Anthropomorphized vs objectified brands: which brand version is more loved?

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to deal with the role of the human metaphor (anthropomorphism) and consumers’ liking for the humanized version of the brand as antecedents of three key components of brand love: self-brand integration, positive emotional connection and feelings of anticipated separation distress. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 399 consumers provided information about a brand from a stated list of 16 brands of clothing. Findings Both anthropomorphism and consumers’ liking for the humanized brand have positive effects on specific components of brand love. The results confirm that brand anthropomorphism is only desirable when the humanized version of the brand is attractive for consumers. Research limitations/implications A potential shortcoming is the qualitative technique employed to observe anthropomorphic thought. Collecting ratings of anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic traits could be viewed as a method more easily applied in market research surveys. Practical implications Managers have to control how consumers imagine the brand as a human entity because it affects brand love. For example, by tracking consumers’ opinions and traits of those people associated with the brand and brand user stereotypes can condition consumers’ imagination of the humanized brand. Originality/value Compared to the limited number of studies about the relationship between anthropomorphism and brand love, this study focuses on the effects of anthropomorphism as a process, and not as a personal trait, on brand love. It also relies on consumers’ imagination instead of brand personification strategies to stimulate anthropomorphism.

The anthropomorphic brand logo and its effect on perceived functional performance

“…By introducing a novel construct of logo anthropomorphism this research contributes to the growing body of literature on brand anthropomorphism. Despite the growing volume of research on brand anthropomorphism there is a lack of agreement surrounding the measurement of its effects on consumer behaviour: some research has found positive effects (Aggarwal and McGill 2007;Delgado-Ballester, Palazón, and Peláez 2019;Rauschnabel and Ahuvia 2014), other research has found negative effects (Puzakova, Rocereto, and Kwak 2013;Kwak, Puzakova, and Rocereto 2015). Our research provides new insights to the testing of anthropomorphism in this context.…”

Pengembangan Desain Karakter Cookies Pada Gim Cookie Run Kingdom

“…Ballester, dkk pada penelitiannya mengatakan bahwa, selain relasi kedekatan terhadap objek, desain visual sebuah objek yang mengalami antropomorfisme akan sangat berpengaruh kepada kecintaan konsumen terhadap objek [4]. Hal tersebut kemudian diperkuat oleh Wahab dan Nugroho bahwa teknik antropomorfisme yang dikombinasikan dengan gaya moe anime manga Jepang cocok jika ditargetkan pada pangsa pasar remaja [5], yang kemudian dibuktikan kembali oleh penelitian yang menyatakan bahwa gim populer Arknights juga menggunakan teknik desain karakter yang sama sebagai salah satu elemen penjual pada gaya desainnya.…”

“…Antropomorfisme memiliki makna proses mengaitkan karakteristik, fitur, motivasi, niat, atau emosi mirip manusia dengan hal-hal yang bukan manusia, misalnya hewan, fenomena alam dan supernatural, benda, ataupun konsep abstrak. Penggunaan teknik antropomorfisme dengan desain yang tepat dan sesuai akan membuat sebuah desain dapat lebih diterima, dicintai dan disukai oleh konsumen [4].…”

Think versus feel: two dimensions of brand anthropomorphism

“…Consumer behavior research has explored various consequences of anthropomorphism from two perspectives. First, a majority of literature examines how anthropomorphism influences consumers’ attitude or reaction toward product or brand, such as changes in people’s attitude toward a brand (Aggarwal and McGill, 2007), brand evaluation after product wrong doings (Puzakova et al , 2013), persuasiveness of message (Touré-Tillery and McGill, 2015), risk perception (Kim and McGill, 2011), comparative judgment strategy (Huang et al , 2019), donation behavior (Zhou et al , 2018) and brand love (Delgado-Ballester et al , 2019). Second, the other cohort of studies investigate how anthropomorphism impacts consumer themselves, such as mitigation of social exclusion (Mourey et al , 2017) and consumer vitality (Chen et al , 2018).…”