The Role of Female Sexual-Self Schema in Reactions to Non-Explicit Sexual Advertising Imagery

We explore females’ reactions to a non-explicit, but still sexually themed, advertisement. Specifically, we consider the role of female sexual self-schema (SSS) in the identification of the level of sex present in such an advertisement, and then resultant effects on attitudes and purchase intent. We find that while SSS has no effect on the perceived level of sex present, it does influence resultant dependent variables, particularly for low-SSS females. Informed by our study and extant literature, we also offer areas for further SSS-based advertising research, particularly regarding issues of females’ perceptions of advertisement and brand fit with sexual themes

Can Ambient Scent Enhance the Nightlife Experience?

Ever since smoking was prohibited in restaurants, bars, and clubs, undesirable smells that were previously masked by cigarette smoke became noticeable. This opens up opportunities to improve the dance club environment by introducing pleasant ambient scents that mask the unwanted odors and to allow competing clubs to differentiate themselves. A field study was conducted at three dance clubs using a 3 × 3 Latin square design with pre- and post-measurements of no-scent control conditions. The three scents tested were orange, seawater, and peppermint. These scents were shown to enhance dancing activity and to improve the evaluation of the evening, the evaluation of the music, and the mood of the visitors over no added scent. However, no significant differences were found between the three scents

Demystifying Adaptive Selling – Exploring Salesperson Attributes and Service Behaviors

Services organizations face ever-increasing customer demands and competition, especially in face-to-face retail sales encounters, hence it is extremely important to ‘recruit the right kind’ of salespeople and give them the ‘right kind of training’ to better serve and satisfy their customers. However, there is little research that combines these two perspectives in the adaptive selling context. We address this gap with a comprehensive model including four salesperson characteristics (attractiveness, communication ability, expertise and trustworthiness) as antecedents, three service performance behaviors (service manner, extra role and need identification) as mediators and three important outcome behaviors (willingness to disclose, customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions) as consequences. We also test this model using a field-survey with actual customers in a retail setting in Hong Kong. Our findings help demystify the adaptive selling by unraveling the customer evaluation and judgment processes

Witty Celebrity-Endorsed Ads: Share and Share Alike

Actor George Clooney’s ‘What else?’ slogan is arguably the most memorable piece of Nespresso Coffee’s online advertising campaign. Like Clooney, an incredible number of celebrities now endorse a product or brand image. Viewers of the U.S.A.’s Super Bowl can attest to the public’s fondness for humorous ads. This research is a preliminary investigation of how consumers react to a celebrity endorsement in an online humorous ad. The objective of this study is to highlight how humor influences consumer attitude, how it affects the likelihood of an ad going viral, and whether it encourages the consumer to share the ad on social media. Exploratory research provides answers to these questions

Olfaction and the retail environment: examining the influence of ambient scent

Smell, Scent, Retail brand image, Retail environment, Human olfaction,