Naming product colors with an individual’s identity and product evaluation: self-referencing as a mediator

Purpose Marketers often select unique color names for products to heighten shopper interest. The purpose of this study is to use self-referencing as the foundation for assessing how a product color name that involves the self impacts product evaluation. This paper also investigates the salient element that might moderate consumers’ responses, in particular for product categories where color serves mainly as decoration and is of secondary importance. Design/methodology/approach Two between-subjects experiments examined how self-referencing mediates the influence of generic versus identity color names on product evaluation (Study 1) and also tested whether the effect of naming product colors in identity terms is limited to the scenario where cognitive load is low rather than high (Study 2). Findings The results of this study show that identity color names are more persuasive than generic color names. Self-referencing mediates the results, and the favorable effect of identity color names is diminished in the case of high cognitive load. Such evidence suggests that consumers might face impediments for self-referenced processing when factors exhaust their cognitive resources. The decreased elaboration results in less favorable evaluation. Originality/value This research enriches knowledge of how an element as modest as a creative product color name influences consumer evaluation, with suggestions for approaches to color naming.