Consumer Moods

Consumer moods are the phenomenological properties of individual consumers' affective states. For example, a consumer may be in a good mood or a cheerful mood. Such moods are subcategories of [Page 275]feeling states, where feeling states are general and pervasive affective states. They can be contrasted with feelings directed toward an object or product, which are associated with product attitudes. Consumer moods are transient and mild, and so can be contrasted with feelings that are more stable and permanent, such as those associated with dispositions or neuroticisms. They can also be distinguished from emotions that are more intense, attention-getting, and disruptive of ongoing processing and behavior.

The word mood has many interpretations in common parlance and many usages in consumer culture. For example, one might refer to mood as a property of a consumption environment, and describe one store as having a “funky mood” and another as having an “opulent mood.” Alternatively, one might refer to mood as a property of a consumption-related message and describe one advertisement or point-of-purchase display as having a “playful mood” and another as having a “melodramatic mood.” In addition, one might refer to mood as a property of an object of consumption, and refer to one automobile as having a “youthful mood” and another as having a “serious mood.” Finally, mood can be used to describe the affective tone of the consumer population in the aggregate with respect to specific economic conditions or their expectations for their own future economic well-being. This usage is common in the popular press, which periodically refers to consumers as being in a “cautious mood” when spending is relatively low and as being in an “optimistic mood” when spending is relatively high.

Specific moods can be differentiated phenomenologically and conceptually, and have been investigated along three dimensions: pleasure, arousal, and dominance. Of these dimensions, pleasure has received the most attention, and the great preponderance of the research has investigated the effects of consumers' positive and negative moods, either relative to each other or relative to a neutral (control) mood.

In all domains of life, people try to read and anticipate each other's moods and use that information to facilitate social and professional interactions. For example, someone might consider a friend's mood before asking to borrow her car, and one might consider one's own mood before deciding whether to eat ice cream. Analogously, knowledge of consumers' moods provides insight into their cognitive, decision-making, and behavioral reactions.

Consumers' moods are an important aspect of consumer culture because they are easily influenced by aspects of the consumption environment and interactions with marketers, and because they have important effects on consumers' thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Because moods are omnipresent and affect consumer behavior across a wide range of internal states and external behaviors, and because they can be easily influenced by aspects of the consumption environment, it is important to understand both the processes and outcomes they influence and the ways aspects of the consumption environment influence moods.