Influence of solitary or commensal dining advertisements on consumers’ expectations of and attitudes toward foods and restaurants

ABSTRACT

We conducted two studies to investigate how restaurant advertisements depicting different types of eating scenarios (commensal vs. solitary dining) might influence consumers’ expectations of and attitudes toward the foods and restaurants after they were reminded of the pandemic. Participants expected that the foods shown in the advertisements of commensal dining would be more palatable and likable than the same foods depicted in the advertisements of solitary dining. They also showed more positive attitudes toward both the restaurants and foods. The enhanced hedonic expectations induced by the advertisements depicting commensal dining, however, were modulated by the priming for COVID-19 salience. Collectively, these findings suggest that consumers’ preference for commensal dining can be extended to the advertisements depicting such eating scenarios, but this effect could be attenuated by consumers’ awareness of the pandemic. These findings provide insight into restaurant advertisement design and highlight the negative effect of the pandemic on consumers.