As consumers, each of us has a vast number of attitudes toward products, services, advertisements, direct mail, the Internet, and retail stores. Whenever we are asked whether we like or dislike a product .(e.g., Windows 2000), a service (such as Poland Springs Water—Home and Office Delivery Service), a particular retailer (e.g., the Sharper Image), a specific direct marketer (CDW*—Computer Discount Warehouse), or an advertising theme (Colgate Total toothpaste “The Brushing That Works Between Brushings™”), we are being asked to express our attitudes.
Within the context of consumer behavior, an appreciation of prevailing attitudes has considerable strategic merit. For instance, there has been very rapid growth in the sales of natural ingredient bath, body, arid cosmetic products throughout the world. This trend seems linked to the currently popular attitude that things “-natural-” are good and things “synthetic” are bad. Yet, in reality, the positive attitude favoring things natural is not based on any systematic evidence that natural cosmetic products are any safer or better for consumers
To get at the heart of what is driving consumers’ behavior, attitude research has been used to study a wide range of strategic marketing questions. For example, atti¬tude research is frequently undertaken to determine whether consumers will accept a proposed new-product idea, to gauge why a firm’s target audience has not reacted more favorably to its new promotional theme, or to learn how target customers are likely to react to a proposed change in the firm’s packaging design. To illustrate, Fruit of the Loom frequently conducts research among male and female target consumers to determine their attitudes about size, fit, comfort, and fashion elements of its active wear clothing (T-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, and sweat shorts), as well as testing reactions to potential active wear designs. The goal of this research is often to iden¬tify current attitudes as a basis to better satisfying customer needs. In a similar fash¬ion, Fruit of the Leom’s consumer advertising seeks to modify attitudes in ways that stimulate sales of its products.
In this chapter we will discuss the reasons why attitude research has had such a pervasive impact on consumer behavior. We also will discuss the properties that have made attitudes so attractive to consumer researchers, as well as some of the com¬mon frustrations encountered in attitude research. Particular attention will be paid to the central topics of attitude formation, attitude change, and related strategic mar¬keting issues.
WHAT ARE ATTITUDES?
Consumer researchers assess attitudes by asking questions or making inferences-from behavior. For example, if a researcher determines from questioning a consumer’ that she consistently buys Cover Girl Lipcolor products and even recommends them to friends, the researcher is likely to infer that the consumer possesses a positive atti¬tude toward Cover Girl Lipcolor products. This example illustrates that attitudes are ‘, not directly observable, but must be inferred from what people say or what they do Moreover, the illustration suggests that a whole universe of consumer behaviors consistency of purchases, recommendations to others, top rankings, beliefs, evaluations, and intentions are related to attitudes. What, then, are attitudes? In a consumer behavior context, an attitude is a learned predisposition to behave in consistently favorable or unfavorable way with respect to a given object. Each part of this definition describes an important property of an attitude and is critical to understanding the role of attitudes in consumer behavior.

THE ATTITUDE “OBJECT”
The word object in our consumer-oriented definition of attitude should be interpreted broadly to include specific consumption- or marketing-related concepts, such as product, product category brand, service, possessions, product use, causes or issues people, advertisement, Internet site, price, medium, or retailer. . .
In conducting attitude research, we tend to be object-specific. For example, if we were interested in learning consumers’ attitudes toward three major brands of cellular telephones, our “object” might include Motorola, Ericsson, and Nokia; if we were examining consumer attitudes toward major brands of laptop computers, our “object might include IBM, Toshiba, Compaq, Sony, Dell, and Hitachi.
ATTITUDES ARE A LEARNED PREDISPOSITION
There is general agreement that attitudes are learned. This means that attitudes rel¬evant to purchase behavior are formed as a result of direct experience with the prod¬uct, word-of-mouth information acquired from others, or exposure to mass-media advertising, the Internet, and various forms of direct marketing (such as a retailer’s catalog). It is important to remember that whereas attitudes may result from behav¬ior, they are not synonymous with behavior. Instead, they reflect either a favorable or an unfavorable evaluation of the attitude object. As learned predispositions, atti¬tudes have a motivational quality; that is, they might propel a consumer toward a particular behavior or repel the consumer away from a particular behavior.
ATTITUDES HAVE CONSISTENCY
Another characteristic of attitudes is that they are relatively consistent with the behavior they reflect. However, despite their consistency, attitudes are not necessary permanent; they do change. (Attitude change is explored later in this chapter.)
It is important to illustrate what we mean by consistency. Normally, we expect’ consumers’ behavior to correspond with their attitudes. For example, if a Dutch consumer reported preferring German over Japanese automobiles, we would expect that the individual would be more likely to buy a German car when next in the mar¬ket for a new car. In other words, when consumers are free to act as they wish, we anticipate that their actions will be consistent with their attitudes. However, circum¬stances often preclude consistency between attitudes and behavior For example, in the case of bur Dutch consumer, the matter of affordability may intervene, and the consumer would find a particular Japanese car to be a more realistic choice than a German car. Therefore, we must consider possible situational influences on con¬sumer attitudes and behavior.
ATTITUDES OCCUR WITHIN A SITUATION
It is not immediately evident from our definition that attitudes occur within and are affected by the situation. By situation, we mean events or circumstances that, at a par¬ticular point in time, influence the relationship between an attitude and behavior. A specific situation can cause consumers to behave in ways that are seemingly incon¬sistent with their attitudes. For instance, let us assume that Noah purchases a different brand .of shaving cream each time the brand he is using runs -low. Although his brand-switching behavior may seem to reflect a negative attitude or dissatisfaction with the brands he tries, it actually may be influenced by a specific situation for exam¬ple, if his wish is to economize, he will buy whatever is the least expensive brand.
The opposite can also be true. If Paul rents a car from Value each time he goes out of town on business, we may erroneously infer that he has a particularly favorable attitude toward Value. On the contrary, Paul may find Value car rental to be “just okay” (because more often than not they are inconveniently located away from the airport). However, since he owns his own business and travels at his own expense; he may feel that Value is “good enough,” given that he may be paying a little less than he would be paying if he rented from one of the major business-oriented car rental companies located at the airport.
Indeed, individuals can have a variety of attitudes toward a particular behavior, each corresponding to a particular situation. Stan may feel it is all right to eat lunch at McDonald’s but does not consider it appropriate for dinner. In this case, McDon¬ald’s has its “time and place,” which functions as a boundary delineating the situations when Stan considers McDonald’s acceptable. However, if Stan is coming home late from school one night, feels exhausted and hungry, and spots a McDonald’s, he may decide to just have “dinner” there. Why? Because it is late, he is tired and hungry, and McDonald’s is convenient. Has he changed his attitude? Probably not.
It is important to understand how consumer attitudes vary from situation to sit¬uation. For instance, it is useful to know whether consumer preferences for different burger chains (for instance, Burger King, McDonald’s, or Wendy’s) vary in terms of eating situations (that is, lunch or snack, evening meal when rushed for time, or evening meal with family when not rushed for time). Consumer preferences for the various burger restaurants might depend on the anticipated eating situation. Wendy’s, for example, might be favored by some consumers as a good place to have dinner with their families. This suggests that its management might position Wendy’s restaurants as a nice place to take the family for a leisurely (and inexpensive) dinner.
Clearly, when measuring attitudes, it is important to consider the situation in which the behavior takes place, or we can misinterpret the relationship between attitudes and behavior. Table 8-1 presents some additional examples of how specific situations might influence consumer attitudes toward specific brands of products or services.