The effects of virtual experience on attitudes toward real brands

Although the commercial availability and implementation of virtual reality interfaces has seen rapid growth in recent years, little research has been conducted on the potential for virtual reality to affect consumer behavior. One unaddressed issue is how our real world attitudes are affected when we have a virtual experience with the target of those attitudes. This study compared participant (N=60) attitudes toward car brands before and after a virtual test drive of those cars was provided. Results indicated that attitudes toward test brands changed after experience with virtual representations of those brands. Furthermore, manipulation of the quality of this experience (in this case modification of driving difficulty) was reflected in the direction of attitude change. We discuss these results in the context of the associative-propositional evaluation model.