Drilling Down - Vowel Sounds Influence Consumers’ Perception of Prices - NYTimes.com

Drilling Down - Vowel Sounds Influence Consumers’ Perception of Prices - NYTimes.com

Researchers have known for 80 years about a symbolic connection between speech and size: back-of-the-mouth vowels like the “o” in “two” make people think of large sizes, whereas people associate front-of-the-mouth vowels like “ee” with diminutiveness. Marketers can use this effect to make consumers think a discount is bigger or smaller than it truly is, according to a study soon to be published in The Journal of Consumer Research by Keith Coulter of Clark University and Robin Coulter of the University of Connecticut.