The purpose of the study was to provide evidence for the influence of
situational variables on consumer preferences toward the image product
of men's fragrances, and to illustrate how these situational variable
s can be used to create positioning strategies. In a 3 x 3 experimenta
l design, male and female subjects provided purchasing preference rati
ngs for, and rated each cologne on, a number of scales related to pric
e, brand image and packaging, scent, and inferred characteristics of t
he typical consumer. ANOVAs and a constrained unfolding analysis using
GENFOLD2 were used to analyze the data. The analyses revealed that su
bjects' preferences were influenced by the purchasing target (self or
others), and suggested that people's preferences may be mediated by pe
rson prototypes and situation prototypes. (C) 1995 John Wiley & Sons,
Inc.