Revisiting the Malleable Self: Brand Effects on Consumer Self-Perceptions of Personality Traits

Four experiments examined the relationships between dimensions of brand personality and consumer self-perceptions of personality traits. We hypothesized and found that when consumers are exposed to brands, brand personality dimensions may affect individual assessments of personality traits. Study 1 found evidence that brand sincerity had an effect on ratings of consumer agreeableness. Study 2 showed that brand excitement affected self-perceptions of hedonism, moderated by brand exposure intensity. In Study 3, brand competence had an impact on self-perceptions of sophistication. Finally, in Study 4 results showed that brand ruggedness had an effect on extroversion, again moderated by brand exposure intensity.