Marketing practitioners gain insight from consumer attitudes and beliefs. For example, does brand trust impede interest in new products? Interest is the emotion central to curiosity, assisting our ability to learn (Izard 1977; Silvia 2005). People experience interest when they see a novel stimulus and, importantly, when they can understand it. Although these appraisals robustly predict interest, prior work has focused on situations where people need not be wary of the stimulus (e.g., abstract art, poetry). Radical innovations, in contrast, are somewhat threatening as they often violate the schemas that we rely on to categorize new products and understand their function. To overcome this threat, marketers frequently attempt to pique interest for radical innovations—via teaser ads, and other tactics—to encourage greater understanding. However, marketing does not occur in a social vacuum and in order for learning to occur, consumers must trust the source of information. Even in marketing studies that examine new product design, participants have no reason to think new product information is deceptive. Yet, outside of the lab, consumers frequently question the veracity of information, particularly when interacting with brands perceived as untrustworthy. In collaboration with Gavan Fitzsimons (in progress, Journal of Consumer Research), I find that brand distrust undermines the universal conditions that supposedly produce interest, hindering new product evaluation.
