Do cultural cues make expensive products feel more appealing?

In this episode, Wei-Fen Chen (Lecturer in Marketing, University of Leicester School of Business) joins me to discuss her Journal of Advertising Research article, “When to Appeal to Cultural Capital in Advertisements: Cultural Capital Appeals Increase Purchase Intentions for High- but Not Low-Priced Products,” coauthored with Xue Wang (Assistant Professor, Business School, Beijing Normal University) and Chenyang Shao (Doctoral Student, Business School, Beijing Normal University).

Wei-Fen and I explore how invoking cultural sophistication in ads—through references to art, heritage, or refined taste—can strengthen purchase intent, but only for higher-priced products. Across three studies spanning categories from wine and bottled water to face masks, the team finds that when cultural capital cues align with economic signals, consumers process the ad more fluently and respond more positively. For low-priced products, though, these appeals backfire or fail to move the needle.

We also discuss how this research clarifies when marketers should use cultural capital storytelling, why pricing strategy matters more than demographic targeting, and how brand tiers can selectively apply these cues to premium lines.

Read the full paper here:
https://doi.org/10.1080/00218499.2025.2464291

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