Mermaids and Corporate Branding: Histories, meanings and impacts

Companies invest considerable resources into establishing meaningful and impactful brand identities, through which they build essential relationships with consumers. Several well-known consumer brands use mermaids as part of their brand identity. Perhaps no use of mermaids in branding is more ubiquitous than siren emblazoned on every Starbucks coffee cup. But Starbucks is not alone; other consumer brands, such as Chicken of the Sea, Virgin Voyages Cruise Line, and BonV!v Spiked Seltzer, incorporate mermaids as part of their brand architecture. Using the case method, this study will examine, brand by brand, the history, meaning, and impact of mermaids on particular brand identities and, thus, on the consumer relationships. This study considers the brand strategies of using mermaids and reflects on if and why these strategies have worked for the brands included in this study.

DIRIGISMO JUDICIAL NOS CONTRATOS EDUCACIONAIS: LIMITES E CRITÉRIOS À INTERVENÇÃO ESTATAL NO PREÇO DAS MENSALIDADES ESCOLARES.

Since the normativeorganization supported by an analytical Federal Constitution, containing general and abstract norms that claim the judges to active participationin the realization of justice, in specifics cases, has been opened space for judicial activism. In the theoryof the contracts, the formulations of new paradigms, such as equity, good faith and social function authorizes the state intervention in privatesbusiness. Especially in the adhesion contracts, in consumer relationships. State intervention, however, have to respect constitutional principles, such warranty of free enterprise, and private property. This article, therefor, through the deductive method, aims to contribute to the considerations ofthe possibility of states intervention in privateeducationalcontracts, reconciling the capitalist model adoptedin Federal Constitution order and the guarantees inherent to with the protection of consumers, without this implying as affront to the Federal Constitutionlimits.To this is necessary to apply the techniqueof weighing constitutionalrights in conflict. The article suggests that State should not intervene in setting private prices, but to facilitatepayments.

Effect of celebrity athlete endorsement on sporting goods consumers' brand passion and loyalty

Although findings of prior studies have provided insights into brand–consumer relationships, there is a scarcity of investigation into the effect of an athlete endorser's credibility on consumers' brand passion and brand loyalty. Thus, we investigated the effects of an athlete endorser's attractiveness and expertise on both brand passion and brand loyalty of sporting goods consumers. Participants in our study were 178 Korean golf product consumers. Results revealed that athlete endorser attractiveness and expertise were both significant determinants of brand passion among golf product consumers. Results also confirmed that brand passion positively affected brand loyalty. Lastly, brand passion had significant positive mediating roles between athlete endorser attractiveness and expertise and brand loyalty. The study has contributed to advancing previous research on brand–consumer relationships by examining the effects of endorser source attractiveness and expertise on brand passion and brand loyalty among sporting goods consumers.

Birds of a Feather Feel Together: Emotional Ability Similarity in Consumer Interactions

The authors introduce emotional ability similarity to explain consumer satisfaction in interactions with frontline sales and service employees and other consumers beyond the effects of traditional relational variables in the similarity–attraction paradigm. Four studies examine how and why similar abilities for using emotional information between two people promote relational success in marketplace exchanges. We find that, when interacting with others, consumers who exchange nonverbal information with their partners experience (dis)similarity in their emotional ability (EA). Similar dyads who rely on expressive (high–high EA pairs) or inexpressive (low–low EA pairs) emotion norms experience significantly greater satisfaction in their interactions than consumers with dissimilar norms (high–low EA pairs). Together, these findings advance the understanding of consumer relationships and satisfaction by establishing EA similarity as a new avenue for consumer research.

The Price of Good Friendships: Examining the Roles of Relationship Norms and Perceived Controllability in Service Failure Encounters

Despite companies’ efforts to cultivate positive relationships with their consumers, negative relational episodes such as customer service failures are inevitable. This study examines how perceived controllability of a service failure determines responses from consumers who have previously formed quality relationships with the company. Specifically, it distinguishes two types of quality relationships: communal and exchange relationships. It investigates how these two types of relationships interact with different levels of perceived service failure controllability, and collectively influence consumers’ emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses (i.e., anger, perceived betrayal, and negative WOM intention) to the failure encounters. Results of an online experiment ( N = 140) show that consumers experience a greater level of anger and perceived betrayal when they consider the service failure as highly controllable (vs. uncontrollable) by the company. More important, this effect pattern only occurs when prior company-consumer relationships are communal rather than exchange. The results of this study enrich our body of knowledge on the role of company-consumer relationships in service failure encounters and provide useful guidelines for company-consumer relationship development and service failure management and recovery.

Der Schutz des Schwächeren im slowakischen Zivilrecht

This article raises questions about the protection of the weaker party in the Slovak civil law, and emphasizes the most significant legislative steps aimed at strengthening the social function of civil law rules in the Slovak Republic. The author analyses the national and European rules, and describes each instrument adopted by the national Slovak legislator during the last fifteen years. A good example of the instrument of the protection of the weaker party was the enshrinement of usury in 2014. This step can be considered as one of the most significant legislative steps aimed at strengthening the social function of civil law rules in the Slovak Republic. The enshrinement was not only motivated by the protection of the party in consumer relationships.