Detrimental impact of contagious disease cues on consumer preference for anthropomorphic products

Despite the extensive use of anthropomorphism strategy in marketing practices, little research attention has been given to the environmental factors that influence consumer preference for anthropomorphic products. This research examines when and why contagious disease cues can influence consumer preference for anthropomorphic products. The results from four empirical experiments consistently show that when exposed to contagious disease cues, consumers exhibit a lower preference for anthropomorphic products (Study 1), which is mediated by social withdrawal (Study 2). Furthermore, our findings demonstrate that this detrimental effect would be attenuated for products in digital (vs. physical) format (Study 3), or in regions with low (vs. high) local severity of the contagious disease (Study 4). These findings contribute to the literature on contagious diseases and anthropomorphism and offer important managerial implications. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11002-022-09614-x.