When pride meets envy: Is social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising perceived as prestige or arrogance?

This paper draws on the theoretical underpinnings of envy and pride in examining the effectiveness of social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising. Across two studies, benign (malicious) envy led consumers to perceive social superiority portrayal as an expression of authentic (hubristic) pride...

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Main Authors: Sung, Billy, Phau, Ian
Format: Journal Article
Published: John Wiley & Sons 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71454
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author Sung, Billy
Phau, Ian
author_facet Sung, Billy
Phau, Ian
author_sort Sung, Billy
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper draws on the theoretical underpinnings of envy and pride in examining the effectiveness of social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising. Across two studies, benign (malicious) envy led consumers to perceive social superiority portrayal as an expression of authentic (hubristic) pride and, in turn, increased (reduced) luxury perception and positive brand attitude. These findings were replicated for both dispositional (Study 1 and 2) and state feeling of envy (Study 2), regardless of whether envy was self-reported or manipulated. These findings were found to be consistent in a comparison between luxury and premium brands. Taken together, this paper is the first to examine: (a) consumer responses toward social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising, (b) the interactive effect of envy and pride perceptions on luxury perception and brand attitude, and (c) the effectiveness of using social superiority portrayal as an advertising strategy for luxury and premium brands.
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publishDate 2018
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-714542020-07-24T01:25:44Z When pride meets envy: Is social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising perceived as prestige or arrogance? Sung, Billy Phau, Ian This paper draws on the theoretical underpinnings of envy and pride in examining the effectiveness of social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising. Across two studies, benign (malicious) envy led consumers to perceive social superiority portrayal as an expression of authentic (hubristic) pride and, in turn, increased (reduced) luxury perception and positive brand attitude. These findings were replicated for both dispositional (Study 1 and 2) and state feeling of envy (Study 2), regardless of whether envy was self-reported or manipulated. These findings were found to be consistent in a comparison between luxury and premium brands. Taken together, this paper is the first to examine: (a) consumer responses toward social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising, (b) the interactive effect of envy and pride perceptions on luxury perception and brand attitude, and (c) the effectiveness of using social superiority portrayal as an advertising strategy for luxury and premium brands. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71454 10.1002/mar.21162 John Wiley & Sons fulltext
spellingShingle Sung, Billy
Phau, Ian
When pride meets envy: Is social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising perceived as prestige or arrogance?
title When pride meets envy: Is social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising perceived as prestige or arrogance?
title_full When pride meets envy: Is social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising perceived as prestige or arrogance?
title_fullStr When pride meets envy: Is social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising perceived as prestige or arrogance?
title_full_unstemmed When pride meets envy: Is social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising perceived as prestige or arrogance?
title_short When pride meets envy: Is social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising perceived as prestige or arrogance?
title_sort when pride meets envy: is social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising perceived as prestige or arrogance?
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71454