The Effect of Emotions and Imagery Appeals on Visual Consumption Experiences

There is currently a mismatch between our traditional models of consumer decision-making and the way consumers actually make decisions, at least for certain product categories. Multi-attribute models have been successful in modeling how consumers make decisions about frequently purchased products or services, where decision-making proceeds rationally. But these models cannot account for decisions in which less experience is available, where the problem is not well-structured, and where emotional reactions are important. Whereas traditional models assume verbal and semantic processes, the consumption vision perspective focuses on visual and imaginal processing. The consumption vision approach explicitly acknowledges creative sense-making processes consumers use to anticipate the future. A consumption vision can be defined as a visual image of certain product-related behaviors and their consequences on decision-making processes. Consumption visions consist of concrete and vivid mental images that enable consumers to experience self-relevant consequences of product use. Based on the findings of several studies on consumption visions and on the role of anticipated emotions in consumption experiences, the goal of this study is to understand what triggers consumption visions, and consequently, in what direction consumption visions influence consumers decision making processes. I suggest that forming a consumption vision is one possible heuristic by which a consumer can decide among alternative courses of action. I discuss the possible effects of consumption visions on consumers cognitive and affective reactions to products, intentions, and behaviors. Three studies examine the mediating role of imagery accessibility during consumption experiences and demonstrate that the difficulty of imagery generation can reverse the generally observed positive effects on imagery appeals and consumption decisions. The same results indeed, can be achieved considering consumers predisposition to emotional experiences. When participants are low in imagery abilities (as well as when they show low need for emotion attitudes), whether there is or not an explicit invitation to imagine a consumption experience, or whether the product is present in a vivid manner or not, imagery appeals are not only ineffective, but even have a negative effect on product preferences. Moreover, this work aims to demonstrate that imagery fluency effect, given its subjective nature, is more likely for individuals with richer personal past experiences or with higher predisposition to use imagination (higher in need for emotions levels). Finally, I discuss how consumer researchers can integrate consumption visions into decision-making research.