Brand usage and gender as moderators of the potential deception associated with partial comparative advertising

Previous research (Barone and Miniard 1999) has demonstrated that brand usage can moderate the extent to which comparative ad information has the potential to deceive consumers. The current study extends that research by considering how gender interacts with brand usage to moderate the susceptibility of consumers to copy X copy interactions, a potentially deceptive effect associated with partial comparative advertising. Results from the present investigation indicate that, for comparison brand users, males were more susceptible than females. In contrast, for nonusers of the comparison brand, females exhibited greater evidence of this effect than did male nonusers. Implications of these findings for public policy and directions for future research are discussed.