The Effects of Country-Related Affect on Product Evaluations

Affect toward countries can be generated by people’s personal experiences with the country or by targeted advertising campaigns designed to create positive affect toward the country. In four experiments, this research examines the effect of country-related affect (CRA) on the evaluations of products originating from the country. Country-related affect (CRA) systematically influences product evaluations depending on the valence as well as the warmth or competence associations of CRA. Positive CRA enhances evaluations of products with favorable country-related product (CRP) associations, but it boomerangs and decreases evaluations of products with unfavorable CRP associations. Positive CRA engenders high (vs. low) construal processing that directs consumer attention to CRP associations under low (vs. high) arousal conditions (experiments 1 and 2). Experiments 3 and 4 establish that CRA is a unique type of incidental affect that influences product evaluations based on its warmth or competence associations. The implications for country of origin research are discussed.