Time Will Tell: The Distant Appeal of Promotion and Imminent Appeal of Prevention

What types of products are preferred when the purchase is immediate versus off in the distant future? Three experiments address this question by examining the influence of temporal perspective on evaluations of regulatory-framed products. The results reveal that when a purchase is about to be made, consumers prefer prevention- (vs. promotion-) framed productsan effect that is driven by the pain anticipated from potentially failing ones looming purchasing goal. When a purchase is temporally distant, however, promotion- (vs. prevention-) framed products become more appealing an effect that is driven by the anticipated pleasure from achieving ones distant purchasing goal. Implications for the psychology of selfregulation, anticipated affect, and willpower are discussed.