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Extending Culturally Symbolic Brands: A Blessing or a Curse?

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  • Carlos J. Torelli
  • Rohini Ahluwalia

Abstract

Results from four studies uncover a relatively automatic cultural congruency mechanism that can influence evaluations of culturally charged brand extensions, overriding the impact of perceived fit on extension evaluations. Culturally congruent extensions (i.e., when both the brand and the extension category cue the same cultural schema) were evaluated more favorably than culturally neutral extensions, which in turn were evaluated more favorably than culturally incongruent ones (i.e., cue two different cultural schemas). The effects emerged with both moderate and low fit brand extensions, as well as for narrow and broad brands. However, they only emerged when both the brand and the product were culturally symbolic, likely to automatically activate a cultural schema but did not emerge for brands low in cultural symbolism. The effects were driven by the processing (dis)fluency generated by the simultaneous activation of the same (different) cultural schemas by the product and the brand.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlos J. Torelli & Rohini Ahluwalia, 2012. "Extending Culturally Symbolic Brands: A Blessing or a Curse?," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 38(5), pages 933-947.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:doi:10.1086/661081
    DOI: 10.1086/661081
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    Cited by:

    1. Diogo Hildebrand & Yoshiko Demotta & Sankar Sen & Ana Valenzuela, 2017. "Consumer Responses to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Contribution Type," Post-Print hal-01576949, HAL.
    2. Diogo Hildebrand & Yoshiko DeMotta & Sankar Sen & Ana Valenzuela & Laura PeracchioEditor & Gita JoharEditor & Jaideep SenguptaAssociate Editor, 2017. "Consumer Responses to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Contribution Type," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(4), pages 738-758.
    3. Vanitha Swaminathan, 2016. "Branding in the digital era: new directions for research on customer-based brand equity," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 6(1), pages 33-38, June.
    4. Kubat, Umut & Swaminathan, Vanitha, 2015. "Crossing the cultural divide through bilingual advertising: The moderating role of brand cultural symbolism," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 354-362.
    5. Cowan, Kirsten & Spielmann, Nathalie, 2020. "Culture is in the “I” of the beholder: Identity confirmation in tourist advertisements," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 378-388.
    6. Dimitriu, Radu & Warlop, Luk, 2022. "Is similarity a constraint for service-to-service brand extensions?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 1019-1041.
    7. Martin Heinberg & H Erkan Ozkaya & Markus Taube, 2017. "The influence of global and local iconic brand positioning on advertising persuasion in an emerging market setting," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(8), pages 1009-1022, October.
    8. Anthony Moussa & Virginie de Barnier, 2018. "Consumers' response to branded longevity," Post-Print hal-01801013, HAL.
    9. Kevin Lane Keller, 2016. "Reflections on customer-based brand equity: perspectives, progress, and priorities," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 6(1), pages 1-16, June.
    10. Inwon Kang & Ilhwan Ma, 2020. "A Study on Bandwagon Consumption Behavior Based on Fear of Missing Out and Product Characteristics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-16, March.
    11. Yu-dong Zhang & Zhang-yuan Dai & Hui-long Zhang & Jia-qin Xie & Wen-qing Hu, 2024. "Consumer acceptance of different types of cultural borrowing and its internal mechanisms," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    12. Timo Mandler & Fabian Bartsch & C. Min Han, 0. "Brand credibility and marketplace globalization: The role of perceived brand globalness and localness," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-32.
    13. Hemant C. Sashittal & Avan R. Jassawalla, 2021. "Brands as personal narratives: learning from user–YouTube–brand interactions," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(6), pages 657-670, November.
    14. Diogo Hildebrand & Yoshiko Demotta & Sankar Sen & Ana Valenzuela, 2017. "Consumer Responses to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Contribution Type," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-01576949, HAL.
    15. Timo Mandler & Fabian Bartsch & C. Min Han, 2021. "Brand credibility and marketplace globalization: The role of perceived brand globalness and localness," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(8), pages 1559-1590, October.

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