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/ Technology News / 2007 / November 2007 / November 13, 2007 When consumers treat products as people |
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Consumers often treat an inanimate product as a person when they feel that the object actually has human qualities or traits, according to researchers from the University of Toronto and the University of Chicago.
Washington, November 13 : Consumers often treat an inanimate product as a person when they feel that the object actually has human qualities or traits, according to researchers from the University of Toronto and the University of Chicago.
"We sometimes see cars as loyal companions going so far as to name them. We argue with, cajole, and scold malfunctioning computers and engines," say University of Toronto researcher Pankaj Aggarwal and his fellow Ann L. McGill from the University of Chicago.
"We find that if the product has a feature that is typically associated with a human prototype, then people are more likely to humanize the product, and also evaluate it more positively," said the researchers.
According to them, people are more likely to buy into the idea of a "family" of products if all the products are differently sized, with some products representing "parents" and others representing a teenager and a small kid.
The researchers said that non-identical products presented as "twins" fared worse in evaluations than identical objects presented as twins during the study, to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
The study has also shown that people are more likely to link products with positive traits with one another, as compared to objects with rebellious or negative traits.
The researchers said that identical looking objects presented as "good twins" were better liked than the same products presented as "evil twins" during the study.
"Efforts by marketers to anthropomorphize products may be viewed as shifting the category of evaluation from product to human, and more specifically, to particular human categories such as friends, helpers, families, or spokespeople," they said.
ANI
