Changing affective content in brand and product attributes

Purpose – This paper aims to explore whether consumers' cognitive reactions to a branded product remain stable over time. In many created concepts, entity attributes are such that cognitive reactions to them change in a predictable manner by attraction to elements of novelty and typicality in the genre. By analysing products from a luxury vehicle brand, under the framework of a theoretical model of changing “affective content”, this paper seeks to explore whether brands behave similarly.Design/methodology/approach – The study draws on research previously published into the changing nature of art, poetry, architecture and other artistic genres. Text from motoring press articles written contemporarily to the production of products of the brand, over the past 80 years, are analysed for constructs of affective content and the overall values expressed.Findings – The results provide evidence that the attributes of some branded products produce cognitive conditions that cycle in a manner that is predictable, wit...

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