Is the Effect of Luxury Advertising on Consumer Evaluations of Fashion Brands Positive or Negative?

Abstract

According to previous research, consumers with low self-esteem are likely to evaluate clothing items lowly when they try them on and find that they are inferior to the attractive advertising endorser wearing the same items. However, advertisements with attractive endorsers are generally used with an expectation to have a positive product evaluation from customers. Assuming that there are two types of self-esteem, body esteem and status esteem, we hypothesized that consumers who are low in status esteem evaluate a status-related product more positively than consumers who are high in status esteem when their consumption aligns (vs. when it does not align) with an attractive endorser even though they are low in body esteem. To test the hypothesis, we conducted a laboratory experiment. The result of multiple regression analyses showed that our hypothesis was supported. The findings have important implications for marketers in terms of product evaluation.

Keywords:

• Body esteem
• status esteem
• advertising endorser
• upward comparison
• luxury fashion branding

Acknowledgement

The authors thank Professor C.R. Taylor (Villanova University), Professor E. Ko (Yonsei University), Professor I. Takahashi (Keio University), and Professor M. Takahashi (Keio University) for their fruitful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Akinori Ono, Ph.D. is a professor in the Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University, Tokyo. His research interests include advertising and consumer behavior. Within the areas, he is specially interested in social interactions among consumers and their moderating effects on advertsing effects.

Yuka Eguro is a student in the Faculty of Letters, Keio University, Tokyo. Her research interests include advertising and consumer behavior. Within the areas, she is specially intersted in consumers' perception of happiness.

Taichi Narisawa is a student in the Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University, Tokyo. His research interests include advertising and consumer behavior.

Naoki Nomura is a student in the Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University, Tokyo. His research interests include advertising and consumer behavior.

Takaya Sato is a student in the Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University, Tokyo. His research interests include advertising and consumer behavior.

Yuna Sato is a student in the Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University, Tokyo. Her research interests include advertising and consumer behavior. Within the areas, she is specially interested in consumer attachment of advertised brands.

Yuta Shibamoto is a student in the Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University, Tokyo. His research interests include advertising and consumer behavior.

Soichiro Yoshida is a student in the Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University, Tokyo. His research interests include advertising and consumer behavior.