Happy Holidays? How Sights and Sounds of the Holidays Cue Different Feelings & Consumption Behaviors

How do holiday cues affect consumer behavior in real shopping environments? Do the sights (e.g., seasonal displays) and sounds (e.g., seasonal music) of the holidays in stores make consumers more likely to indulge others or to indulge themselves? Building off work on environmental cues and differential responses to primes, we argue that exposure to different holiday portrayals can trigger divergent feelings and appraisals for different consumers with real consequences for consumption. In our studies, we manipulate the specific type of holiday cues encountered and look at the impact on consumers’ product choices and donation behavior in a real store environment.

Citation:

Lisa A. Cavanaugh and Gavan J. Fitzsimons (2009) ,"Happy Holidays? How Sights and Sounds of the Holidays Cue Different Feelings & Consumption Behaviors", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36, eds. Ann L. McGill and Sharon Shavitt, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 168-171.