Product category involvement explained
What is product involvement?
Some scientific insights
To make less obvious advertising work, it should meet an appropriate goal of the consumers (Bermeitinger et al. 2009; Karremans, Stroebe, and Claus 2006; Strahan, Spencer, and Zanna 2002). This not only reffers to current needs. The consumer should rather have a basic need to pursue the goal (Sela and Shiv 2009). In addition, the advertisement should appeal to the consumer’s experiences that can trigger the goal or at least support it (Bargh, Chen, and Burrows 1996; Dijksterhuis et al. 2000; Dijksterhuis and van Knippenberg 1998) — this not only appeals to the situation but also to the product.
Involvement is “a person’s perceived relevance of the advertisement based on inherent needs, values, and interests” (Zaichkowsky 1985) and therefore a motivational construct that is based (among other things) on the values and needs of a person (Zaichkowsky 1986). Accordingly, product involvement is a good way to draw conclusions regarding the conditions in the context of subliminal advertising, as this also consideres needs as well as goals. Moreover, depending on the used scale, it is well measurable (Zaichkowsky 1985, 1994).
At the same time, product involvement is closely connected to the construct of “Consideration Set”, as the…
