Purpose: This paper delves into evaluating the effectiveness of warning messages as a deterrent against excessive fat consumption. It examines how consumers perceive the fat content of food products when presented with two distinct label types: (1) a textual warning, providing succinct information about the fat content, and (2) a pictorial warning, offering a visual representation that immediately signifies the fat content.Design/methodology/approach: Two quantitative studies were carried out. Study 1 employed a questionnaire to evaluate the efficacy of textual and pictorial warning messages on high- and low-fat food products. Similarly, Study 2 replicated this comparison while incorporating a neuromarketing instrument to gauge participants’ cerebral reactions.Findings: Results indicate that pictorial warnings on high-fat foods significantly deter consumers’ purchasing intentions. Notably, these pictorial warnings stimulate the left prefrontal area of the cerebral cortex, inducing negative emotions in consumers and driving them away from high-fat food items.Originality/value: While the influence of images over text in shaping consumer decisions is well understood in marketing, this study accentuates the underlying mechanism of such an impact through the elicitation of negative emotions. By understanding this emotional pathway, the paper presents fresh academic and managerial perspectives, underscoring the potency of pictorial warnings in guiding consumers towards healthier food choices.Highlights: Textual warnings do not seem to discourage high-fat product consumption. A pictorial warning represents the fat content of an equivalent product. Pictorial warnings decrease the intention to purchase a high-fat product. Pictorial warnings determine an increase in negative emotions.

Choosing the University to attend is an important decision that is made once or twice in a lifetime and has relevant effects for a person’s entire life. In such a process, advice from others, especially current students, is a powerful influencing factor. Therefore, understanding the factors that lead students to become active advocates for their university is strategically important. Social identity theory states that when students choose a university, the image of the institution becomes part of their identity. In case of strong positive identification, the resulting sense of pride enhances their own self-identity and brings positive benefits beyond simply obtaining an education, which are then passed on to everyone. The current study focuses on brand experience and brand reputation and uses a moderated mediation analysis to investigate the mechanisms by which current students can be tools for university choice. Stimulating word-of-mouth (WOM) implies the institution to have and maintain a good reputation and engage students to develop a positive brand experience and pride. This research contributes to the development of a greater strategic awareness of universities’ appeal to better tailor their orientation activities to current or prospective students.

This study aims to investigate the factors affecting the decision to revisit a cultural heritage destination and recommend it to others (heritage destination loyalty). A mediation model is directed to understand the role played by intrinsic factors – related to tourists’ personal characteristics – extrinsic factors – the destination heritage offers – and satisfaction – the subjective positive/negative state deriving from the comparison between expectancies (rational expectations and desires) and the visitors’ experience. A quantitative study, concerning a heritage destination in Southern Italy, was carried out. First, the intrinsic and extrinsic factors were identified through an expectancy-value model. Then, the heritage visitors’ satisfaction was assessed according to each phase of the experience. Findings confirm that intrinsic factors have an influence on heritage destination loyalty, and satisfaction plays a mediating role between these constructs. In addition, extrinsic factors have no effect on the revisit intention and the intention to recommend, except through satisfaction. Heritage tourists’ satisfaction contributes to loyalty toward the destination, both directly and independently of the motive for the visit.