Revisiting Stereotype Research and Its Marketing Implications

This paper revisits a vintage body of literature that holds clues to understanding the contemporary problem of change-resistant, stereotype-driven brand or product images. In particular, this stream of research helps illuminate (1) how information is used to create, reinforce, or weaken the perceptual device known as a stereotype, and (2) what situation-specific circumstances (e.g. the nature of the processing task) may influence the impact of this information. The author reviews major findings from the past thirty years, identifying key implications and offering hypotheses for testing dimensions of stereotype activation and alteration