A study of visual puffery in fragrance advertising: Is the message sent stronger than the actual scent?

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate visual exaggerations of fragrance advertisements by comparing subjects' expectations resulting from print ads to their subsequent product evaluations. It then considers whether the actual scents fall short, meet or exceed these expectations.

Design/methodology/approach

By means of a semiotic analysis the authors capture the corresponding literary attributes of the ads to develop adjective pairs describing the meaning of the ads. Interviews are conducted to assess the meaning that consumers draw from the fragrance ads and the authors supplement these findings by performing a blind olfactory product evaluation of the fragrances. Paired sample t‐tests are used to compare subjects' ad expectations to their subsequent product evaluation of the actual scent.

Findings

These results show that the visual cues and imagery in the fragrance ads appear, under certain conditions, to result in product expectations that exceed actual product evaluations, suggesting the existence of visual puffery. The authors also found that the more abstract descriptors of the ad resulted in significantly higher expectations, while the more concrete descriptors resulted in significantly lower expectations than the actual product evaluation.

Research limitations/implications

A small sample size of homogenous consumers limits the generalizability of the results. No measures of attitude effectiveness were taken.

Practical implications

Visual puffery may be effective and help marketers, even in countries where verbal puffery is illegal, to use another means to reach consumers.

Originality/value

This paper investigates an under‐researched area in advertising. A multi‐method approach and primary data are used to assess subjects' ad expectations of a fragrance and the actual product evaluation and demonstrate the existence of visual puffery.

Citation

Toncar, M. and Fetscherin, M. (2012), "A study of visual puffery in fragrance advertising: Is the message sent stronger than the actual scent?", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 46 No. 1/2, pp. 52-72. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090561211189239