Customer experience has become an important concept in explaining consumer behaviour with hedonic products in the online game industry. However, few studies have examined the differences in game experience internationally between players from different nationalities. Game producers who market their wares to a global audience need to take into account that individuals from different national backgrounds have different experiences according to nationally specific cultural and societal norms and restrictions. These experiences determine how players perceive, interact and enjoy products. The current study attempts to examine differences in game experiences between India and the US. Around 600 respondents were collected from Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mturk), an online data panel. Analysis of results using a series of multivariate analysis of covariate, showed that players from India and the US are different in most aspects of game experience except for their analytical experience. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed and recommendations are made with consideration to the ramifications of the investigation.

Consumers nowadays are looking for luxury brands that are able to fulfil their values. Luxury fashion marketers have spent enormously on advertising and adopted sex appeal extensively as their major selling technique. Little empirical evidence, however, has been presented with regards to the effectiveness of using sex appeal in luxury fashion advertising. Consumer responses to sex appeal in luxury brand advertisements are also poorly understood and under-investigated. The massive use of sex appeal in luxury brand advertising suggests the strong need for empirical research to determine the relationship between sex appeal and perceived luxury values. Based on the luxury value framework and adopting a quasi-experimental design, this study examines the influence of sex appeal in advertising on the relationships between attitude towards the advertisement and luxury value perceptions. Results show that the increase of sex appeal level increases the favourability of the advertisement which results in significant changes in luxury value perceptions. The influence of gender is found to be prominent in this study, which highlights the importance of gender consideration when adopting sex appeal strategy for any luxury brand advertising. Implications for luxury brand marketers and advertisers are discussed.

This study examines the influence of culture on consumers’ behavioral responses after an exposure to negative information, including their intention to search information and to spread the negative word-of-mouth. The study finds that the degree of collectivism and uncertainty avoidance had a significant and positive relationship towards the intention to search and intention to spread negative word-of-moth. Results show a significant and negative relationship between power distance and information search under the high severity scenario but a positive relationship between power distance and negative word-of-mouth under the low severity scenario.

Advertising is important for tourism and past research has demonstrated its cognitive, affective and behavioural effects on consumers (e.g., Vakratsas & Ambler, 1999). These effects are largely dependent on how well viewers process advertisements that contains different elements, such as image, description and slogan. Images are particularly important to tourism advertisements and most tourism advertisements include images of the advertised destination. This paper proposes a conceptual model which explores the influences of image vividness and image congruity on the effectiveness of ecotourism advertisements. The Meaning Transfer Model (e.g., McCracken, 1989) suggests an object’s meaning can be transferred through images. This model has been widely adopted in advertising because most advertisements contain images. Images are believed to help transfer the intended advertising meaning and intention of the advertiser (Shimp & Andrews 2013). Most previous advertising research has focused on meaning transfer through the use of celebrity endorsers (e.g., Campbell & Warren, 2012; Hanrahan & Liu, 2013) whilst limited studies have examined key factors that influence the success of a meaning transfer from an advertising image to the advertised brand . Image vividness is believed to be one of the important factors that can influence the success of a meaning transfer (Nisbett & Ross, 1980). However, findings from previous research on image vividness are far from consistent. Some findings suggest that image vividness facilitate imagery processing and subsequently increase advertisement and brand favourability (Fennis et al., 2012) whilst other findings suggest that image vividness has no direct impact on attitude formation or persuasion (Taylor & Thompson, 1982). Recent research suggests that, advertising elements, in particular image vividness, may play an important role in forming the attitude towards the advertisement as well as the travel intention towards the advertised destination (Pelsmacker et al., 2002; Rasty et al., 2013). Besides image vividness, image congruity may be another important factor in determining the success of a meaning transfer through advertising images (Shimp & Andrews, 2013). Congruity has been widely studied in the field of consumer behaviour (Sirgy, 1990; Wang et al., 2009). McLaughlin (2009) categorised advertising congruity into four types (advertisement and context congruity, advertisement and product congruity, advertisement and advertiser congruity, and advertisement and other commercial component(s) congruity). Image congruity with the advertised product category has been identified as one of the most important advertising congruities (Chandon et al., 2000). Congruent advertisements are better than incongruent advertisements in generating positive attitudes or feelings towards an advertisement. For example, Kamins et al. (1991) found a viewer’s perceived congruity between the emotions reflected in a tourism advertisement and the media invoke more positive attitude towards the advertisement. Further, Rifon et al. (2004) found congruity between the description of an advertisement (ad description) and an advertising website used to display the advertisement resulted in more positive attitude towards the brand. Congruent advertisements can also generate a better purchasing intention. Kamins et al. (1991) found congruent advertisements were better at invoking an intention to use an advertised service. Conversely, incongruent advertisements lead to frustration or other negative feelings or a less favourable attitude towards an advertisement (Mandler, 1981). Australian ecotourism advertisements are selected as the context of the current study. Ecotourism is a nature-based tourism that focuses on preserving the environment, benefiting local economies and educating travellers (Weaver, 2008). Although ecotourism is rapidly developing in the last decade, the effectiveness of ecotourism advertising has been rarely researched, perhaps because ecotourism is still a relatively new area of tourism (Hughes et al., 2005). Reiser & Simmons’s (2005) study is among a handful of studies which have investigated the effectiveness of ecotourism advertisements. Their study found that ecotourism labels helped develop a positive attitude towards an advertisement and the advertised destination. Additionally, Chang et al. (2005) found that the use of a celebrity aboriginal endorser was more effective in achieving a favourable attitude towards an advertisement than was the use of a non-celebrity aboriginal endorser. Ecotourism advertisements often use three major types of images (scenery, animal and people) (Morgan & Pritchard, 2001). However, no empirical studies have examined the meaning transfer between image and advertising responses within the ecotourism context. People’s Republic of China is a critical market for Australian tourism and it is Australia’s second largest tourist source country (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014). Chinese tourists ranked first in terms of total trip expenditures (a total of $5.7 billion in 2014) (Tourism Research Australia, 2015). By 2020, China is expected to become Australia’s largest source country (Tourism Australia, 2011).The ecotourism market in China has risen in the past decade since its introduction in the 1990s (Cheng et al., 2013; Zhong et al., 2007). There were 1.9 billion domestic trips in China in 2009, of which 333 million were ecotourism trips. Around 80% of China’s nature reserves now have some form of ecotourism feature (Chappell, 2012). Chinese ecotourists are increasingly interested in taking overseas ecotourism trips. However, no previous study has empirically examined Chinese ecotourists’ attitude towards foreign ecotourism advertisements, which provides the opportunity for the current study. Based on the above discussion, the paper proposes positive relationships among image vividness, image congruity, attitude towards the advertisement and travel intention towards the ecotourism destination. Empirical research will be carried out in the future to test the proposed relationships. The theoretical framework can also be extended by including other advertising effectiveness measures such as comprehension or emotion (MacKay & Fesenmaier, 1997) so as to develop a better understanding of Chinese ecotourists’ responses to ecotourism advertisements.

Introduction An individual’s Persuasion Knowledge is his or her knowledge of the persuasive nature of messages (Freisted and Wright 1994). Most adults are assumed to have this knowledge that enables them to be sceptical of persuasive messages, and to incorporate this information in their decision-making about promoted products. Children are viewed as vulnerable to persuasive messages (Nelson 2016) because they have not developed the appropriate knowledge base to be sceptical of messages (Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007) and thus unable to discount the claims made by marketers. This lack of ability to be sceptical is argued to lead to “…the vulnerability of young audiences to the negative effects of advertising” (Nelson 2016, p. 169) like obesity, materialism, poor quality of life and higher rates of mortality. Because of the wide acceptance that young children are particularly vulnerable to persuasive messages, advertising targeting children has been banned in several countries and proposed for others (Mizerski et al. 2016; Wang 2016). Many studies about Persuasion Knowledge or Advertising Knowledge (communication research) have been published over the 40 plus years since Ward (1972) first discussed the concept. However, few studies have tested whether Persuasion Knowledge is an antecedent to children’s sceptical responses to persuasive messages. The 11 studies that have tested the link (see Mizerski et al. (2016) for a review) used a wide variety of single item or reflective measures (measures that reflect the construct). They provide inconsistent findings except that the child’s age is positively associated with acquiring knowledge about persuasive messages like advertising or playing advergames. For example, while most researchers assumed or argued a positive link between young children’s persuasion knowledge and their scepticism, Buijzen (2007) and Christenson (1982) failed to find this link. Robertson and Rossiter (1974) reported children’s understanding of persuasive intent (commercials persuade one to buy things) was positively related with young children’s scepticism, but assistive intent (commercials tell one about things) was negatively related. The inconsistent findings of children’s responses to commercial messages may be due to more than the lack of consistent measures. The use of reflective rather than formative measure of young children’s persuasion knowledge may be another reason for inconsistent findings. “Young” children are those under eight years old (Mizerski 1) shashaatperth@gmail.com et al. 2016), but a lack of sufficient persuasion knowledge has been found with children over 16 years old (Carter et al. 2011). Most recent studies have adopted the Freisted and Wright (1994) Persuasion Knowledge Model that is based on the information processing of an adult buyer. Adults tend to have obtained Persuasion Knowledge so their knowledge may be captured with measures that reflect the construct. Young children are in the process of obtaining Persuasion Knowledge. The ability to understand the source of the message and the persuasive intent of the source are often cited as antecedents to having Persuasion Knowledge. These constructs form over time and cause persuasion knowledge (Nelson 2016). Therefore, it should be a formative measure. Measuring social class is a classical formative measure because causal elements like where you live and your profession can’t be accurately calculated for children. Social class forms over time. The use of a reflective measure when a formative measure should be used leads to several problems (Diamantopoulos and Siguaw 2006; Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer 2001), particularly an increase in Type II errors-“false negatives” (MacKenzie, Podsakoff and Jarvis 2005). For example, this means ruling out a causal element of persuasion knowledge when it is causal. This paper will compare existing single item or multi-item reflective measures used with young children, with a formative measure of the Persuasive Knowledge construct. The best way to validate a construct is to test it with external variables empirically and theoretically linked to the construct, including both antecedents and consequences (Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer 2001). Three variables, theoretically and/or empirically linked with young children’s Persuasion Knowledge, are tested in a baseline model to assess the external validity of the construct. These variables are age (Ward 1972), responses toward persuasive marketing messages (such as scepticism) and affect toward the persuasive messages (Mizerski et al. 2016; Wang 2016). Therefore, it is expected that the goodness-of-fit measures for the model using the formative measure of young children’s Persuasion Knowledge will provide a better fit to the data than the reflective measures. To further test the formative nature of young children’s Persuasion Knowledge, two additional models are tested. Researchers are responsible to set the weights of indicators of a formative construct, so a formative model with expert knowledge weights is developed (Figure 1). The indicators or elements of a formative construct should be able to reveal different facets so another model with different facets is developed. Consistent findings of the two models and the proposed baseline model will further support the formative nature of this construct. Apart from content validity and external validity, we also test the measures of the construct with another data set (Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007) to test the models’ generalisability. The Mallinckrodt and Mizerski study used children from a different cultural background (Australian vs. Chinese young children), but have similar ages and measures of Persuasion Knowledge and external variables. Further confirmation of the structure of the measurement model is provided if the same relationships are found with the second data set. Methodology Sample The population to be sampled are young Chinese children. China was selected because it has the largest population of young children, is the largest market for toys and a children’s toy is the stimulus product in the experimental study. The sample frame is day care schools in a Northern Chinese city of approximately eight million people. Procedure This is an experiment-based study with a control group. After individual exposure to a toy TV advertisement for a “magic ruler” that can be made into many different shapes with a Dinosaur shape shown in the ad, participants were each asked to answer questions. Cartoon pictures of the question options accompanied by verbal statements were used to reduce the possibility of misunderstanding young children’s responses on Persuasion Knowledge related questions. To reduce any effects of young children choosing the first option they see, pictures or options were shown in a random order. Children were told that there is no right or wrong answer, and they could withdraw at any point. Measures Persuasion knowledge was measured three ways; including a single-item measure, a summated-items measure, and a formative measure. Through an analysis and coding of 20 studies that tested the effect of young children’s persuasion knowledge (Mizerski et al. 2016), six items were found to measure the Persuasion Knowledge construct. The single-item measure used is the children’s understanding of the advertisers’ intention to make them ask their parents to buy (parent-buying intent). This was treated as the most important aspect of persuasion knowledge by several researchers (Carter et al. 2011; Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007). A summated-items measure included six items, frequently used in prior scholarly work. The formative measurement model was built using the same six items but by changing the direction of influence, with the causal flow from measures to the construct. Other variables include the children’s scepticism, their belief of false claims made in the ad and affect toward the toy TV advertisement (see Figure). After a CFA analysis with five questions, the scepticism factor score was derived as a standardised measure that followed a normal distribution. Scepticism ranged from -0.59 to 1.35, with an average of 0.07 and SD of 0.68. Belief of false claims (named as “false beliefs”) shown in the TV advertisement indicated that most children did not believe the two false claims included in the ad (84% and 69% respectively). Affect towards the toy TV ad was measured using one question: “Do you like this video?” to which most children (88%) indicated yes. Results, Discussion And Implication Fifty-four different patterns or combinations of the six persuasion knowledge items were found. This pattern show substantial heterogeneity in children’s Persuasion Knowledge, and further illustrates that young children are accumulating or forming their Persuasion Knowledge (Friestad and Wright 1994). In addition, these items have low correlations to one another that are typical of a formative measure. These findings of variability of knowledge levels and weak association between them indicate the potential multiple-dimension, formative nature of the construct of persuasion knowledge for young children. This may apply specifically to young children who are at the stage of increasing their learning abilities and developing or forming their knowledge. No relationship was found in the structural models using the reflective single-item measure and summated-items measure of persuasion knowledge, and the models showed a poor fit. However, relationships were found in the structural model that applied the formative measure of persuasion knowledge, with good model fit (see Table 1). Because a formative measure is supported, we tested the formative nature of Persuasion Knowledge on a previous study’s data (Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007). A formative model using that study’s data showed the same relationships between Persuasion Knowledge and its external variables. This consistency supports a formative measure of young children’s persuasion knowledge. Any review of future or past research should note the possible impact of using reflective measures of young children’s Persuasive Knowledge. To generalise the findings more research needs to be done for different product categories and age groups. More product categories, such as food and movies, and age groups could be taken into consideration. While few studies have tested the association of young children’s Persuasion Knowledge to scepticism toward the message, even fewer have tested the link of scepticism to young children’s responses to the advertised product (e.g. like, prefer, choose). Most of these studies do not find a link. If having Persuasion Knowledge doesn’t influence a young child’s desire for the brand, why teach it (e.g. Nelson 2016) or ban advertising because the children don’t have Persuasion Knowledge? Perhaps using a formative measure the link will be found.

Sex appeal advertising has been widely adopted in luxury fashion marketing and yet little attention has been paid to the impact of sex appeal on perceived luxury values. Using a 2(low/high degree of sex appeal) x 2(male/female ad endorser) x 2(male/female ad viewer) factorial design, this study finds that the use of a high degree of sex appeal in an advertisement significantly improves young consumers’ perceptions of the appearance, quality, uniqueness, and conspicuousness value of a luxury fashion brand. The impact of sex appeal on the self-identity, hedonic, materialistic or prestige value perceptions appear to be insignificant. Gender interacts with the degree of sex appeal on the appearance and quality value only. Implications for luxury brand marketers and advertisers are discussed.

Despite the recent economic downturn, the worldwide sales of luxury fashion brands have increased. The luxury fashion market may have become more profitable and yet, at the same time, more competitive. The relationship between consumers and a luxury fashion brand is the type of relation that starts with an affinity towards a particular brand name and is manifested through the purchase of the goods (Okonkwo 2007).Luxury consumption generally involves purchasing luxury products and brands which can symbolise luxury values to an individual. Even though luxury consumption has always been associated with prestige-seeking behaviour, it goes beyond that. Consumers nowadays are looking for luxury brands and goods that are able to fulfil their own functional and emotional values or, specifically, perceived luxury values. Advertising is essential in selling luxury brands and most luxury brands are willing to invest in advertising. One of the main objectives of luxury brand advertising is to help consumers develop a good understanding of the perceived values that luxury brands can offer as compared to non-luxury brands. Only after perceived luxury values are well understood, will consumers be persuaded to purchase the brands. Luxury fashion brands are one of the most profitable and fastest-growing luxury sectors, yet at the same time most researchers tend to agree that the value perceptions associated with luxury fashion brands are poorly understood and under-investigated. Values in general can be regarded as beliefs that guide the selection or evaluation of desirable behaviours or end states (Schultz & Zelezny 1999). Luxury values explain why consumers desire and purchase one luxury brand rather than another. This is because luxury values associated with a specific luxury fashion brand influences consumers’ preference over another brand. There is a wealth of models for perceived luxury values and many researchers have attempted to measure perceived luxury values. Previous research has revealed that luxury values may consist of multiple dimensions. For example, luxury values may involve exclusivity, perceived quality, brand awareness and brand identity (Phau & Prendergast 2000). Vigneron & Johnson (2004) proposed five perceived luxury values which comprise conspicuous value, uniqueness value, quality value, hedonic value, and extended self-value. Subsequent to the study done by Vigneron & Johnson (2004), Wiedmann, Hennigs & Siebels (2007) extended and summarised nine perceived luxury values in relation to luxury fashion brand consumption which are: price value, usability value, quality value, uniqueness value, self-identity value, hedonic value, materialistic value, conspicuousness value and prestige value.Gender, in particular, has not been carefully examined in the luxury context. Since many luxury fashion brands are purchased as gifts for the opposite gender, good understandings of the gender differences in perceptions towards key luxury values becomes essential in this luxury market. Extended from Wiedmann et al.’s study (2007) and using a two (male and female endorser) by two (male and female consumer) factorial and quasi-experimental design, this study examines the impact of gender on consumer responses to seven key luxury values, including the appearance, quality, uniqueness, materialistic, hedonic, conspicuous, and prestige value. The sample included more than three hundred young consumers in Australia. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to test the validity and reliability of each value construct. T-tests were conducted to examine the difference between the male and female consumers with regards to each of the luxury value. The study found that, when exposed to the male-endorser advertisement, male and female consumers have significant different perceptions towards only three key luxury values including appearance, hedonic and prestige value. However, when exposed to the female-endorser advertisement, male and female consumers have different perceptions on all of the key values examined except the materialistic and quality value. The results reveal that gender is a key consideration in luxury brand marketing, particularly in the context of new luxury brand advertising. On one hand, the same advertisement may lead to different consumer perceptions on the luxury values of the advertised brand. On the other hand, some key perceived values (such as quality or materialistic) may not be influenced by gender (neither the gender of the endorser or the consumer). The findings of this study are important as they enable luxury marketers to understand the impact of gender in luxury brand marketing. The implications go beyond luxury fashion brands to other sectors of the luxury market.