Affect and Self-Expression as Determinants of a Lasting Purchase: The Case of the Tattoo Patron

Evidence suggests that both cognitive and emotive factors elucidate consumer decision processes; yet, research exploring such factors jointly (i.e., a dual-process approach) as antecedents of high involvement, lasting purchases is lacking. To address this paucity, we developed a preliminary dual-process model for explaining consumers’ intention to purchase a tattoo. Tattoos represent a unique purchase due to their permanent alteration of the body and their relationship to personal expression, creativity, and identity. Although previously shunned upon, the adoption of tattoos by mainstream society is now widespread; yet, research on tattoo buyer behavior lags this movement (e.g., Kjeldgaard and Bengtsson 2005). To better understand determinants of tattoo acquisition and to offer insight to both advertisers’ design strategies and marketers’ modeling efforts of purchase behavior, we propose a dual-process model of intention to acquire body art in the form of a tattoo.