Retrospection versus anticipation: The role of the ad under retrospective and anticipatory self-referencing

Through three studies we demonstrate that contextually detailed ads are facilitative in enhancing brand attitudes and intentions under anticipatory self-referencing, whereas ads stripped of contextual detail are facilitative in enhancing brand attitudes and intentions under retrospective self-referencing. We find that when minimal ad information is provided, self-related thoughts about the past contain more contextual information than self-related thoughts about the future. In study 1, we find that when consumers engage in retrospective self-referencing, providing more contextual information in the ad increases the incidence of self-related thoughts that are discordant with the advertised brand (hereafter, "self-brand discordant thoughts"), decreases self-related thoughts that are concordant with the advertised brand (hereafter, "self-brand concordant thoughts"), and decreases brand attitudes and behavioral intentions. Conversely, when consumers engage in anticipatory self-referencing, providing more contextual information in the ad increases the incidence of contextually detailed thoughts, increases the ability to form consumption visions, increases the incidence of self-brand concordant thoughts without affecting self-brand discordant thoughts, and increases ad and brand attitudes and behavioral intentions. Mediation tests suggest that the effects on brand evaluations are mediated both by the extent to which consumers form brand-related consumption visions and by the extent to which they can link themselves to the advertised brand through concordant thoughts. In study 2 we show that the demonstrated differences between retrospection and anticipation are predicated on self-referencing and are not obtained for other referencing. Together, the results indicate that it is important to account both for the presence of self-referencing and for the variations in the nature of self-referencing encouraged by the ad.