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Media reports that a company behaves in a socially nonresponsible manner frequently result in consumer participation in a boycott. As time goes by, however, the number of consumers participating in the boycott starts dwindling. Yet, little is known on why individual participation in a boycott declines and what type of consumer is more likely to stop boycotting earlier rather than later. Integrating research on drivers of individual boycott participation with multi-stage models and the hot/cool cognition system, suggests a “heat-up” phase in which boycott participation is fueled by expressive drivers, and a “cool-down” phase in which instrumental drivers become more influential. Using a diverse set of real contexts, four empirical studies provide evidence supporting a set of hypotheses on promotors and inhibitors of boycott participation over time. Study 1 provides initial evidence for the influence of expressive and instrumental drivers in a food services context. Extending the context to video streaming services, e-tailing, and peer-to-peer ridesharing, Study 2, Study 3, and Study 4 show that the reasons consumers stop/continue boycotting vary systematically across four distinct groups. Taken together, the findings help activists sustain boycott momentum and assist firms in dealing more effectively with boycotts.

Although it is well documented that low self-esteem and depression are related, the precise nature of the relation has been a topic of ongoing debate. We describe several theoretical models concerning the link between self-esteem and depression, and review recent research evaluating the validity of these competing models. Overall, the available evidence provides strong support for the vulnerability model (low self-esteem contributes to depression), weaker support for the scar model (depression erodes self-esteem), and little support for alternative accounts such as the diathesis-stress model. Moreover, the vulnerability model is robust and holds across gender, age, affective-cognitive versus somatic symptoms of depression, European background versus Mexican-origin participants, and clinical versus nonclinical samples. Research on further specifications of the vulnerability model suggests that the effect is (a) partially mediated by rumination, (b) not influenced by other characteristics of self-esteem (i.e., stability and contingency), and (c) driven predominantly by global rather than domain-specific self-esteem. The research has important theoretical implications because it counters the commonly repeated claim that self-esteem has no long-term impact. Moreover, the research has important practical implications, suggesting that depression can be prevented, or reduced, by interventions that improve self-esteem.

In this article, we review new insights gained from recent longitudinal studies examining the development of selfesteem and its influence on important life outcomes. The evidence supports the following three conclusions. First, self-esteem increases from adolescence to middle adulthood, peaks at about age 50 to 60 years, and then decreases at an accelerating pace into old age; moreover, there are no cohort differences in the self-esteem trajectory from adolescence to old age. Second, self-esteem is a relatively stable, but by no means immutable, trait; individuals with relatively high (or low) self-esteem at one stage of life are likely to have relatively high (or low) self-esteem decades later. Third, high self-esteem prospectively predicts success and well-being in life domains such as relationships, work, and health. Given the increasing evidence that self-esteem has important real-world consequences, the topic of selfesteem development is of considerable societal significance.

This research replicates Bhattacharjee et al. (J Consum Res 39(4): 1167-1184, 2013) moral decoupling model and extends the original along the dimensions of theory, method, and context. Adopting a branding perspective and focusing on the corporate domain rather than the public figures investigated by Bhattacharjee and colleagues, this research examines the proposition that consumers dissociate judgments of morality from judgments of performance to justify purchasing from companies deemed to act immorally. The original study is further extended by applying the model in a different cultural context and employing a more realistic stimulus to establish external and ecological validity. The results of the replication generally support the original findings, in particular, under conditions of higher product involvement, a theoretical extension.

This article develops empirically based guidelines to assist managers in selecting or modifying package designs for achieving desired consumer responses. Seven studies identify the key types of package designs, including the factors that differentiate those package designs, and determine how these holistic designs are related to consumer brand impressions. The selection of package designs can be simplified with the use of five holistic types: massive, contrasting, natural, delicate, and nondescript designs. Sincere brands should have natural package designs, exciting brands should have contrasting designs, competent brands should have delicate designs, sophisticated brands should have natural or delicate designs, and rugged brands should have contrasting or massive designs. The authors discuss the potential trade-offs among the impressions created by holistic design types and illustrate their findings with numerous real packages.

•We examine how context visual complexity affects a package's attractiveness.•Low Visual complexity of a context increases a package's attractiveness.•This effect is particularly evident with inherently attractive packages.•Processing fluency mediates the context complexity–attractiveness relation.•Individual field dependence and shopping goals are important moderators. Visual appeal is an important consideration in the design of brand packages because attractiveness guides behavior. The visual complexity of a context (i.e., the quantity, irregularity, detail, and dissimilarity of objects) in which a retailer displays a package may impact its attractiveness by influencing attention and processing fluency. Employing consumer samples, and stimuli ranging from the abstract to the realistic, three studies provide evidence that people process a package more fluently, thus increasing its attractiveness, when it is presented in a low rather than high complexity context. This effect is more pronounced with inherently appealing packages, and with people who are more field-dependent or pursuing utilitarian shopping goals. Study 1 establishes effects by employing psychometric measures and abstract stimuli; study 2 corroborates findings with another product category and realistic stimuli; and study 3 complements psychometric measures with eye tracking data to demonstrate that visually more complex contexts divert viewer attention, hereby lowering processing fluency and target attractiveness. The authors discuss the theoretical contribution and strategic insights the research provides for retailers, brand managers, and designers.

Purpose Research has started exploring how brand heritage perceptions affect people. However, little attention has been paid to the underlying mechanisms and the link between brand heritage and relational outcomes. This study aims to integrate research on brand heritage with the stereotype-content model (SCM) to offer a novel explanation of why and when consumers identify with heritage brands. Design/methodology/approach Two quasi-experimental studies with consumers in Germany (N = 312 and N = 300) focus on multiple real brands to test the mediating roles of warmth and competence. Given the central role of anthropomorphism in brand applications of the SCM, two corresponding variables are examined as moderators, one relating to the brand (brand anthropomorphism) and the other relating to the individual (a person’s feeling of loneliness). Category involvement, state anxiety, brand familiarity, past orientation and consumer age are included as controls. Findings The findings indicate that warmth and competence mediate the brand heritage consumer–brand identification relationship. In addition, they highlight the moderating role of brand anthropomorphism and loneliness. Research limitations/implications This study offers a novel process explanation for how brand heritage perceptions influence consumer–brand relationships, contingent upon loneliness and anthropomorphism. Practical implications The findings help marketers better understand how and when warmth and competence transmit positive brand heritage effects, resulting in more favorable responses. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is among the first to adopt a stereotype-content and anthropomorphic perspective on consumer responses to brand heritage perceptions.

Increased spending and demand for sustainable advertising necessitates research to understand better how to encourage sustainable thought and behavior effectively, especially in the understudied areas of social media and cross-cultural research. This study, which includes respondents from the United States, Germany, and South Korea (total n = 1,018) who completed an online survey about usage of Facebook and Twitter, examines motives for sustainable behaviors. Kelman's (1958) functional motives, which correspond to the three major philosophies of psychology, were used as the theoretical foundation for this study. For all countries, involvement motives lead to recycling behaviors and green transportation use, but only for the United States and Germany do involvement motives lead to antimaterialistic views and organic food purchase. Collectivist South Korea has the highest level of social media involvement and of sustainable behaviors except in recycling, where Germany leads. Motives are complex, demanding careful analysis from advertisers who plan to deliver green advertisements over social media.

Product evaluation research has a long tradition of examining how consumers evaluate a product from the product itself in an attempt to understand why certain products are better perceived or worse perceived. Usually consumers recall the memory of high evaluation products in their minds when they make buying decisions. Better fitting perceptions would be more favorable than poor fitting ones. Our findings indicate that culture is an important reason that influences consumers’ responses to design-based product evaluations. Westerners evaluate products differently than Easterners due to cross-cultural differences in styles of thinking. Two cultures of people have differences in design-based product evaluation. In most cases, Easterners have more favorable evaluations of a new packaging product than Westerners.