The Effect of Scented Advertising on Perceived Psychological Distance and Product Judgement: An Abstract

Abstract

Literature suggests that using olfactory cues in marketing communication activities could have potentially powerful effects (Morrin et al. 2011; Krishna et al. 2014). In this paper, we argue that scented advertising influences product-related judgements, especially when it comes to advertising products that hold expectations for scent (e.g. soap). More specifically, we propose that scent cues in advertising are automatically linked to the scent of the product, thus shifting attention to its concrete attribute. Evidence on psychological distance (Trope and Liberman 2010) suggests that certain aspects of the object we pay attention to change the way we feel about it. An attribute-focused mindset signals psychological proximity, manifesting in any of the following dimensions: one’s perception about hypotheticality of the object, its spatial, temporal or social proximity (Trope and Liberman 2010). Taken together, we predict that scent cues in marketing communications make the promoted product being perceived as closer and more realistic. Psychologically close objects feel familiar (Förster et al. 2009) and certain (Bar-Anan et al. 2007). Thus, we also propose that scent-induced psychological proximity increases perceived attractiveness of the product and purchase intentions (c.f. familiarity-liking effect, Rindfleisch and Inman 1998).