Emotion regulation in the marketplace: the role of pleasant brand personalities
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Emotion regulation in the marketplace: the role of pleasant brand personalities Rebecca K. Trump 1
& Kevin
P. Newman 2
Accepted: 29 September 2020/ # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract People prefer to experience pleasant (vs. unpleasant) emotions and thus will take actions to repair unpleasant emotions. In addition, consumers perceive brands as possessing personality characteristics. This research demonstrates that consumers experiencing unpleasant emotions are attracted to brands with opposing, pleasant personalities as a means to repair their emotions. Studies 1a and 1b find that consumers respond more favorably to an exciting brand when they are motivated to repair the unpleasant emotional state of boredom (1a) and that a reduction in boredom in response to the exciting brand drives this effect (1b). Study 2 extends this finding by showing that anxious consumers are motivated to respond more favorably to a calm brand to repair their anxiety. In both cases, the effects only hold when participants are not first given the opportunity to alleviate their unpleasant emotion, thus providing evidence that motivation is the process driving consumers to respond more favorably to brands with pleasant personalities. Keywords Emotion regulation . Brand personality, motivation . Compensatory
consumption
1 Introduction Companies often strive to enhance pleasant consumer emotions. For example, CocaCola encourages consumers to “Open Happiness” (McKay and Vranica 2009) and
* Rebecca K. Trump [email protected] Kevin P. Newman [email protected]
1
Sellinger School of Business and Management, Loyola University Maryland, 4501 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21210, USA
2
Arthur F. and Patricia Ryan Center for Business Studies, Providence College, 1 Cunningham Square, Providence, RI 02918, USA
Marketing Letters
Reddi-wip helps consumers “Share the Joy” (Shorty Awards 2017). This marketing strategy makes sense given that people are motivated to maintain positive emotions and eliminate negative emotions (Morris and Reilly 1987). Consumption can serve a key role in regulating emotional experiences. For instance, consumers indulge in unhealthful eating choices to repair feelings of sadness (e.g., Garg et al. 2007). We extend this line of research by examining whether brands with pleasant personalities can help consumers repair unfavorable emotions. US consumers perceive brands, much like people, to have distinct personalities composed of five personality characteristics (e.g., excitement; Aaker 1997). Since Aaker’s seminal work, researchers have identified additional personality characteristics that are attributed to brands in particular contexts. For example, peacefulness is a notable brand personality dimension in Japan (Aaker et al. 2001). In service-based marketing contexts such as tourism, peaceful brands that provide calming experiences (e.g., lounging on the beach, spa treatments) may be particularly desirable for consumers (Hosany et al. 2006). The current research p
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