Foreign Language Marketing and Consumer Purchase Behaviour (Abstract)

Death-related products or services (DRPS), such as life insurance and funeral services, help consumers prepare for death and handle its aftermath. The offerings of this massive market are universally necessary, but consumers often resist marketing information about DRPS, because death-related thoughts are fearsome and consumers adopt the proximal defense (e.g., denying their vulnerability) to deliberately avoid these thoughts (Pyszczynski, Greenberg, and Solomon 1999). This research proposes that use of consumers’ second language (vs. first language) reduces their fear of death by creating psychological distance, which leads them to be more receptive to DRPS sales information and engage in more consumption. Three studies including a field experiment, an eye-tracking study, and a moderation study support this hypothesis.