Abstract
Many products have symbolic as well as utilitarian aspects. The symbolic value of a product can be a major influence on consumers' purchase decisions. Correspondent inference theory was the theoretical basis for examining inferences of owner characteristics based on the selection of one product with its symbolic meanings from available alternatives with different symbolic meanings. One hundred sixteen subjects were given a list of five clothing items and told that it was a partial listing of the clothing in one person's closet. The list contained one type of jean (designer, brand name, store brand, orjeans, the control variation) plus four other items: oxford cloth shirt, wool sweater, blazer, raincoat with zipout lining. Subjects indicated their impressions of the person to whom the clothing belonged by checking a list of traits on 9-point scales. Analysis of variance indicated that inferences about the person varied significantly depending on the type of jeans included in the list. Store brand jeans produced significantly more negative inferences than designer or name brand jeans when compared to the control jeans.
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