The Effect of Irrelevant Information on Consumer Irritation and Attitudes: the Moderating Role of Need to Evaluate

EXTENDED ABSTRACT - Past research has investigated the effect of irrelevant information related to the advertised product on consumers’ beliefs in the product’s ability to deliver the desired benefit. The results suggest that irrelevant product information systematically weakens consumers’ beliefs that the product will provide the desired benefit. An interesting question that follows is if the impact of brand related irrelevant information is considerable to the extent it may systematically weaken the impact of diagnostic information, then what would be the impact of non-brand related irrelevant information, as it is likely to be in the context of cross-selling? Is the impact of such irrelevant information negative to the extent that it causes irritation in consumers? Since irritation can have negative consequences, does such irrelevant information lead to negative reactions toward the focal product as well as the advertiser? The above questions assume importance whenCin an attempt to make additional salesCadvertisers and salespeople frequently expose consumers to a substantial amount of information that may be irrelevant to the product under consideration.

Citation:

Abhijit Biswas and Sweta Chaturvedi Thota (2004) ,"The Effect of Irrelevant Information on Consumer Irritation and Attitudes: the Moderating Role of Need to Evaluate", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 31, eds. Barbara E. Kahn and Mary Frances Luce, Valdosta, GA : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 577-578.