Abstract
Consumers often feel embarrassed when buying products like condoms, hemorrhoid cream, and beriberi cream in crowded pharmacies. There is an interesting phenomenon in life: Some beriberi creams use the images of a “real foot”, while others use the images of a “cartoon foot.” Imagine if a young woman needed to go to a retail store for beriberi cream that would embarrass her, she would choose a “real foot image” or a “cartoon foot image” beriberi cream? It has been shown that the embarrassment of these products has a strong negative impact on consumer buying behavior. Previous researches have explored how changing packaging elements of embarrassing products (e.g., color/design/image placement) can effectively reduce consumer embarrassment. However, few have examined the impact of different image types of embarrassing product packaging (artificial vs. natural) with embarrassment. Therefore, this research explores the effect of image types (artificial vs. natural) on consumers’ willingness to purchase embarrassing products and reveals the mechanisms of the underlying effects. The results show that natural images can lead to lower purchase intention of embarrassing products when the advertisement uses first-person pronouns due to the mediating role played by negative body imagery. However, there is no significant difference in purchase intention between different image types in the third-person pronouns. Finally, this paper discusses its contributions and limitations.
Highlights
IntroductionAcademics have found consumers experiencing embarrassment when buying “embarrassing products” like condoms (Dahl et al, 2001), women’s care lotion (Lau-Gesk and Drolet, 2008), and so on
People always encounter some embarrassing products in life
These results suggest that, compared to artificial images, natural images can lead to a lower willingness to buy embarrassing products
Summary
Academics have found consumers experiencing embarrassment when buying “embarrassing products” like condoms (Dahl et al, 2001), women’s care lotion (Lau-Gesk and Drolet, 2008), and so on. Paying attention to consumer embarrassment can help enterprises to retain loyal customers and improve product sales and enterprise profits. Product packaging elements are an essential factor affecting consumer purchase behavior. Because the vast majority of consumers are reluctant to buy embarrassing products in retail stores, they will try to “hide their emotions” and hide their embarrassment (Isabella et al, 2015). To get rid of negative emotions, consumers end purchases quickly and flee stores (Londono et al, 2017).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
