The Impact of Product Shadows in Ad Frames on Product Volume Perceptions and Consumer Willingness to Pay: An Abstract

Abstract

Prior research shows that visual ad content dominates over verbal ad content in capturing consumer attention (Pieters and Wedel 2004). Previous advertising research has explored the effects of visual saliency, product shape, and product centrality on consumer attention and volume perceptions (Atalay et al. 2012; Raghubir and Krishna 1999). We investigate the impact of incorporating a product’s shadow in the ad frame on perceived product volume, as well as its effect on how much the consumers are willing to pay for the featured product.

When present in the visual frame, an object’s shadow contrasts the object’s shape and draws attention towards it (Dee and Santos 2011; Mamassian 2008). Similarly, presence of a shadow in the ad frame enhances its visual salience and noticeability (Raghubir and Valenzuela 2006; Sharma 2016). A distinct stream of research shows that product packages that attract more attention are considered to hold a greater amount of volume (Folkes and Matta 2004; Hagtvedt and Brasel 2017). Hence, we propose that presence (vs. absence) of a product’s shadow in the ad will increase the product’s volume estimates (Folkes and Matta 2004; Mamassian 2008; Tatler et al. 2005). Furthermore, we expect that enhanced volume perceptions will increase the consumer willingness to pay for the product (Hagtvedt and Brasel 2017; Yang and Raghubir 2005).

Study 1 was a 2 (shadow, present, absent) × 2 (product category, laundry detergent, tea) mixed design with the first factor (product shadow) manipulated between subjects and the second factor (product category) manipulated within subjects. The results revealed a higher willingness to pay for the products, when their shadows were present in the ad (M _shadow = $5.03, M _no-shadow = $3.93, p < 0.05). Study 2 replicated our effects on willingness to pay using a different product category, instant coffee (M _shadow = $8.40, M _no-shadow = $5.74, p < 0.05). In addition, volume estimates for the featured coffee were significantly higher in the presence (versus absence) of the product shadow (M _shadow = 13.23 oz., M _no-shadow = 10.25 oz., p < 0.05), which in turn mediated the impact of product shadow on consumer willingness to pay (95% CI = [0.0729, 2.1953]; Hayes 2013).

Our findings can guide marketers towards appropriate use of product shadows. In particular, we find that using product shadows in ad frames can benefit products attempting to convey large quantities and also have downstream effects on important marketing outcomes such as consumer willingness to pay.