PERSONIFICATION IN ADVERTISING: Using a Visual Metaphor to Trigger

Anthropomorphism
Author(s): Marjorie Delbaere, Edward F. McQuarrie and Barbara J. Phillips
Source: Journal of Advertising , Spring 2011, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Spring 2011), pp. 121-130
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

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 PERSONIFICATION IN ADVERTISING

Using a Visual Metaphor to Trigger Anthropomorphism

Marjorie Delbaere, Edward F. McQuarrie, and Barbara J. Phillips

ABSTRACT: All forms of personification draw on anthropomorphism, the propensity to attribute huma
objects. In an experiment, we show that visual personification—pictures in an ad that metaphorically r
as engaged in some kind of human behavior—can trigger anthropomorphism. Such personification, wh
ad, appears to lead to more positive emotions, more positive attributions of brand personality, and gre
Implications for advertisers are discussed.

During the 2007 Super Bowl broadcast, General Motors un can encourage consumers to anthropom
personification
Once
veiled a commercial to introduce GM's power train engaged, this anthropomorphism makes an e
warranty.
response
In the ad, a robot working on an assembly line at more probable, and increases attributions of
a GM plant
personality.
is fired after dropping a screw. The robot's repeated attemptsWith brand emotions and personality
likingit
to find other employment prove fruitless until finally, for the brand shifts upward.
jumps
off a bridge into an icy river. Suddenly, we see the We also
robot show that nothing so vivid or dramati
wake
up; it was all a nightmare. The voice-over tells us enactment of suicide is required for personification
that everyone
at GM is "obsessed with quality" these days. measurable impact on consumer response to brand
Although this ad was lauded by some (Williams in the2007),
experiments to be reported, the positive ef
GM immediately began fielding complaints from accomplished
consum by subtle visual alterations to static
that represent
ers and advocate groups calling for this "robot suicide" ad to the product as engaged in human
be pulled from the air and from Web sites. Less The
thantacit and implicit nature of personification is am
a week
features
after the commercial first aired, GM agreed to modify that
the ad may recommend it to advertisers wh
to remove the suicide scene (Farhi 2007). evade consumer resistance to more obvious attempts
It may seem incredible that a public bombardedtodaily
the anthropomorphic
with tendency, as seen, for instan
that employ
images of real human beings facing famine, terrorism, and warspokes-characters.
would object to an ad that humorously depicts the removal of
a defective piece of factory equipment. However, we can more PERSONIFICATION
readily understand the powerful response to this advertisement
Historically,
once we grasp the nature of the persuasive technique beingpersonification has been defined as a
speechbecause
used: personification. This rhetorical device is powerful in which inanimate objects are characterized in
it taps into the deeply embedded human cognitiveof human
bias attributes, thus representing the object as
referred
and feeling
to as anthropomorphism—the tendency to attribute humanperson (Ricoeur 1977). These human at
qualities to things. can include any aspect or element of "intelligent,
beings,visual
This paper focuses on personification created through like beliefs, desires, intentions, goals, plan
logical
images in print advertising. We demonstrate that states,
this kind of powers, and will" (Turner 1987, p. 1
reason that personification can be comprehended by co
is because of anthropomorphism—the cognitive bias w
people
Marjorie Delbaere (Ph.D., University of Manitoba) is are prone to attribute human characteristics t
an associate
professor of marketing, Department of Marketing, Edwards School
In terms of a model of communication, personifi
of Business, University of Saskatchewan. a message characteristic—an option that can be ad
message,
Edward F. McQuarrie (Ph.D., University of Cincinnati) while anthropomorphism is an inherent
is a profes
characteristic—one
sor of marketing, Leavy School of Business, Santa Clara University. that allows this particular messag
to be effective.
Barbara J. Phillips (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is a
However,
Rawlco Scholar in Advertising and professor of marketing, Departrhetorical personification goes beyond
ment of Marketing, Edwards School of Business, into anthropomorphism
University of because it also invokes metap
Saskatchewan. processing. The comparison of an object to a hum
Journal of Advertising, vol. 40, no. 1 (Spring 2011), pp. 121—130.
© 2011 American Academy of Advertising. All rights reserved.
ISSN 0091-3367 / 2011 $9-50 + 0.00.
DOI 10.275 3/JOA0091 -3367400108

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 The Journal of Advertising

FIGURE 1 Almost all of the currently popular advertising spoke

Plus Personification Ad characters were invented and introduced to the public during
or before the 1960s (Dotz and Husain 2003). The intro
duction of new spokescharacters has slowed to a trickle, as
Helps Dry Skin contemporary consumers appear to find colorful cartoon char
acters to be both unsophisticated and irrelevant to complex
modern buying decisions (Shalit 2000). As consumers now
deem spokescharacters to be too obvious (or "cheesy," to use
the vernacular), advertisers are confronted with a dilemma.
How can the benefits of anthropomorphism be realized, now
that consumer ennui with spokescharacters has rendered
this time-honored approach increasingly less effective? In
this context, personification emerges as a logical alternative,
tacit where spokescharacters are explicit, and able to harness
the benefits of metaphorical processing in ways that cartoon
characters cannot.
Plus
Skin Cream
Personification as Rhetorical Figure

Personification, like all other metaphors, is a member of the

constructs a metaphor, that is, the object is compared category
to a of expressions known formally as rhetorical figures.
person in order to transfer some personal attribute or In general, a rhetorical figure may be defined as an artful de
human
viation from expectation in the style of an ad that is also not
quality to the object. For example, "the drums were weeping
judged
today" asserts that drums are like people to emphasize theas an error by consumers (McQuarrie and Mick 1996).
For
sadness of their sound (Turner 1987). Lakoff and Johnson example, the moisturizer ad in Figure 1 deviates from
expectations. The consumer encountering this ad has to solve
(1980) identify personification as one of the most common
and instinctive metaphorical expressions because theashared
little puzzle to make sense of it, because the ad meaning
goes beyond a literal interpretation ("Why does the package
and basic experience of humanness provides an opportunity
to express many different ideas by comparing things tohave a straw stuck into its dispenser?"). However, consumers
living
have encountered these kinds of deviations in ads many times
entities. Fundamentally, then, personification is a particular
kind of metaphor. Consequently, understanding the impact before
ofand have learned to comprehend this style of picture as
personification in advertising requires a dual model, abecause
visual metaphor ("oh, it's like the package is drinking water
consumer response to personification is necessarily anfrom a glass").
amal
Once
gam of anthropomorphism and metaphorical processing, as the puzzle is resolved in this way, consumers may infer
developed below. that Plus is as full of moisture as if it had just sucked down
a glass of water. Such inferences can be considered to be an
Anthropomorphism in Advertising elaboration of the ad's content. A lengthy stream of research
has established that rhetorical figurers do induce higher levels
Anthropomorphism is "seeing the human in non-human of elaboration, relative to equivalent ads that lack a rhetori
forms" (Aggarwal and McGill 2007, p. 468). Some people
cal figure (e.g., McQuarrie and Mick 1996; Mothersbaugh,
identify human faces in the clouds, others attribute Huhmann,
human and Franke 2002; Toncar and Munch 2001). The
motivations to their pets, others name their cars, and soelaboration
forth. effect has been shown to be stronger for visually
presented
Advertisers have attempted to trigger anthropomorphism for rhetorical figures (McQuarrie and Mick 1999),
more than one hundred years, relying on consumers' expo
including visual metaphors (McQuarrie and Phillips 2005).
sure to fable and folklore to promote understanding ofOf
their
particular relevance to this study is the finding that the
attempts (Hill 2002). One of the most explicit attempts to
elaboration elicited by rhetorical figures tends to reduce coun
incite anthropomorphism, with a long history in advertis
terarguing, and perhaps source derogation as well (Huhmann,
Mothersbaugh, and Franke 2002).
ing, is the spokescharacter. A spokescharacter is an animate
Personification, understood as a visual metaphor and a
being or animated object that is used to promote a product
(Phillips 1996); examples include Mr. Peanut, the Pillsbury
rhetorical figure, holds promise as a way of overcoming the
Doughboy, the M&M chocolate candy characters, and the
problems now associated with spokespersons and other ex
Michelin Man. plicit attempts to trigger anthropomorphism. As a rhetorical

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 Spring 2011 123

figure—a tacit and implicit attempt at persuasion—ads with connections. Logically, then, triggering an anthropomorphic
personification may be less susceptible to counterarguing response could support both of these goals.
and less subject to source derogation than the use of cartoon
H2: Brands featured in ads that use personification will
characters, animated figures, or other explicit attempts to get
elicit (a) more attributions of brand personality, and (b) more
consumers to anthropomorphize in response to the ad.
emotional response than brands featured in ads that do not use
With the example in Figure 1 as illustration, we can de
personification.
fine the elements of metaphorical, visual personification as
follows: To the extent that the personality attributions and emo
tional responses are positive, then, ceteris paribus, brand
1. Objects in a two-dimensional, photorealistic image
attitude will be more positive for personification ads as well.
are arranged in such a manner that one perceptual
Some prior research supports this proposition (Aggarwal and
response may be to see a portrayal of some human
McGill 2007). The argument rests on perceptual fluency, which
action by an object;
is the ease with which consumers can identify and process
2. The portrayal of human action is provided without
the physical features of a stimulus, such as shape (Lee and
any object in the picture being represented as a char
Labroo 2004; Labroo, Dhar, and Schwartz 2007). Thus, when
acter (e.g., by giving it a face);
consumers engage in anthropomorphism, they process the ad
3- The portrayal of human action, once perceived,
that triggered this response more easily. This fluency occurs
simultaneously invokes a metaphor in which the
because consumers have a lot of experience and knowledge of
particular human action is relevant for an attribution
human beings, their actions, and their personalities, and the
of qualities to the product/brand.
accessibility of these schemas helps them to comprehend what
In sum, we propose that this kind of artfully deviant ar they see in the ad. The pleasure and ease associated with fluency
rangement of visual elements, as seen in Figure 1, is sufficient then lends a positive cast to the emotional responses and brand
to trigger an anthropomorphic response. No words are needed. personality attributions that follow from anthropomorphism.
Nor does anything so explicit as a cartoon face have to be In consequence, summative measures of advertising outcomes,
pasted on the product. such as brand attitude, are expected to be more positive.

H1: Photorealistic pictures in an ad that show a product en

H3: Brands featured in ads with personification will be liked
gaged in human behavior (i.e., a visual metaphor of personifica more than brands featured in ads with no personification.
tion) can trigger anthropomorphism in the absence of a verbal
cue and without use of an animated character. Obtaining an unconfounded test of H3 presents some dif
ficulties, however. Recall that personification is expected to
produce positive advertising outcomes via two distinct routes:
Advertising Outcomes of Personification
by triggering anthropomorphism, and by means of artful de
Few marketing studies have explored the effects of anthro viation, a property it shares with all figurative metaphors. This
pomorphizing a product's form on consumer response. Based dual route presents both empirical and theoretical challenges.
on the scant literature on spokescharacter advertising, the If we were simply to demonstrate that ads with personifica
outcomes of personification might include (1) increased at tion yield a more positive brand attitude than control ads that
tributions of brand personality, and (2) increased emotional lack both personification and metaphor, then we cannot know
connections with the brand. The primary benefit of spokes whether this finding is a result of personification triggering
character advertising is thought to be the emotional connection metaphoric processing, or a result of personification triggering
that the character builds between the brand and the consumer, anthropomorphism, or some combination of the two.
often for low-involvement products where little emotional con A possible solution is to include metaphors that are not
nection exists naturally (Phillips 1996). Qualitative research personification metaphors within the study design as addi
indicates that spokescharacters positively influence both the tional control stimuli. For example, the ad in Figure 1 could
emotions expressed in response to the characters and percep be redrawn so as not to represent human behavior directly;
tions of the brand's personality (Callcott and Phillips 1996). instead, water could be shown pouring into the bottle straight
These intermediate outcomes of anthropomorphism would from a faucet. The same metaphorical comparison would be
appear to be beneficial to advertisers. Previous studies indicate invoked ("There's a lot of moisture in Plus skin cream"), but

that developing a personality for a brand builds strong, well now there would be no personification. Such a nonpersonifica
liked brands (Aaker 1997); likewise, another way to build tion metaphor might also produce positive outcomes, relative
strong brands is to foster an emotional relationship between to a nonmetaphorical, nonpersonification ad, but would not
consumer and brand (Fournier 1998). Human relationships achieve the dual benefits of personification, which draws on
are based on attributions of personality and on emotional both metaphorical and anthropomorphic processing.

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 The Journal of Advertising

The expectation, then, is that a personification metaphor McQuarrie (2004). Within each pair, one metaphor
would outperform an otherwise equivalent nonpersonification to the definition of personification given earlier
metaphor on a measure of brand attitude, in view of its double the authors. The image portion (but not the text)
benefit. It is important to test the source of this advantage, stimuli reproduced in Figure 2 provide an example
however, via a mediational analysis in the spirit of Baron and of personification and nonpersonification images
Kenny (1986). Specifically, any advantage of personification
metaphors with respect to brand attitude should be a func Dependent Measures
tion only of the greater impact that personification metaphors
have on creating emotional response and attributions of brand Participants rated each image on two 5-point scal
personality, relative to nonpersonification metaphors. If there by "It's as if the product was alive/The product i
were still to be an advantage of personification metaphors, as an inanimate object," and "It suggests the prod
relative to nonpersonification metaphors, after partialling person / There is no suggestion the product is a per
out the effect of positive brand attributions and emotions, mine whether participants detected the metaphori
then the theoretical explanation of personification laid out of the ads, they completed a 5-point scale, anchor
in this paper would be incomplete. Alternatively, the meth clever" versus "straightforward, matter of fact," w
odology might be flawed, as for instance, by deliberately used as a manipulation check of "figurativeness"
incorporating weak or not particularly deviant nonpersoni ies of rhetorical figures (e.g., Mothersbaugh, Huh
fication metaphors (Phillips and McQuarrie 2009), and thus Franke 2002). Open-ended questions then asked
stacking the deck. Hence, we test the following mediational to identify the primary message of each ad.
hypothesis:
Results
H4: The impact of personification metaphors on brand atti
tude, relative to nonpersonification metaphors, is mediated by
Participants readily anthropomorphized the personification
the impact of personification on emotional response and brand
images, supporting HI. They were significantly more likely
personality attributions.
to agree that the personification images portrayed the product
In summary, based on the existing literature on anthropo as alive personification
(X . = 3.79, X. 7. .visual
= 2.03, t = 25.72,
metaphor 7 7
morphism and spokescharacters in advertising, it seems likely p < .001), and suggested it was a perso
that if consumers can be cajoled into thinking about a brand in X . . , = 1.67, t = 20.65, p < -001
visual metaphor 7 7 r °
human terms by means of metaphorical personification, they pictures were perce
will be more likely to make a variety of personality attribu istic of metaphors
tions concerning it and make more emotional connections to identified as having
the brand. In turn, because of the positive bias created by the
underlying fluency processes, these emotions and personality
MAIN STUDY
attributions are likely to be positive, and will be manifest as
a positive shift in brand attitude. Participants and Procedure

PILOT STUDY A total of 188 undergraduate students received

containing advertisements and rating scales; one p
was dropped
The purpose of the pilot was to examine whether due to excessive missing data, leavin
personifica
tion executed visually in an ad would trigger analysis.
anthropomorphic
The instructions stated that participants wo
responses in the absence of other visual or verbal cues.
set of ads for new brands not yet on the market and
Based on examination of a sample of hundreds of print
responses ads,determine in part whether any of t
would
brands would
four different personification ads across four different actually be launched.
product
categories were selected for pilot testing; the use
Theof four
first addif
in the booklet was not part of the exp
ferent ads ensured that the results could not be attributed
design, but simply an example to acquaint particip
to a particular product, picture, or message. To"rough
the prepare
andthe
unfinished" character of the ads to b
stimuli, we first removed all ad text and any Participants
logos; we then
then saw the four experimental ads one
added a plain text product identifier (e.g., "snack bar").
and, with the We
ad visible on a facing page, rated ea
constructed four pairs of these images by matching two
a series of actual
scales. They were then shown the four
ad images. Each image pair had the same product identifier
and rated them on another set of scales. After com
and all eight images took the form of a visual metaphor as
variety of individual difference measures, participan
dismissed.
discussed in McQuarrie and Mick (1999) and Phillips and

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 Spring 2011 125

FIGURE 2
Mills Personification and Matching Nonpersonification Metaphor Ads

The Perfect Combination The Perfect Combination

f };
Ytu\U5^ New!

v
B*r»
1*; _ .
froiuTM

i
Mills Mills
Fruit & Nut Bars Fruit & Nut Bars

Stimulus Development that "every brand builds up a distinct personality by means

its ads—a set of subtle associations. And different brands have
A professional artist worked with the eight images different
tested personalities." They then completed 24 5-point rating
in the pilot. The four products advertised were moisturizer
scales anchored by "not at all descriptive/extremely descrip
(Figure 1), a snack bar (Figure 2), a snack mix, and bleach.
tive." Each scale consisted of a modifier drawn from either the
In the experiment, three ad versions were created for each of
five-factor model of Aaker (1997) or the seven-factor expanded
these products, one where the image used personification, one
model of Ambroise et al. (2005). The complete list is given
where the image used another kind of visual metaphor, in and
thea Appendix; examples include "charming," "honest,"
third version where the only image was a large photo of the
"sensual," and "tough." In contrast to much previous research
product package. For each version, a headline was added on
above
brand personality, our interest lies not in the factor struc
the picture and a fictitious brand name and productture
identi
of the 24 items, nor in profiling the specific personality
fier were added below the picture. Thus, all the ad versions
of individual brands (which were all fictitious, and thus had
in a set make the same verbal claim, one that does not prime
no brand equity at the outset), but with the degree to which
anthropomorphism (Table 1). brands exposed under the three different experimental condi
In the personification condition, the ads containedtions
photoacquired any personality at all. To this end, initial analyses
realistic pictures of products engaged in human behavior (ason the average of the 24 items (coefficient OC = .93).
focused
explained in Table 1). In the visual metaphor—only condition,
The third dependent measure was taken after each ad was
the ads contained a visual metaphor that provided the same a second time. Here participants were told: "Some
presented
benefit or claim as the personification ad, but without using
times an ad tries to evoke an emotional response so that the
personification. Finally, the control ads had neither personifica
advertised brand will be associated with that emotion. But
tion nor any other metaphor but presented only the headline
not all ads seek an emotional response, and different brands
and the package shot. try to associate themselves with different emotions." Fourteen
emotions selected from the positive scales compiled by Bruner,
Dependent Measures James, and Hensel (2001) were then presented, preceded by
the stem, "to what extent did you feel each of these emotions
Participants were asked to give their reaction to the advertised
in response to this ad?" The six-point scales were anchored by
brand on three 7-point scales anchored by "positive/negative,"
"not at all/very strongly" (see the Appendix). As with brand
"I liked/disliked it," and "very good/bad product." personality,
These our primary interest is not whether a participant
items were averaged to create a measure of brand attitude
experiences any particular emotion in response to a given treat
(coefficient (X = .94). ment condition, but how much emotion is experienced in the
Next, participants were asked to give specific impressions
aggregate across different treatment conditions. Initial analyses
they might have of the advertised brand and were reminded
use the average of the 14 items (coefficient Ct = .95).

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 The Journal of Advertising

TABLE I
A Description of the Experimental Ads Used in Study 2
Rhetorical

personification Rhetorical figure

Brand name Product Headline image image Control ad image
Plus Moisturizer "Helps dry skin" Moisturizer bottle Moisturizer bottle Moisturizer bottle
drinking water being filled with
from a straw water from a faucet
Mills Fruit and nut bars "The perfect Fruit and nut each Fruits and nut Box of fruit and nut
combination" wearing wedding arranged on a bars
rings necklace
Landers Snack mix "For a light snack" Crispy snack sitting Crispy snack replaces Bag of snack mix
on a lounge chair hot-air balloon
Excel Bleach Bottle of bleach
"Gets shirts really Shirt pouring bleach Shirts replace street
white" into washing lights
machine

Moderators
personification metaphorical, nonpersonification metaphorical,
and the nonpersonification, nonmetaphorical control treat
The rationale for including moderator variables was to deter
ment. Within the MANOVA, the Helmert contrasts com
mine the extent to which any hypothesized effects involving
pare the personification metaphor to the nonpersonification
personification might depend on individual differences. Par
metaphor, and then compare the mean of both metaphorical
ticipants completed the eight-item Susceptibility to Interpertreatments to the control treatment mean.
sonal Influence scale of Bearden, Netemeyer, and Teel (1989);
Subsequently, the moderator variables were each analyzed
high-scoring participants may be more responsive to personi
in a 2 X 3 two-factor MANOVA (scaled measures were split at
fication appeals, as they are to testimonials (Martin, Wentzel,
the median). Here the test of interest concerns the interaction
and Tomczak 2008). Next was a four-item loneliness measure
between the individual difference variable and the treatment
(Hughes et al. 2004); feelings of social isolation might make
conditions.
a participant more eager to seek a relationship with a personi
fied brand (Epley et al. 2008). Finally, a common stereotype
Results
is that young women are more interpersonally oriented than
young men, which implies that personification appeals may
Treatment Effects
be differentially effective across genders.
The average brand personality score was significantly higher
Design for the personification treatment versus the metaphor-only
treatment, X ., . metaphor
personification , = 2.94,
7 visual X. . , only
metaphor , = 2.78,
The implemented design is analogous to a Latin square. Each i7(l,186) = 8.47,< .005. Likewise, the two metaphor
participant saw only one version from any given ad set, but treatments generated a significantly higher brand personality
saw one ad for each of the four brands. Two ads were controls, score as compared with the control treatment, Xcontrol = 2.28,
one presented a personification metaphor, and one presented F(l,186)= 195.66,p < .001. It does not seem likely that this
a nonpersonification metaphor. A total of eight different or perception of more personality is driven by some accidental
derings of the brands were used. For every order where brand synergy between particular personality descriptors selected
A was given the personification treatment and brand B the and the personification metaphors used, because the personi
nonpersonification metaphor treatment, there was another fication mean is nominally higher than the nonpersonification
order where the reverse assignment occurred. mean for 22 of the 24 brand personality items. The two brand
personality items where the personification mean was not
Analysis higher help to reject the idea that a simple response set, rather
than an actual judgment, is driving the brand personality
The basic design takes the form of a three-level, within ratings. Thus, brands receiving the personification treatment
subjects MANOVA (multivariate analysis of variance) with were not rated as more "outdoorsy" than those receiving the
Helmert contrasts. The scores for the two control ads were metaphor-only treatment. This testifies that a judgment was
first averaged together, so that the three levels correspond to being made, because two of the nonpersonification metaphors

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 Spring 2011 127

show an outdoor scene, while none of the personification ads Mediation Analysis
do. Second, brands receiving the personification treatment
were not judged to be more "daring" than those receiving the To test H4, concerning the mediating effect o
rhetorical treatment; in turn, one of the nonpersonification sonality and emotional response with respect to
ads, and none of the personification ads, shows a daring act of personification on brand attitudes, we conduct
(i.e., a balloon ride). sion analysis that required reconfiguring the d
The most parsimonious explanation for the brand per Group 1, the brand attitude score was defined
attitude score achieved by the personification treat
sonality findings is that participants become more likely to
attribute virtually any human personality characteristic to for Group 2, it was the score achieved by the non
tion metaphor. The same assignment was made fo
a brand, once it has been fluently anthropomorphized in an
personality and emotion scores and then the two
ad in response to the trigger of personification. All humans
stacked to create a data set with twice the number
have personalities, and personified brands acquire a modi
cum of a broad range of personality traits simply by being the original (n = 376). A dummy variable, indicati
the attitude score came from the personification m
personified.
the nonpersonification metaphors, was then added
The averaged emotions scale was also significantly greater
the tests of mediation.
for the personification treatment relative to the nonper
sonification metaphor treatment, X , . , = 3-40, A series of regression analyses was run on this
r personification metaphor
set to implement the Baron and Kenny (1986)
Xvisual
, „ , = metaphor
3.13, F(l, 186)
only= 9.47,/><
7 7 7 r .005. And the
First, brand attitude was regressed on the dum
mean of the two metaphor treatments was significantly
This produced an R2 of .01, F( 1,372) = 3-92,p
higher than that of the control treatment, Xcontro] = 2.15,
cating that brand attitude was higher for the per
F( 1,186) = 212.96,^ < .001. Similar to the brand personality
metaphors versus the nonpersonification metapho
items, all 14 individual emotion scales were nominally higher
This finding was expected, given the signific
for the personification treatment versus the nonpersonification
contrast between the two in the MANOVA. Nex
treatment. This suggests that the effect is not being driven by
personality and emotion scores were regressed on
an accidental synergy between particular emotions and some
variable. As expected, each of these was a signific
feature of the personification treatments. The explanation
(p < .05 in each case). Finally, brand attitude was r
again is that when a brand is fluently anthropomorphized
the dummy variable, the brand personality score,
through personification, participants reflexively experience
tion score together. The coefficient for the dumm
that brand in a more emotional way. Their relationship with
the brand takes on an emotional hue. in this regression, now .08, was no longer signifi
p = .48). This indicates that the anthropomorphism
Finally, the personification treatment produced a signifi
outcomes of personification—brand personality an
cantly more positive brand attitude relative to the metaphor
onlv treatment, X . , =3.42,X. . , , =3-14, response—did mediate the impact of the personific
1 7 personification metaphor visual metaphor only
nonpersonification metaphor treatment on brand
F(l, 186) = 4.57, p < .05. Both figure treatments produced a
more positive brand attitude relative to the control treatment,
Xconcroi - 2.17, F(l, 186) = 136.56,/) < .001. Thus, H3 is sup
DISCUSSION
ported. This experiment confirms that there are benefits to
This to
triggering anthropomorphism that carry through paper provides evidence that personific
positive
evaluations of the advertised brand. advertising can be a powerful persuasive tool. P
metaphors, defined as photorealistic images t
Moderator Variables product engaged in human behavior, encourag
to anthropomorphize. Personification metaphor
positive
Each of the five moderator variables was tested against emotional
each of response to the brand more p
the three different dependent variables in a 2produced
X 3 MANOVA.more positive attributions of brand p
tive< to
In no case was a significant interaction (i,e.,p what
.05) other visual metaphors, not using p
found.
could
Relative susceptibility to normative influence, accomplish. These outcomes, in turn, le
loneliness,
liking for the brand.
and gender failed to moderate the impact of personification
With
on either perceived brand personality, experienced respect to advertising practice, visual pe
emotion,
or brand attitude. The failure of these individual difference
appears to offer an excellent tool for advertiser
build brand
variables to moderate the impact of personification personality and create an emotio
is consis
tent with the idea that anthropomorphism is with consumers. The fact that personification c
a fundamental
tendency of human cognition. benefits of anthropomorphism without words i

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 The Journal of Advertising

consideration as advertisers increasingly use visual, rather in future advertising research to give individual diff
than verbal strategies (McQuarrie and Phillips 2008; Phillips rest, and consider instead other kinds of moderators?
and McQuarrie 2002). In addition, as consumers grow more The message strategy literature has identified a
resistant to spokescharacters and similar explicit attempts, tant alternative class of moderators (Rossiter, Pe
personification offers a more subtle way to achieve the benefits Donovan 1991; Taylor 1999). These models focus pr
of anthropomorphism. on situational factors rather than enduring personal
the audience. Taking Taylor's (1999) model as an e
LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH one important situational factor is the degree of imp
the purchase holds for the consumer. Another dim
Opportunities going forward can best be grasped the if we Taylor
place model distinguishes among buying motive
this research in a historical context.2 In the early decades of between informational and transformational
the distinction
advertising scholarship, under the influence ofmotives
the Theory
(Rossiter, Percy, and Donovan 1991), corresponding
roughlywere
of Reasoned Action and related approaches, researchers to whether the consumer, in making a purchase, is
seeking
prone to assume that the purpose of advertising was to remedy a bothersome problem or seek out some
to transmit
desired
information on positively evaluated brand attributes pleasure. A third dimension concerns whether the
(Taylor
1999). Later, stimulated partly by approachespurposesuch as theadvertising effort is to transmit particular
of the
Elaboration Likelihood Model, the field came piecesto recognize
of information or to engage the consumer in an experi
ence
that there was at least one other route to successful (Brakus, Schmitt, and Zanantonello 2009). The message
advertising
outcomes. This alternative route, variously termed peripheral,
strategy literature thus focuses on the intersection between
consumer
heuristic, or transformational, did not depend on the and product situational factors when generating
successful
transmission of information about positively evaluated attri
hypotheses about whether a particular kind of message will
or will not
butes. In consequence, some advertising researchers be effective.
shifted
focus toward studying how the advertisement communicated
Returning to personification, none of the dimensions in the
instead of what it communicated. Message style became
Taylor as manipulated in our experiment. Thus, all of
model were
much a focus as message content, and this paper'sthe
demonstra
products included would be expected to score relatively low
tion of positive effects for personification can be seen asimportance
on the but the dimension for most participants. Purchase
latest in an ongoing effort to uncover the full set motivation
of effective
was not manipulated, nor was there any manipula
stylistic devices used in advertising. tion that opposed the goal of transmitting information to the
This study met its objective of showing thatgoal
personifica
of engaging the consumer. Although many laboratory
tion can, under specific conditions of ad exposure,
studiesproduce
reported in this journal also neglect to manipulate the
selected positive outcomes. But no such experimental
dimensionsdem
of the Taylor strategy wheel, our lack of success
onstration can support a conclusion that personification is the
with the individual differences variables that we did carefully
best strategy, in all situations, for all kinds of advertisers. It
select and measure provides food for thought. Perhaps going
seems more likely that personification will be effective inadvertising
forward, some researchers should spend less effort on
but not all situations. In fact, the accumulation of studies
grouping of
experimental participants in terms of their individual
individual stylistic devices almost begs for integration
differences, into
and instead invest that energy on manipulating
a larger theoretical model that specifies the mostthe
important
importance of the purchase, the motive for buying, and
moderating factors that determine when personification,
the goal of or
the message, in addition to the stylistic device of
any other stylistic device, might be effective. interest. A better understanding of the boundary conditions
Unfortunately, our attempts in this project to identify vari
on each particular device might be the result.
ables that could moderate the impact of personification
Futurewere
research on personification in particular would do
notably unsuccessful. This failure may hold lessons for future
well to consider this alternative approach to the identification
attempts to develop an integrative theory of factors that can
of moderating factors. The General Motors robot example with
moderate the impact of message characteristics generally. We suggests that personification might be effec
which we began
followed the mainstream of social psychologicaltive
research
for high- by
as well as low-involvement purchases, but absent
investigating enduring individual differences as moderators: spe
an experimental test, there is no way to be sure. By the same
cifically, gender, loneliness, and susceptibility to interpersonal
token, the present experiment does not show whether personi
influence. The consumer and advertising literatures
fication contain
is more or less effective at transmitting information on
countless examples of such measured differences specific
across attributes
people. (e.g., that this product can moisturize the
It is interesting to note that our failure to find a moderat
driest skin, or that this snack bar has a nutty, fruity taste). Nor
ing impact for individual difference variables is likewise not
does the experiment show whether personification is more or
unique. This raises the question: Might it be moreless effective when informational rather than transformational
productive

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 Spring 2011 129

buying motives are induced. The experiment does suggest that And Does It Affect Loyalty?" Journal of Marketing, 73 (3),
these sorts of manipulation might provide a more productive 52-68.

path for future research on personification than attempting to Bruner, Gordon C., II, Karen E.James, and Paul J. Hensel, eds.
find some new set of individual differences that could function (2001), MarketingScales Handbook: A Compilation of Multi-Item
Measures, Chicago: American Marketing Association.
successfully as moderators.
Callcott, Margaret F., and Barbara J. Phillips (1996), "Elves
Finally, an important limitation of the present research
Make Good Cookies: Creating Likable Spokes-Character
is the reliance on scaled measures of brand personality and Advertising, "Journal of Advertising Research, 36 (September/
emotional response. The risk is that participants might not October), 73-79
have spontaneously made any of the brand personality or Dotz, Warren, and Masud Husain (2003), Meet Mr. Product: The Art
emotional responses recorded, absent the suggestive impact of the Advertising Character, San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
of being prompted over and over by the scaled items. In fu Epley, Nicholas, Adam Waytz, Scott Akalis, and John T. Cacioppo
ture research, qualitative interviews, projective tests, or even (2008), "When We Need a Human: Motivational Deter
response latency could provide converging evidence that trig minants of Anthropomorphism," Social Cognition, 26 (2),
143-155.
gering anthropomorphism via the device of personification
Fahri, Paul (2007), "GM Yields to Concern About Ad," Washington
does spontaneously lead to brand personality attributions and
Post (February 10), CI.
emotional connections.
Fournier, Susan (1998), "Consumers and Their Brands: Develop
It appears that advertisers do well to consider how they ing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research "Journal of
might harness anthropomorphism in those strategic contexts Consumer Research, 24 (March), 343—373.
where it may be an appropriate message strategy. As TurnerHill, Daniel Delis (2002), Advertising to the American Woman,
notes: "We are people. We know a lot about ourselves. And we 1900—1999, Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
often make sense of other things by viewing them as peopleHughes, Mary Elizabeth, Linda J. Waite, Louise C. Hawkley,
too" (1987, p. 21). and John T. Cacioppo (2004), "A Short Scale for Measuring
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NOTES Huhmann, Bruce A., David L. Mothersbaugh, and George R.
Franke (2002), "Rhetorical Figures in Headings and Their
1. The Latin Square design does not permit any readily inter
Effect on Text Processing: The Moderating Role of Infor
pretable mediational analysis unless reconfigured as described.
mation Relevance and Text Length," IEEE Transactions on
2. This discussion stems from helpful suggestions made by an
Professional Communication, 45 (3), 157—169.
anonymous reviewer.
Labroo, Aparna A., Ravi Dhar, and Norbert Schwartz (2007),
"Of Frog Wines and Frowning Watches: Semantic Prim
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APPENDIX

Items Used to Measure Brand Personality and Emotion Measures

Brand personality Emotional responses

Charming Alive
Cheerful Amused
Daring Confident
Down-to-earth Delighted
Friendly Energetic
Glamorous Enthusiastic
Honest Happy
Imaginative Independent
Intelligent Lighthearted
Nice Playful
Outdoorsy Proud
Reliable Soothed
Sensual Stimulated
Sophisticated Strong
Spirited
Stylish
Successful
Tough
Traditional

Trendy
Upper-class
Up-to-date
Warm
Wholesome

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