Not All Open Minds Think Alike: How Rational and Intuitive Open‐Mindedness Shape Responses to Religious Advertising

This study examines how consumer responses to religious advertising are influenced by two dimensions of open‐mindedness: rational and intuitive. Across three experiments, participants viewed ads that varied in the strength of their religious cue. Study 1 finds that intuitive open‐mindedness enhances brand attitude, while rational open‐mindedness diminishes it. Study 2 shows that ad involvement mediates the intuitive, but not rational, pathway. These results help resolve inconsistencies in past research by demonstrating that open‐mindedness is multidimensional, not uniform. Study 3 extends these insights by testing whether these effects generalize to different types of symbols (Christian, Muslim, or neutral). The results replicate Study 2 and demonstrate that the symbol itself did not yield significant differences. These findings highlight the nuanced role of symbolic cues and the distinct influences of rational versus intuitive open‐mindedness in marketing with religious cues.