Abstract

Across four studies, I show that slogans that focus on the self-concept seem to produce predominantly negative effects on consumer motivated behavior, and this is especially true for prevention (versus promotion) slogans. In my studies, prevention slogans focused on the feared self, promotion slogans focused on the ideal self, and control slogans did not refer to the self-concept. I found reliable negative effects of prevention slogans within the financial (study 1A) and beauty goal domains (study 1B). I also provide evidence that the demotivating effects of prevention-focused slogans are at least partially attributed to consumer defensiveness. Past research suggests that people are more likely to experience anxiety after exposure to a feared, rather than ideal self. In the present research, I extend this finding by showing that prevention-focused slogans (i.e. focus on feared self) encouraged defensive coping, instead of directly addressing the source of the threat. Specifically, exposure to prevention slogans generated a higher likelihood to engage in fluid compensation, a tendency to redirect attention to an unrelated goal and engage in behaviors aligned with this alternate goal (study 3). Conversely, the motivational effects of promotion-focused slogans (i.e. focus on ideal self) demonstrated a more positive, but more subtle pattern of direct coping. Promotion slogans only motivated goal-congruent behaviors among people with high self-consciousness (study 2).