The use of skin lightening products is increasing. Significant social and health concerns have been associated with the use of such products. Advertisers have been the target of much of the 'blame' for this increase in demand. In the current research, we explore the relative impact of advertising, social influences, and self-perceived (subjective) knowledge on 359 young adults from India who use or are familiar with skin lightening products. Our results indicate that social forces have a greater influence on the use of skin lightening products than do advertising and self-perceived knowledge forces. The partial mediation effects of attitudes towards skin lightening products and the moderating effects of need to belong and susceptibility to peer influences were also explored and found to be significant in some cases.

We analyzed and compared the Journal of Consumer Behaviour content in its first 20 years of publication. Articles were categorized into seven topics (Internal Factors, External Factors, Decision Process, Social Issues, Internet, Managerial Issues, and Research Methods) with subtopics. Authorship, citations based on Google Scholar, geographic representation of authors, and methodologies employed across the first 20 years were also explored. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the journal and consumer behaviour. This analysis provides suggestions for future research to be published by the Journal of Consumer Behaviour.

The marketing and consumption of video content has evolved dramatically over the past several years. The advent of video-on-demand (VOD) made it much easier for viewers to consume multiple episodes of the same content in a single setting. This multi-episode viewing is commonly referred to as binge-watching. The unequivocal conclusion from previous research is that multi-episode viewing can either be harmful or beneficial to consumers. Empirical research is now needed to establish what factors in a viewing session can lead to either healthy or unhealthy multi-episode viewing. The current paper presents the results of four studies which indicate that one such factor is whether the multi-episode viewing was planned or unplanned. These findings are important for marketers of video content to understand as they seek to be socially responsible. They are also important for consumers to understand as they seek to engage in healthy, and avoid unhealthy, video consumption. This research is important as we seek to understand multi-episode viewing in that it begins moving our focus from whether harm can exist to answering the question of what is there in the viewing session itself that may cause the harm.

The current article presents an analysis of the Journal of Advertising's first 50 years of publication. All articles and research notes, and most other pieces published from 1972 through 2021, were included in our analysis. Articles were categorized into nine topics with subtopics. The content was compared across the five decades of the journal's publication. Authorship, citations based on Google Scholar, and methodologies across the first 50 years were also explored. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for how both the journal and the field have evolved, how advertising is studied, and whether the journal is fulfilling its mission.

The exploratory study examines the intersection of anti-consumption and consumer ethics. It focuses on categories of products and services that consumers refuse to consume for moral or ethical reasons. We asked 292 respondents to indicate a product or service that they choose not to buy for ethical or moral reasons and what those reasons are. Harm was a significant determinant of these consumer's decisions not to buy. Reasons tended to be more of a micro, individualistic nature and usually did not reflect macro, societal level concerns. These results suggest that consumers are interested more in avoiding unethical behavior than in shopping for a better world. Managers should, therefore, make sure that their products are not seen as unethical.

Business research is conducted by both businesspeople, who have informational needs, and scholars, whose field of study is business. Though some of the specifics as to how research is conducted differs between scholarly research and applied research, the general process they follow is the same. Business research is conducted in five stages. The first stage is problem formation where the objectives of the research are established. The second stage is research design. In this stage, the researcher identifies the variables of interest and possible relationships among those variables, decides on the appropriate data source and measurement approach, and plans the sampling methodology. It is also within the research design stage that the role that time will play in the study is determined. The third stage is data collection. Researchers must decide whether to outsource the data collection process or collect the data themselves. Also, data quality issues must be addressed in the collection of the data. The fourth stage is data analysis. The data must be prepared and cleaned. Statistical packages or programs such as SAS, SPSS, STATA, and R are used to analyze quantitative data. In the cases of qualitative data, coding, artificial intelligence, and/or interpretive analysis is employed. The fifth stage is the presentation of results. In applied business research, the results are typically limited in their distribution and they must be addressed to the immediate problem at hand. In scholarly business research, the results are intended to be widely distributed through journals, books, and conferences. As a means of quality control, scholarly research usually goes through a double-blind review process before it is published.

People have substantially differing attitudes towards consumption. Anti-consumers are negative towards consumption. In contrast, pro-consumers view consumption in a positive light. We posit that people's attitudes toward consumption at the societal (macro) level are impacted by the implicit theories they hold about whether society can solve the problems it faces. We identify two different implicit theories consumers hold regarding how solvable larger societal problems are. Social optimists believe that we will solve the problems that are emerging as we evolve at the societal level. In contrast, social pessimists believe that societal evolution is creating problems too large to be solved. We developed a macro attitudes model where social optimism and pessimism were posited to impact people's macro attitudes towards consumption. We present the results of a study that found that social optimists have more positive attitudes towards consumption and social pessimists have more negative attitudes towards consumption. We also found that this model provided a superior fit in comparison to three other plausible models relating implicit theories and attitudes towards consumption. These findings have implications for anti-consumption research, consumer research on implicit theories, and social marketing designed to address problems associated with overconsumption.

The use of fashion aesthetics or beauty in advertising has been shown to be effective. However, the extent to which such fashion aesthetics are consistent across cultures has not been adequately explored. As such, the theory of cultural meaning transfer is applied in this study. Additionally, three perspectives of model attractiveness are discussed as to their relevance in fashion aesthetics consumption in global advertising: the sociobiological model, the cultural model, and the blended model. A three-phase study is presented that indicates that the blended model seems to be the operative model for advertisers to adopt. In other words, the results of this study indicate that the same attributes of fashion aesthetics/beauty may be similarly or differentially meaningful among consumers from different cultures.

The current study looked at the effects of attitude toward consumption (positive or negative) on subjective well-being. This research studied attitude toward consumption at both the personal (micro) level and societal (macro) level and subjective well-being in terms of cognitive well-being and affective well-being. Results indicated that micro attitudes, whether positive or negative, were positively related to a consumer's subjective well-being. In contrast, macro attitudes were negatively related to subjective well-being. We posit that these findings could be due to micro attitudes enhancing the person's feeling of autonomy and control. In contrast, macro attitudes may create concerns beyond the person's control. For those who wish to impact societal-level consumption, these findings provide empirical support for the idea that focusing on the personal benefits of anticonsumption may be more effective than emphasizing larger societal concerns. We explore the potential implications of these findings for mandated vs. voluntary approaches to reducing consumption.

Reflective learning has long been studied in many disciplines. A primary way that reflective learning has been taught is through journaling. With the advent of e-learning, journaling has moved to the Web in the form of blogs. The current paper reviews the current state of journaling and blogging research with specific recommendations for marketing education. A study is presented in which 350 student blogs, representing 15,951 separate journal entries, were rated for reflective learning content. The students were also asked what form of learning they experienced when journaling. The study supported the idea that blogging is a useful tool in marketing education.

Classroom response systems (CRS), also called student/audience response systems or clickers, have been used by business instructors, particularly in larger classes, to allow instructors to ask students questions in class and have their responses immediately tabulated and reported electronically. While clickers have typically been used to measure attendance, gauge comprehension and test students, we propose that classroom response systems can also be used to effectively create an active learning environment. Specifically we detail the use of classroom response systems to utilize active learning in large classes (i.e., more than 70 students) through describing five sample CRS exercises in Marketing courses: Sequential Elimination, Why Do You Think That?, Experiential Exercises, What Would You Do?, and Forced Choice. These exercises though, could be adapted for use in other business classes.

Business and marketing ethics have come to the forefront in recent years. While consumers have been surveyed regarding their perceptions of ethical business and marketing practices, research has been minimal with regard to their ethical beliefs and ideologies. This research investigates general attitudes of consumers relative to business, government and people in general, and compares these attitudes to their beliefs concerning various questionable consumer practices. The results show that consumers' ethical beliefs are determined, in part, by who is at fault in the unethical behavior (the seller or the buyer). The results also indicate that those with a more positive attitude toward business are less likely to engage in questionable consumer practices, but one's attitudes toward salespeople, the government and people in general are not related to the consumer's ethical beliefs.

A counter movement of anti-consumption runs from the very beginning of mass-consumption societies. Four distinct types of anti-consumers, simplifiers, global impact consumers, market activists, and anti-loyal consumers, have emerged in recent years. The primary focus of anti-consumption research has been on market activists and anti-loyal consumers. This article focuses on the other two groups (i.e., the simplifiers and global impact consumers). The authors address the need for scale development to measure the general anti-consumption attitudes of these two groups. The goal is to improve the ability to identify anti-consumption attitudes and to gain a better understanding of how anti-consumption relates to other key constructs such as self-consciousness, self-actualization, and assertiveness.

In the marketing education literature, a substantial amount of discussion has occurred surrounding the issue of whether or not universities should adopt a customer orientation. There are times when treating students as customers can benefit both the students and the university. However, there are other times when doing so can hurt both groups. To help clarify when a customer orientation is appropriate and when it is not, an “Orientation Evaluation Matrix” (OEM) is presented. Implications for utilizing this matrix are discussed and conclusions are drawn in the areas of course content, curriculum, pedagogy, rigor, and student evaluations.

One thing that higher education has in common with other service providers is that service failures occur. There are times when students are negatively impacted by mistakes made in the classroom. An extensive body of literature has developed in the area of services marketing about what to do when such service failures occur. The current study focuses on service recovery within a classroom setting. The results indicate that the magnitude of the service failure has a significant impact on the student's emotional response. However, beyond the emotional response, what really matters to the students is whether or not the professor implemented a successful service recovery strategy. Implications for professors dealing with mistakes and mishaps in the classroom are discussed.