Consumer Attitudes

Find the latest and most impactful research on consumer attitudes and behavior, including drivers and trends, here. All the research listed comes from the ARF or one of its subsidiaries: The Journal of Advertising Research (JAR), the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) or the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM). Feel free to bookmark this page, as it will be updated periodically.
Understanding Transparency in Brand Backstory Experience

Understanding Transparency in Brand Backstory Experience

  • ARF; MSI

As consumers increasingly expect brands to “open their doors,” companies respond by offering behind-the-scenes experiences, such as factory tours, visitor centers and brand museums. This MSI working paper shows that these encounters are not simple acts of openness, but carefully staged performances of transparency. Drawing on a multi-method, longitudinal investigation of four brand backstory sites, the authors conceptualize brand backstories as selectively disclosive narratives enacted in space. They demonstrate how brands strategically balance revealing and concealing to create the illusion of insider access—an experience that can strengthen authenticity perceptions when executed skillfully, but easily fracture when the performance breaks down.

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When Confidence Cuts Through: How Arrogant Visuals Capture Attention—and When They Convert

When Confidence Cuts Through: How Arrogant Visuals Capture Attention—and When They Convert

  • ARF
  • JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH

Can arrogance work in advertising? New research shows that visually arrogant expressions—such as confident, unsmiling, upward-tilted faces—can significantly increase consumer attention and brand recall. But attention alone doesn’t guarantee sales. Whether arrogance helps or hurts purchase intention depends on how well it aligns with a brand’s positioning. When arrogance reinforces a brand’s sense of leadership or distinctiveness, it can drive stronger buying intent. When it doesn’t, it can backfire.

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Why Personalization Persuades: What the Evidence Really Says

Why Personalization Persuades: What the Evidence Really Says

  • ARF
  • JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH

Does personalized advertising really work—or does it risk turning consumers off? A large-scale meta-analysis of 53 experimental studies finds that personalized ads are, on average, more persuasive than non-personalized ones, improving consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions. Crucially, personalization works not because it feels intrusive, but because it increases perceived relevance. When consumers see ads that connect to their interests and identities, persuasion improves—making personalization a low-risk, high-reward strategy when done well.

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Privacy, Trust & AI: How U.S. Consumers Are Rewriting the Rules of Advertising

Privacy, Trust & AI: How U.S. Consumers Are Rewriting the Rules of Advertising

  • ARF Original Research

The ARF’s latest privacy study shows that U.S. consumers are more informed, more trusting and more engaged with artificial intelligence than ever before—yet still cautious about how it and other technologies use their data. Drawing on responses from more than 1,200 adults, the 2025 study reveals rising openness to data sharing when clear benefits exist, persistent skepticism toward certain targeting practices and growing expectations for transparency, especially around AI. For advertising researchers, the findings highlight a shifting privacy landscape where relevance, trust and first-party data strategies are increasingly intertwined.

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The Persuasive Power of Pets: New Insights for Influencer Strategy

The Persuasive Power of Pets: New Insights for Influencer Strategy

  • ARF
  • JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH

A recent Journal of Advertising Research study presents the first empirical evidence that petfluencers can outperform human influencers in driving engagement and willingness to pay. Across four studies—including a real-world A/B test and controlled experiments, the researchers show that pet influencers benefit from higher perceived sincerity, and that message framing matters. When temporal cues align with consumers’ propensity to anthropomorphize animals, the persuasive impact increases further.

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Defying the Odds: What Long-Term Brand Winners Do Differently

Defying the Odds: What Long-Term Brand Winners Do Differently

  • ARF | ARF Cognition Council
  • ARF ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Based on two decades of Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) data and a complementary custom study, this ARF Cognition Council report examines why some brands maintain strength over long periods while most decline. The research identifies differentiation, consistency, cultural relevance and sustained visibility as critical drivers of long-term brand resilience in the face of market and consumer change.

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Designing with Edge Consumers: How Inclusive Design Orientation Reimagines Product Development

Designing with Edge Consumers: How Inclusive Design Orientation Reimagines Product Development

  • ARF
  • MSI

This Marketing Science Institute (MSI) working paper introduces Inclusive Design Orientation (IDO)—an emerging organizational mindset, as well as a set of practices that help firms design products not only for the “average” consumer, but with consumers who are typically excluded. Through interviews with 27 industry experts across technology, retail and design, this study shows how engaging so-called edge consumers can unlock product innovation, strengthen brand loyalty and expand market opportunities. The study outlines how organizations can embed inclusive beliefs into their development processes, how internal champions drive transformation and why inclusive design is fast becoming a competitive necessity.

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Navigating the New Search Frontier: How AI Is Reshaping Discovery, Research and Shopping

Navigating the New Search Frontier: How AI Is Reshaping Discovery, Research and Shopping

  • ARF
  • Knowledge at Hand | CMO Brief

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how consumers discover, research and evaluate products, creating a hybrid search ecosystem where traditional engines like Google remain dominant while GenAI tools increasingly shape mid-funnel decision-making. Shoppers turn to AI for clarity, comparison and confidence, yet still validate information before purchase, altering the structure of the journey and the expectations placed on brands. As AI-driven search and shopping become more influential, the implications for marketers and retailers are profound, demanding new approaches to trust, data accuracy, discoverability and optimization for agent-driven environments. This Knowledge at Hand and CMO Brief reports show how AI is reorganizing the consumer path to purchase and what this means for the future of brand visibility and retail marketing. Non-members can access this content for a limited time after registering for a free account. Click on the  “Login to Access,” then “Create an Account.”

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Why Irregular Ad Scheduling Wins: Uncovering the Hidden Dynamics of Skippable Ad Acceptance

Why Irregular Ad Scheduling Wins: Uncovering the Hidden Dynamics of Skippable Ad Acceptance

  • ARF
  • JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH

A large-scale analysis of clickstream data reveals that how often and how regularly pre-roll skippable ads are shown significantly influences whether users accept or skip them. Using advanced modeling, researchers find that less frequent and more irregular exposure increases the hidden “acceptance propensity” underlying viewing behavior. These findings challenge conventional scheduling tactics and offer new strategies for maximizing skippable ad effectiveness.

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Privacy Rules, Trust Gained: How Regulations Change Consumer Data Sharing

Privacy Rules, Trust Gained: How Regulations Change Consumer Data Sharing

  • ARF
  • ARF

Research in this Marketing Science Institute (MSI) working paper shows that privacy regulations can increase consumer willingness to share data. Using behavioral data from a popular U.S. shopping app and complementary evidence from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, the research finds that regulations in California and Virginia boosted both the volume and diversity of data sharing—especially among consumers who were initially more reluctant.

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