Tradeoffs and product flaws: Applying social norms to anthropomorphized products

We perceive humanness all around us. From seeing faces in the clouds, to attributing human emotions to stuffed toys, from creating computer avatars, to representing god in humanlike form, anthropomorphism - the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to nonhuman entities - pervades our lives.

 

The underlying thesis of this project is the simple idea that if products are seen as human-like, then social norms used in human-to-human interactions will also be applied in our interactions with products. This project aims to better understand consumer behavior through the perspectives of two categories of social norms:

 

a) Trading off human principles for monetary gain is immoral (taboo):

Although, tradeoff between money and product features like durability, performance, etc., are routine in marketing, if products are anthropomorphized, such normal compromises might take on moral overtones and lead to unexpected consumer behavior.

 

b) Humans are imperfect and these imperfections may even enhance our humanness. The adage ‘to err is human, to forgive divine’ propagates the social norm of not judging fellow humans negatively because of their flaws or mistakes. However, people often make negative inferences about products with flaws and defects. However, such flawed products when anthropomorphized could become more acceptable due to the application of social norms.

 

This research will have implications for marketing practitioners, consumers, and policymakers. First, its conclusions will offer a toolkit for managers to develop more effective product and promotional strategies. Second, this research highlights unique situations when consumers may behave 'irrationally,' thus clarifying why we act the way we do. Finally, the findings will offer directions to policymakers to design nudges for 'desirable' public behavior by reducing waste through lowering the rejection rate of flawed products.