CONGRUITY THEORY
Schema congruity theories propose that cues (e.g., brand
names) state that some degree of congruity has a relationship with the level of
processing used by the consumers. If there is some degree of incongruity
than the consumer will process brand extension more positively. However, the
consumer evaluation will not be that positive if the (1) cues are congruent or
extremely incongruent .How consumer makes judgment depends on structural congruity between
event and schema. If new events are similar to the existing schema it would
have a positive evaluation familiarity, acceptability, and liking. On the other
hand if the new events are “incongruent”, then it would lead to evaluation
process that may have positive or negative results . In this
context, when one sees a Pierre Cardin clothing on display with no price tag
he will assume that the displayed clothing is expensive. In this case, the
consumer has drawn the conclusion from schema (past experience) that
Pierre Cardin products are expensive and prestigious .