The Color Pink Is Bad for Fighting Breast Cancer

The article presents an interview with researcher Stefano Puntoni, who conducted experiments indicating that the color pink makes women think they have a reduced susceptibility to getting cancer, and also disinclines them toward donating to cancer research. Topics discussed include why pink doesn't inspire an aggressive attitude in women towards cancer, the role of gender cues in triggering certain responses, and how organizations fighting cancer can retain pink as a marketing tool without enduring its negative impact.

“Emotional” versus “Emotioneel”: Advertising Language and Emotional Appraisal

The article contributes to current understanding of language effects in advertising by uncovering a previously ignored mechanism shaping consumer response to an increasingly globalized marketplace. Extending recent psycholinguistic research on the emotions of bilinguals, a series of experiments shows that bilingual consumers report greater perceived emotional intensity for stimuli (e.g. ads) presented in their native language than in their second language

Embracing Diversity

__Abstract__ Societies are vastly more diverse today than they used to be and, in many industries, developing theories and approaches that recognize and capitalize on this greater consumer diversity is crucial. In business schools, diversity tends to be discussed only in relation to human resource management. However, understanding the consequences of diversity is important also for marketing researchers. More generally, if pluralistic societies like ours wish to remain harmonious and prosperous, all groups within them have to feel included as stakeholders. Marketplace inclusiveness is an important condition for this to happen. In this inaugural address, I argue that a diversity perspective is helpful in making sense of social phenomena. I will first describe the tensions associated with globalization in terms of diversity. I then review various approaches to conducting research on diversity, giving examples from my own work and highlighting areas for future research. I conclude with some observations about the implications of increasing globalization and diversity for brand strategy and for management practice more generally

Gender identity and breast cancer campaigns

Concerning itself with understanding how marketing methods and tools can be of benefit to healthcare professionals, health marketing is an area of research that has grown substantially in recent years. Of much interest to the sector is whether awareness campaigns are effective in increasing the public’s perceived vulnerability to any given disease

Consumer responses to ethnic targeted marketing

__Abstract__ Marketing is impacted more than ever by demographic change, to the extent that practitioners targeting ethnic groups should re-think their approach depending upon the strength with which different generations identify with their cultural heritage

Categorization by Groups

Categorization is a core psychological process central to consumer and managerial decision-making. While a substantial amount of research has been conducted to examine individual categorization behaviors, relatively little is known about the group categorization process. In two experiments, we demonstrate that group categorization differs systematically from that of individuals: groups created a larger number of categories with fewer items in each category. This effect is mediated by groups’ larger knowledge base and moderated by groups’ ease in achieving consensus. While neither broader nor narrower categories are normatively superior, more integration or distinction among concepts may be desirable for a given objective. Thus, it is important for those relying on the outputs of categorization tasks, su

Polysemy in Advertising

The article reviews the conceptual foundations of advertising polysemy – the occurrence of different interpretations for the same advertising message. We discuss how disciplines as diverse as psychology, semiotics and literary theory have dealt with the issue of polysemy, and provide translations and integration among these multiple perspectives. From such review we draw recurrent themes to foster future research in the area and to show how seemingly opposed methodological and theoretical perspectives complement and extend each other. Implications for advertising research and practice are discussed

Strategic ambiguity in minority targeting

Ambiguous cues in advertising offer companies the chance to reach multiple consumer segments with the one economical campaign. ‘Purposeful polysemy’ can indeed be an effective strategy – but it may not always deliver what it promises

Gender Identity Salience and Perceived Vulnerability to Breast Cancer

Contrary to predictions based on cognitive accessibility, heightened gender identity salience resulted in lower perceived vulnerability and reduced donation behavior to identity-specific risks (e.g., breast cancer). No such effect was manifest with identity-neutral risks. Establishing the importance of self-identity, perceived breast cancer vulnerability was lower when women were