Understanding How Downward Mobility Affects Consumers’ Responses to Advertisements Appealing to Cultural or Economic Capital

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a major variable for market segmentation. However, how SES changes may affect consumption preferences has been under-researched. With five studies, we evidence that individuals anticipating downward mobility lessen the importance of the economic dimensions in their identities and subsequently dissociate themselves from products that are advertised to appeal to economic capital (e.g., assets and wealth). However, their preferences for products that are advertised to appeal to cultural capital (e.g., arts and craftsmanship) remain or even increase—the latter is true among those who endorse essentialist beliefs, believing that SES is inherent and has a biological basis. These findings inform the implementation of advertising strategies in today’s dynamic social configuration, as well as the scholarship on identity threat, compensatory consumption, and SES-based consumer behavior.