Effect of Human Images in Advertisements on Consumers’ Experiential Purchase Intentions

Abstract

This study investigated how the presence of simple human images in advertisements influences consumers’ experiential purchases. Four studies, three of which were preregistered, convergently indicated that advertisements with a human image (vs. those without) increase consumers’ experiential purchase intentions irrespective of the number of humans in the image. This effect is driven sequentially by social interaction needs and the desire for consumption with conversational value. Moreover, social power moderates human images’ effect on consumers’ experiential purchase intentions. Specifically, the impact of a human image on experiential purchase intention attenuates when consumers feel socially powerful. Our findings not only contribute to the literature on experiential purchases, human images, and advertising appeal but also suggest that experiential merchants (e.g., hotels or movie theaters) should add human images to advertisements to effectively promote consumers’ purchase intentions.