Cassandra Davis accepted for publication in Journal of Advertising

Mike Ilitch School of Business assistant professor of marketing Cassandra Davis has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Advertising, which is devoted to publications related to advertising theory and practice.

The article is titled "Buying a Chance at Love: The Influence of Attachment-Anxiety on Consumer Preference for Romantic Advertising," and was accepted for publication this year.

Abstract

Much research has been conducted to understand the impact of sexual appeals in advertising on consumer attitudes and behaviors. Yet, romantic advertising, advertising that focuses on romantic relationships, has received less scholarly attention. To counter this imbalance, the present research investigates the influence of attachment anxiety, an individual difference variable, on consumer reactions to advertising featuring romantic relationships. As hypothesized, our findings suggest that consumers high in attachment anxiety respond more favorably to advertising that highlights romantic relationships. This effect is consistent across trait and state level attachment anxiety and consistent across product type (goods vs. services). Specifically, the results of four experiments demonstrate that compared to securely attached consumers, chronically anxiously attached consumers (Experiments 1A and 1B) and situationally primed anxiously attached consumers (Experiment 2) respond more favorably to advertisements that focus on the potential romantic rewards associated with an advertised product's use. Consistent results were obtained using a different advertisement for an experience (vs. material) good (Experiment 3). Implications of the findings for advertisers, marketers, brand managers, and scholars are discussed, and several opportunities for future research are identified.