Materialism And Death Anxiety Lead To Brand Loyalty

Materialism And Death Anxiety Lead To Brand Loyalty (1/26/09)

Materialistic people tend to form strong connections to particular product brands when their level of anxiety about death is high, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. ...

While conventional wisdom holds that materialistic individuals are weakly connected to brands and use them as superficial status badges, the new research proves that brands hold more meaning for materialistic consumers than previously thought. When those individuals are also worried about death, their brand attachment grows.

"We propose that materialistic individuals form strong connections to their brands when death anxiety is high but not when death anxiety is low," write the authors. "Materialistic individuals are strongly connected to their brands and employ them as an important source of meaning in their lives."

Sounds like a good description of committed followers of certain ideologies, such as Republicans (the U. S. political party).

Earlier discussion on this theme: here.