Rest in peace? Brand-induced mortality salience and consumer behavior ☆ Marieke L. Fransen a, ⁎ , Bob M. Fennis a,1 , Ad Th. H. Pruyn a,2 , Enny Das b,3 a University of Twente, Department of Marketing Communication and Consumer Psychology, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands b Free University, Amsterdam, Department of Communication, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands Received 1 March 2007; received in revised form 1 July 2007; accepted 1 September 2007 Abstract The present research examines the hypothesis that brands can automatically activate mortality-related thoughts and, in turn, affect consumer behavior. Terror Management Theory (TMT; [Greenberg Jeff, Pyszczynski Tom, Solomon Sheldon. The Causes and Consequences of a Need for Self-esteem: ATerror Management Theory. In: Baumeister Roy F, editor. Public Self and Private Self. New York/Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1986. pp. 189–192.]) predicts that brand-induced mortality salience leads to increased spending and worldview defense. The present findings show that explicit exposure to an insurance brand increases the accessibility of death-related thoughts, which, in turn, increases personal spending intentions (Experiment 1). Experiment 2 demonstrates that (implicit) insurance brand exposure positively affects charity donations. Additionally, the results of Experiment 3 reveal that subliminal brand exposure affects worldview defense in such a way that individuals who unconsciously observe an insurance brand rate domestic products more favorably and foreign products less favorably than individuals in the control condition. Brand associations can affect (unconscious) consumer behavior in various unanticipated ways. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Brand Associations; Consumer behavior; Mortality salience; Spending; Worldview defense Imagine buying a new car. You are looking for a fast one that will augment your driving experience and impress your friends. Two brands that automatically come to mind are “Porsche” and “Dodge Viper”, because you associate them with all the qualities you are looking for in a car. After some consideration you decide to purchase the “Porsche”. You start looking in the yellow pages to find an insurance company that offers a car insurance that provides security and safety. Whilst scrutinizing the relevant pages and seeing the brand names and logos of all the different insurance companies, you find yourself thinking about the terrible things that could happen to you and your precious new car: theft, damage, vandalism and even a fatal accident. This scenario shows that brands may activate a plethora of associations, which is congruent with the idea that consumers associate brands with related constructs such as a particular product attribute, usage situation, brand spokesperson, and the brand's logo. Aaker (1991) defines brand associations as “anything linked in memory to a brand”. These associations are assumed to be organized in a network similar to associative memory models (Anderson, 1993). For example, “Porsche” and “Dodge Viper” may trigger associations such as the pleasure of driving, speed and impression management, just as insurance brands can evoke associations involving security and belong- ingness. Such positive associations are often the result of enduring marketing strategies that repeatedly stress these brand characteristics, and they are often the focus of consumer research (e.g., Kohli et al., 2005; Punj and Moon, 2002; Van Osselaer and Janiszewski, 2001). However, as follows from the example above, not all brand associations originate from intentional tactics by marketers. Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Journal of Business Research 61 (2008) 1053 – 1061 ☆ The authors thank Frans van der Sluis, Monique Snellink, Monique van Rijn, and Hilde van Wijk for their assistance in data collection in Study 2. ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +31 53 4892157/4259. E-mail addresses: m.l.fransen@utwente.nl (M.L. Fransen), b.m.fennis@utwente.nl (B.M. Fennis), a.t.h.pruyn@utwente.nl (A.T.H. Pruyn), EHHJ.Das@fsw.vu.nl (E. Das). 1 Tel./fax: +31 53 4894051/4259. 2 Tel./fax: +31 53 4892769/4259. 3 Tel./fax: +31 20 5986858/6820. 0148-2963/$ - see front matter © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.09.020