With or without you: Is it worthwhile for a brand to eliminate overpackaging? New insights from context effects
Résumé
Previous experiments underlined the impact overpack-aging elimination on brand image and purchase intention. However, these experiments did not consider the potential effects of competitors’ strategies in terms of overpackaging when evaluating the impact of a target brand decision to eliminate overpackaging. Based on context effects and attribution theory, the present paper shows that the influence of verpackaging elimination on consumers’ response may depend on the absence vs. presence of overpackaging on the competing product. An experiment conducted among 218 consumers reveals that eliminating verpackaging can lead to a decrease in consumers’ intention to buy the product but this negative impact is no longer true: (1) when competitors are also getting rid of overpackaging; (2) among consumers that are highly concerned about the environment.