Cuteness or Coolness—How Does Different Anthropomorphic Brand Image Accelerate Consumers’ Willingness to Buy Green Products?

Abstract

Green consumption is an important component of environmental protection behavior. The behaviors of individual consumers are having unprecedented impacts on the sustainable development of a green society. Previous research has discussed how anthropomorphic beneficiaries of environmental behavior (e.g., nature/earth) impact green consumption behavior and compared the influence of anthropomorphic presence and absence on consumers. However, few have examined the impact of different types of anthropomorphic carriers with environmental benefits (e.g., green product/brand) on consumers. This research explores the matching effects on the willingness of consumers to buy green products between the anthropomorphic image of the brand (cute vs. cool) and advertising appeals (self-interest vs. altruism); in addition, the underlying mechanisms of matching effects are revealed. The results show that, under the self-interested advertising appeal, the cool anthropomorphic image can lead to higher purchase intention of green products due to the mediating role played by the brand capacity trust. However, when exposed to altruistic advertising appeal, the cute anthropomorphic image can enhance brand goodwill trust of consumers and make consumers more willing to buy green products. Finally, this paper discusses the contributions and limitations.

How different advertising appeals (green vs. non-green) impact consumers' willingness to pay a premium for green agricultural products

“…To start, advertising appeals were typically divided into emotional/rational appeals, egoistic/altruistic appeals, and concrete/abstract appeals (Kareklas et al, 2014;Yang et al, 2015;Hornik et al, 2017), and were less frequently analyzed from a green/non-green. Next, analyses focused more on click-through rate, word-of-mouth, customer response, and readiness to buy than on willingness to pay a premium (Green and Peloza, 2014;Kim et al, 2020;Lu et al, 2021). There were fewer assessments from the standpoint of green agricultural products, and the majority of earlier studies focused on batteries, paper towels, beverages, laundry detergents, and autos (Schuhwerk and Lefkoff-Hagius, 1995;Kong and Zhang, 2014;Yang et al, 2015;Lu et al, 2021).…”

“…Next, analyses focused more on click-through rate, word-of-mouth, customer response, and readiness to buy than on willingness to pay a premium (Green and Peloza, 2014;Kim et al, 2020;Lu et al, 2021). There were fewer assessments from the standpoint of green agricultural products, and the majority of earlier studies focused on batteries, paper towels, beverages, laundry detergents, and autos (Schuhwerk and Lefkoff-Hagius, 1995;Kong and Zhang, 2014;Yang et al, 2015;Lu et al, 2021). Since they had no purpose other than to indirectly harm customers' health, research on green agricultural products was required (Ottman, 2010).…”

“…Related research based on information processing fluency theory suggested that under egoistic advertising appeal, cool anthropomorphic images could lead to higher purchase intention for green products due to the mediating role of trust in brand competence. However, under altruistic advertising appeal, cute anthropomorphic images could enhance consumers' trust in brand goodwill and make them more willing to purchase green products (Lu et al, 2021).…”

Advertising strategies and sustainable development: The effects of green advertising appeals and subjective busyness on green purchase intention

“…Consumers with high subjective busyness have established positive beliefs about their lifestyle, value, and image, and thus pay more attention to the maintenance and enhancement of the current positive self‐image and self‐concept (Kressmann et al, 2006). The other‐benefiting appeal emphasizes the environmental benefits of green products, demonstrating the contribution of buying green products to the long‐term sustainable development of the environment and society (Lu et al, 2021), as well as implicates social status signals (DiDonato & Jakubiak, 2016). These sustainable attributes and symbolic meanings of green products conveyed by the other‐benefiting appeal are consistent with subjectively busy consumers' self‐evaluation as high status, valuable, important, and focusing on long‐term benefits (Kim et al, 2021).…”

The cuter, the better? The impact of cuteness on intention to purchase AI voice assistants: A moderated serial-mediation model

“…Shibata (2004) concluded that "cute type animals" and "imaginary cute type animals" performed the most effective function in preventing people's unfavorable associations. Therefore, cute appearance of product design is usually an important factor to promote the intention to purchase (Lu et al, 2021).…”