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Using a classification of benefits and costs of promotional offers along three routes – economic, informational and affective – this paper aims at evaluating, from the consumer's point of view, the relative perceptual disadvantages of separate‐item bundles compared to pre‐wrapped bundles.

The marketing literature and a qualitative study based on 18 consumers permits the identification of the relative perceived costs and benefits associated with separate‐item bundles and for hypotheses to be derived. An experiment on a sample of 120 adult consumers was then set up to test these hypotheses.

The findings suggest that consumers associate separate‐item bundles with higher economic benefit but also with higher inspection costs. From a more global perspective, there is no loss of interest in separate‐item bundles compared to pre‐wrapped bundles.

Focusing the research on separate‐item bundles clarifies the way consumers evaluate promotions. Its qualitative phase gives support to the relevance of an “informational route”, beyond the traditional utilitarian and hedonic routes. Its quantitative phase confirms the importance of cognitive biases in consumers' perceptions of promotions.

The numerous advantages of separate‐item bundles for manufacturers and retailers and their attraction to consumers should lead to an increasingly intensive use in promotional campaigns. Besides, the quality of in‐store communication is the most important factor of the success of separate‐item bundles, which provides the opportunity to propose meaningful recommendations for practitioners.

If the strengths and weaknesses of separate‐item bundles have already been studied from a managerial point of view, to the authors' knowledge, no research has focused on separate‐item bundle efficiency from the consumer's point of view.

The purpose of this paper is to fill a gap in the literature of taboo imagery in advertising by drawing on cognate disciplines to build a conceptual framework and identify the characteristics of taboo‐challenging advertisements and the audiences who react to them.

Data collected by 22 in‐depth individual qualitative interviews in Morocco and France were subjected to two‐stage formal content analysis.

This study reveals the importance of normative social influence, the properties of the taboo, contagion from the content of the ad to the brand and to customers, and ambivalent emotional reactions. The valence and the intensity of the responses to such advertising depend on personal, interpersonal and situational factors.

The conclusions are based on findings from a relatively small number of respondents reacting to one type of taboo only, but they offer a useful theoretical framework and an empirical basis for future research on the communication effects and effectiveness of taboo in advertising.

The study offers advertisers a better understanding of the factors and processes likely to influence consumers' reactions to the strategy of invoking taboo themes in advertising campaigns, with positive implications in terms of audience segmentation and media selection.

Despite the prevalence of “taboo advertising”, little research‐based analysis has so far been available to academics or practitioners.