Regulatory fit and brand-category association : a test of interaction between sport injury anxiety and message framing

• Main Author: Lim, Sher Jie
• Other Authors: Adrian Kee
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Science::General
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/63154
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Regulatory fit is one of the concepts behind persuasive messages used in advertising of a brand, aiming for a more focused and intimate approach towards consumers. The strength of brand-category association influences the consumer’s decision to purchase and is an indicator reflecting the value of the brand. The purpose of this study was to examine whether advertising, as a means of promoting gain of performance or preventing injury, interacts with the consumers’ degree of anxiety towards sport injury in predicting brand-category associations of a muscle ointment. 82 mixed gender participants (M age= 23.56, SD=2.69) were randomised into promotion-focused and prevention-focused groups. The main task instructed participants to decide whether the displayed brand on a computer screen belonged to the correct product category in the fastest possible time by clicking on the mouse. 2-way ANOVA results show that there is no positive effect on the interaction between message framing and sport injury anxiety against reaction time (p=.447). Participants with higher sport injury anxiety levels were less confident in associating the brand and its product category, reflecting a weaker competitive overlap of brand association for the muscle ointment. The framing of the messages, unfamiliarity of the brand and possible limitations of regulatory focus theory are highlighted. Relevant limitations and implications are discussed for future research with useful pointers highlighted for sport marketers.