Brand implications of advertising products with their reflections

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of advertising products with their reflections on some important brand outcomes such as brand purchase likelihood, brand trust and consumer willingness to pay for the advertised product. Design/methodology/approach This research uses four experiments to assess the effects of advertising products with (vs without) reflections on the focal brand outcomes. Findings Results evidence a robust negative effect of advertising products with their reflections on the investigated brand outcomes across multiple product categories. Following Signaling Theory, product reflections are found to act as negative signaling devices in brand advertising contexts given that these inverted, false object reproductions are processed with a sense of confusion, ambiguity and uncertainty. Further in line with Signaling Theory, increased product quality uncertainty is determined as the underlying process and brand confidence signaling is tested as a relevant moderator to the proposed effects. Originality/value This inquiry is the first to systemically investigate brand implications of advertising products with their reflections. Counter to marketers’ aesthetic intuitions, the current research finds that this common advertising practice can actually hurt critical brand outcomes such as brand trust.