Processing Difficulty Increases Perceived Competence of Brand Acronyms

Abstract

Unlike previous work that shows that processing fluency leads to positive evaluations, the present research demonstrates that processing difficulty can lead to positive inferences of a brand. In three experiments, we show that when a brand acronym is difficult to pronounce, it is evaluated favourably with respect to competence relative to warmth. In contrast, easy-to-pronounce acronyms are perceived as similarly warm and competent. We find that individuals perceive a difficult-to-pronounce acronym to be more psychologically distant than an easy-to-pronounce one. Furthermore, they perceive competence as a more fitting characteristic of a distant brand than warmth is. We find that this relative fit of competence over warmth results in higher competence evaluations. Theoretical and applied contributions of the findings are discussed. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.