Explorations of Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) have moved to the forefront of consumer research, as scholars examine its implications for ideation and conceptualization, data collection and analysis, and writing and publishing. Introducing this special section of the Journal of Consumer Research on GenAI and consumer research, the author calls for a critical—and self-critical—engagement with GenAI, calling on researchers to embrace its potential while remaining mindful of both its constraints and their own biases. The author concludes that, given GenAI’s rapid evolution, the insights in this special section remain provisional and may require reconsideration as the technology advances.

How do bilingual consumers process bilingual information? Prior research indicates that stimulus-related concepts (type of name translation and language emphasis) play a critical role. We extend this research by including language proficiency as a key person-related concept. When asking Chinese-English bilinguals to evaluate dual brand names, we find that proficient consumers prefer sound translation when the English name is emphasized but meaning translation when the Chinese name is emphasized. In contrast, less proficient bilinguals engage in semantic processing of the dual names. These results suggest that proficiency must be added as a key concept to a framework that addresses bilingual consumer environments.

Using classifiers—lexical items that depict perceptual and conceptual properties of objects—six cross-cultural experiments were conducted in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States to investigate how structural features of languages affect mental structures and, in turn, consumer behavior. Experiments 1–4 show how classifiers affect the perceived similarity between objects, attribute accessibility, and concept organization. Experiment 5 shows how classifier-based schemata result in inferences about product features. Experiment 6 provides evidence for the effect of classifiers on judgment and choice via assimilation and contrast processes and affect transfer. We discuss our findings in light of the Whorfian hypothesis and argue for the incorporation of structural components of languages into models of consumer behavior.

Using the context of advertising, packaging, and consumer choice, three experiments were conducted to test the predictions of gender schema theory that gender-schematic (sex-typed) individuals and gender-aschematic (non-sex-typed) individuals differ in the way they process and evaluate information related to gender. Results indicated strong sex effects, but the predicted sex-type effects were not obtained.

Time is a resource. As such, consumers have to make decisions regarding their use of time in the purchase and consumption of goods and services. Using prospect theory and mental accounting as theoretical frameworks, this article investigates whether consumers treat time like money when they make decisions. In a series of studies, we found that the value of consumers' time is not constant but depends on contextual characteristics of the decision situation. Our results also suggest that in deterministic situations, people make decisions involving time losses in a manner consistent with the convex loss function proposed by prospect theory. However, in decision making under conditions of risk, people seem to make risk-averse choices with respect to decisions in the domain of time in contrast to the risk-seeking behavior often found with respect to decisions involving losses of money. We discuss the nonfungibility of time as an explanation for the discrepancy between decisions involving time and those involving money.

Languages of the Asia-Pacific region, such as Chinese, are based on ideographic writing systems which are radically different from the alphabetic systems used in Western languages, such as English. We propose that structural differences between Chinese and English affect mental representations which, in turn, influence consumer memory of verbal information. Specifically, unaided brand recall should be differentially affected in Chinese and English when it is spoken compared with when it is written. Furthermore, recognition should be differentially affected in Chinese and English when brand names are learned auditorily compared with when they are learned visually. Results of a cross-cultural experiment conducted in China and in the United States confirm predictions for unaided brand recall and partially confirm predictions for recognition.

The inaugural issue of the Journal of Consumer Research (JCR) was published 50 years ago, in June 1974. The first issue was eclectic, covering a wide range of topics from consumer economics to psychological theory. This diversity reflected the Journal's broad sponsorship base, including seven of the now eleven sponsoring organizations, and continues to represent the multidisciplinary orientation of the Journal and the field. The then-nascent academic field of consumer research is now a well-established and thriving field due, in large part, to this journal. This 50th anniversary special issue is a testament to the scholars who have published here over five productive decades. This issue includes conceptual and empirical articles, reviews of research areas and new insights, and historical as well as futuristic perspectives. Some articles reflect on the Journal over the years and the academic discipline of consumer research, considering the relevance, innovativeness, and impact of research in our field. Others explore important consumer theories or emerging marketplace phenomena. We structure the articles using editorial essays on five key JCR themes: consumer information processing and behavioral decision-making (Schmitt), society and culture (Cotte), innovation and emerging topics (Stephen), consumer research methods (Wood), and the Journal itself (Giesler). These essays are based on interviews with prominent consumer scholars who have shaped consumer research and made significant contributions over the years. They provide both a reflection on where we have been and a perspective on where we are going. In looking back at 50 years of research and insight for academic researchers, marketing practitioners, and other stakeholders, we celebrate the diversity of ideas, constructs, and methodologies that characterize our field. In this very special issue, we invite you to join us in the intellectual celebration. Happy Birthday, JCR!

Strange things happen to incoming editors. First a vague uneasiness about the state of our field. Then a suspicion that there might be something to the jibes about the navel-gazing nature of consumer research. We sometimes struggle to translate Journal of Consumer Research (JCR) findings to practitioners or to explain manuscript titles and abstracts that are esoteric to the point of academic parody. We see pressing problems in the world that have their root in consumption practices, and yet much of our work meanders through a burdensome review process without any urgency because, frankly, it’s not clear how the research offers any novel insight or practical solution. There seems no reason to rush. And through an interminable review process, ironically, the takeaways become more simplistic—something that doesn’t surprise anybody—while the vocabulary and diagrams become so complex that it’s hard to see how they relate to any real-world situation. The mantle of editorship wraps us in these niggling doubts and, after a year on the job, we can’t help but speak out.

The Journal of Consumer Research (JCR) is not only the premier outlet for the best scholarship in consumer research. It is also the intellectual home of the global consumer research community. In sustaining that home, the ideals of the journal include publishing insights gained from a variety of perspectives on critical consumer-relevant issues, from diverse theories and methodologies to substantive domains. As a team of editors, we see our role as nurturing, building, protecting, and further strengthening our intellectual home. And we want to build up JCR as a platform of insights to the world by better translating our research and showing how it is important to others; we want to invite the broader world into our home, to share the insights created within our walls. To become the stewards of JCR during a pandemic unlike any we’ve known in our lifetime demands that we think about how community is fostered, even in a socially distanced world. Does JCR—as our intellectual home—connect us? Is our digital space compelling enough? Do community members find it easy and exciting to stay connected to the new ideas we work hard to develop? Does our intellectual home feel equally welcoming and transparent to all members of our community? COVID-19 has shown us the power and importance of home. In 2020, home renovation has been popular, and we, too, have been thinking it might be the ideal time for a little updating.