Home Why Is the Placebo Effect Different in Marketing? A Study on Moderating Persuasion by Authority
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Why Is the Placebo Effect Different in Marketing? A Study on Moderating Persuasion by Authority

  • Eliane Herrero , Daielly Melina Nassif Mantovani and Evandro Luiz Lopes ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: September 9, 2022

Abstract

This study aims to identify mental triggers that explain the placebo effect process in marketing studies. To accomplish this, we conducted two experimental studies in which 62 university students (Study 1) and 121 volunteers from a teaching hospital (Study 2) participated. These studies evaluated different cosmetic products, in which we manipulated the perceived luxury of the packaging. Joint analysis of the results indicates that: a) the placebo effect affects both cognitive assessments and consumer behavioral responses; b) unlike other scientific fields, we did not verify the double mediation of expectation and motivation in the relationship between stimuli and response variables, and; c) consumer expectation was significant only in explaining the response variable when moderated at high levels by the persuasion of authority. We conclude our paper with our finding’s theoretical and managerial implications.


Corresponding author: Evandro Luiz Lopes, PPGA and MPCC, Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing - ESPM/SP, São Paulo, Brazil; and Universidade Federal de São Paulo - UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil, E-mail:

Funding source: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico

Award Identifier / Grant number: 407100/2012-1

Appendix A: Stimuli Used in the Experiments

References

Alves, C. A., E. L. Lopes, and J. M. D. C. Hernandez. 2017. “It Makes Me Feel So Good: An Experimental Study of the Placebo Effect Generated by Brands.” Journal of International Consumer Marketing 29 (4): 223–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/08961530.2017.1310645.Search in Google Scholar

Ashraf, R., and D. Merunka. 2017. “The Use and Misuse of Student Samples: An Empirical Investigation of European Marketing Research.” Journal of Consumer Behaviour 16 (4): 295–308. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.1590.Search in Google Scholar

Atwal, G., and A. Williams. 2017. “Luxury Brand Marketing – The Experience Is Everything!” In Advances in Luxury Brand Management, 43–57. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1007/978-3-319-51127-6_3Search in Google Scholar

Baldwin, A. 2014. “Service quality in an Australianprivate dental network.” The TQM Journal 26 (4): 360–7, doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-01-2014-0008.Search in Google Scholar

Bem, D. J. 2017. “An Experimental Analysis of Self-persuasion.” In Attitude Change, 1st ed. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781351315364-7Search in Google Scholar

Bergkvist, L., and J. R. Rossiter. 2007. “The Predictive Validity of Multiple-item versus Single-item Measures of the Same Constructs.” Journal of Marketing Research 44 (2): 175–84. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.44.2.175.Search in Google Scholar

Bodur, H. O., T. Gao, and B. Grohmann. 2014. “The Ethical Attribute Stigma: Understanding When Ethical Attributes Improve Consumer Responses to Product Evaluations.” Journal of Business Ethics 122 (1): 167–77. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1764-5.Search in Google Scholar

Braga-Júnior, S., D. Silva, S. Moretti, and E. Lopes. 2012. “Uma análise da consciência ecológica para o consumo “verde” no varejo supermercadista.” Revista de Gestão Social e Ambienta 6 (2): 134–48, doi:https://doi.org/10.5773/rgsa.v6i2.533.Search in Google Scholar

Brown, J. A., S. L. Fowler, H. M. Rasinski, and A. L. Geers. 2013. “Choice as a Moderator of Placebo Expectation Effects.” Basic and Applied Social Psychology 35 (5): 436–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2013.803968.Search in Google Scholar

Brunner, C. B., S. Ullrich, P. Jungen, and F. R. Esch. 2016. “Impact of Symbolic Product Design on Brand Evaluations.” Journal of Product and Brand Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-06-2015-0896.Search in Google Scholar

Christiansen, P., G. Townsend, G. Knibb, and M. Field. 2017. “The Effects of a Placebo and Contextual Alcohol Cues on Motivation to Drink Alcohol.” Psychopharmacology 234 (5): 827–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-016-4518-0.Search in Google Scholar

Cialdini, R. B. 2007. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. New York: Collins.Search in Google Scholar

Colloca, L. 2019. “The Placebo Effect in Pain Therapies.” Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology 59: 191–211. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-010818-021542.Search in Google Scholar

Eisend, M., P. Hartmann, and V. Apaolaza. 2017. “Who Buys Counterfeit Luxury Brands? A Meta-analytic Synthesis of Consumers in Developing and Developed Markets.” Journal of International Marketing 25 (4): 89–111. https://doi.org/10.1509/jim.16.0133.Search in Google Scholar

Enax, L., and B. Weber. 2015. “Marketing Placebo Effects – From Behavioral Effects to Behavior Change?” Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization 13 (1): 15–31. https://doi.org/10.1515/jafio-2015-0015.Search in Google Scholar

Frisaldi, E., A. Piedimonte, and F. Benedetti. 2015. “Placebo and Nocebo Effects: A Complex Interplay between Psychological Factors and Neurochemical Networks.” American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis 57 (3): 267–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/00029157.2014.976785.Search in Google Scholar

Graf, L. K., S. Mayer, and J. R. Landwehr. 2018. “Measuring Processing Fluency: One versus Five Items.” Journal of Consumer Psychology 28 (3): 393–411. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.1021.Search in Google Scholar

Geers, A. L., P. Briñol, E. A. Vogel, O. Aspiras, F. C. Caplandies, and R. E. Petty. 2018. “The Application of Persuasion Theory to Placebo Effects.” International Review of Neurobiology 138 (1): 113–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.irn.2018.01.004.Search in Google Scholar

Hagtvedt, H., and V. M. Patrick. 2016. “Gilt and Guilt: Should Luxury and Charity Partner at the Point of Sale?” Journal of Retailing 92 (1): 56–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2015.07.004.Search in Google Scholar

Hayes, A. F. 2017. Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression-based Approach, 2nd ed. New York: Guilford Publications.Search in Google Scholar

Horcajo, J., P. Briñol, and R. E. Petty. 2014. “Multiple Roles for Majority versus Minority Source Status on Persuasion When Source Status Follows the Message.” Social Influence 9 (1): 37–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/15534510.2012.743485.Search in Google Scholar

Hulland, J., and M. Houston. 2021. “The Importance of Behavioral Outcomes.” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 49 (3): 437–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-020-00764-w.Search in Google Scholar

Irmak, C., L. G. Block, and G. J. Fitzsimons. 2005. “The Placebo Effect in Marketing: Sometimes You Just Have to Want it to Work.” Journal of Marketing Research 42 (4): 406–9. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.2005.42.4.406.Search in Google Scholar

Kapferer, J. N., and P. Valette-Florence. 2016. “Beyond Rarity: The Paths of Luxury Desire.” The Journal of Product and Brand Management 25 (2): 120–33. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-09-2015-0988.Search in Google Scholar

Kaptchuk, T. J., and F. G. Miller. 2015. “Placebo Effects in Medicine.” New England Journal of Medicine 373 (1): 8–9. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1504023.Search in Google Scholar

Keynes, J. 2016. Essays in Persuasion, English ed. New York: Springer.Search in Google Scholar

Kirsch, I. 2018. “Response Expectancy and the Placebo Effect.” International Review of Neurobiology 138 (2): 81–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.irn.2018.01.003.Search in Google Scholar

Krishna, A., L. Cian, and N. Z. Aydınoğlu. 2017. “Sensory Aspects of Package Design.” Journal of Retailing 93 (1): 43–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2016.12.002.Search in Google Scholar

Kruglanski, A. W., J. Y. Shah, A. Fishbach, and R. Friedman. 2018. “A Theory of Goal Systems.” In The Motivated Mind, 1st ed., 215–58. London: Routledge.10.4324/9781315175867-6Search in Google Scholar

Kruglanski, A. W., and E. P. Thompson. 1999. “Persuasion by a Single Route: A View from the Unimodel.” Psychological Inquiry 10 (2): 83–109. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PL100201.Search in Google Scholar

Kühn, S., E. Strelow, and J. Gallinat. 2016. “Multiple “buy Buttons” in the Brain: Forecasting Chocolate Sales at Point-of-sale Based on Functional Brain Activation Using fMRI.” NeuroImage 136: 122–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.05.021.Search in Google Scholar

Linde, C., F. Gadler, L. Kappenberger, and L. Rydén. 1999. “Placebo Effect of Pacemaker Implantation in Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.” The American Journal of Cardiology 83 (6): 903–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-9149(98)01065-0.Search in Google Scholar

Malhotra, N., E. Lopes, and R. Veiga. 2014. “Structural Equation Modeling with LISREL: An Initial Vision.” Brazilian Journal of Marketing 13 (2): 28–43, doi:https://doi.org/10.5585/remark.v13i2.2698.Search in Google Scholar

Martinelli, S. D. C., and D. Bartholomeu. 2007. “Escala de motivação acadêmica: uma medida de motivação extrínseca e intrínseca.” Avaliação Psicológica 6 (1): 1–16.Search in Google Scholar

Murata, M., T. Odawara, K. Hasegawa, R. Kajiwara, H. Takeuchi, M. Tagawa, and K. Kosaka. 2017. “Zonisamide Improves DLB Parkinsonism: A Randomized Double-blind Placebo-controlled Phase 3 Study.” Journal of the Neurological Sciences 381: 185–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jns.2017.08.531.Search in Google Scholar

Myers, K., and N. C. Winters. 2002. “Ten-year Review of Rating Scales. I: Overview of Scale Functioning, Psychometric Properties, and Selection.” Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 41 (2): 114–22.10.1097/00004583-200202000-00004Search in Google Scholar

Petri, H. L., and J. M. Govern. 2012. Motivation, 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.Search in Google Scholar

Petty, R. E., and P. Briñol. 2015. “Emotion and Persuasion: Cognitive and Meta-cognitive Processes Impact Attitudes.” Cognition & Emotion 29 (1): 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2014.967183.Search in Google Scholar

Phillips, B. J., and E. F. McQuarrie. 2010. “Narrative and Persuasion in Fashion Advertising.” Journal of Consumer Research 37 (3): 368–92. https://doi.org/10.1086/653087.Search in Google Scholar

Pica, G., M. Milyavsky, A. Pierro, and A. W. Kruglanski. 2020. “The Epistemic Bases of Changes of Opinion and Choices: The Joint Effects of the Need for Cognitive Closure, Ascribed Epistemic Authority and Quality of Advice.” European Journal of Social Psychology 51 (4–5): 690–702, doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2753.Search in Google Scholar

Plassmann, H., J. O’doherty, B. Shiv, and A. Rangel. 2008. “Marketing actions can modulate neural representations of experienced pleasantness.” Proceedings of the national academy of sciences 105 (3): 1050–4.10.1073/pnas.0706929105Search in Google Scholar

Plassmann, H., and B. Weber. 2015. “Individual Differences in Marketing Placebo Effects.” Journal of Marketing Research 52 (4): 493–510. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.13.0613.Search in Google Scholar

Price, D. D., D. G. Finniss, and F. Benedetti. 2008. “A Comprehensive Review of the Placebo Effect: Recent Advances and Current Thought.” Annual Review of Psychology 59: 565–90. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.59.113006.095941.Search in Google Scholar

Rao, A. R., and K. B. Monroe. 1989. “The Effect of Price, Brand Name, and Store Name on Buyers’ Perceptions of Product Quality.” Journal of Marketing Research: 351–7. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378902600309.Search in Google Scholar

Ricchiute, D. N. 1985. “Presentation Mode, Task Importance, and Cue Order in Experimental Research on Expert Judges.” Journal of Applied Psychology 70 (2): 367. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.70.2.367.Search in Google Scholar

Shiv, B., Z. Carmon, and D. Ariely. 2005a. “Placebo Effects of Marketing Actions: Consumers May Get what They Pay For.” Journal of Marketing Research 42 (4): 383–93. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.2005.42.4.383.Search in Google Scholar

Shiv, B., Z. Carmon, and D. Ariely. 2005b. “Ruminating About Placebo Effects of Marketing Actions.” Journal of Marketing Research 42 (4): 410–4. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.2005.42.4.410.Search in Google Scholar

Stallard, N., and S. Todd. 2003. “Sequential Designs for Phase III Clinical Trials Incorporating Treatment Selection.” Statistics in Medicine 22 (5): 689–703. https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.1362.Search in Google Scholar

Stanujkic, D., D. Karabasevic, and E. K. Zavadskas. 2015. “A Framework for the Selection of a Packaging Design Based on the SWARA Method.” Inzinerine Ekonomika-Engineering Economics 26 (2): 181–7. https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.26.2.8820.Search in Google Scholar

Stewart-Williams, S., and J. Podd. 2004. “The Placebo Effect: Dissolving the Expectation versus Conditioning Debate.” Psychological Bulletin 130 (2): 324. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.130.2.324.Search in Google Scholar

Thompson, D. V., and P. Malaviya. 2013. “Consumer-generated Ads: Does Awareness of Advertising Co-creation Help or Hurt Persuasion?” Journal of Marketing 77 (3): 33–47. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.11.0403.Search in Google Scholar

Vigneron, F., and L. W. Johnson. 2017. “Measuring Perceptions of Brand Luxury.” In Advances in Luxury Brand Management, 199–234. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1007/978-3-319-51127-6_10Search in Google Scholar

Vroom, V., L. Porter, and E. Lawler. 2005. “Expectation Theories.” Organizational Behavior 1: 94–113.Search in Google Scholar

Wager, T. D., and L. Y. Atlas. 2015. “The Neuroscience of Placebo Effects: Connecting Context, Learning and Health.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 16 (7): 403–18. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3976.Search in Google Scholar

Wang, Z., K. Mathiyazhagan, L. Xu, and A. Diabat. 2016. “A Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory Approach to Analyze the Barriers to Green Supply Chain Management Adoption in a Food Packaging Company.” Journal of Cleaner Production 117: 19–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.09.142.Search in Google Scholar

Wang, E. S. T. 2017. “Different Effects of Utilitarian and Hedonic Benefits of Retail Food Packaging on Perceived Product Quality and Purchase Intention.” Journal of Food Products Marketing 23 (3): 239–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/10454446.2014.885867.Search in Google Scholar

Weiner, B. 1985. “An Attributional Theory of Achievement Motivation and Emotion.” Psychological Review 92 (4): 548. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.92.4.548.Search in Google Scholar

Wiedmann, K. P., N. Hennigs, and A. Siebels. 2007. “Measuring Consumers’ Luxury Value Perception.” Academy of Marketing Science Review 7 (7): 333–61.Search in Google Scholar

Wright, S. A., J. M. C. Hernandez, A. Sundar, J. Dinsmore, and F. R. Kardes. 2013. “If it Tastes Bad it Must Be Good.” International Journal of Research in Marketing 30 (2): 197–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2012.11.002.Search in Google Scholar

Wyrwa, J., and A. Barska. 2017. “Packaging as a Source of Information about Food Products.” Procedia Engineering 182: 770–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2017.03.199.Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2022-01-26
Accepted: 2022-08-24
Published Online: 2022-09-09

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 25.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/roms-2022-0007/html?lang=en
Scroll to top button