Can Everyday Brands Be Threatening? Responses to Brand Primes Depend on Childhood Socioeconomic Status

Journal of Consumer Psychology · 2018 · Volume 28 · Issue 3

Abstract

The current work investigates whether childhood socioeconomic status influences how people respond to brands. Results from two experiments show that, perhaps counterintuitively, everyday brands—and not luxury brands—can threaten the self-esteem of people who had poor childhoods. Supported by the results of our pilot study, we argue this is because everyday brands represent a material norm that can be difficult for low-income consumers to achieve. Furthermore, our findings suggest that consumers from poor backgrounds may cope with this threat by becoming morse self-interested, as indicated by decreased volunteer intentions.

Keywords

Childhood environments, Brand cues, Socioeconomic status, Self-esteem, Threat

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