서강대학교

초록/요약

Brand anthropomorphizing is widely known for strengthening the relationship between consumers and brands. Particularly when consumers feel socially excluded, they tend to prefer an anthropomorphized brand to a non-anthropomorphized one. Given this premise, the current research is investigating the effects of anthropomorphism on emotional attachment to a brand when experiencing the fearful situation. Fear is known as a negative emotion that causes a feeling of social threat or exclusion. Previous research has shown that people who experience fear try to cope with the negative emotion through affiliation with others. In the absence of other people, they even want to be connected with available brands. The current research goes one step further and examines the role of brand anthropomorphism during a fearful experience. It is suggested that frightened people will perceive anthropomorphized brands as more humanlike than non-anthropomorphized brands and thus feel more affiliated with them. The result of three sets of studies reveals that during a fearful experience, anthropomorphized brands not only increases the perceived shared experience with the brand but also enhances emotional brand attachment. Moreover, an affectionate gesture such as hugging and touching leads to a further increase in emotional attachment to the brand. This finding indicates that emotional attachment and affiliation toward anthropomorphized brands can also be increased due to emotions that cause a threat to one's social relations.