Brands and religious labels: a spillover perspective

With different religions mixing in many societies, religious consumer groups receive increasing attention as target segments. Trying to appeal to such religious segments, companies differentiate food products by adding religious labels (e.g. kosher or halal) to packaging. But while this makes the products more attractive to the consumers of the focal religion, adding a religious label may also impact the brand evaluation by consumers with no religious beliefs or a different religious orientation. Drawing upon social identity theory to explain the psychological basis of inter-group discrimination, and taking account of information integration theory to analyse how religious labels affect product and brand evaluations, this article aims to assess the spillover effects between religion and brand among consumers who are not part of the religious communities addressed by these labels. The findings indicate that the perception of religious labels on food packaging is influenced by the attitudes towards the religion and the brand, while the relative importance of both antecedents is dependent upon several consumer characteristics. The theoretical and managerial implications of our findings, the limitations of our work and directions for future research are discussed.