Many different factors affect brand homogeneity, including the different products associated with a brand, how they are made, and how they are branded. How does the perceived homogeneity of a brand’s offered products, in turn, affect consumers’ experiences with those products? Nine experiments reveal that consumers have more polarized judgments of product experiences when the sampled products are perceived to belong to more homogeneous brands. When a consumption experience is positive, the consumer has an even more positive experience when they think the sampled product came from a homogeneous brand; however, when a consumption experience is negative, the consumer has an even more negative experience when they think the sampled product came from a homogeneous brand. This polarization occurs because the individual product inherits the brand-level quality of perceived internal consistency—when a brand seems homogeneous (i.e., consisting of homogeneous products), consumers also perceive any individual product from the brand as similarly consisting of homogeneous ingredients or parts. We suggest that brand homogeneity leads to selective processing of individual product experiences, which makes products seem more coherent, products rated faster, and ratings of different product ingredients or features more highly correlated. The perception that all of the parts within the individual sampled product are homogeneous in quality polarizes judgments of the product experience.

许多不同的因素会影响品牌同质性，包括与品牌相关的不同产品、它们的制造方式以及品牌化方式。品牌所提供产品的感知同质性又如何影响消费者对这些产品的体验？九个实验表明，当抽样产品被认为属于更同质的品牌时，消费者对产品体验的判断更加两极分化。当消费体验是积极的时，当消费者认为抽样产品来自同质品牌时，他们会有更积极的体验；然而，当消费体验是负面的时，当消费者认为抽样产品来自同质品牌时，他们会有更负面的体验。这种两极分化的发生是因为单个产品继承了感知内部一致性的品牌级质量——当一个品牌看起来同质（即由同质产品组成）时，消费者也会认为该品牌的任何单个产品同样由同质成分或部件组成。我们认为品牌同质化导致对个别产品体验的选择性处理，这使得产品看起来更连贯，产品评级更快，不同产品成分或特征的评级更高度相关。认为单个抽样产品中的所有部件在质量上都是同质的，这使对产品体验的判断产生了两极分化。消费者还认为该品牌的任何单个产品都由同质成分或部件组成。我们认为品牌同质化导致对个别产品体验的选择性处理，这使得产品看起来更连贯，产品评级更快，不同产品成分或特征的评级更高度相关。认为单个抽样产品中的所有部件在质量上都是同质的，这使对产品体验的判断产生了两极分化。消费者还认为该品牌的任何单个产品都由同质成分或部件组成。我们认为品牌同质化导致对个别产品体验的选择性处理，这使得产品看起来更连贯，产品评级更快，不同产品成分或特征的评级更高度相关。认为单个抽样产品中的所有部件在质量上都是同质的，这使对产品体验的判断产生了两极分化。