inconsistent with their attitudes
From a marketer’s perspective, it is important to consider the situation in which the behavior takes place, or one might misinterpret the relationship between attitude and behavior
What on earth does that mean?
For example:
Jon Doe may dislike McDonald’s—because of the solid waste pollution, because it’s a multinational corporation, or because he doesn’t feel the food is healthy.
But if John Doe is running late for an evening meeting and has little time to eat, he may decide to eat at McDonald’s, even though that’s inconsistent with his attitude.
Has he changed his attitude?
No.
What does this mean for marketers?
Another example:
Jane Doe may buy a different shampoo each time she shops.
This might reflect dissatisfaction with the brands she has used in the past.
Or it may reflect that she is trying to save money and is buying the least expensive brand each time.

6. Sources of Attitudes Three Major Influences on Attitude Formation
Personal experience
Influence of family and friends
Exposure to direct marketing and mass-media
How do people form their initial general attitudes towards things?
How do they decide whether to buy Lee or Levi’s jeans?
How do they decide whether to shop at Sears, Penney’s or Costco?
Land’s End or LL Bean?

7. 1. Personal Experience
The primary basis on which attitudes towards goods and services are formed
Free products, cents-off promotions, etc.
Marketer’s goal is to get consumers to try a product and, hopefully, develop a positive attitude towards it
So, what does this mean for marketers?
Get people to try their products! (1)
(2) How might marketers stimulate trial of their products?
Ever happen to you?
Entertainment Book (for restaurants, at least) based on this theory

8. 2. Influence of Family & Friends
Family and friends are a major influence on our values, beliefs and attitudes
We carry over into adulthood many of the attitudes we developed as children
Our peer and social groups also influence our attitudes
Family examples:
attitudes towards food (e.g., junk food, ethnic food), restaurants (2)
Examples (#3)?:
the car we drive (minivan vs. BMW), tattoos, pierces, etc.
Does the age of the consumer determine which group (family vs. friends) has more influence?
Sure, and we’ll see this in more depth later.

9. 3. Direct Marketing & Mass Media
Direct marketers are able to use new technologies to target smaller and smaller market segments
As a result, many solicitations are highly personalized and have the capacity to create favorable attitudes towards their products
Television, radio, newspapers and magazines provide marketers with unlimited opportunities to create positive attitudes towards their products
(3)…and negative ones as well!
Cause marketing serves this purpose

10. The Functions of Attitudes
Attitudes can be classified into four functions:
Utilitarian Function
Ego-defensive Function
Value-expressive Function
Knowledge Function

11. 1. Utilitarian Function
We have a favorable attitude towards a product because it has been useful in the past
Marketers may stress the utilitarian feature or may suggest uses of the product that may not be obvious
What does it mean?
(2) Example?
Charcoal that does not require lighter fluid
Cell phone that can send or take pictures

12. 2. Ego-defensive Function
Products that we purchase to protect our self-images, to replace our sense of insecurity with personal confidence
What is it? (1)
Examples:
Cosmetics and personal care products (e.g., deodorant, acne cream, wrinkle creams, contact lenses, tooth whiteners, etc.)

13. 3. Value-expressive Function
We often express our personal values through the brands we purchase and own
Marketers often attempt to identify their brands with these values
What is it? (1)
Examples?
Patriotic Americans try to buy goods made in the US and/or buy flags
Environmentally conscious drivers might buy electric or hybrid vehicles
Honda Civic vs. Hummer
(Good story on 60 minutes March 2, 2002 about how nothing expresses our self-image more than an automobile, which is why so many people living in New York City or Los Angeles are driving huge SUV’s)
What about wearing Birkenstocks?
(2) Examples?
Volvo vs. Cadillac
BMWs vs. SUV’s
McGraw’s “Consumers” (p. 545) gives example of African youth using western clothing to show identification with modern ways and marketers take advantage of this in ads to other countries

14. 4. Knowledge Function
Consumers generally have a strong need to know and understand the people and things they come in contact with
Many product and brand positioning strategies are based on an attempt to satisfy this “need to know”
What is it?
Examples?
Explaining the difference between their product and the competition’s product

15. Relation Between Attitude and Behavior
It is fair to say that attitudes at least sometimes guide behavior
Thus it is important for marketers to understand the role of attitudes in purchase situations
Is there always a direct link between attitude and behavior?
No, but… (1)

16. Structural Models of Attitudes
In order to understand the link between attitude and behavior, psychologists have developed models to help understand attitude
The focus has been on specifying the composition of an attitude to better explain or predict behavior.
They have identified the following attitude models:
The traditional/tricomponent model
The multi-attribute model
The theory of reasoned action (TORA)

17. Traditional/Tri-Component Model
According to this model, attitude consists of three components:
Cognitive component
Affective component
Behavioral/conative component

18. 1. Cognitive Component
The knowledge and perceptions we have about the object
Based on personal experience with the object and information from various sources (e.g., opinions of others, ads, articles, etc.)
This knowledge and perceptions commonly take the form of beliefs
Example:
I’ve done a lot of research on cars. I know, from reading Consumer Reports, etc. that the best car on the road is a Mercedes. it is well-made, very safe, highly reliable. People I know who own it are very happy with it.

19. 2. Affective Component
A consumer’s emotions or feelings about a particular product or brand
Generally a reaction to the cognitive aspect of the attitude
Our emotional state may amplify positive or negative experiences, which then have an effect on our attitude
Based on what I know about the Mercedes, particularly the safety aspect, I have a positive reaction to/feeling about the Mercedes

20. 3. Behavioral/Conative Component
Is concerned with the likelihood or tendency that a consumer will undertake a specific action or behave in a particular way regarding the attitude object
Frequently treated as a consumer’s intention to buy
Positive feelings about the product will then generally lead to an expression of intent to buy the product and then the purchase of the product

21. Implications for Marketing Strategy
When marketers use the traditional model to create or change attitudes, they use the various components as follows:
At the cognitive level with information
At the affective level with emotionally toned messages
At the behavioral level with incentives (samples, coupons, rebates)
What are the implications?

22. The Multi-Attribute Model of Attitudes
There are many variations on this model
They include:
The attitude toward the object model
The attitude toward the behavior model
The theory of reasoned action model
Another model that addresses the issue of how attitude affects consumers’ behavior is…

23. 1. Attitude toward the object model
Model is especially suitable for measuring attitudes toward a product or service category or specific brands
Holds that a consumer’s attitude towards a product or brands of a product is a function of the presence (or absence), and an evaluation of, certain product-specific beliefs or attributes

24. Consumers generally have favorable attitudes toward brands they believe have an adequate level of attributes they evaluate as positive
Consumers have negative attitudes toward brands they feel do not have an adequate level of desired attributes or have too many negative or undesired attributes
In plain English, this means that…(1)
(2) Examples?
Computer shopping—Apple emphasizes simplicity of use in current/recent ads, relative to Windows systems
In our Mercedes shopping, we wanted a car that had front and side airbags
SUV owners talk about safety, riding higher, being able to drive in bad weather, etc.

25. 2. Attitude toward behavior model
A person’s attitude toward behaving or acting with respect to an object, rather than toward the object itself
Not uncommon for consumers to have a positive attitude toward an object but a negative attitude toward purchasing it
What does this mean? (1)
In other words, can a consumer like a product but not something about buying it?
Examples?
Cars—
may have positive attitude towards expensive German cars, but choose not to purchase one for a number of reasons: many older Americans still resent Germany; desire not to put too much money into a car, etc.
SUV’s are becoming socially unacceptable (recall “axle of evil”)

26. 3. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TORA)
According to this model, behavior is determined by a person’s intention to behave
To understand intention, we also need to measure the subjective norms that influence an individual’s intention to act
A subjective norm can be measured directly by assessing a consumer’s feelings as to what relevant others (family, friends, co-workers) would think of the action contemplated
What is it? (1)
(2) For example, if a person was going to purchase a new Porsche, he or she would stop to think about what his friends, family, girlfriend, etc. would think about the decision. Is it really selfish and impractical?
See figure 8-3 on p. 207 of Kanuk

27. Attitude Change Attitude change is an issue for every marketer
New entrants into the market need to change the attitude of consumers that support purchases from market leaders
Market leaders need to strengthen the positive attitudes of their customers to retain their market share
OK, now let’s turn to the process of…

28. Attitude change strategies
Competitors can try to change the attitudes of the market leaders’ customers in several ways:
Comparative advertising
Emphasizing brand attributes
Adding new attributes
Providing knowledge of alternatives
Changing the relative value of attributes
How do marketers go about trying to change consumers’ attitudes? (1)
These are somewhat different from what’s in your book

29. 1. Comparative Advertising
Identifying a major competitor and explaining why your product is superior in one or more ways
What is it? (1)
Examples?
Lots of car ads using Honda/Toyota for comparison (e.g., Hyundai using length of warranty)
Current (Dec. 2002) battle going on between Campbell’s Soup and Progresso
Mac vs. Windows again (2002)
Problem?
Have to be careful about misrepresenting the competitor’s product (e.g. McD’s vs. BK)

30. 2. Emphasizing Brand Attributes
Identifies and highlights features of the product that consumers may not be familiar with or that may be new or innovative
(1) Examples?
Recent (2002) ads for a cell phone that plays games and take pictures
Minivans with televisions
Problem?
Recall Campbell’s Soup case; promoted good for heart cuz low in fat, but high in sodium
Sometimes claimed innovations or changes may be minimal and thus misleading

31. 3. Adding attributes Can involve
Stressing an attribute that has been ignored; or
Adding an attribute that represents an improvement or technological innovation
Examples?
Yogurt is higher in potassium than bananas; can be used to improve attitude of health conscious consumers
Cell phones that are combined with PDA’s or digital cameras

32. 4. Providing knowledge of alternatives or consequences
Providing consumers with evidence, facts or figures enable them to make informed choices between competing brands
This is more likely to be used in print ads, since television and radio are not good vehicles for providing a great deal of information

33. 5. Changing the relative value of attributes
Often a market for a particular type of product is divided so that different market segments are offered different brands, each with different features or benefits
When this occurs, marketers have an opportunity to persuade consumers to “cross over” to their brand
(1) E.g., with headache remedies, a brand like Tylenol stresses gentleness on the stomach, no aspirin, etc., while a brand like Aleve stresses potency and anti-inflammatory qualities
(2) E.g., sugarless gum and regular gum have different features that appeal to different market segments. By improving flavor, a marketer of sugarless gum has an opportunity to change the attitudes of regular gum chewers