You Are What They Eat: The Influence of Reference Groups on Consumers’ Connections to Brands

The set of associations consumers have about a brand is an important component of brand equity. In this article, we focus on reference groups as a source of brand associations, which can be linked to one's mental representation of self to meet self‐verification or self‐enhancement goals. We conceptualize this linkage at an aggregate level in terms of self‐brand connections, that is, the extent to which individuals have incorporated a brand into their self‐concept. In 2 studies, we show that brands used by member groups and aspiration groups can become connected to consumers’ mental representation of self as they use these brands to define and create their self‐concepts. Results from Experiment 1 show that the…