Look at that body! How anthropomorphic package shapes systematically appeal to consumers

Abstract

The manuscript identifies how anthropomorphized packages elicit aesthetic appeal. Specifically, we shed light on the effectiveness of applying evolutionary relevant shapes, which are figures of attractive female (i.e. hourglass-shaped) and male (i.e. V-shaped) bodies, to consumer goods’ package design. Results of two lexical decision tasks (Study 1a and 1b) show that when consumers observe a package shaped after an ideal body figure, the mental schema of the human body spontaneously becomes activated. In turn, accessible knowledge of the activated schema influences consumer responses. Two studies (Studies 2a and 2b) demonstrate that packages of gender-neutral consumer goods shaped after an ideal body figure generate aesthetic appeal and favourable product evaluations. A final study (Study 3) reveals that when the package of a gender-specific consumer good is being anthropomorphized, a gender-schema congruity effect occurs: aesthetic appeal is elicited when the package shape is congruent with the target user's ideal body figure.