Antwan Gallion

BADM 325 Reaction Paper Emotional Contagion Effects on Product Attitudes

10/4/16
The marketing implications stated in this article were straightforward for the readers. The
focus of the article is the emotional contagion effects on product attitudes. Research and the
studies given by Daniel Howard and Charles Gengler prove that emotional contagion can
positively bias attitudes. From a marketing standpoint, companies can use this to their advantage
and have done so. For example, the jewelry business has reached a new level from this
observation. From what I can recall, marriage and commitment is not based on ring size, quality,
or price. However, jewelers have made it the norm to but jewelry for someone you like, love, or
have strong feelings for. No one wants a ring or jewelry from someone that they do not like or
that they despise but they receive the most joy when they receive these things from someone that
they like. These same things goes for chocolate and flowers on Valentines Day, gifts on
Christmas, etc. They mean more when received from someone the receiver likes.
The consumer implications in the article demonstrate consumers emotional contagion
when the person is liked or able to be seen. Research shows that when consumers were
able to see the smiling of senders that they liked, receivers mimicked that smiling and
experienced the corresponding happy emotion. As a consumer, you should be aware that your
opinion of a product is based on the attitude of the sender. In my opinion, this is normal
especially when hearing people say how they no longer liked or wanted a product after receiving
bad customer service. The senders bad vibe influenced the receivers perception of the product.
Relevant future research ideas that should be considered is the influence on consumers
when they never see or know the sender but can communicate via email or phone. For instance,
when someone does online purchases, receives anonymous donations, etc. Will these consumers
still feel mimic the happiness of voice tone and experience the happy emotion?
Questions
Does emotional contagion happen when competition is involved?
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In relation to receiving a gift or receiving something from a smiling sender leading to

mimicked smiling and happy emotion, consumers may not feel the same in a competitive

setting. For example, if someone was to lose a bet and have to award someone else with
something, the research most likely will not be true because the sender will not be
smiling if they lost a bet but the receiver will still smile and not experience the same
emotion because they arent unhappy.
What are the results in male to male interaction?
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After reviewing all research presented, the research was only conducted with women
being the subjects. This automatically leads to artificial results and small validity. The
results may be different in when men are interacting with men because smiling and
showing affection is not the norm for men and they tend not to show emotions facially
when interacting with other men.

What are the results when experimented with all age groups?
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In the case of emotional contagion, the research was done with 134 adult females who
age median is 35 years old. In my opinion, once a consumer reaches a certain age, they
tend to focus on the geniality of gifts and more important, gifts from those they like are
perceived differently than others. Testing this experiments on teens or younger adults
may be different because their perception on gifts are different. Their mindset tends to be
that they deserve a gift especially for birthdays, Christmas, etc. based on the value that
society has put on gift receiving.