Television ads can be classified as either arguments or dramas or hybrids of these forms. We claim that form dimension influences how ads are processed. An argument backs its claims with appeals to objectivity and is processed evaluatively. A drama appeals more to subjective criteria and is...

We distinguish seduction from persuasion and other ways to draw consumers into exchange relationships. A legal case involving the prosecution of a mail fraud known as Chonda-Za is used to illustrate seduction, and the concept is defined in terms of social constructionist theory. We identify five...

This article develops a vocabulary to describe the management of performance and the nature of consumer judgments of staged performance quality. It distinguishes three kinds of performance--contractual, enacted, and dramatistic. While all marketing actions are by nature dramatistic, this article...