Chapter 6: Attitudes Based on Low Consumer Effort
CHAPTER 6
ATTITUDES BASED ON LOW EFFORT
CHAPTER SUMMARY
This chapter focuses on the processes by which marketers can change consumers’ attitudes
when MAO is low and hence the effort consumers expend to process information is low. The
chapter first examines unconscious influences on consumers’ attitudes, including thin-slice
judgments and body feedback. The chapter then examines the cognitive bases of attitudes
and how marketing communications can be designed to enhance consumers’ attitudes. When
attitudes of low MAO consumers are based on cognitive processing, the message should
affect their beliefs. These beliefs may be formed by simple inferences, attributions, or rules of
thumb (heuristics).
Marketers can also affect the salience, strength, or favorability of consumers’ beliefs, when
attitudes are based on simple beliefs. Characteristics of the source (source credibility),
characteristics of the message (category- and schema-consistent information, a large number
of message arguments, and simple messages), and characteristics of the context (the extent
of repetition) each influence one or more of the dimensions of beliefs.
According to the mere exposure effect, when MAO is low, consumers’ attitudes toward an
offering become more favorable as they become more familiar with it. Classical conditioning
predicts that consumers’ attitudes toward an offering (the conditioned stimulus, or CS) are
enhanced when it is repeatedly paired with a stimulus (the unconditioned stimulus, or UCS)
that evokes a positive emotional response (the unconditioned response). This effect is most
likely to occur when a CS-UCS link is novel, when the consumer is aware of the link, when the
UCS and CS fit together, and when the CS precedes the UCS. Furthermore, if consumers like
a particular ad (Aad), these feelings may be transferred over to the brand (Ab) (dual-mediation
hypothesis). Additionally, attitudes toward an offering can also be affected by consumers’
mood and their tendency to evaluate the offering in a mood-congruent direction.
Finally, attitudes based on affective processes can be made more favorable when consumers’
MAO and effort are low. Characteristics of the source (attractiveness, likeability, celebrity),
characteristics of the message (pleasant pictures, pleasant music, humor, sex, emotional
content), and characteristics of the context (program or editorial context) can each influence
affectively based attitudes.
CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this chapter, students will be able to:
1. Outline some issues marketers face in trying to change consumers’ attitudes when
processing effort is low.
2. Explain the role of unconscious influences on attitudes and behavior in low-effort
situations.
3. Discuss how consumers form beliefs based on low-processing cognitive effort.
4. Show how marketers can influence cognitive attitudes through communication source,
message, context, and repetition.
5. Describe how consumers form attitudes through affective reactions when cognitive
effort is low.
Chapter 6: Attitudes Based on Low Consumer Effort
response by pairing a neutral conditioned stimulus with an emotionally charged
unconditioned stimulus.
2. A stimulus is called unconditioned (UCS) because it automatically elicits an
involuntary or unconditioned response (UCR).
3. A conditioned stimulus (CS) does not automatically elicit an involuntary
response.
4. Repeatedly pairing the conditioned stimulus (CS) with the unconditioned
stimulus (UCS) automatically elicits the involuntary unconditioned response
(UCR).
5. When the response is made in the presence of the conditioned stimulus by
itself, the response is said to be a conditioned response (CR).
6. Marketing Implications
a) By repeatedly pairing an unconditioned stimulus (e.g., happy scenes) with
a conditioned stimulus (e.g., a brand name), it may be possible to invoke
the same emotional response (now the conditioned response) to the
brand name.
C. Attitude Toward the Ad
1. When consumers like an ad a great deal, they may transfer their positive
feelings from the ad to the brand.
a) Attitudes toward ads may be the best indicator of advertising
effectiveness.
2. Dual-mediation hypothesis
a) Consumers can have a favorable attitude toward an ad either because
they find it believable or because they feel good about it.
b) These responses, in turn, may positively affect consumers’ intentions to
purchase.
3. Marketing Implications
a) By providing ads that are pleasing or likable to consumers, marketers
may be able to make consumers’ brand attitudes more favorable.
b) This approach is more effective when strong attitudes have not already
been formed, as when brands are new or not well known.
D. Mood
1. A stimulus can create a positive or negative mood, which can affect
consumers’ reactions to any other stimulus.
2. Putting consumers in a good mood through the use of physical surroundings
and employee behavior can cause consumers to evaluate stores and store
merchandise more favorably.
3. Consumers in a good mood tend to ignore negative brand information.
4. Consumers in a positive mood are more likely to like a brand extension that is
moderately similar to the parent product than consumers not in a good mood.
5. Marketing Implications
a) Retailers can use physical surroundings and the behavior of store
employees to put consumers in good moods and thus positively influence
their attitudes.
VI. How Affective Attitudes Are Influenced
A. Communication Source
1. Attractive Sources
a) When consumers’ motivation to process an advertised message is low,
attractive sources will enhance the favorability of consumers’ brand
attitudes.
2. Likable Sources
Chapter 6: Attitudes Based on Low Consumer Effort
a) May serve as unconditioned stimuli, create a positive mood that affects
consumers’ evaluations of the ad or brand, and make consumers feel
more positive about the endorsed products
3. Celebrity Sources
a) Combine physical attractiveness and likeability to account for one-third of
television advertising
B. The Message
1. Pleasant Pictures
a) Can affect ad and brand attitudes when they are processed peripherally
2. Music
a) Can create different emotional responses and convey different product
meanings
3. Humor
a) Can be used to attract consumers’ attention and increase liking of the ad
and the brand
b) Most effective when tied or related to the offering, otherwise consumers
may pay attention to the humor and not the brand.
c) Marketing Implications
(1) Humor works best on TV and radio
(2) Humor is more effective with some audiences than others; for
example, young, more educated males respond the most positively
to humor.
(3) While humor is universal, specifics of humor are culturally specific.
4. Sex
a) Sex as a communication technique appears in two major forms
(1) Sexual suggestiveness involves situations that portray or imply
sexual themes or romance
(2) Nudity or partial nudity is the other technique used in ads.
b) Marketing Implications
(1) Sex in marketing can be effective because it attracts consumers’
(2) However, sexual messages may create negative feelings such as
embarrassment or disgust in some consumers.
(3) Men and women vary in their responsiveness to sexual marketing
messages.
(4) The sexual content of a marketing message should be consistent
with the product/service being advertised.
(5) Consumer reaction to sexual marketing communications varies
across cultures.
5. Emotional Content
a) The goal of transformational advertising is to associate the experience of
using the product with a unique set of psychological characteristics
thereby increasing emotional involvement.
b) Dramas attempt to get the consumer to empathize with the characters
and become involved emotionally.
6. Message Context
a) The program or editorial context in which a message appears affects
consumers’ evaluation.
b) Programs influence consumers to transfer their feelings about the
program to the ad (excitation transfer hypothesis).
Chapter 6: Attitudes Based on Low Consumer Effort
c) A program that is too distracting can inhibit processing and ad recall.
d) Humor appeals in 30-42% of ads
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND DISCUSSION
Possible answers are as follows.
1. How can unconscious influences affect consumer attitudes and behavior in low effort
situations?
2. What role do source, message, context, and repetition play in influencing consumers’
cognitive attitude?
The communication source characteristics are important in influencing consumer beliefs
3. What is the mere exposure effect, and why is it important to consumers’ affective
reactions.
4. How do classical conditioning and evaluative conditioning apply to consumers’ attitudes
when processing effort is low?
Successful classical conditioning links the conditioned stimulus to a response. This works
5. Explain the dual-mediation hypothesis. What are the implications for affecting
consumers’ brand attitude?
The dual-mediation hypothesis explains how attitudes toward the ad (Aad) can influence
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7
6. In low-effort situations, what characteristics of the message influence consumers’
affective response?
7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of featuring celebrities in advertising
messages?
EXERCISES AND TEACHER GUIDELINES
1. Watch at least four hours of commercial television. Prepare a chart that lists all the
techniques discussed in this chapter across the top as columns (attractive source, likable
source, visuals, humor, music, sex, emotion, simple message, repetition, and so on). For
each ad, tally which techniques are used. Also briefly assess the effectiveness of each
ad in terms of creating positive Aad and Ab, attitudes about the ad and the brand. After
collecting this information for all ads viewed during the four hours, answer the following
questions: (a) Which techniques are used most frequently. (b) In your judgment, which
ads tend to be the most effective in influencing attitudes toward the ad and the brand?
Why. (c) In your judgment, which ads tend to be the least effective? Why?
When discussing this exercise in class, ask students to consider not only the shows that
2. Collect five magazines that are directed at different target audiences. Prepare a chart
that lists all the techniques discussed in this chapter across the top as columns
(attractive source, likable source, visuals, humor, music, sex, emotion, simple message,
repetition, and so on). Down the side of the chart, generate a running list of the different
product and service categories that appear in the ads. For each ad in each magazine,
make a tally of the type of product advertised and the type(s) of techniques used. Then
answer the following questions: (a) Which techniques are used most frequently? (b) Do
certain techniques tend to be used more often for certain product or service categories?
(c) Do the magazines in general use certain techniques more often for certain target
audiences?
Chapter 6: Attitudes Based on Low Consumer Effort
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8
Similarly, have students carefully consider the target markets of each of these
magazines. Would they have similar opinions regarding ads placed in magazines that
they do not read frequently or at all? Ask students, if a high-end item is advertised in a
magazine they have brought in, what does that tell them about the magazines
demographics.
ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS WITH SAMPLE ANSWERS
These discussion questions can be used as in-class activities or as thought questions that the
students consider while reading the chapter or to test their understanding of the material after
the reading and lecture are complete.
1. Explain the peripheral route to persuasion and discuss ways marketers can influence
low-effort consumer attitudes.
When consumers’ motivation, ability, and opportunity (MAO) are low, they are not likely
to devote much effort to attitude formation and change. Instead, they are likely to form
2. Discuss the mere exposure effect and provide examples of how marketers can enhance
consumer liking for an object.
According to the mere exposure effect, familiarity with an object leads to liking an object.
While the effect’s validity has been questioned, it has been applied by the advertising
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS
1. Give an example of how the mere exposure effect could be used to influence consumers’
affective response to the brand you are considering.
2. Knowing that marketers can influence cognitively based attitudes when consumer effort
is low, explain how you could use characteristics of the source, message, and context to
influence consumers’ brand perceptions of the brand you are considering.
Chapter 6: Attitudes Based on Low Consumer Effort
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10
vote for their own group’s idea). Give the winning group a small prize (a bag of candy, for
example).
3. Consider visiting the local grocery store to find examples of marketing efforts that call
attention to how companies are making efforts to build categories, schemas, or scripts for
their products. Examples of these efforts might include: (a) coupons that may be
designed to induce trial, but may actually serve as a classical conditioning tool, teaching
CLASSROOM GROUP ACTIVITY: INFLUENCING ATTITUDES WHEN
CONSUMER EFFORT IS LOW: 20 MINUTES
I. Start Up
A. Purpose of the activity
1. This activity will give students an opportunity to consider factors related to
attitude formation and schemas in a brief classroom exercise.
B. What the instructor will do
1. The instructor will divide people into small groups, assign them a product for
consideration, and be available to coach and help the groups as needed.
C. What the participants will do
1. The participants will work in small groups to brainstorm ideas for applying
concepts from the chapter to specific brands. After a period of small-group
discussion, they will make reports to the large group.
D. Rules for this experience
1. Groups are to work separately from each other. Individuals should rely on their
knowledge from the book and may refer to their notes and the book as
necessary.
II. Experience
A. Group up.
1. Have students form groups of no more than five. This exercise will work in
groups of any size; however, room restrictions that do not allow for moving
furniture may make group work more difficult.
B. Assign brands.
1. Each group should be assigned a single brand for a low-involvement good
(i.e., frequently purchased consumer nondurable) on which to focus.
a) Consider using local brands including both products and services.
b) In addition, international brands like the following could be used: Exxon,
McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Heinz, Glade, Hungry Jack.
c) Consider bringing samples of the brands to the class for students to study
and review in their groups (e.g., a box of crackers, a candy bar, a cola
can).
C. Specific actions for groups
1. The groups are responsible for creating a combination of methods for
generating attitudes toward the brand in a competitive environment, given that
consumers are likely to expend low levels of effort (involvement) developing
attitudes toward these brands.
2. Questions to be answered by small groups
Chapter 6: Attitudes Based on Low Consumer Effort
a) Identify factors that may help or hinder consumers’ likelihood to actively
develop attitudes toward the brand.
b) By what specific means could you influence consumer attitudes toward
this brand?
c) How might consumers’ attitudes toward the brand be otherwise influenced
in a competitive marketplace, and how can you address these sources of
influence?
3. Large-group discussions
a) First, have groups present their ideas about the first question, and then
proceed to discuss each of the subsequent questions.
b) If there are many groups, share the discussion among all groups, though
not all groups may answer all of the questions.
III. Debrief and Unveil Concepts
A. Discuss the activity itself.
1. The purpose of this discussion is to allow students to express what they felt
about the experience itself.
2. Ask students to describe their experiences of “doing” the activity.
a) Likes and dislikes about what just happened
b) How they felt during the experience
c) What is realistic, unrealistic about the exercise?
d) What will be different when they do this for their own brand?
B. Discuss the content of the experience.
1. The purpose of this discussion is to ensure that students “take away” important
learning points.
2. Ask students to describe the important points the experience teaches.
3. Use the chalkboard to record student responses.
a) Write down their ideas as they are presented.
b) Concentrate on the principles being discussed rather than the examples
being used.
c) Help them to see the interrelationships between their responses
IV. Execute
A. Apply what has been learned.
1. Lead a discussion on how the concepts can be applied in organizations.
a) What barriers may be faced in applying the concepts from the exercise?
b) What can be done to help others understand the concepts when you use
them at work?
B. Transfer and use the knowledge.
1. Encourage students to make a record in their notes about how they will use the
ideas in the workplace.
2. Even if they do not have a specific job, how will they remember to use what
they have learned?