Do Morphed Product Forms Enhance Consumer Response to Cause Marketing Campaigns?

Agnihotri, A; Bhattacharya, S

Do Morphed Product Forms Enhance Consumer Response to Cause Marketing Campaigns?

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Saurabh Bhattacharya ORCiD

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This is the authors' accepted manuscript of a conference proceedings (inc. abstract) that has been published in its final definitive form by American Marketing Association, 2023.

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Abstract

Firms find it challenging to design effective cause marketing campaigns, which are often viewed with skepticism since donations are tied to product sales. This paper examines the impact of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic products on campaign credibility and product purchase intention in the context of cause-related marketing (CrM). Results from two experimental studies involving mediation analysis (Study 1) and moderated mediation analysis (Study 2) indicate that morphed product forms can make a CrM campaign more successful as their purchase intention is higher than non-morphed product forms due to the enhanced credibility of the campaign. Morphed product forms, further, are effective in enhancing purchase intention when there exists a congruence between the morphed product form (anthropomorphic or zoomorphic) and the CrM beneficiary (human vs. animal) as the credibility of congruent product forms is higher. Lastly, when emotions and CrM types (welfare-related or relief-related) are introduced, the anthropomorphic product form enhances credibility and purchase intention more than a zoomorphic product form (moderated mediation) when congruence exists between the emotional expression of an anthropomorphic product and CrM type.