The paper formalizes the intuition that brands are consumed for image reasons and that advertising creates a brand … consumption by rendering brands a signalling device. In a price competition framework, we show that advertising increases …'s image. The key idea is that advertising informs the public of brand names and creates the possibility of conspicuous …

to the performance of brands. On average, foreign ownership tends to raise costs and lower appeal. Using the estimated …

. Design/methodology/approach – A 2 (brand) x 2 (treatment group) experimental “taste‐test” design was created using two brands … brand managers must increase the quality of their product if they expect to capture market share from the national brands …. Further research is recommended using other brands and product categories. Originality/value – Store brands may be able to …