Brands as Humans: Positives and Negatives of Brand Anthropomorphism

Consumers' perceptions towards brands as humans have important implications in the area of branding. At present, however, we do not know much about the process that influences the degree to which consumers perceive brands as human beings and what the consequences of the phenomenon are. This dissertation fills this gap in the marketing literature. Two studies are provided to better understand the phenomenon. Specifically, Study 1 theorizes the positive sides of the brand anthropomorphization process. It is based on the examination of the theory of anthropomorphism, dehumanization, and knowledge activation, combined with field observations from focus-groups and in-depth interviews. It is argued that the inference process of brand anthropomorphization begins with primary cognition stages and proceeds through secondary cognition stages. During the brand anthropomorphization process, two types of anthropomorphized brands perceptions are formed -one that is rather transient and one that lasts longer. Study 2 addresses the consequences of brand humanization when a brand is perceived to be responsible for its product wrongdoing. Specifically, Study 2 finds the negative downstream consequences of brand humanization that differ from the positive role of anthropomorphism documented in prior research. Furthermore, Study 2 provides insights regarding how consumers' implicit theories of personality affect their judgments of anthropomorphized brands that perform negatively. That is, individuals who believe in personality stability (i.e., entity theorists), view anthropomorphized brands that experience negative publicity less favorably than non-anthropomorphized brands. In contrast, consumers who advocate personality malleability (i.e., incremental theorists), do not focus on one behavioral instance in forming impressions of an entity. Hence, they are less likely to devalue an anthropomorphized brand based upon a single instance of negative information regarding the brand. Overall, this dissertation contributes to the literature on brand anthropomorphization. First, this research demonstrates that stronger forms of brand anthropomorphization, going beyond brand personality attribution (e.g., weaker forms), exist, and how they evolve. Second, it shows that the effect of anthropomorphism is not universally positive and that it can have negative repercussions in the marketplace.Ph.D., Business Administration -- Drexel University, 201