All Cues are not Created Equal: Obtaining Attitude Persistence under Low- Involvement Conditions

Abstract

Attitude persistence research in consumer behavior has been predominantly associated with high- rather than low-involvement processing. Advertising, however, is most often processed as a low-involvement communication. We predict that different low-involvement cues lead to different degrees of attitude persistence. Consistent with this prediction, we find that under low-involvement conditions, when both related and unrelated peripheral cues evoke similar initial attitudes, only when the cue is related to the product category do attitudes persist over time. The results of two studies attest to the robustness of the phenomenon and add to current models of attitude persistence by showing that peripherally processed advertising cues (e.g., brand names and celebrity endorsers) may lead to persistence if they are related to the product being endorsed.