The Effect of Semantic Cues on Consumer Perceptions of Reference Price Ads

This article examines the differential effects of two types of semantic cues: (1) cues connoting that an advertised price discount exhibits low consistency over time, and (2) cues connoting that an advertised discount is highly distinctive vis-a-vis competitors. Results suggest that, for manipulations of external reference prices with offering price held constant, semantic cues that connote high distinctiveness are more effective in influencing consumers' price-related evaluations when the external reference price is otherwise implausibly high than are semantic cues that connote low consistency. For manipulations of offering prices with external reference price held constant, however, semantic cues connoting high distinctiveness exert more relative influence on price-related cognitions when offering prices are high. Copyright 1991 by the University of Chicago.