Australasian Marketing Journal

Research on ethnic advertisements has identified attitudinal differences between target and non-target groups. However, investigators have largely failed to explain the reasons behind these differences. Accordingly, this study examines the process by which target and non-target group adolescents build attitudes towards ethnically focused advertisements. The Elaboration Likelihood Model and Dual Mediation Hypothesis models are used as theoretical and operational frameworks. This study uses a modified DMH model that incorporates ethnic identity strength and self-reference as important antecedents of ad attitude and ad cognition in the context of ethnic advertising. The data are analysed with the help of structural equation modelling procedures. The results suggest that non-target ethnic group adolescents generally process advertisements in a peripheral manner, whereas target ethnic group adolescents tend to engage in both central and peripheral processing. More importantly, for both majority and minority groups, the strength of subjects’ ethnic identity and self-reference impact their response to ethnic advertisements when the advertisement is compatible with their ethnic background.

Although word-of-mouth (WOM) has long been seen as an important influence on customer attitude, intention and behavior, very little is known about how, if at all, organisations manage this phenomenon. This paper reports how a sample of service organisations manages WOM. Using a case study approach, we find that there is a widespread appreciation that WOM influences organisational performance indirectly through its impact on customer acquisition, customer loyalty, and organisational reputation. However, our sampled organisations devote considerably more attention, energy and resources to the mitigation of the effects of negative WOM than to the promotion of positive WOM. Two particular processes dominate in this regard – complaints management and crisis management. We find that positive WOM emanates from many organisational influences including, inter alia, the product or service itself, innovation, service-beyond-expectation, networking, external suppliers and communication practices, including advertising and public relations. We present a new model, dubbed The Eight Pillars of WOM, that can be used to identify, interrogate and manage organisational processes that influence both negative and positive WOM.

This paper examines the incidence of consumers’ rejection of private labels (PLs) of different price-quality tiers and the underlying reasons for this rejection. The rejection of PLs is compared to the rejection of national brands (NBs) in five food product categories across the UK and Australia. The findings indicate that only 8% of PL non-users in the UK market, and 20% in the Australian market, actively reject PLs. This rejection incidence is higher for PLs than for NBs in three of the five categories. The reasons for brand rejection differ between PLs and NBs. PLs are rejected due to a perception of low quality inferred from extrinsic product cues. In contrast, NBs are rejected primarily because of a negative past experience with a brand. The findings highlight the importance of extrinsic cues for PLs to minimise the incidence of consumer rejection. The generally low rejection of PLs implies that PLs are a real threat to NBs. This paper extends the rejection literature to PLs and quantifies the rejection levels and reasons.

This paper addresses the current lack of consensus on what defines a luxury product. It demonstrates the adequacy of a consumer-oriented approach anchored in a list of product attributes. These attributes were identified from the literature and a study of 31 German millionaires with high spending on luxury goods. A combination of five research methodologies was employed including open interview, the repertory grid method (RGM), the preference differences technique, the critical incident technique and the projective technique. The findings suggest that consumers distinguish luxury products using six major characteristics: price, quality, aesthetics, rarity, extraordinariness, and symbolic meaning. The paper concludes with practical implications for luxury brand managers and for those who wish to trade up their mass-market goods. Suggestions for further research directions are also offered.

Marketing is taught at many private colleges, technical colleges and at universities across Australia. While marketing as an academic discipline is well developed, little is known of the early days and development of marketing education. This paper will observe marketing-related subjects at correspondence schools, the first “Marketing” subject that was taught at the University of Melbourne, early attempts of marketing education by industry associations, technical colleges, and universities until 1965 when the first Chair in Marketing was established. Studying the development of marketing education over the years can provide a greater insight into the current status of marketing education.

This paper proposes to examine how priming approach and avoidance goal orientations moderates consumer goal-directed preferences for products and services. These effects are studied in the context of women's concern with visible signs of facial skin aging and the products, services and activities used to deal with it. Seven hundred female participants from Auckland were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions by receiving one of the two versions of a survey. The final sample was 203 (103 in the approach condition, 100 in the avoidance condition). MANOVA analyses indicated that women are likely to consider different means to deal with aging based on whether they are striving to prevent feared possible selves or to attain hoped-for selves. Underlying mechanisms, implications and future research directions are discussed.

This study extends the research on cross-cultural advertising by comparing print advertisements from Australia and Croatia in terms of emotional appeals and information content. A content analysis of advertisements from magazines similar in readership profile from Australia and Croatia revealed that Croatian advertisements make greater use of emotional appeals and informational cues. Cross-cultural understanding is imperative in order to be able to reflect the cultural values and norms of the intended audience. These findings are timely given that Western and European countries are coming into far greater contact due to increasing globalisation.