CONSUMER SPENDING ON DESIGNER JEANS: A CLASSICAL CONDITIONING MODEL

The classical conditioning theory of learning was used to predict consumer spending on designer jeans. Subjects viewed and responded to eight slides of designer and non‐designer jeans. In addition the presence or absence of designer labelled hangtags was varied so that half of the subjects were exposed to the hangtags and half of them were not exposed to the hangtags. Thus the design of the experiment was a mixed model two by two analysis of variance.It was predicted and found that subjects were likely to say they would spend more for the designer jeans than the non‐designer jeans. Manipulation checks revealed that the subjects were not estimating or trying to guess the retail value of the jeans. It was also predicted and found that subjects were more likely to select designer jeans as gifts than non‐designer jeans. Finally there was a designer jeans by hangtag interaction. People were more apt to select designer jeans as gifts than non‐designer jeans, but only in the absence of the hangtags. When the hangtags were present the effect was negated.Classical conditioning theory is used to explain the results and to offer avenues for further research.