Abstract:

Brand consciousness, qualify differentiation, emotional and aesthetic desires in the field of consumption—are these things out of place today in a time which regards as decisive the rational consumer who only wishes to be "informed", who only wants to be convinced by objective arguments? The assumption that this is the case has occasionally been derived from very rough--if not completely insufficient—research approaches. This contribution reports on valid techniques of measurement, on the findings which they have led to, and on whether they can be verified by subjective information on past and future behavior.