Exposure to dogs versus cats can influence consumer behavior by priming different mindsets. Dogs prime a promotion-focused mindset that emphasizes growth and risk-taking, while cats prime a prevention-focused mindset that emphasizes security and risk-aversion. Studies show dog exposure leads consumers to prefer stocks, lotteries, and promotion-focused products and services, while cat exposure leads consumers to prefer mutual funds, avoid lotteries, and choose prevention-focused options. Marketers can leverage these effects by featuring dogs or cats in ads depending on whether they want to encourage risk-taking or security-seeking behaviors in consumers.

1. How Exposure to Dogs Versus Cats
Influences Consumer Behavior
From: Jia, Yang, and Jiang (2022)

2. Dogs and Cats Frequently Appear in Consumers’ Lives
From: Jia, Yang, and Jiang (2022)
• 68% of U.S. households
own a pet (APPA 2018)
• About 1 in 5 households
acquired a pet since the
outbreak of COVID-19
pandemic (ASPCA 2021)
• Pets are frequently
featured in mass media,
pop culture, and
marketing
communications.
How does exposure to pets such as interacting with a dog (cat), viewing ads featuring a dog
(cat) as the spokescharacter influence consumer behavior?

3. From: Jia, Yang, and Jiang (2022)
Pet Exposure Influences Consumer Behavior by
Activating Promotion- (Prevention-) Focused Mindsets
Consumers associate the stereotypical behaviors and characteristics of
dogs and cats with different mindsets
Such a mindset can carryover to influence consumers’ subsequent decision or
choice that is even unrelated to pets
Exposure to dogs
primes consumers to be
promotion-focused
Exposure to cats primes
consumers to be
prevention-focused

4. Dog Exposure Activates
Promotion-Focused Mindset
• Promotion-Focus
• Emphasizing positive outcomes
in goal pursuit such as growth,
improvement, etc.
• Being eager to obtain the
positive outcomes
• Risk-seeking
Cat Exposure Activates
Prevention-Focused Mindset
• Prevention-Focus
• Emphasizing the prevention of
negative outcomes in goal
pursuit such as losses, failures,
etc.
• Being cautious to prevent the
negative outcomes
• Risk-averse
From: Jia, Yang, and Jiang (2022)

5. From: Jia, Yang, and Jiang (2022)
Dog Exposure Leads to
Promotion-Focused Behaviors
Cat Exposure Leads to
Prevention-Focused Behaviors
• Preferred stocks over mutual funds in
financial investment decisions
• More interested in participating in
lotteries when provided the
opportunity
• Bid more for gift cards of products
with promotion-focused benefits
• States with more dog owners reported
more per-capita COVID-cases
• Preferred mutual funds over stocks in
financial investment decisions
• Less interested in participating in
lotteries when provided the
opportunity
• Bid more for gift cards of products
with prevention-focused benefits
• States with more cat owners reported
less per-capita COVID-cases

6. From: Jia, Yang, and Jiang (2022)
Practical Implications
• Consumer pet exposure situation (e.g., pet
ownership) is a meaningful segmentation strategy
• Marketers should consider crafting their
advertising messages differently or recommending
different products when targeting consumers with
depending on their pet exposure situations
• For products with compelling promotion focused
benefits, featuring dogs in marketing
communications is likely more effective
• For products that are mainly prevention-focused,
featuring cats in marketing communications is
likely more persuasive