Visual Puffery in Fragrance Ads

Rollins College Rollins Scholarship Online Faculty usualations 1-1-2012 A tuition of optic puffery in essence announce Is the centre sent stronger than the actual olfaction? Mark Toncar Youngstown State University Marc Fetscherin Rollins College, emailprotected edu Published In Mark Toncar, Marc Fetscherin, (2012) A deal of ocular puffery in aroma advert Is the centre sent stronger than the actual meander? , European diary of merchandise, Vol. 46 Iss 1/2, pp. 52 72This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Rollins Scholarship Online. It has been authoritative for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Rollins Scholarship Online. For more(prenominal) than in spend a pennyation, please tangency emailprotected edu. A Study of visual Puffery in Fragrance ad Is the heart sent stronger than the actual thread? Abstract Purpose This musical theme investigates ocular exaggerations of fragrancy advertizements by compari ng subjects expectations answering from print ads to their concomitant merchandise evaluations.It beca subprogram considers whether the actual scents fall unequal, meet or exceed these expectations. shape/methodology/ burn down By means of a semiotic compend we capture the corresponding literary attributes of the ads to develop procedural pairs describing the import of the ads. Interviews argon conducted to assess the marrow that consumers draw from the fragrance ads and we supplement these findings by performing a artifice olfactive convergence evaluation of the fragrances. Paired sample t- running plays be uptaked to comp ar ubjects ad expectations to their subsequent resoluteness evaluation of the actual scent. Findings Our results video display that the ocular cues and im senescery in the fragrance ads appear, beneath authentic conditions, to result in produce expectations that exceed actual result evaluations, suggesting the exis tence of ocular puffe ry. We in addition lay down that the more abstract descriptors of the ad resulted in signifi brush asidetly higher expectations, fleck the more cover descriptors resulted in significantly lower expectations than the actual crossway evaluation. investigate limitations/implications A humble sample size of homogenous consumers limits the generalizability of the results. no.measures of status strong suit were taken. Practical implications opthalmic puffery may be effective and help marketers, even in countries where communicatory puffery is illegal, to exercise a nonher means to r to apiece one consumers. Originality/value This paper investigates an under- seeked area in announce.A mul epochthod go on and primary selective information are utilise to assess subjects ad expectations of a fragrance and the actual crossing evaluation and demonstrates the existence of optical puffery. Keywords Puffery, denote, Fragrance, Perfume Paper type Research Paper 1. Introduct ion Consumer look into in advert has a long history of investigating how the structure of a persuasive nitty-gritty can allure its effectiveness (Belch and Belch, 2009).One useful way to classify prior(prenominal) research is that which pertains to the communicatory aspects of the message, the ocular aspects, or research that considers both verbal and visual cues (Stern, 1996 McQuarrie and Mick, 2003a Stathakopoulos, 2008). Illustrative of the research focusing on verbal cues includes studies focusing on order of presentation of product claims (Kamins and Marks, 1987 Krugman, 1962), whether to include or omit conclusions (Chance, 1975 Kardes, 1988) and the effectiveness of non-white versus 2sided messages (Eisend, 2006 Belch, 1983 Sawyer, 1973).More recently, researchers excite begun to focus on the effects of the visual components of advertising a lot(prenominal) as visual hyperbole (Callister and Stern, 2007) and visual metaphor (McQuarrie and Phillips, 2005) recog nizing that both the verbal and visual information presented in an ad can influence the way an advertising message is processed and perceived (Oliver, 1979 Mitchell, 1986 Edell and Staelin, 1983 Hirschmann, 1986 Smith, 1991 Stern, 1996 Scott and Batra, 2003 McQuarrie and Mick, 2003a Stathakopoulos et. al 2008).Research addressing deceptive advertising practices has mainly center on the verbal aspects of product claims, and has non a good deal assessed the role that visuals can play in communication deceptive, mis heading or inaccurate information. This is especially true regarding investigations of puffery in advertising. The purpose of this paper is to introduce and deal the c erstpt of visual puffery, and to examine whether exaggerated and unsubstantiated product claims can be communicated to consumers using visual imaginativeness.Specifically, the objectives of this research are twofold first, to examine how advertisers are using visual appeals to let sensory expectations by consumers. Second, we explore the relationship between the sensory expectations that are created in the minds of consumers by the adverts and consumers subsequent product evaluation. In so doing, we seek to identify and measure the extent to which viewers expectations developed in solution to an ad differ from their subsequent evaluation of the actual product in the ad and whether visual puffery exists. . Literature appraise 2. 1. Visuals in announce Historically, advertising research has been dominated by investigations that foc apply on the verbal marrow of ads. With regard to magazine advertising, this has generally referred to investigations involving the headlines and body copy and investigating how detail linguistic elements affect the affect of advertising information.Illustrative of these studies are the works of Leigh (1994), who investigated the use of figures of destination in magazine headlines, McQuarrie and Mick (1996) who examined the use of figures of sp eech in advertising language, Djafarova (2008) who investigated the use of puns in advertising, and M separatesbaugh, Huhmann and Franke (2002) who explored the effects of rhetorical figures on consumers processing effort and focus.Visual elements of advertisements, such as pictures or symbols are likewise an important component of umpteen advertisements, and the role of imagery in shaping consumer response and behavior has scarcely recently begun to receive the same degree and sophistication of research attention as the verbal elements in advertising (McQuarrie and Mick, 1999 Fetscherin and Toncar, 2009). The importance of visual imagery in advertising has been ecognized since the 1970s when Rossiter and Percy (1978 1980 1981) proposed the visual and verbal loop opening which showed that visual content in advertising is secure as capable of increasing the consumers product attitude as is verbal content (Rossiter and Percy, 1980, p. 15). Since then it has become clear that visu al elements can be effective tactics to achieve a grade of advertising objectives, including belief acceptance and change (Miniard et al. , 1991 Mitchell and Olson 1981 Peracchio and Meyers-Levy 1994) and memory (Childers and Houston, 1984).Messaris (1997) discusses in his book that magazine ads, and other forms of advertising, often convey essences that cannot be expressed as comfortably, or at all, by words. As the book title suggests, Visual persuasion is an exploration of these unique aspects of advertising. Using a range of methodologies, illustrative research on the topic includes investigating the effects of visual hyperbole (Callister and Stern, 2007) and visual metaphor (McQuarrie and Phillips, 2005), ethical issues that arise from visual representations in advertising (Borgerson and Schroeder, 2002), the visual imagery and epresentation of the masculine body in advertising (Schroeder and Zwick, 2004), and using interpretive methodologies from art and literary critici sm to explore the meanings in advertising imagery (Stern and Schroeder, 1994) to mention only a few. A more recent trend is to build upon theories of verbal rhetoric to understand the effects of visuals in advertising (Scott, 1994 McQuarrie and Mick, 1999 van Enschot, Hoeken and van Mulken, 2008 Stathakopoulos, Theodorakis and Mastoridou, 2008 Phillips and McQuarrie, 2004).The growing consensus, regardless of the methodological tool use, is that visual imagery is a n archean ubiquitous and powerful influence in advertising. In sum, there are several theories which manakin the way visual elements in advertising affect consumer response including classical conditioning (Rossiter and Percy, 1978 Shimp et al. , 1991), the visual and verbal loop theory (Hansen, 1981 Rossiter and Percy, 1980), the attitude towards the ad or affect-transfer theory (Mitchell, 1986 Shimp 1981), information processing theory (MacInnis and Price, 1987), and the elaboration-likelihood illustration (ELM) (Pett y et al. 1983) which demonstrated both central and peripheral routes to persuasion. Vaughn (1986) developed the FCB grid as a framework for maturation creative advertising strategies and this has been extended pass on by Rossiter et al. (1991) who created the Rossiter-Percy grid (Mortimer, 2002). As Scott (1994, p. 256) mention, these theories make up been investigated in cooccur ways, which makes it difficult to stipulate distinct theoretical boundaries. More all over, Scott (1994, p. 258) suggests that a second area of research can be characterized by a broad methodological orientation quite than by a unified theory.In fact, there are diametric interpretative theories and approaches to analyze visual elements of advertising (McQuarrie and Mick, 1999). The four more or less leafy vegetable are the following. First, the archival tradition is perhaps the oldest one whereby large samples of advertisements are gathered and content summary is used to examine the frequency with which various types of visual elements appear (Harris and Attour, 2003 Seitz, 1998 Scott, 1994). Second, the experimental tradition systematically varies any the presence or absence of pictures per se (McQuarrie and Mick, 1999).The third is the readerresponse approach which seeks to uncover the meanings that consumers draw from the ads (Mick and Buhl, 1992 Scott, 1994). Extended interviews are used to understand the rich and multiplex interplay between elements of the ad and consumer cognizance. Finally, the text-interpretive approach draws on rhetorical and semiotic theories to provide a systematic and nuanced analysis of the individual elements that make up the ad (Scott, 1994 McQuarrie and Mick, 1999).A few studies (Corbett, 1990 McQuarrie and Mick, 1999 Morgan and Reichert, 1999 McQuarrie and Mick, 2003a McQuarrie and Phillips, 2005) have used visual rhetoric analysis, an interpretative theory, in advertising research. Phillips and McQuarrie (2002) show that metaphors and hy perbole, which are figurative expressions that drive intentionally exaggerated statements (visual or verbal), appear in 17. 3% of advertisement pictures and 44% of headlines and have change magnitude steadily since the 1960s. More recently, Callister and Stern (2007) looked at the use of visual hyperbole as an intriguing form of exaggeration in advertising.To do so they focused on the description of the rhetorical figures present in ads. Like rhetoric analysis, semiotic analysis can also be used by the researcher to assess the effects of images and symbols. Both, rhetoric and semiology are text-centered approaches (McQuarrie and Mick, 2002). As such, they make relatively simple and open assumptions about the human system, concentrating instead on the development of elaborated structures that can be used to recite types of visual content in advertisements (McQuarrie and Mick, 2003b, p. 192).The current guinea pig assesses visuals in advertising using two approaches. First, we u se a text-interpretive approach by means of semiotic analysis (ad system) to identify, capture and to generate the corresponding literary attributes that pick out the most prevalent signs within the visual message. Second, using a reader-response approach, we conduct in the flesh(predicate) interviews to catch out the meanings that consumers draw from the ads and take the perspective of a human system. We supplement these findings by performing a device olfactive evaluation of the fragrances. 2. 2.Puffery in advertise The concept and use of verbal puffery in advertising has been extensively researched in the past few decades. It is widely mum to refer to exaggerated or unsubstantiated advertising claims. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defines puffery as a term frequently used to denote the exaggerations passably to be expected of a seller as to the degree of quality of his product, the truth or untruth of which cannot be precisely determined (DeFrancis, 2004, p. 10). Ill ustrative of the extensive research on the topic are the early works of Preston (1967), Preston and Scharbach (1971), and Richards (1990) among others.For example Preston (1996) and Richards (1990) investigate the role of puffery as it relates to deception and consider whether puffery constitutes deceptive advertising. Puffed claims, enchantment obviously untrue, are typically not considered deceptive because, by definition of the FTC, puffed claims are inwrought claims that no reasonable person would take to be literally true. While the FTC has taken the position that puffery is not deceptive because it does not work, empirical research has not generally back up this (Kamins and Marks, 1987).Moreover, and as Haan and Ber chance upon (2002) argue if puffery does not work, salespeople and advertisers would not use it (p. 245). Some researcher demonstrated that under certain conditions consumers believe exaggerated claims (Cunningham and Cunningham, 1977 Rotfeld and Rotzoll, 1980 R otfeld and Preston, 1981 Olson and Dover, 1978 Kamins and Marks, 1987 Wyckham, 1987 Haan and Berkey, 2002 Cowley, 2006) piece of music others shows that bit consumers are able to identify an exaggerated claim, the evaluation of the home run was still more positive degree when puffed claims were used (Cowley, 2006).Still other research suggests exaggerated claims can produce negative effects (Vanden Bergh and Reid, 1980b). Studies have looked at the effects of puffery on product attitude and purchase intentions (Kamins and Marks, 1987), or considered the use of puffery in ads for special product categories such as ball get pens (Kamins and Marks, 1987, Vanden Bergh and Reid, 1980b) or automobiles (Vanden Bergh and Reid, 1980a Vanden Bergh et al. , 1983) for example.In addition, there is ample evidence that verbal puffery influences pre-purchase (Oliver, 1979) as headspring as post- tryout product evaluations (Olshavsky and Miller, 1972 Anderson, 1973 Kamins, 1985 Olson and Dov er, 1978 Oliver, 1979). In sum, theses studies suggest that verbal puffery enhances pre and post-trial product ratings relative to trial alone and that, in certain conditions, this effect increases as the puffery becomes more exaggerated (Kamins and Marks, 1987). This last observation brings up an use uping issue regarding the effectiveness of different degrees of puffery.Preston (1996, 1998) introduced six categories of verbal puffery, establish upon the strength of the assertion make in the puffed claim. He named the categories best, best possible, better, specially good, and infixed qualities. Haan and Berkey (2002) investigated the believability of each of the six forms of puffery and found that in all but one family unit, consumers do not strongly believe or disbelieve puffed statements (Haan and Berkey, 2002, p. 251). They concluded their findings were generally onsistent with Beltramini and Evans (1985) who suggested the consumers are tired of overused techniques in advert ising and, as a result, see little difference in the believability from one advertisement to the next (Haan and Berkey, 2002, p. 251). A careful inspection of Haan and Berkeys (2002) results yields an interesting observation. The only category of puffery that affected subjects beliefs was the natural claim category, which, according to Preston (1996), represents the weakest form of puffery. While he other five types of puffery all involve the use of verbal superlatives and exaggeration, the subjective claim puff is one which makes a subjective assertion about the product with no implicit or explicit reference to the product. This suggests that advertisers of consumer products, who rely heavily on subjective claims, as is the strip for fragrances, should be wary of delivering these claims using verbal puffery. Furthermore, and as stated by Haan and Berkey (2002), consumers beliefs about an advertisement are related to factors other than the verbal puffed claims made about the produ ct.This is important for our study as we argue that this could encourage advertisers to communicate claims about subjective product benefits by using visual rather than verbal puffery. 2. 3. Personal Fragrance Advertising Fragrance advertising represents a significant portion of ad pages and spending, estimated to be in the billions of dollars. move advertising of fragrances poses additional challenges compared to numerous other products for the following three briny reasons. First, fragrances have no significant functional benefit and are very intimate purchases where preferences are personal (Busch, 2003).Since odors stimulate the part of the brain responsible for emotional responses, olfaction represents a different path to the consumer than is afforded by other types of cues (Ellen and Bone, 1998). According to Kirk-Smith and Booth (1987), the emotional response generated by a scent depends on the complex meaning of previous social experience with odors (p. 159). The emotional aspect of odors may so influence a consumers attitude and motivation to purchase through the associations it evokes.Second, because perfume, like many other products and go, is not purchased ground upon the functional benefits they provide, advertising a perfume represents a special challenge for marketers because they cannot sell their product found solely on its features. Instead, fragrance marketers speak to peoples fantasies, and attempt to create a unspiritual mood using a variety of visual and verbal tactics, including metaphors and other figures of speech as headspring as a broad range of visual symbols that can often best be understood using a semiotic analysis approach (Toncar and Munch, 2001). Third, it is difficult to ommunicate a taste, or in our case a scent in a print ad. This is compounded by the fact that the actual scent of a perfume is only one of a number of salient cues that affect product purchase, many of which are introduced and communicated in the ads. The ad can depict a photograph of the bottle, might include a scent strip in magazine advertising, making a nebulous product a act more substantive, or use a variety of rhetorical techniques to tap into the human capacity for multi-sensory intelligence and provoke the consumer to actually envision the scent based on coded images and signs embedded within the print advertisement.In this regard, much fragrance advertising can have transformational effects. Transformational advertising (Wells, 1980) is effective by developing associations with the shuffling use experience that transforms that experience into several(prenominal)thing different than it would be in the absence of the advertising transformational advertising creates, alters, or intensifies feelings (Aaker and Stayman, 1992, p. 239) and attempts to give the sack the consumer emotionally to a take down of greater product acceptance (Cutler et al. 2000). In that respect, transformational advertising enhance more ofte n than not hedonic and symbolic benefits but does not appear to affect evaluations of functional benefits (Naylor et al. , 2008). Drawing on biology, psychology, and rhetorical techniques, print advertisements for fragrances are generally quite artistic. For this reason, the text interpretative analysis of the semiotic relations among key elements of the ad is a suitable approach to gain insights about the messages being conveyed in the ads.Busch (2003) explains that the human senses do not work independently, but in tandem to influence desires, decisions, and emotional responses and this feature of human perception suggests that fragrance advertising using linguistic and visual cues actually has the power to affect consumer expectations and convey the scent of the advertised fragrance. Ellen and Bone (1998) showed that the addition of a more congruent scratch-and-sniff panel to a fragrance advertisement improves attitude toward the ad or the brand.Lambiase and Reichert (2003) used rhetorical analysis to explore sexually oriented appeals in fragrance advertisements. Moriarty (2006) showed how semiotics can be used in advertising to create meaning that does not naturally exist and Clare (1998) demonstrated the usefulness of semiotic analysis for mens fragrance advertising and showed that signs or cues in the ad provide a favorable image of the product. Studies from the Advertising Educational stand (2006) as well as Ellen and Bone (1998) discuss the growing emphasis on olfactive cues for differentiation in modern advertising. 3.Methodology The objectives of this paper are to investigate (1) how fragrance advertisers are using visual appeals to generate sensory product expectations and (2) the relationship between the product expectations resulting from the ad and the corresponding product evaluations. This task is just about complicated by the subjective nature of the meanings generated by the visuals in the ad as well as the scent of a fragrance. To addres s this issue, we will use the same set of literary attributes when assessing and comparing viewers product expectations based on an ad with their subsequent product evaluation of the fragrance.The extent to which consumer expectations based on the ad exceed their subsequent product evaluations can be viewed as a form of visual exaggeration, or perhaps visual puffery. This basic rationale, that puffery may be conceptualized and even quantified as the extent to which expectations of a product arising from an ad exceed subsequent product evaluations depends reasonable. A like approach has been used in other studies, including McQuarrie and Mick (1999). Visual claims that, if believed, result in expectations on the part of viewers that exceed the capabilities of the product fit the veritable definition of puffery.As mentioned previously, in this study we assess visual puffery in magazine advertising using a multi-method approach. First, we use a text-interpretative approach by means of a semiotic analysis to identify, capture and to generate the corresponding literary attributes that describe the most prevalent signs within the visual message (ad system). This gives us the descriptors of product attributes and therefore the literary attributes to be evaluated and on which visual puffery was assessed. Second, we use a reader-response approach by means of personal interviews to assess the meaning that consumers draw from the ads (human system).In addition, these findings are supplemented with an actual product test by means of a subterfuge olfactory evaluation of the fragrance. This multi-method approach builds on previous studies to show the value of this approach for consumer research (McQuarrie and Mick, 1999). 3. 1 Semiotic Analysis The literary attributes were developed using a semiotic analysis of the three ads chosen. Semiotic analysis can be used to decode the meaning of advertisements. It is an approach that seeks to interpret messages in terms of their signs and patterns of symbolism (Moriarty, 1995).Everything in an advertisement, such as the models hair and clothing, the ads color palate, the lighting and the objects featured in the advertisement, functions as a physique of something else. All forms of semiotic analysis consider each aspect of the ad in question to be important for the generation of meaning. Semiotic analysis begins with the listing of all of the signs, structures, and codes embedded within the text (Lawes, 2002). some other important part of semiotic analysis involves looking at contrasts and implied contradictions.The structural methods employed by many semioticians involve the study of paradigms as binary or polar oppositions (Chandler, 2001), and there are many distinguish pairs that can be recognized in advertisements. Male/female appears to be the most central opposition, since male and female sexuality is connoted from their pairing in the advertisements. The objective of an advertisement, for example , could be to bring male and female unitedly through the use of the product by the woman to attract the male. The subsequent power the woman has over the man, or vice-versa, leads us to the next noticeable opposition dominant/ aid.The woman can dominate the subordinate man, or the contrary may occur. Black/white and mind/body are also binary oppositions the text or background is presented in black and white. And of course, the reverse may also be true. The researchers used a semiotic analysis of the three ads and the following attribute- adjectivals pairs were generated that describe the range of meanings of the three selected ads. These are adjective pairs and not polar opposites in the literary sense and are meant to be, to some degree, synonyms rather than antonyms, describing similar, not opposite aspects of the ads.The selected pairs of adjectives were used to identify the elements of visual imagery in the ads and subsequently also in the product evaluation. They are summariz ed in the following Table I. Table I. Adjective Pair Light/Understated Bold/ right on Arousing/Sensual Romantic/ maidenly Playful/Flirtatious hidden/Exotic Earthy/Musky nutlike/Tasty Medicinal/ bland Velvety/Creamy 4. Data Collection We gathered primary data by means of structured interviews (survey) of potential consumers. The first section of the questionnaire focused on purchasing habits and fragrance use.In the second section subjects were shown a copy of a fragrance ad and were asked to answer questions pertaining to that ad. The questions required subjects to describe how they envisioned the scent by identifying their expectations using the adjective pairs, resulted from the semiotic analysis, on a five point Likert scale anchored by strongly disagree and strongly agree. This process was then repeated with the be two ads. The third section tested subjects actual olfactory perceptions of each of the three fragrances. The subjects were asked to perform a blind olfactory eva luation of the fragrances.They were asked to describe each scent using the same adjective pairs and scale so that their actual product evaluations could be compared to their expectations. This procedure was then repeated for the remaining two fragrances. Respondents were provided a small vial of coffee beans to flavor between each fragrance sample, in order to clear the olfactory palate and minimize the likelihood of scents mixing or getting confused. The order of presentation of both the ads and the fragrances was arbitrarily selected to prevent any ordering effect. Finally, socio-demographic information was collected.Three different full-page advertisements for womens fragrances from trend magazine were selected for this study. Vogue was used for several reasons it is one of the oldest manner magazines in the market (since 1892), the maneuver audience is females, it is widely accepted as the Fashion Bible or Style Bible, and it is one of the most influential way magazines in the world (Weber, 2006). Moreover, it is among the top 10 magazines in the US in terms of ad pages and is also the leading magazine in terms of advertising revenue and circulation.The three advertisements used in this study were (1) vehement red-hot by DKNY, (2) Hypnose by Lancome Paris, and (3) Euphoria by Calvin Klein. Fragrances were selected as a product category because of the intensely visual imagery that is often utilized to communicate intangible product benefits as mentioned above. The specific ads were selected primarily due to the relative absence of verbal cues which may explain why these ads appeared not only in the US edition of Vogue but in many international editions as well (Vogue UK, Vogue France, and Vogue Australia, and Vogue Italy). The actual ads used in this research are reproduced in prefigure I.Take in Figure I Three ads were chosen for several reasons. First, we believed that multiple ads would provide a more broad inspection of our research objectives than a single ad. However, we were concerned that too many ads and their associated fragrances would overwhelm the respondents senses of smell and impair their ability to accurately evaluate the fragrances, a key objective in our research. Finally, related studies used similar number of ads per respondent (Kamins and Marks, 1987 Vanden Bergh and Reid, 1980b Rothfeld and Rotzoll, 1980 Wychkam, 1985 Ellen and Bone, 1998 Schmitt et al. 1995 McQuarrie and Mick, 1999 Cowley, 2006). The target audience of womens fashion and beauty magazines such as Vogue is generally fashion-conscious women under the age of 45. Vogue, specifically, reports that the average age is 34 and that 63% of its readership is between the age of 18-49 (Conde Nast Digital, 2009). In addition, approximately 75% of perfume purchases in the United States are made by women under the age of 25 (Busch, 2003). This suggests that young women are a representative and suitable sample for this research. It should be noted that many studies used student samples (e. . , Vanden Bergh and Reid, 1980b Kamins and Marks, 1987, McQuarrie and Mick, 1999 Cowley, 2006) compared to ours which is based on consumers. The survey instrument and procedures were pre-tested with a sample of sixteen women to identify problems prior to the actual interviews. Finally, 75 young women below the age of 25 were randomly interviewed after-school(prenominal) a major upscale shopping mall near a metropolitan city primed(p) in the southeastern part of the United States. Cronbachs alpha was used to assess the reliability of the beat items used.The overall alpha for all the scales was 0. 85. The alpha for the ad rating scales was 0. 72, and 0. 73 for the fragrance rating scales. This suggests the measuring scales exhibited acceptable reliability. 5. Results 5. 1. Descriptive Statistics Table II presents basic descriptive statistics about the respondents that illustrate their similarity to the target market of these fragrances and ad vertisements. The age, household income, frequency of travel and enjoyment of cultural visits such as museums and the theatre are provided in the table.Table II. Descriptive Statistics Demographic Characteristic (n=75) Age 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Household Income $0- $25,000 $25,001 $50,000 $50,001 $75,000 $75,001 $100,000 $100,001 and above Travel Never Percentage 1% 16% 36% 24% 12% 8% 3% 7% 20% 8% 15% 50% 4% Culture Visits Seldom Occasionally Often often Never Seldom Occasionally Often Frequently 12% 39% 20% 25% 3% 12% 36% 31% 18% The self-reported one-year household income was generally consistent with the average household income of the typical Vogue readership.The same applies to the travel habits as well as cultural activities, such as visits to museums, art galleries and theatrical performances. Overall, our analysis indicates that our sample is similar to the readership of Vogue. Ninety-two percent of our sample reported purchase a fragrance for themselves at least once e ach year and over 50% reported buying at least twice each year. Eightythree percent reported that they read a fashion/beauty magazine at least once each month and 55% reported reading one at least twice each month.This information suggests that the women in our sample appear to have substantial exposure to magazine fragrance advertising. 5. 2. viewing audience Expectations and Evaluations Since prior knowledge of, or experience with the ads or fragrances used in the experiment could have an partake on subjects expectations and product evaluations, we first asked respondents whether they had seen each ad and whether they discarded smelling each fragrance. The responses of the women who reported either comprehend one or ore of the ads or smelling one or more of the fragrances were compared to the responses of the women who reported no previous exposure to either the ads or the fragrances. in that location were no significant differences between the two groups. While this result a llows us to consider our sample as one relatively homogeneous group, it is at the same time somewhat troubling as this seems to suggest that prior exposure to the ads and/or the fragrances in this study did not affect subjects perceptions of either the ads or the fragrances.One explanation is that there are hundreds of different fragrances and ads out in the market, while our study is limited to three fragrances and ads. Furthermore, those subjects who were exposed to the ads and/or fragrances prior to our study either did not recall or recognize it, especially this might be the fact in the case of the blind olfactory test, or respondents did not integrate the prior ad and fragrance information into their consciousness based on the parameters established by our dependent measures.Table III summarizes the average rating of the subjects expectations resulting from the advertisement (Ad) as well as the average rating of the subsequent product evaluations (Fragrance) for the three ads a nd their respective fragrances. Table III. advertizement and Fragrance Evaluations Mean values Light/Understated Bold/Powerful Arousing/Sensual Romantic/Feminine Playful/ Flirtatious Mysterious/ Exotic Earthy/Musky Fruity/Tasty Medicinal/Bland Velvety/Creamy Red toothsome Ad Fragrance 2. 31 3. 41 3. 80 2. 81 4. 04 3. 31 3. 81 3. 51 4. 09 3. 61 3. 28 2. 65 2. 15 2. 43 3. 68 3. 41 1. 60 1. 97 1. 79 2. 28 Hypnose Ad Fragrance 3. 9 3. 04 2. 89 3. 13 3. 65 3. 11 4. 03 3. 55 3. 43 3. 12 3. 52 2. 95 2. 33 2. 65 2. 31 2. 47 1. 80 1. 93 2. 47 2. 61 Euphoria Ad Fragrance 2. 43 2. 60 3. 80 3. 60 4. 31 3. 28 3. 95 3. 49 3. 63 3. 17 3. 96 3. 15 2. 77 2. 72 2. 13 2. 53 1. 72 1. 89 2. 76 2. 40 Since subjects reported both their fragrance expectations and subsequent product evaluations using the same set of scale items, paired sample t-tests were used to consider whether the ads generated scent expectations that fell short, met, or exceeded subjects actual product evaluations. The tables that fol low summarize the similarities and differences between the xpectations that were generated in response to the ads and the subsequent product evaluations in response to the blind olfactory tests. 5. 3. Red Delicious Results Subjects responses to the Red Delicious ad/scent pairing indicated significant differences between subjects expectations and product evaluations in eight of the 10 adjective pairs. In five of the pairs, Bold/Powerful, Arousing/Sensual, Romantic/Feminine, Playful/Flirtatious and Mysterious/Exotic, the expectations generated in response to the ad exceeded the subsequent olfactory evaluation of the fragrance.In three pairs, Light/Understated, Medicinal/Bland and Velvety/Creamy the olfactory evaluation exceeded expectations. It appears that based upon their exposure to the ad, respondents expected the fragrance to be more powerful, sensual, feminine, flirtatious and exotic than they in the long run evaluated the fragrance to be. Conversely, the actual fragrance appea rs to have been lighter, more velvety and understated than subjects expected it would be. These results are summarized in Table IV below and are addressed at greater length in our tidings section.In the table, the expectation/evaluation pairs that differed significantly (p Fragrance (Visual puffery) Ad = Fragrance (match) Ad Fragrance Total Red Delicious 5 2 3 10 Hypnose Euphoria 4 5 5 4 1 1 10 10 Total 14 11 5 30 There is sparse evidence that the ads used in this research generated accurate expectations. Instead, there is more evidence that the ads generally resulted in higher expectations among subjects, expectations that were not met when subjects actually used the products. Almost half (14) of the paired comparisons resulted in significantly higher expectations than product evaluations.One interpretation of this observation is that the visual imagery in the ads communicated exaggerated claims about the product benefits. Across all three fragrances, the expectations generated b y the ads that related to the adjective pairs of Arousing/Sensual, Romantic/Feminine, Playful/Flirtatious and Mysterious/Exotic were all significantly greater than subsequent product evaluations. Interestingly, all four adjective pairs seem to be unambiguously favorable characteristics of perfume. A careful inspection of our results yields one additional intriguing observation.Each of the ten adjectives pairs can be categorized as pertaining to either concrete or abstract descriptors. The first six (Light/Understated, Bold/Powerful, Arousing/Sensual, Romantic/Feminine, Playful/Flirtatious, Mysterious/Exotic) are more abstract and symbolic descriptors, while the remaining four (Earthy/Musky, Fruity/Tasty, Medicinal/Bland, Velvety/Creamy) are more concrete. Across all three ad/fragrance pairs, we observed that in most cases, for the abstract descriptors the ads generated significantly higher expectations that exceeded the actual product evaluation.In contrast, for the concrete descrip tors we observe that the expectations in response to the ads fell short of actual product evaluation. We discuss this result further in the next section. 6. Discussion Readers of magazine advertisements may not overtly recognize the visual themes and messages in an advertisement that emerge from a semiotic analysis. However, if the visual and symbolic message of the ad is successfully delivered and therefore understood, implicitly or explicitly by readers, the ad can convey expectations of the product that exceed, fall short of, or match consumers subsequent evaluation of the product.To convey a weaker message risks developing expectations that may be insufficient to prompt consumers to consider purchasing the product. However, to convey expectations beyond the products ability to accomplish these expectations risks dissatisfied customers who try or purchase the product with certain expectations of its performance, but who in the long run learn that the product will not meet their expectations. Taken together, our results suggest that the visual imagery in magazine advertising for fragrances can be effectively used to make claims about product features and benefits that are not substantiated through actual trial of the product.This brings up the real and intriguing possibility that visual imagery can be used as a mechanism of puffery making superlative, exaggerated claims that are not substantiated. To our knowledge, the existence and effectiveness of visual puffery has not been previously investigated despite a call made already by Richards and Zakia (1981) in the early 1980s, that pictures and symbols should be regulated as vigorously as words as well as the decision of the 2nd U. S. District Court of Appeals in Manhattan which ruled that puffery can include visual depictions.Moreover, this also poses interesting questions for policy makers because, in contrast to verbal puffery, which according to FTC is recognizable by reasonable consumers and cannot lea d to deception (Kamins and Marks, 1987), visual puffery is not immediately recognizable. Typically, puffed claims have been expressed verbally, in the form of superlatives. verbal puffed claims are, at least in the United States, legal and acceptable because they are considered by the FTC as the language of advertising and consumers understand as much and are not deceived by puffed claims.This doesnt mean that there are any cultural, ethical or visual issues related to this (Borgerson and Schroeder, 2002 Schroeder and Zwick, 2004 Schroeder, 2005 Schroeder and Borgerson, 2005). As Schroeder and Borgerson (2003) noted, visual issues often are overlooked in advertising research despite their importance in meaning creation (p. 68). Our study is therefore noteworthy as it contributes and extends existing literature by suggesting the existence of another(prenominal) important form of puffery, which we refer to as visual puffery.In many cases, the visual cues and imagery in the ads used in this research appeared to generate product expectations that were not met when the product was used. This is both intriguing and perplexing and suggests potential legal implications as well. In short, while verbal puffery is legal in the United States because it is presumed to not be effective by FTC, visual puffery may be quite effective and might help marketers, and specifically in countries where verbal puffery is illegal, to use another means to reach consumers.This study provides a first shout toward understanding and assessing visual puffery and we encourage further research in that direction. Given the ubiquitous use of imageryladen ads in the promotion of personal fragrances, the larger question may be why and how visual puffery, in which type of ads, other type of products and consumer particles, is effective? One plausible explanation is that fragrances are somewhat of a fancy product, intimately connected to the self-esteem or self-image and perceived desirability and attractiveness of the buyer.Consumers are not buying the fragrance alone, but the imagery that becomes intimately associated with the fragrance. While we offer some evidence in this paper related to fragrances, it is an idea that merits further consideration and research. It seems likely that the purpose of fragrance ads is to captivate attention, to stimulate interest and desire ultimately leading to purchase intention and behavior. It can also help to build brand awareness, to develop and reinforce brand image and brand personality.It is plausible that fragrance advertising leads to product trial, and product trial is then influenced by the imagery created in the advertising. In one sense, consistent with the concept of transformational advertising, we can argue that the visual imagery in the ad creates an intangible product benefit, the presence of which is either supported or refuted at the time of product trial. When consumers actually try the scent, they may associate the sce nt with the visual imagery that they have been previously exposed to.They may also associate the scent with the overall brand image, particularly if that image is well-established and understood, such as Calvin Klein. This suggests a somewhat symbiotic relationship between the visual imagery in the ad, the overall brand image and the actual fragrance of the product. A consumer who tries a fragrance in a store often does so with prior knowledge of the brand and after prior exposure to the ads or the fragrance. The scent of the fragrance might become closely associated with the brand image, the visual imagery in the ad, or both.The scent, therefore, becomes mysterious, or sexy, or exotic, because it is depicted that way in the ad and reinforced by the overall image of the brand. Future research should explore the existence of this symbiotic and interdependent relationship. 7. Conclusion This study contributes and extends existing literature by suggesting the existence of visual puffer y. Our results show that the visual cues and imagery in the fragrance ads appear, under certain conditions, to result in product expectations that exceed actual product evaluations, suggesting the existence of visual puffery.The adjective pairs that represented abstract descriptors accounted for nearly all of the instances in which expectations of the ad exceeded product evaluations. For Red Delicious it was 83%, for Hypnose and Euphoria it was 100% of the adjectives pairs which were significantly different. In contrast, for adjective pairs that represent concrete descriptors, in most instances (Red Delicious 100% Hypnose 100%, and Euphoria 50%) we observed that product evaluations exceeded the ad expectations.One interpretation of this result is that the evaluation of these attributes may be significantly more subjective and therefore more difficult than evaluating more concrete attributes. A second possible explanation has its origin in the work of Haan and Berkey (2002). Recall t hat in their research, only the weakest puffs, subjective claims, influenced claim believability. Respondents in their experiment found subjective claims to be more undreamed of than the other five types of puffery claims. In our research, respondents expectations regarding the abstract (subjective) descriptors were generally not met.We put forth this observation unless as an intriguing idea for future research investigating the relationship between the level of abstraction of a visual puffed claim and subsequent product evaluations. As with all research, there are certain limitations which must be noted. First, we used a carefully controlled setting, with one consumer product for one consumer segment, and based on three magazine advertisements. Our results cannot be generalized beyond the product category nor beyond the consumer segment used in this study in the context of magazine print advertisements.Future research should investigate other product groups (e. g. high versus lo w involvement products), consumer segments (e. g. , male vs. female), gender in ads, ads from different countries and in different cultural settings. Second, one unanswered question is whether the high expectations of viewers influence their purchasing intention and ultimately behavior and if so, to what extent. This research did not explicitly address this issue and future research should investigate that. Third, semiotics is a qualitative research method that is inherently subjective.By arguing for the presence of visual puffery, we are, in some sense, translating a legal term into behavioral variables that can then be identified and measured. We acknowledge that, granted the subjective nature of the analysis, other adjective pairs may have been identified by other researchers. 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