CASE STUDY

Case Study



Case Study

Introduction

Media influences have been shown to help define consumer's worlds by sketching an image in their mind that the consumer will want to relate to and attain for him/her (Lippman 1992:30). It has been suggested that since the mainstream introduction of television, Americans have been frequently bombarded with images of success and wealth, and the purchase of luxury products may in fact be purchased simply to improve one's status (Mandel, Petrova, and Cialdini 2006: 5). Further studies suggest that products may be used to communicate information about their owner's identity (Belk, Bahn, and Mayer 1982; Shavitt 1990; Shavitt and Nelson 1999: 45), and that luxury products are frequently bought just because they cost more, without adding any additional benefits (Dubois and Duquesne 1993: 6).

Individuals evaluate their own opinions, beliefs, and so forth based upon a comparison between themselves and others (Festinger 1954: 5), and in response, researchers have effectively demonstrated that contrast and assimilation effects can result from this kind of social comparison (Salovey and Rodin 1984; Richins 1991: 4). Empirical evidence of assimilation and social contrast demonstrate that participants have been led to bask in a reflected glory (Cialdini, Borden, Thorne, Walker, Freeman, and Sloan 1976: 74), women have been shown to improve their testing abilities when an exam was administered by a competent female (Marx and Roman 2002: 36), and dieters who have viewed pictures of thin models have enjoyed a self-enhancing "thin fantasy" (Mills, Polivy, Herman, and Tiggemann 2002: 10). In addition to the vast literature dealing with the social comparison effects, there are also a variety of other factors that have been shown to influence the way in which a person associates or dissociates him/herself from another individual: e.g., the salience of group identity (Brewer and Weber 1994), the likelihood of the comparison target's success (Lockwood and Kunda 1997), the impact of perceived vulnerability (Lockwood 2002: 5), and the actual level of similarity to the comparison target (Brown, Novick, Lord, and Richards 1982: 5).

In addition, research has presented the idea that upward social comparisons of intimate relationships can enhance assimilation effects (McFarland, Buehler, and McKay 2001). Based on the intimate assimilations found in these upward social comparisons, it has been proposed that a comparison target's similarity to the participant on an important dimension or construct, will affect the participant's depictions of success for those involved who find a similar important characteristic with the comparison target (Mandel, Petrova, and Cialdini 2006: 16). Thus, it is especially important that the participants in a given study identify themselves with the comparison target, as it has been shown in product studies that difficulty in relating a consumption experience to oneself and one's lifestyle will decrease the likelihood that the product will be purchased or evaluated positively (Petrova and Cialdini 2005: 25-56).

This characteristic of assimilation due to identification between oneself and the comparison target is also critical in the most recent investigations of social comparisons in purchase contexts, as it is proposed that a comparison ...