key: cord-0917695-xwd6qn1e
authors: Park, Jooyoung; Kim, Jungkeun; Lee, Daniel C.; Kim, Seongseop S.; Voyer, Benjamin G.; Kim, Changju; Sung, Billy; Gonzalez‐Jimenez, Hector; Fastoso, Fernando; Choi, Yung K.; Yoon, Sukki
title: The impact of COVID‐19 on consumer evaluation of authentic advertising messages
date: 2021-08-10
journal: Psychol Mark
DOI: 10.1002/mar.21574
sha: 5eccd8d39130baa2fa970f816abb02f1928e1b10
doc_id: 917695
cord_uid: xwd6qn1e

This study investigates the relationship between the COVID‐19 threat and consumer evaluation of a product with authenticity appeals in advertisements. We propose that threatening situations like COVID‐19 motivate consumers to lower their uncertainty and increase their preference for products with authentic advertising messages. Because individuals react differently to threatening environments according to their early‐life experiences, commonly reflected in childhood socioeconomic status, we examined whether childhood socioeconomic status moderates the relationship between threat and consumer evaluation of authenticity in advertisements. First, secondary data from Google Trends provided empirical support for our predictions. In additional experimental studies, participants evaluated different target products in four studies that either manipulated (Studies 2 and 3) or measured (Studies 4 and 5) COVID‐19 threat. Our results provide converging evidence that consumers positively evaluate products with authentic advertising messages under the COVID‐19 threat. Consumers' motivation to lower their uncertainty underlies the effect of COVID‐19 threat on their evaluation of authentic messages (Study 3). This attempt to reduce uncertainty is more likely to occur for consumers with relatively higher childhood socioeconomic status (Studies 4 and 5). These findings suggest that using authenticity appeals during a pandemic could effectively reduce consumers' perceived uncertainty and generate positive consumer evaluations.

be important for brands during and after the COVID-19 crisis because stories with genuineness and sincerity are likely to be a valued dimension of brand personality in the times ahead (Napoli et al., 2014) . However, the knowledge of the impact of COVID-19 in this area is still minimal as researchers have just begun to investigate it (see Sobande, 2020) , calling for more attention to authenticity and its relationship with advertising effectiveness in the pandemic era (Taylor, 2020) .

Authenticity is a crucial element of advertising, and it has dominated many marketing practices (Becker et al., 2019; Grayson & Martinec, 2004) . Although there is no commonly accepted definition, authenticity consistently encapsulates "what is genuine, real, and/or true" in the literature (Beverland & Farrelly, 2010, p. 838) . Studies show that authenticity is likely to lower perceived risk and uncertainty (Shin & Kang, 2020) and fulfill individuals' psychological need for security (Gillath et al., 2010) . Therefore, threatening situations like COVID-19 may motivate consumers to prefer products with authentic advertising messages.

Research indicates that people respond to threatening environments differently according to their early-life experiences, commonly reflected in childhood socioeconomic status (Griskevicius et al., 2011; Griskevicius et al., 2013; Mittal & Griskevicius, 2014) . Behavioral tendencies developed in childhood are likely to persist in adulthood, especially under stressful conditions (Griskevicius et al., 2011) . Therefore, when facing threatening events, like COVID-19, early-life experiences and behavioral patterns may emerge (e.g., Mittal & Griskevicius, 2014) . Compared with those with lower childhood socioeconomic status, individuals with higher childhood socioeconomic status tend to have higher perceived control and desire to employ adaptive strategies in response to threat or stress (Boucher, 2020; Mittal & Griskevicius, 2014; Thompson et al., 2020) . Considering the differential responses to threatening cues according to early-life experiences, we propose that childhood socioeconomic status will moderate the relationship between perceived COVID-19 threat and evaluations of products promoted with authenticity appeals.

Five studies test our predictions. Study 1 provides initial evidence from secondary data from Google Trends. Study 2 provides experimental evidence on the main effect of the COVID-19 threat on consumer evaluation of a product with authenticity (vs. nonauthenticity) appeal. Study 3 further reveals that consumers' motivation to lower their uncertainty underlies their positive evaluation of a product with authentic advertising messages. Using different population groups, Studies 4 and 5 show that individuals with relatively higher childhood socioeconomic status are more likely to favor products with authenticity appeals under the COVID-19 threat.

This study adds to the literature in several ways. First, our research shows a link between perceptions of external threats and attitudes toward products promoted with authenticity appeals. There has been little research on how external or situational factors affect consumers' attitudes toward products advertised with authenticity appeals. Building upon prior work on consumers' psychological need for security (Gillath et al., 2010) , we demonstrate that a heightened threat leads consumers to evaluate products with authenticity appeals more positively. Second, this study deepens our understanding of the impact of childhood socioeconomic status on consumer behavior. The result offers the novel implication that individuals with high childhood socioeconomic status are more likely to restore perceived security and control through their product choices under external threats than those with low childhood socioeconomic status. Thus, this study identifies an essential individual factor determining the impact of threat perception on the evaluation of products promoted with authenticity appeals.

2 | LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES 2.1 | Authenticity in consumer behavior and advertising Consumers increasingly seek authenticity, which has become one of the fundamental elements of contemporary marketing (Brown et al., 2003) . Research has documented that authenticity reflects a product's quality and trust level (van den Bosch et al., 2005) , enhances message receptivity (Labrecque et al., 2011) , and increases perceived quality (Moulard et al., 2014) and purchase intentions (Napoli et al., 2014) . Accumulated evidence also suggests that authenticity generates positive consumer responses (e.g., del Barrio-García & Prados-Peña, 2019; Lee et al., 2019; Li et al., 2019) . For example, Lee et al. (2019) found that authentic Korean cosmetics enhanced consumer perceptions of quality and led to higher purchase intention. This finding echoes del Barrio-García and Prados-Peña's (2019) study of cultural attractions and Wang and Mattila's (2015) research on service environments: A higher degree of perceived authenticity positively influences patronage intentions. Buendgens-Kosten (2014) further suggested that consumers have an innate desire to acquire authentic products based on the products' inherent "realness" and "trueness to origin." Thus, consumers not only value authentic products and brands but actively search for them when evaluating their alternatives (Beverland & Farrelly, 2010; Lee et al., 2019) .

Acknowledging advertising as an effective way to communicate the authenticity of a brand or product, another stream of research examined how to convey authenticity in advertisements (e.g., Botterill, 2007; Chalmers & Price, 2009; Stern, 1994; Zhang et al., 2014) . Stern (1994) suggests that positioning products as associated with genuine craftsmanship, rooted in tradition, and having a concrete relationship to a location can emanate authenticity. Botterill (2007) further stipulates that for authenticity to be successfully communicated, underlying messages of "truth" and "substance" must be conveyed. As authentic products generate consumers' positive responses, authenticity appeals have also been shown to enhance consumers' brand loyalty and elevate sales (Chalmers & Price, 2009) . O'Neill et al. (2014) showed that consumers are inclined to remain loyal to brands they deem authentic and are willing to pay premiums.

Then, when would consumers seek authentic products or be more persuaded by authentic advertising appeals? The extant literature recognizes that both internal and external factors can affect consumer preferences toward authenticity. For instance, when faced with uncertainty (e.g., an inundation of alternatives, personal relationships, and choosing restaurants) or threats (e.g., health concerns), consumers tend to prefer authentic options (e.g., Adams, 2006; Gillath et al., 2010) . Adams (2006) first illustrated this idea in his study, which presented the correlation between personal wellbeing and preference for authenticity. It was explained that when individuals feel insecure or uncertain, they search for an authentic existence. Gillath et al. (2010) further revealed that individuals' psychological need for security promotes authenticity. More recent studies (e.g., He et al., 2017; Liang et al., 2018) observed a greater preference for authenticity when consumers confront uncertainty or risk. For example, consumers tend to prefer familiar products when facing problematic situations because familiarity is associated with safety and security (He et al., 2017) . Similarly, Liang et al. (2018) showed that authenticity decreases consumers' perceived risk.

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly threatened consumers' ontological security and created adverse psychological, affective (e.g., fear and anxiety), and behavioral (e.g., increased indulgent consumption) responses (Campbell et al., 2020) . Encountering such a threat, consumers employ adaptive strategies aimed at reducing risk and uncertainty (e.g., Galoni et al., 2020; Giroux et al., 2021; Huang & Sengupta, 2020;  J. Pena-Marin et al., 2020) . For example, Huang and Sengupta (2020) found that contagious disease cues increased consumer preference for atypical (vs. typical) product options because they are associated with a small number of people and thus mitigating the threat of infection. Galoni et al. (2020) also showed that the pandemic's emotional threat promotes consumer preference for familiar (vs. nonfamiliar) products that help regain a sense of control. Similarly, Pena-Marin et al. (2020) found that after COVID-19, financial investors showed a greater preference for high-priced (vs. low-priced) stocks that they perceived to be more stable. Together, prior work indicates that consumers are likely to lower uncertainty and risk under a pandemic threat. Because authenticity is associated with lower uncertainty (e.g., Adams, 2006; Gillath et al., 2010) , we predict that consumers will evaluate products with messages of authenticity (vs. nonauthenticity) more favorably when facing a significant threat from pandemics like COVID-19. Formally, we hypothesize that: H1: High (vs. low) threat of COVID-19 will increase consumer attitude toward a brand/product with authentic advertising messages.

H2: The motivation to reduce uncertainty will mediate the impact of the COVID-19 threat on the evaluation of authentic advertising messages.

A growing body of research has shown that childhood environments can determine individuals' decision-making and behaviors (Belsky et al., 1991) , especially when environmental stressors or mortality cues, like COVID-19, are present (Griskevicius et al., 2011) . If authenticity helps to decrease perceived uncertainty, which can enhance perceived control (Liang et al., 2018) under the high threat of COVID-19, we further propose that childhood socioeconomic status will moderate consumer evaluations of a product with authenticity appeal. Scarce resources in early life limit individuals' ability to change the environment (Infurna et al., 2011; Kraus et al., 2012) . With low ability to affect the environment, individuals from underprivileged households may have repeatedly failed to control stressful events and abandoned efforts to control them. Therefore, individuals with relatively low childhood socioeconomic status, characterized by unpredictability and scarce resources, tend to have a low sense of and desire for control (Mittal & Griskevicius, 2014) . Instead of exercising control over the environment, individuals with low childhood socioeconomic status are likely to adapt to the environment. For example, Thompson et al. (2020) showed that compared with those with high childhood socioeconomic status, individuals with relatively low childhood socioeconomic status tend to actively devalue their initial choice when it becomes unavailable, indicating adaptive strategies to product unavailability.

In contrast, individuals from resource-affluent childhoods follow proactive decision-making strategies, such as choosing a product that fulfills their needs, in response to situational changes (Carey & Markus, 2016; Thompson et al., 2020) . Because plentiful resources help individuals overcome uncertain or threatening situations, individuals from resource-affluent childhoods tend to have a higher sense of control (Mittal & Griskevicius, 2014) . Also, the material advantages of those in higher social classes promote an orientation to the self and a tendency to behave by following internal states (e.g., needs or traits). Therefore, individuals with high socioeconomic status are likely to exercise control over the environment through proactive decision-making strategies to satisfy their needs in a given circumstance (Thompson et al., 2020) .

Growing evidence suggests that individuals with low childhood socioeconomic status tend to adapt to, rather than change, external situations like COVID-19, whereas those with high childhood socioeconomic status are likely to try to change the external situation by following proactive strategies. Under heightened COVID-19 threats, consumers with higher childhood socioeconomic status will show greater preferences for authentic products that lower their perceived uncertainty than those with lower childhood socioeconomic status. In contrast, people with lower childhood socioeconomic status will try to adjust themselves, for example, by distorting the perceived threat instead of actively attempting to overcome the situation (Griskevicius et al., 2011) . For this reason, a threatening situation like COVID-19 will not significantly change preferences for those with low childhood socioeconomic status. We thus hypothesize that: H3: Consumers with higher (vs. lower) childhood socioeconomic status will evaluate a product with authenticity advertising messages more favorably in response to a high (vs. low) threat of COVID-19. 3 | STUDY 1: SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS-GOOGLE TRENDS SEARCH DATA

As the initial evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on the preference for authenticity appeals, we analyzed a set of secondary data from Google Trends (https://trends.google.com/), which shows how public interest in web searches changes over time.

The data inform the magnitude of search interest relative to the highest point (i.e., a value of 100) for the given region and time.

To test our predictions, we collected data on the keywords related to authenticity (i.e., authentic/authenticity/authentic pro- 

Consistent with our prediction, the results indicated a significant increase in Google searches for the keywords after the outbreak of the pandemic, that is, for "average for five keywords", M before-COVID = 47.80, SD = 5.08 vs. M after-COVID = 54.77, SD = 4.97, F(1, 120) = 58.69, p < .001, η 2 = 0.328; an average increase of 14.6% after COVID-19, as shown in 

Threat of COVID-19 DV:

Hypothesis 1 (Study 2)

Mediator:

Hypothesis 2 (Study 3)

Moderator 1: First, we manipulated the COVID-19 threat by adopting a procedure from prior research (Huang & Sengupta, 2020) . Specifically, we provided a news article to the participants and asked them to review it before answering a set of questions. Depending on the experimental conditions, they reviewed one of two newspaper articles, as shown in Figure 3 . Participants in the high threat condition read an article titled "Can Covid damage the brain?" In contrast, those in the control condition read an article

titled "A nerve-racking final round adds drama to golf's fan-free return."

After reading the article, we exposed participants to a scenario about visiting an Italian restaurant. We asked participants to imagine that their friend had suggested the restaurant. The detailed description was different across two experimental conditions, as shown in Figure 4 . Specifically, we exposed participants in the authentic condition to a "Giovanni's Pizza and Pasta" restaurant that emphasized the authenticity of the food (i.e., "food based on the owner's traditional Italian recipes passed on in their family"). On the contrary, we presented participants in the control condition to "Mike's Pizza and

Pasta" with a different message (i.e., "food based on the owner's interpretation of Italian recipe").

After reviewing the advertising message, participants indicated their attitude toward the brand using three items on 7-point scales 

We conducted a two-way analysis of variance. First, we manipulated the COVID-19 threat as we did in Study 2 with a slight modification. We asked participants in the high threat condition to read the same article from Study 2, titled "Can Covid damage the brain?" We exposed those in the control condition to an article titled "Nets adding another All-Star in LaMarcus after buyout with Spurs." 1 After that, we asked participants to rate their perceived uncertainty at that moment on a 7-point scale (i.e., 1 = not at all uncertain, 7 = very certain).

After the reading task, we presented participants with a scenario about visiting an Italian restaurant. Participants imagined Study 2 -Non-authentic condition Imagine that you are going out for dinner with a friend. The friend suggested an Italian restaurant, Mike's Pizza and Pasta, in which the food is based on the owner's interpretation of Italian recipes.

Study 2 -Authentic condition Imagine that you are going out for dinner with a friend. The friend suggested an Italian restaurant, Giovanni's Pizza and Pasta, in which the food is based on the owner's traditional Italian recipes passed on in their family. serious, 7 = very serious, α = .851, J. Kim, Giroux, et al., 2020) . Then, we exposed participants to advertising for a cosmetic product (i.e.,

Korean Red Ginseng Moisturizer) that emphasizes the authenticity of the product ("Specially formulated with authentic Korean Red Ginseng based on a traditional herbal skin care formula"), as shown in 

The manipulation check for authenticity was successful in that the First, we asked participants to rate their perceived threat of COVID-19 with the scale used in Study 4 (α = .850). Then, we showed participants an advertisement for a body wash, as shown in Figure 6 .

We manipulated the key message of the advertisement to reflect authenticity by emphasizing the brand as a "family company," following the procedure by Lude and Prügl (2018) . After that, we asked participants to rate their attitude toward this brand (α = .919) and

complete a manipulation check for authenticity with the same scale used in Study 4. Finally, we measured childhood socioeconomic status (α = .861) and current socioeconomic status (α = .875) as we did in Study 4. The correlation between childhood and current socioeconomic status was positive (r = .40, p < .001).

The manipulation check for authenticity was successful; the index was higher than the neutral point ( The results supported our prediction in H3. The interaction effect of the threat and childhood socioeconomic status was significant (β = .08, se = 0.04, t = 1.98, p = .049, 95% CI: 0.001, 0.151). Specifically, for those whose childhood socioeconomic status was relatively low (−1 SD in the scale), the impact of COVID-19 threat on DV (i.e., attitude toward the brand) was not significant (β = −.10, se = 0.08, t = −1.24, p = .217, 95% CI: −0.268, 0.061). On the contrary, for those whose childhood socioeconomic status was relatively high (+1 SD in the scale), the impact of the COVID-19 threat on DV was marginally significant (β = .15, se = 0.09, t = 1.70, p = .092, 90% CI: 0.004, 0.293). The evaluation of the brand was higher when the perceived threat was relatively high (vs. low) (M high threat = 5.37 vs. M low threat = 4.93), as shown in Figure 8 .

However, the moderating effect of the current socioeconomic status was not significant (β = .02, se = 0.03, t = 0.55, p = .579, 95%

CI: −0.047, 0.083), indicating that the above effect was not driven by a simple wealth effect. To summarize, we successfully replicated Study 4 using participants from another country.

The current global COVID-19 pandemic context provides a unique opportunity to study the role of threat in advertising and consumer decision-making in a realistic environment-unlike traditional research relying on scenarios. In Study 1, the secondary data analysis using a Google Trends search confirmed our predictions. Across four experimental studies, we investigated the impact of individuals' perceived threat of COVID-19 on their preference for products promoted with authenticity appeals. Our results showed that increased threat leads to consumers' positive evaluation of products advertised with authenticity appeals. We found no such effect for products promoted with more generic, neutral appeals. We also demonstrated that consumers' motivation to reduce uncertainty mediates the relationship between perceived threat and attitude toward products promoted with authenticity appeals. In addition, we showed that consumers with high childhood socioeconomic status evaluated authentic products more favorably in response to heightened threat than those with low childhood socioeconomic status. Conversely, respondents' current socioeconomic status did not affect the tested relationships, suggesting that the effects of the threat on preference for authentic appeals are rooted in consumers' life-history experiences.

Our research contribution is threefold. First, our paper extends sharing the founder's stories (Hamby et al., 2019) , can be more effective in a pandemic era.

Second, our research adds to the increasing body of research on childhood socioeconomic status (Griskevicius et al., 2011; Mittal & Griskevicius, 2014) . Research demonstrates that environmental challenges faced during childhood, including those of a socioeconomic nature, shape individual behavioral patterns in response to uncertain environments (Griskevicius et al., 2011; Hill et al., 2016) .

We extended prior work by focusing on the uncertainty and threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to examine the effect of childhood socioeconomic status on consumers' responses to threats and preference for authenticity appeals. We showed that the impact of threat perceptions on evaluations of products promoted with authenticity appeals was stronger among consumers with high childhood socioeconomic status compared to those with low childhood socioeconomic status. Those with high childhood socioeconomic status may seek to restore internal control and security by focusing on restoring themselves rather than relying on environmental support systems (Boucher, 2020) . Our finding provides additional empirical supports for the notion that during stressful events (i.e., the COVID-19 pandemic), consumers' early-life experiences determine their choices and behaviors (e.g., J. Kim, Giroux, et al., 2021; Mittal & Griskevicius, 2014; Park et al., 2020) .

Finally, this study extends our understanding regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the consumer behaviors. As summarized in Table 1 , the current literature focuses on the effect of the contagious disease on various consumption behaviors such as preference for typical products (Huang & Sengupta, 2020) , variety-seeking (J. Kim, 2020) , and the effectiveness of different types of communication massage such as positive (vs. negative) framing (e.g., Jiang & Dodoo, 2021) , and high (vs. low) construal messages (e.g., H. E. J. Kim, Giroux, et al. (2020) Risk perception, Stockpiling intention Joint presentation of statistical information on an alternative threat (e.g., car accident) increases COVID-19 risk perception and stockpiling intention. Jiang and Dodoo (2021) Persuasion to engage in prevention behavior

In low-risk public contexts, a mask-wearing request is more persuasive if the message is loss-framed (vs. gain-framed) and appeals to the interests of socially distant (vs. proximal) entities. In a high-risk public context, gain-framed messages are always more persuasive.

Huang and Sengupta (2020) Preference for atypical options Disease cues increase preference for atypical (vs. typical) options via a people avoidance motive. Verlegh et al. (2021) Brand attitude, Self-brand connection

Expressing support for consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic results in more favorable brand attitudes and a stronger self-brand connection, particularly for consumers who are more worried about COVID-19.

J. Kim (2020) Variety seeking Perceived threat of COVID-19 increases consumer variety-seeking. Galoni et al. (2020) Preference for familiar products Disease cues jointly elicit disgust and fear which then increase preference for familiar products. Our findings highlighted the effectiveness of using authenticity appeals to promote various products during and after the pandemic era. For example, marketers can use authenticity appeals to enhance the quality and highlight the origin of cosmetic products. As discussed above, the COVID-19 and postpandemic era enhance this effect. Advertisers can express authenticity visually and verbally. As another example, an expert can show and explain how to grow and process the food in an advertisement of a functional food. These communication strategies will be effective in promoting brand value and intention to purchase via authenticity enhancement. Such an approach will be effective post COVID-19 because the pandemic is large enough to change potential consumers' routine purchase paradigms, such as stressing health or hygiene in choosing a product.

The effect of the COVID-19 threat on consumers' preferences for authenticity was more salient in those with high childhood socioeconomic status than those with low childhood socioeconomic status. This finding provides a managerial implication regarding market segmentation. Prior research often measured childhood socioeconomic status using a retrospective self-report of parents' educational attainment and (un)employment (Reiss et al., 2019) . For example, when consumers subscribe for a membership, marketers can easily obtain subscribers' demographic information. Using such information, if the primary appeal of products is authenticity, marketers could better target those from relatively high childhood socioeconomic status, especially during pandemic conditions. Also, our findings provide grounds for marketers to adopt differential marketing tactics, according to the level of childhood socioeconomic status, during the health crisis. For example, magazines targeting high-end female customers are ideal outlets to advertise functional health foods or esthetic-seeking products. Thus, our results recommend choosing a female researcher who can explain the scientific efficacy of the products as a promotional endorser to enhance the communication effectiveness.

Despite the theoretical and practical implications, this study has several limitations. First, in line with prior research on brand authenticity (Morhart et al., 2015) , this study used an experimental design with hypothetical products controlling for potential confounding factors, such as prior beliefs about target brands or products. However, to increase the external validity of the findings, future research might replicate our results using existing brands.

Relatedly, we tested our hypotheses on specific product categories.

Given that authenticity appeals have been used to promote various products, using additional product categories would enhance the external validity of our findings. In addition, we used attitude toward the brand and perceived effectiveness as core dependent variables.

Future research should extend the validity of those findings to other core consumer behavior variables, such as intention to buy, persuasiveness, and attractiveness. Those variables can facilitate distinctive psychological interpretations. Lastly, to limit the scope of the research, we relied on prior research (e.g., Griskevicius et al., 2011) to predict the moderating role of childhood socioeconomic status in the relationship between external threats and preferences for products with authenticity appeals. Future research might examine how earlylife experiences shape the perceived ability and motivation to control threatening experiences in adulthood to further demonstrates the underlying mechanisms of the moderating effect of childhood socioeconomic status.

In Study 3, we provided mediation evidence by using the relative preference for the high (vs. low) authenticity option. The comparison between two different options itself could influence the unexpected bias. Future research needs to test the underlying mechanism for the single option condition. Finally, Studies 4 and 5 measured both the perceived threat of COVID-19 and childhood socioeconomic status in our studies. The correlational nature of the studies, however, limits casual inferences to be made between the constructs. We recommend the future studies to provide more robust causal evidence through experimental manipulation.

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2104-833X

Billy Sung http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0028-6574

Hector Gonzalez-Jimenez http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3805-8262

Love, open awareness, and authenticity: A conversation with William Blake and DW Winnicott

Do brand authenticity and brand credibility facilitate brand equity? The case of heritage destination brand extension

Does it pay to be real? Understanding authenticity in TV advertising

Childhood experience, interpersonal development, and reproductive strategy: An evolutionary theory of socialization

The quest for authenticity in consumption: Consumers' purposive choice of authentic cues to shape experienced outcomes

How corporate visual identity supports reputation

Cowboys, outlaws and artists: The rhetoric of authenticity and contemporary jeans and sneaker advertisements

Social class and self-concept consistency: Implications for subjective well-being and felt authenticity

Teaching old brands new tricks: Retro branding and the revival of brand meaning

In times of trouble: A framework for understanding consumers' responses to threats

Understanding consumer psychology in working-class contexts

Perceptions of authenticity in advertisements: Negotiating the inauthentic

Afraid and disgusted: Consumer choices under the threat of contagious disease

Attachment, authenticity, and honesty: Dispositional and experimentally induced security can reduce self-and other-deception

The impact of communication information on the perceived threat of COVID-19 and stockpiling intention

Consumer perceptions of iconicity and indexicality and their influence on assessments of authentic market offerings

When the economy falters, do people spend or save? Responses to resource scarcity depend on childhood environments

The influence of mortality and socioeconomic status on risk and delayed rewards: A life history theory approach

It's about our values: How founder's stories influence brand authenticity

Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach

Desire to learn about the category sparks preference for authenticity

Association for Consumer Research

Vulnerability to disease as a predictor of faster life history strategies

The influence of disease cues on preference for typical versus atypical products

Long-term antecedents and outcomes of perceived control

Changing tides: The impact of crisis on advertising

Promoting mask-wearing in COVID-19 brand communications: Effects of gain-loss frames, self-or otherinterest appeals, and perceived risks

COVID-19 uncertainty and temporal framing in advertising for online experiential consumption

Impact of the perceived threat of COVID-19 on varietyseeking

Nudging to reduce the perceived threat of Coronavirus and stockpiling intention

The moderating role of childhood socioeconomic status on the impact of nudging on the perceived threat of coronavirus and stockpiling intention

Effects of COVID-19 on preferences for private dining facilities in restaurants

COVID-19 and extremeness aversion: The role of safety seeking in travel decision making

Social class, solipsism, and contextualism: How the rich are different from the poor

Online personal branding: Processes, challenges, and implications

Communicating authenticity in packaging of Korean cosmetics

Altruistic or selfish? Responses when safety is threatened depend on childhood socioeconomic status

Understanding repurchase intention of Airbnb consumers: perceived authenticity, electronic word-of-mouth, and price sensitivity

Why the family business brand matters: Brand authenticity and the family firm trust inference

COVID-19 is feminine: Grammatical gender influences danger perceptions and precautionary behavioral intentions by activating gender stereotypes

Sense of control under uncertainty depends on people's childhood environment: A life history theory approach

Brand authenticity: An integrative framework and measurement scale

Artist authenticity: How artists' passion and commitment shape consumers' perceptions and behavioral intentions across genders

Measuring consumer-based brand authenticity

Advertising real beer: Authenticity claims beyond truth and falsity

Exploring customers' responses to online service failure and recovery strategies during Covid-19 pandemic: An actor-network theory perspective

Evolutionary aspects of scarcity information with regard to travel options: The role of childhood socioeconomic status

Fear in the stock market: How COVID-19 affects preference for high-and low-priced stocks

Socioeconomic status, stressful life situations and mental health problems in children and adolescents: Results of the German BELLA cohort-study

Perceived threat of COVID-19 influences product preferences: The moderating role of consumers' mindset

Reducing perceived health risk to attract hotel customers in the COVID-19 pandemic era: Focused on technology innovation for social distancing and cleanliness

We're all in this together': Commodified notions of connection, care and community in brand responses to COVID-19

Authenticity and the textual persona: postmodern paradoxes in advertising narrative

Advertising and COVID-19

The effect of childhood socioeconomic status on patience

Benefits of heroes to coping with mortality threats by providing perceptions of personal power and reducing unhealthy compensatory consumption

Don't worry, we are here for you": Brands as external source of control during the Covid-19 pandemic

The impact of servicescape cues on consumer prepurchase authenticity assessment and patronage intentions to ethnic restaurants

Be rational or be emotional: Advertising appeals, service types and consumer responses

The impact of COVID-19 on consumer evaluation of authentic advertising messages