David Glen Mick

Consumer Research and Semiotics: Exploring the Morphology of Signs, Symbols, and Significance

The importance of signs and symbols has been widely recognized, but only a handful of consumer researchers have developed theory and research programs based on semiotics, the doctrine of signs. This article outlines the emergence and principal perspectives of semiotics and then discusses its applications and implications for consumer research. Among its strengths, semiotics positions meaning at the nucleus of consumer behavior, provides a rich metalanguage for semiotic consumer research, and recommends a multi-paradigm philosophy of science.

Figures of Rhetoric in Advertising Language

A rhetorical figure can be defined as an artful deviation in the form taken by a statement. Since antiquity dozens of figures have been cataloged, ranging from the familiar (rhyme, pun) to the obscure (antimetabole). Despite the frequent appearance of rhetorical figures in print advertisements, their incorporation into advertising theory and research has been minimal. This article develops a framework for classifying rhetorical figures that distinguishes between figurative and nonfigurative text, between two types of figures (schemes and tropes), and among four rhetorical operations that underlie individual figures (repetition, reversal, substitution, and destabilization). These differentiations in the framework are supported by preliminary validation data and are linked to suggested consumer responses. The article also considers the theoretical import of the proposed framework for future research on rhetorical structure in advertising. Copyright 1996 by the University of Chicago.

Visual Rhetoric in Advertising: Text-Interpretive, Experimental, and Reader-Response Analyses

Text interpretations, two experiments, and a set of reader-response interviews examine the impact of stylistic elements in advertising that form visual rhetorical figures parallel to those found in language. The visual figures examined here--rhyme, antithesis, metaphor, and pun--produced more elaboration and led to a more favorable attitude toward the ad, without being any more difficult to comprehend. Interviews confirmed that several of the meanings generated by informants corresponded to those produced by an a priori text-interpretive analysis of the ads. However, all of these effects diminished or disappeared for the visual tropes (metaphor and pun) in the case of individuals who lacked the cultural competency required to adequately appreciate the contemporary American ads on which the studies are based. Results are discussed in terms of the power of rhetorical theory and cultural competency theory (Scott 1994) for illuminating the role played by visual elements in advertising. Overall, the project demonstrates the advantages of investigating visual persuasion via an integration of multiple research traditions. Copyright 1999 by the University of Chicago.

Self-Gifts: Phenomenological Insights from Four Contexts

This article reports the results of a study meant to portray a detailed picture of self-gift experiences in four contexts, focusing notably on reward and therapeutic self-gifts. Extending prior conceptual discussions, the findings suggest that self-gifts are a form of personally symbolic self-communication through special indulgences that tend to be premeditated and highly context bound. Discussion centers on theoretical implications and future directions for self-gift research. Overall, self-gifts represent a complex class of personal acquisitions that offer intriguing insights on self-directed consumer behavior. Copyright 1990 by the University of Chicago.

Exploring Antecedents and Consequences of Consumer Creativity in a Problem-Solving Context

Creativity is an underresearched topic in consumer behavior, yet integral in many instances of consumer problem solving. Two experiments were conducted to investigate antecedents and consequences of creativity in a consumption context. The results indicate that both situational factors (i.e., time constraints, situational involvement) and person factors (i.e., locus of control, metaphoric thinking ability) affect creative consumption and that some of these variables have interactive influences. The results also show that acting creatively enhances positive affect.

Levels of Subjective Comprehension in Advertising Processing and Their Relations to Ad Perceptions, Attitudes, and Memory

Two fundamental orientations toward message comprehension have appeared in advertising research: the traditional objective view, which applies an accuracy criterion to conceptualize and evaluate comprehension, and the subjective view, which applies other criteria related to the individual comprehender and the actual experience of the message. This article develops a framework for four levels of subjective comprehension on the basis of an elaboration criterion. Comprehension levels are hypothesized to differ in their relations to ad perceptions, attitudes, and memory. Results from an empirical study provide initial support for the framework, including new theoretical insights and explanatory ability beyond the objective orientation. Discussion focuses on implications for advertising theory and consumer research. Copyright 1992 by the University of Chicago.

Visual and Verbal Rhetorical Figures Under Directed Processing Versus Incidental Exposure to Advertising

This re-inquiry examines the robustness of research showing that rhetorical figures such as rhyme and metaphor can have a positive impact on consumer response to advertising. Prior empirical research explicitly directed subjects to process the ads and generally examined either visual or verbal rhetoric, but not both. We embedded ads containing visual and verbal figures in a 32-page magazine designed to be interesting to subjects and manipulated directed processing or incidental exposure to the ads. Ads with figures were recalled more often and liked better. Visual figures were more effective regardless of processing condition, whereas verbal figures performed better only when subjects were directed to process the ads.

Pursuing the Meaning of Meaning in the Commercial World: An International Review of Marketing and Consumer Research Founded on Semiotics

From product design and packaging to advertising and retailing, marketers are continually seeking to strategically facilitate meanings that contribute positively to brand images, purchase likelihood, satisfaction, and the like. For their part, consumers are continually acquiring, using, sharing experiences, and disposing in substantial accordance with the meanings they attribute to products, ads, purchase sites, and so forth. However, meaning was underprioritized in marketing and consumer research until the last two decades, partly because it is one of the most complex phenomena to theorize and investigate. As researchers focused more on meaning, hundreds of books and articles drew upon the doctrine of semiotics, which is the study of communication and meaning in terms of the nature and processes of signs (both verbal and non-verbal). The burgeoning scholarship, not surprisingly, was eclectic, fragmented, far-spread, and written in numerous languages, leaving many uncertainties about the contributions of semiotics. In this project, we collected and integrated relevant worldwide research, and we assessed what semiotics has provided for advancing knowledge on meaning in marketing and consumer behavior. We focused on the manner in which semiotics addresses and, in some instances, resolves important intellectual questions about meaning at each stage of an expanded version of McCrackens (1986) model of meaning movement in consumer society. We discuss at each stage the trends and variations in the use of semiotic paradigms, methodological approaches, levels of analyses, geographic origins of scholarship, emphases on different substantive topics, and future research needs. Overall, our review uncovers a profusion, maturation, and rising value of semiotic research on marketing and consumer behavior since the mid-1980s. We finish with a discussion of the continuing intellectual challenges in the area, and we draw some encompassing conclusions on the nature, merits, and future of semiotics in marketing and consumer research.

Transformative consumer research for personal and collective well-being

M. Csikszentmihalyi, Foreword: Consuming and Evolving. Part 1: Declaring and Projecting Transformative Consumer Research D.G. Mick, S. Pettigrew, C. Pechmann, J.L. Ozanne, The Origins, Qualities, and Envisionments of Transformative Consumer Research. A.R. Andreasen, M.E. Goldberg, M.J. Sirgy, Foundational Research on Consumer Welfare: Opportunities for a Transformative Consumer Research Agenda. B. Wansink, Activism Research: Designing Transformative Lab and Field Studies. J.L. Ozanne, E.M. Fischer, Sensitizing Principles and Practices Central to Social Change Methodologies. Part 2: Economic and Social Issues M. Viswanathan, Conducting Transformative Consumer Research: Lessons Learned in Moving from Basic Research to Transformative Impact in Subsistence Markets. C.J. Shultz II, S.J. Shapiro,Transformative Consumer Research in Developing Economies: Perspectives, Trends, and Reflections from the Field. J.A. Rosa, S. Geiger-Oneta, A. Barrios Fajardo, Hope and Innovativeness: Transformative Factors for Subsistence Consumer Merchants. J.D. Williams, G.R. Henderson, Discrimination and Injustice in the Marketplace: They Come in All Sizes, Shapes, and Colors. Part 3: Technological Edges D.L. Hoffman, Internet Indispensability, Online Social Capital, and Consumer Well-Being. R.V. Kozinets, F.M. Belz, P. McDonagh, Social Media for Social Change: A TCR Perspective. T.P. Novak, Quality of Virtual Life. Part 4: Materialism and the Environment J.E. Burroughs, A. Rindfleisch, What Welfare? On the Definition and Domain of Transformative Consumer Research and the Foundational Role of Materialism. P. McDonagh, S. Dobscha, A. Prothero, Sustainable Consumption and Production: Challenges for Transformative Consumer Research. W. Kilbourne, J. Mittelstaedt, From Profligacy to Sustainability: Can We Get There from Here? Transforming the Ideology of Consumption. Part 5: Enhancing Health S. A. Grier, E.S. Moore, Tackling the Childhood Obesity Epidemic: An Opportunity for Transformative Consumer Research. K.G. Grunert, L.E. Bolton, M.M. Raats, Processing and Acting upon Nutrition Labeling on Food: The State of Knowledge and New Directions for Transformative Consumer Research. C. Pechmann, A. Biglan, J.W. Grube, C. Cody, Transformative Consumer Research for Addressing Tobacco and Alcohol Consumption. M. Fishbein, S. E. Middlestadt, Using Behavioral Theory to Transform Consumers and Their Environment to Prevent the Spread of Sexually Transmitted Infections. Part 6: Consumer Finances G. Loewenstein, C.E. Cryder, S. Benartzi, A. Previtero, Addition by Division: Partitioning Real Accounts for Financial Well-Being. D. Soman, A. Cheema, E.Y. Chan, Understanding Consumer Psychology to Avoid Abuse of Credit Cards. P.A. Keller, A. Lusardi, Employee Retirement Savings: What We Know and What We Are Discovering for Helping People to Prepare for Life after Work. Part 7: Other Risky Behaviors and At-Risk Consumers R.J. Faber, K.D. Vohs, A Model of Self-Regulation: Insights for Impulsive and Compulsive Problems with Eating and Buying. J. Cotte, K.A. LaTour, Gambling Beliefs vs. Reality: Implications for Transformative Public Policy. J.M. Albright, Porn 2.0: The Libidinal Economy and the Consumption of Desire in the Digital Age. A. Litt, D.M. Pirouz, B. Shiv, Neuroscience and Addictive Consumption. S. Menzel Baker, M. Mason, Toward a Process Theory of Consumer Vulnerability and Resiliency: Illuminating Its Transformative Potential. S. Pettigrew, G. Moschis, Consumer Well-Being in Later Life. Part 8: Family Matters R.J. Prinz, Effective Parenting to Prevent Adverse Outcomes and Promote Child Well-Being at a Population Level. A.M. Epp, L.L. Price, Family Time in Consumer Culture: Implications for Transformative Consumer Research. Part 9: Enriching Behaviors and Virtues R. Belk, R. Llamas, The Nature and Effects of Sharing in Consumer Behavior. S.R. Maddi, Resilience and Consumer Behavior for Higher Quality of Life. D.G. Mick, B. Schwartz, Can Consumers Be Wise? Aristotle Speaks to the 21st Century. Part 10: Epilogue D.R. Lehmann, R.P. Hill, Epilogue to Transformative Consumer Research: Suggestions for the Future.In this chapter, we will give a brief introduction to the current practice of nutrition labeling in the USA and the EU. We will then address the question of how nutrition labeling affects consumer behavior, reviewing extant research and proposing an agenda for future research. Our discussion will focus on the effects of nutrition labeling that occur via their impact on consumer behavior. Labeling may also have effects on the supply side: For example, as labeling makes certain nutritional properties of a product more visible, new product development and product reformulation may take place to create positive nutritional profiles. Such effects, while potentially very important from a public health perspective, will not be addressed in this chapter (see Moorman, 1998 and Moorman, Du & Mela, 2005 for investigation of such effects).

Benefit salience and consumers' selective attention to product features

Abstract Although attention is a key construct in models of marketing communication and consumer choice, its selective nature has rarely been examined in common time-pressured conditions. We focus on the role of benefit salience, that is, the readiness with which particular benefits are brought to mind by consumers in relation to a given product category. Study 1 demonstrated that when product feature information was presented rapidly, individuals for whom the benefit of personalised customer service had high habitual salience displayed selective attention as evidenced by elevated recall and recognition of a target feature (a banks “friendly employees”). Also, as expected, individual differences in habitual benefit salience affected judgements of the target product. Study 2 showed that when subjects were additionally informed about a specific product usage situation, selective attention was primarily influenced by the relevance of the target feature to benefits made salient by the usage situation; individual differences played a less important role. Discussion emphasises theoretical aspects of the findings as well as managerial implications with respect to person-situation approaches to benefit segmentation.