Does anthropomorphism devalue luxury? The impact of anthropomorphism on consumers’ evaluations of luxury products

While many retailers employ anthropomorphism strategies in marketing practice, this research identifies a negative impact of anthropomorphism in luxury domains. Across four studies, our results show that consumers have a lower value perception for a luxury product when the product is anthropomorphized than when it is not. This effect occurs because consumers perceive themselves to be psychologically close with the anthropomorphized product, which is inconsistent with the “distance-create-prestige” common belief in luxury, thereby reducing their value perception of the product. Consequently, this effect is attenuated when consumers’ psychological distance with the product can be created in other ways (e.g., visual boundary) and is reversed for popular mainstream products. Moreover, while anthropomorphism consistently reduces value perception in luxury domains, regardless of consumer affordability, it hinders actual purchases only for consumers who find luxury goods affordable. These findings contribute to the literature on anthropomorphism and luxury consumption and offer important managerial implications.