Consumer preference for formal address and informal address from warm brands and competent brands

Abstract With the exception of Modern English, the world's major languages present advertisers and service providers with a choice: whether to address consumers using informal or formal pronouns (e.g., tu or usted in Spanish). Yet, no research has investigated the impact of informal and formal address on consumer responses. In this paper, we show that brand personality affects consumers' preferences for, and responses to, pronominal address. In five studies, we establish that informal address is more likely to be preferred, and elicits higher preferences and more positive responses, when used by warmer brands; whereas formal address is more likely to be preferred, and elicits higher preferences and more positive responses, when used by more competent brands. These effects are replicated using a variety of contexts and designs. The implications of these findings are discussed.