Distance Brings Solace: The Impact of Embarrassment on Low Facial Prominence Preference

Abstract

Embarrassed consumers are motivated to avoid social attention or contact with others. However, the others in previous research refer to people in real life, excluding human images presented on promotional materials or product packaging. The current research indicates that the avoidance tendency induced by embarrassment exists not only for objectively existing people, but also for human images on promotional materials or products. Six experiments provide converging evidence that embarrassment causes consumers to prefer human images with low facial prominence. This effect is mediated by the need for interpersonal distance. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the impact of embarrassment on low facial prominence preference is more likely to occur for consumers with high public self-consciousness. Finally, the mediating effect of the need for interpersonal distance disappears when the focal character is displayed as a cartoon image, instead of a human.