A label indicating an old year of establishment improves evaluations of restaurants and shops serving traditional foods

This study examined whether the presence of product information focused on a past era (e.g., year of establishment) improved consumers’ evaluations of a shop serving traditional products when the label and shop were congruent in terms of temporal focus. Across five experiments, participants viewed and evaluated advertisements from traditional food restaurants and shops that showed an old year of establishment. They showed favorable evaluations of the restaurants and food shops more frequently when a label focused on the past was displayed than when the label was absent or when a label focused on the present was displayed. Subsequent experiments indicated that this labeling effect was strongest when the label and shop were consistent in terms of traditional culture such that the year of establishment on the label showed the Japanese era name (Japan’s traditional date format) and was accompanied by Japanese classic foods. Importantly, in this study, qualitative domains were consistently improved more often than were ratings of visit intention and expected taste. The results suggest that temporal congruence between the label and restaurants rated plays an essential role in ensuring that these advertisements are effective in improving positive evaluations.