How Does the Congruity of Brand Names Affect Evaluations of Brand Name Extensions?

In 2 studies, the authors examined whether or not G. Mandler's (1982) schema congruity theory would explain students' evaluations of new products purportedly introduced by companies with established brand names that were congruent, moderately incongruent, or extremely incongruent in relationship to the product. Consistent with this theory, results showed that products associated with moderately incongruent brand names were preferred over ones that were associated with either congruent or extremely incongruent brand names. Results suggest that this finding may be mediated by students' greater elaboration of the incongruent brand name and related information and by the process of resolving incongruity.