Last Minute Valentine? You´ll Pay More!
Month before Valentine or night before Valentine?
When the gift-giving deadline approaches, our perspective shifts from gifts with positive outcomes — something that will knock your sweetheart off his or her feet — to gifts that will simply help us avoid a fight.
“Consumers facing an imminent decision are confronted with the negative possibility of failing to fulfill their purchasing goal,” explain Cassie Theriault (Stanford University), Jennifer L. Aaker (University of California, Berkeley), and Ginger L. Pennington (University of Chicago). “When the purchase is still far off in the future, however, consumers are likely to be fairly optimistic about succeeding and less concerned with the possibility of goal failure.”
“Given that most products can be advertised as a means to promote something positive or as a means to prevent something negative, these findings are highly relevant to advertisers and marketers in their efforts to attract consumers to their products,” the researchers explain. “This research offers further understanding of the critical role of anticipated pleasure and pain in decision making.” More details on the study available here.