The effects of political ideology and message framing on counterfeiting: The mediating role of emotions

Prior research has mostly examined the antecedents and impacts of purchasing counterfeits. However, there is little understanding of how marketers can mitigate this potential issue. The current research examines how gain versus loss message framing in an anti-counterfeit ad can be effective in persuading consumers with different political ideology (conservative vs. liberal). Results from two experiments show gain frames are more persuasive for liberals, whereas loss frames are more persuasive for conservatives in promoting an anti-counterfeit ad. Importantly, these effects are explained by different emotional reactions associated with message framing. Specifically, fear mediates the effects among conservatives, while hope mediates the effects among liberals. Findings from the current research joins four important research areas, including (1) anti-counterfeit, (2) political ideology, (3) message framing, and (4) discrete emotions, by theorizing that emotion reactions associated with message framing influence the effectiveness of an anti-counterfeit ad among consumers with different political ideology.