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Study Says Retailers' Brand Names Influence Shopper's Choices

New research suggests that merely passing a discount store on the way to the sporting goods store might affect an eventual purchase. In effect, even 60 milliseconds of exposure to a brand name such as Wal-Mart or Tiffany can alter consumers' subconscious goals, according to the study published in the Journal of Consumer Research.

"Results suggest that simple exposure to brand names has the potential to activate goals which then influence choices," write Tanya L. Chartrand, Joel Huber (both Duke University), Baba Shiv (Stanford University), and Robin J. Tanner (University of Wisconsin).

"This data thus opens the door to an intriguing new way to think about the role and power of brands."

The researchers had participants complete scrambled sentence tasks designed to subconsciously activate either " thrift" or "prestige" goals. In subsequent studies, participants completed those tasks and were then asked to make choices among various product brands. Finally, participants viewed numbers on a computer screen while U.S. retail brand names flashed on the edge of their field of vision. Those brand names were associated with prestige (e.g., Tiffany) or thrift (e.g., Wal-Mart). Those 60-millisecond flashes influenced the participants' choice.

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