Forgive me, Father, for I did not give full justification for my sins: How religious consumers justify the acquisition of material wealth

Abstract This research shows how high religiosity consumers justify the purchase of highly materialistic goods. By drawing on the Justification-Suppression Model (JSM), it is shown that high religiosity consumers favour advertisements that suppress the materialistic aspects of goods and offer adequate justification for the purchase. However, these same consumers dislike advertisements that explicitly focus on the materialistic nature of goods. The results from the research offer insight into how high religiosity consumers are able to acquire material wealth despite a strong aversion to such practices within their doctrine. Implications from this research include a greater understanding of how to advertise to high religiosity consumers, but also how the JSM can be used as a means of minimising cognitive dissonance during purchase decisions.