The effect of advertising format and means-end information on consumer expectations for apples

The effect of advertising content and format on consumer expectations for a new apple variety was examined. In particular, the impact of presentation Format (whether advertisements contained a picture of the new apple variety or not) and textual advertising claims, which communicated means-end infor mation of differential cognitive strength and structure, was considered. Wh ile expectations raised by advertising featuring pictorial information diff ered from those raised by textual only information, differential means-end chain information did not influence product expectancy. Consumers reacted n egatively to a photo of the apple, which was predominantly red in appearanc e. The pictorial information influenced consumers varying in need for cogni tion (NFC) differently. As predicted, a picture of the advertised apple var iety influenced individuals high in NFC to a greater extent than those low in NFC. A critical examination of the experimental execution suggested a ne ed to align procedures with those used in expectations research in marketin g. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.