Abstract: Purpose: Crises precipitate strong fiscal responses by government – sometimes toward austerity, other times toward renewed social spending. This variation in approaches to crisis handling has the potential to highlight factors that drive public opinion toward government interventions that may be quite different from those in non-crisis times. This study aims to discuss the aforementioned issues. Design/methodology/approach: This article brings together theories of government policymaking in crises, policy responsiveness and economic voting to assess how personal financial (egocentric) concerns and/or national financial (sociotropic) concerns may influence opinions toward government handling of direct financial supports in a crisis and, more generally, opinions toward social policy interventions. The authors assess this dynamic in the Canadian context using original national survey data collected in the initial stage of the pandemic-based crisis in June and July of 2020 (N = 1290). Findings: The authors find strong evidence in support of sociotropic concerns shaping government approval and support for greater social policy interventions, but limited evidence to support egocentric concerns, suggesting that social policy attitudes may be more insulated from personal factors than anticipated. Research limitations/implications: The authors’ findings suggest that crises may prompt enhanced support for interventionist social policy measures that may lack broad-based support in non-crisis times. Originality/value: The authors’ findings speak to the ongoing discussion around the possibility for crises to function as policy windows for enhanced social spending and for entrenching targeted financial supports for vulnerable individuals.

Abstract: Brand placement is a well-established marketing tactic that benefits both brands and media. However, due to financial, legal, or image reasons, brands may choose not to be associated with certain content. In such cases, the brand logo is removed, or “displaced” from the production either digitally or physically to adhere to copyright law, a practice we define as brand displacement. This research explores the psychological and brand consequences of brand displacement. Using multiple brands and content, we find brand displacement can positively or negatively impact the displaced brand, depending on consumers’ need for cognition. We show these divergent consequences are driven by displacement’s effects on consumer engagement in the viewing experience and follow an affect-transfer process. We find these consequences are moderated by brand familiarity and offer interventions for marketers to use displacement strategically. A preliminary EEG study, pilot with marketing managers, four primary, and multiple supplemental support our theorizing.

Abstract: The natural environment is deteriorating. However, humans have not slowed down their pace of resource depletion and environmental destruction. This research takes a particular path to understanding environmental consumption—through a focus on temporal perspective. Evidence from six studies demonstrates the positive effect of a cyclical temporal perspective, versus a linear temporal perspective, on consumers’ pro-environmental behavior. The research shows that individuals with a cyclical perspective are more likely to include the environment in the self, which leads to higher pro-environmental behavioral intentions and more pro-environmental behavior. This temporal perspective effect is attenuated for consumers already high on green values. The authors also examine a marketer-controlled moderator and show that consumers are more likely to purchase a pro-environmental product when they see a temporal-perspective-congruent promotional appeal. The research contributes to both the time perception and the environmental consumption literature and offers several practical implications for organizations to promote sustainable consumer behavior.