You are being watched: The effect of eyes
in advertisements for embarrassing products
Master Thesis
You are being watched: The effect of eyes
in advertisements for embarrassing products
Eelco Luurtsema Student number: 1773216 eelcoluurtsema@gmail.com
University of Groningen Faculty of Business and Economics
Department of Marketing Msc. Marketing Management
Table of contents
1. Introduction ... 1
2. Background ... 3
2.1 Embarrassment ... 3
2.2 Watching Eyes Effect ... 6
2.3 Purchase Intention ... 8
2.4 Purchase Familiarity ... 9
3. Methodology ... 10
4. Results ... 12
4.1 All respondents ... 12
4.2 Results for participants with children ... 14
5. Discussion ... 17
5.1 General discussion ... 17
5.2 Limitations and future research ... 19
1. Introduction
Consumers do not make all of their decisions based on rational choices. Emotions are an important factor in the consumers’ behavior (Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982). Holbrook and Hirschman described that the pursuit of fantasies, feelings and fun can be drivers for consumers’ consumption. Another emotion that influences consumer behavior is embarrassment. The purchase, usage or disposition of certain products can cause
embarrassment for the consumer when, amongst other reasons, there is concern for others’ evaluations (Keltner and Busswell, 1997).
Embarrassment can be described as an emotional state of feeling self-consciousness or even ashamed, for example when purchasing an embarrassing product such as condoms or hemorrhoids crème. Embarrassment is the emotion which can result from an action that observers would consider inappropriate (Dahl et al., 2001). This action does not need to be a public action. Embarrassment can also be experienced in private (Krishna et al., 2015). This means that it is not a prerequisite that others observe your behavior to feel embarrassed, however the awareness of a social presence is a motivating factor in creating
embarrassment. This social presence can either be real or imagined (Dahl et al., 2001).
Embarrassment is an important emotion for brands to consider. Previous research has shown negative consequences when consumers feel embarrassed, such as preventing to purchase the product or service (Blair & Roese, 2013). This spares them the discomfort of feeling embarrassed. Consumers who experience embarrassment are often motivated to employ certain coping strategies. They become attracted to products that enables them to hide their face, such as sunglasses, or to products that restore their face, such as cosmetics (Dong et al., 2003). Other shoppers try to minimize their embarrassment by shopping online (Jones et al., 2018) or by employing other counter measurements (Modigliani, 1971).
This is called the ‘watching eyes effect’. Previous research found this effect to influence consumer behavior (Haley & Fessler, 2005). However, research describing this effect is mostly focused on pro-social behavior such as donating to a charity or preventing unwanted behavior such as stealing. The effect of the watching eyes on embarrassment has not been the topic of a previous research.
The watching eyes effect can for example be achieved by adding a face of a person to an advertisement or in-store banner. The eyes of this face can look directly at the affected consumer or away from him. Because the awareness of a social presence, whether real or imagined, is a motivating factor in creating embarrassment (Dahl et al., 2001), I expect an advertisement which includes a person looking directly at the consumer to increase the level of embarrassment of the consumer. This gives the consumer the feeling that his
embarrassing purchasing behavior is being observed by others. Thus, it is expected that a brand can lower the perceived embarrassment, by removing the feeling that the consumer is being observed by others from their advertisements.
Finally, this research will show the impact of the watching eyes effect and embarrassment on the purchase intention. The purchase intention is an effective measure for the
effectiveness of advertisements, because purchase intention is a good predictor for actual purchase behavior (Morrison, 1979). A higher purchase intention therefore indicates a higher chance on actual purchase behavior by the consumer. An advertisement which results in a high purchase intention will lead to more actual purchase behavior and higher sales for the brand, and vice versa.
Brands can use this research to improve their advertisements in order to reduce perceived embarrassment. Improved knowledge will help brands to better design their
Summarizing, in this study I answer the question if a brand can influence the level of embarrassment felt by the consumer when purchasing an embarrassing product, by
including or excluding a human face in their advertisement. Next, I will analyze the influence of this level of embarrassment on purchase intention, since purchase intention is an
important predictor for actual purchase behavior. Figure 1 shows the following conceptual model for this study.
Figure 1. Conceptual model
2. Background
2.1 Embarrassment
Embarrassment is typically described as an emotion that has its origins in a deficiency in the consumer’s self, presented to others (Modigliani, 1968). This original theory therefore requires an audience, in order to observe the presented self. Recent research showed however, that embarrassment can also be felt as a private emotion (Krishna et al., 2015). This study showed that an audience is not necessary to feel embarrassed. Even if someone’s behavior is not observed by others, embarrassment can still occur, for example when
purchasing a certain product online. This can happen when one’s self-concept is violated, or in other words when the consumer communicates an undesired public identity by
purchasing the product (Blair & Roese, 2013).
imagined for it to be a motivating factor in eliciting embarrassment (Dahl et al., 2011). This means that embarrassment is possible, even when the purchase is not observed by others.
Embarrassment can be evoked by the purchase, usage or disposition of certain products. During purchase, embarrassment can occur when buying a product like condoms or
hemorrhoids crème. Embarrassment during the usage of a product can occur with the same products as mentioned in the previous example. Another example for embarrassment to be invoked during a usage situation, is when your credit card gets declined or finding out you do not have enough money in your wallet, when paying a bill (Dahl et al., 2001). An example of embarrassment during disposition of a certain product is throwing away a large number of empty wine bottles after a party or returning an adult video to the video store in the previous decade.
Embarrassment when purchasing, using or disposing a product is an emotion which often results in negative consequences for the brand producing the embarrassing product or even for society. To prevent the discomfort of feeling embarrassed, consumers often avoid purchasing embarrassing products (Blair & Roese, 2013). It can also increase shoplifting behavior. Some consumers are so embarrassed when purchasing certain products, they even prefer stealing the product over bringing the product to the cashier and pay for the product (Hoyer & MacInnis, 1998). Other research shows that consumers avoid products that conflicts their desired public identity (Berger & Ward, 2010). This is consistent with the idea of consumers trying to avoid the feeling of being embarrassed.
Another strategy is to purchase more products besides the embarrassing product. This strategy is used to hide the embarrassing product. This will make the embarrassing products less visible for others during purchase, because the additional products lure the attention from the embarrassing product. The additional products are competing with the
embarrassing product for attention, which makes the embarrassing product less focal for observers (Lewittes & Simmons, 1975).
Additional products can also counterbalance the undesired identity, caused by the
embarrassing product (Blaire & Roese, 2015). This study tested if the level of embarrassment is lower, when respondents purchase additional products next to the embarrassing product, which could counterbalance the negative associations with the embarrassing product. The respondents were told to purchase a book which indicates that the respondent has a low IQ, while simultaneously purchasing a scientific magazine and a Rubik’s cube, products which are associated with intelligence. They found that respondents who only purchased the book were more embarrassed compared to the respondents who also purchased the
counterbalancing additional products. Hence, the scientific magazine and the Rubik’s cube were able to counterbalance the undesired identity caused by the low-IQ book.
Consumers can take counter measures to reduce the level of embarrassment, but producers of embarrassing products can make changes to their product in order to reduce
embarrassment too. One of the factors producers can influence to reduce the level of embarrassment, is the packaging of the product. Packaging is an important driver for purchases. Generally, the more attractive a product package is, the more likely consumers will buy the product (Clement, 2007). Wongkietkachorn et al. (2014) found that
embarrassment caused by a social stigma, is the main reason why most people in Thailand are not buying condoms. A new condom packaging, which was more attractive and less associated with condoms, is likely to increase condom sales in Thailand.
Kohntopp, 2001). An anonymous product therefore decreases the level of embarrassment, because it hides the embarrassing product. Not by adding additional products like the
studies of Lewittes & Simmons and Blair & Roese, which are described before, but by making the product less focal by changing the packaging. The study of the purchase of condoms in Thailand finds the same effect of reduced levels of embarrassment when changing the packaging. Producers of embarrassing products can lower the level of embarrassment for consumers by changing the packaging of their product. In this study I will look if producers can change their advertisement to achieve the same effect.
2.2 Watching eyes effect
Embarrassment can occur when people have the feeling of being watched. This feeling of being watched can make them behave differently. However, the feeling of being watched does not only trigger embarrassment. Earlier studies, such as Kurzban (2001), found that individuals are more generous when they are being watched by real human eyes. A later study of Haley & Fessler (2005) found the same effect to be true, when individuals see an image that resembles human eyes. In this study, participants were setup to play the ‘dictator game’. In this game, every participant received a 10$ gift and had to give a portion of this amount to another player, while keeping the rest of the money. Participants who were shown an image that resembles human eyes before the game, were more generous towards the other players compared to the participants who were not showed this image.
This last study shows that it is not necessary that a real person is observing an individual’s actions. It is one of the reasons why charities use faces and facial emotions in their
advertisements (Small & Verrochi, 2009). Charities try to increase the generosity of consumers by including these faces and emotions in their advertisements. The effect of people behaving more pro-socially when displaying a set of eyes watching this individual, is called the watching eyes effect.
includes a set of human eyes near the honesty-box, people paid almost three times as much for their drinks compared to the situation where there was no image with a set of human eyes present.
Other studies showed similar results. In a study performed in 2011, the effect of an image containing human eyes was tested in a self-clearing cafeteria. People who ordered their food in this cafeteria were supposed to clear their own litter from their tables before leaving the cafeteria. After displaying posters on the walls which included pictures of human eyes, people in the cafeteria were more likely to remove their litter from their own tables
compared to the situation where there were no posters with human eyes displayed on them (Ernest-Jones, Nettle & Bateson, 2011). Another study tried to lower the number of stolen bicycles on a university campus. The researchers placed signs at the locations where there was a high rate of bicycle theft. These signs included text and a pair of male eyes. The researchers found a sharp decrease in bicycle theft at the locations where these signs were placed (Nettle et al., 2012).
These studies show that a simple image that displays a set of eyes, can be used to encourage pro-social behavior and battle anti-social behavior such as crime. The most logical
explanation for the watching eyes effect is the so called ‘reputation-based partner choice’ models. These models show that individuals are behaving pro-socially to invest in their social reputation. This also happens when there is no immediate return for their behavior
(Sylwester & Roberts, 2010). By investing in their social reputation, or in other words their desired public identity, individuals increase their likelihood of being liked by others. The feeling of being observed, increases the consequences of the individual’s actions on his social reputation. This is why individuals engage in more pro-social behavior when they are being observed. An image of real or fake human eyes takes this finding to its advantage.
desired public identity. Therefore, the first hypothesis of this study expects that an image of human eyes in an advertisement for embarrassing products, will increase the level of
embarrassment for the consumer.
H1: Eyes in an advertisement for embarrassing products increases the level of embarrassment for the consumer.
2.3 Purchase intention
Purchase intention can be described as the likelihood that a consumer will purchase or plans on purchasing a certain product in the future (Martins et al., 2019). An increase in the purchase intention reflects an increase in the likelihood of the product being purchased. An advertisement which results in a high purchase intention will lead to a higher likelihood for more actual purchase behavior and higher sales for the brand, and vice versa.
Purchase intention is a concept which is widely used in studies to predict actual purchase behavior (Morrison, 1979). Most market research firms use this concept to estimate the sales of new products or to estimate the future demand of current products (Jamieson & Bass, 1989). Although purchase intention is a much-used concept to predict actual purchases and it is known for a long time that it correlates with actual purchase behavior, it can be an imperfect predictor of future purchase behavior (Namias, 1959). Consumers can have the intention to purchase a product but may eventually decide to postpone or skip the purchase, for example because of changed personal circumstances. The opposite is also possible. A consumer can have no intentions to purchase a product in the next months but will still purchase the product. For example, when their washing machine broke down or when they suddenly need a product to treat a medical condition, such as anti-lice shampoo (Morwitz, 2014).
purchase a specific brand compared to indicating their purchase intention on a product level (Morwitz et al., 2007).
In this study, I will apply these conditions to measure the purchase intention. Using this method, the measured purchase intention can be a better predictor of future sales of the product. Purchase intention can therefore be a good measure to compare the impact that the different advertisements have.
When consumers experience higher levels of embarrassment, they will try to minimize the embarrassment. As explained before, consumers try to avoid purchasing the product altogether, or employ various counter measures in order to minimize the embarrassment. This is why I expect that a higher level of embarrassment, will lead to a lower purchase intention.
H2: A higher level of embarrassment decreases the purchase intention.
2.4 Purchase familiarity
There has been previous research in the motivating factors for embarrassment when purchasing a product. One of the factors that reduces embarrassment is familiarity with the embarrassing product (Dahl et al., 2001). The more familiar consumers are with purchasing the perceived embarrassing product, the less embarrassed consumers are. Embarrassment is highest, when the consumer has not purchased the product before. In this study, I will check if the purchase familiarity plays a role in the level of embarrassment.
The final hypothesis of this study describes the direct effect of the advertisement on
purchase intention. Our attention is automatically drawn by faces when they are competing for attention with other stimuli (Weaver & Lauwereyns, 2011). The usage of a face in
advertisements can therefore increase the attention an advertisement receives. However, this often results in consumers skipping other important aspects of the advertisement, such as texts or the logo of the brand (Galfano, 2012). Images alone can almost never
embarrassing products, which are often products linked to a medical condition which need advertisements that communicate more information to the consumer than just a face or a set of eyes. This is why I expect that the purchase intention will be lower for the
advertisements which include a pair of eyes.
H3: Eyes in an advertisement for embarrassing products decreases the purchase intention. 3. Methodology
To test the relationship between the watching eyes effect and embarrassment, I recruit participants to answer questions in a survey. These participants will first read an
introduction, in which they are presented with a scenario in which they would buy anti-lice shampoo for the treatment of their child. Previous studies have used a number of different embarrassing products, for example condoms, hemorrhoid cream or bedwetting products. For this study, I have chosen to use the anti-lice shampoo for a number of reasons. First of all, this product combined with the introduction before the survey, creates a situation where most people can imagine oneself to be in that exact situation. This is different for other products such as condoms, where the purchase of the product is mostly performed by a relatively small group of the population. Furthermore, although people who will have to buy this product for their children will probably do so, this product can still generate
embarrassment for the buyer. Headlice is often associated with uncleanliness, which causes embarrassment for the parents or the affected child.
The 260 participants of the survey are all living in the United States and are recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. These participants are first asked to read the
Next, the participants are randomly assigned to one of three possible conditions. The first group will be presented an advertisement which only includes the product. The second group will be presented an advertisement with the product, next to a female face which looks directly at the participant. The last group will view an advertisement with the product, next to a female face which looks away from the participant.
After viewing the advertisement, respondents are asked about their level of embarrassment. I use a three-item scale for embarrassment from Dahl et al. (2001). More specifically,
participants are asked about their level of embarrassment on a 7-point scale, where 1 equal not embarrassed at all and 7 equals very embarrassed. The same scale is used to ask about the level of comfort (1 is equal to not uncomfortable at all, 7 equals very uncomfortable) and awkwardness (1 is equal to not awkward at all, 7 equals very awkward). The construct is first tested for reliability (a = .97, M=4,25, SD=2,04).
Next, the purchase intention of the respondent is measured by again using a three-item scale adapted from earlier research (Grewal et al., 1998; Dodds et al., 1991). The items are measured using a 7-point scale. One of the questions asked is ‘If I were going to buy anti-lice shampoo, the probability of buying this brand is…’, where 1 is equal to very low and 7 equals very high. The complete list of questions is attached to this paper. This construct is also first tested for reliability (a = .94, M=5,239, SD=1,359).
The questionnaire also includes a control question. The participant is asked which
advertisement they have seen before the questions. This control question makes sure the participant noticed the most important aspect of the advertisement, whether or not it included a face, and if the face looked directly at the participant or looked away. Differences in the level of embarrassment will only be measured between the participants who have answered this question correctly.
Finally, the participants are asked a number of questions about demographics. Participants are also asked about their current relationship status, and if they are the parents or
guardians of a child. Participants who indicate to have a child, can be a significantly different group than the participants who indicate to not have a child. Parents might be better able to understand the scenario and be more or less embarrassed compared to non-parents.
4. Results
4.1 All participants
Of the 260 participants of the study, 38 (14,6%) answered the control question incorrectly. The control question checks whether the individual noticed the most important aspect of the advertisement, whether or not an image of a face was present. Because this study focusses on the impact of the advertisement used, it is important that the participants are aware which advertisement was shown to them. This is why I only use the data of the participants who answered the control question correctly in further analysis.
The following results are based on the remaining 222 participants. Of these 222 participants, 75 (33,8%) has seen the first advertisement without a face, 76 (34,2%) the second
advertisement with a face looking directly at the individual and 71 (32,0%) has seen the third advertisement with a face looking away from the person. 57,7% of the participants indicated having children. 55,9% of the participants are male and 44,1% is female.
Figure 2. Scores between groups
The first hypothesis predicts that the type of ad influences the degree of embarrassment. Participants who have watched the advertisement where the face is looking straight at the individual are expected to be more embarrassed compared to the participants viewing the other advertisements. After comparing the participants which viewed the advertisement without an image of a face (M=4,10, SD=2,03) with the group that viewed the advertisement with an image of a face looking directly at the respondent (M=3,86, SD=2,21) and the group that viewed the advertisement with an image of a face looking away from the respondent (M=4,38, SD=1,97) using ANOVA, I found no significant differences in the degree of embarrassment between the groups (M=4,11, SD=2,07, df=2, F=1,12, p=0,33). The study therefore cannot support hypothesis 1.
The second hypothesis predicts that embarrassment influences the purchase intention. A higher level of embarrassment is expected to decrease purchase intention. Analysis does not show a significant result for this hypothesis (F=2,60, B=0,07, t=1,61, p=0,11). However, the relationship is close to being significant. This can indicate that there could be a significant relationship between the level of embarrassment and purchase intention, in a different setting or different study. It is possible that the limitations of this study resulted in this result being not significant. Another research design could lead to a significant relationship. I substantiate this further in the discussion section.
The third hypothesis predicts that the purchase intention will be different depending on the type of advertisement used. Participants who viewed the advertisement with the pair of
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eyes looking directly at them, are expected to have a lower purchase intention compared to the participants who have seen the advertisement without a person on it. After comparing the group which viewed the advertisement without a face on it (M=5,17, SD=1,25) with the group that viewed the advertisement with an image of eyes directly looking at the
participant (M=5,33, SD=1,37) and the group that viewed the advertisement with an image of eyes looking away from the participant (M=5,12, SD=1,53) using ANOVA, I found no significant difference in the purchase intention between the groups (M=5,21, SD=1,38, df=2, F=0,47, p=0,62). Therefore, hypothesis 3 cannot be supported.
After performing the tests described above, a mediation analysis is performed to test for the mediating effect. This analysis also shows no significant relationship between the displayed advertisement and the level of embarrassment (b=0,14, t=0,79, p=0,43). The effect of the displayed advertisement, controlling for the level of embarrassment, is also not significant (b=-0,34, t=-0,30, p=0,77). Lastly, the effect of the level of embarrassment controlling for the displayed advertisement, also is not significant (b=0,73, t=1,62, p=0,11).
Product familiarity can play a constituent role in the level of embarrassment. As explained earlier, product familiarity can reduce the level of embarrassment. Because the participants answered questions about product familiarity, it is possible to check for this influence in embarrassment. After performing an ANOVA with product familiarity as a covariate, I found no significant effect of product familiarity on the level of embarrassment (F=1,270, p=0,283). Product familiarity also did not have a significant impact on the other relationships.
4.2 Results for participants with children
The survey which was used to collect the data, asked the participants to put themselves in the imaginary situation in which their daughter was infected with head lice. The survey also contained a question about the relationship status of the participant. This question can be used to assess whether the participant does or does not have any children. Participants with children might answer the questions different from participants who do not have any
participants who have not only answered the control question correctly but also have indicated to have children.
Of the original 260 participants in the study, 128 (49,2%) have answered the control question correctly and indicated to have children. 44 (34,4%) of these participants have viewed the advertisement with only the product, 43 (33,6%) have viewed the advertisement with an image of a face looking directly at the participant and 41 (32,0%) have viewed the advertisement with an image of a face looking away from the participant. 46,9% of these participants are male and 53,1% are female.
Figure 3 displays the results on embarrassment, purchase intention and product familiarity between the 3 different advertisements for these participants.
Figure 3. Scores between groups for participants with children.
This second group of participants does not significantly differ in their embarrassment from the group of participants that have indicated not to have any children (F=0,59, df=1, p=0,45). The score on purchase intention is significantly higher for the group of respondents with children (M=5,41) compared with the group without children (M=4,94, F=6,45, df=1, p=0,01). The score on product familiarity is also higher in this group (M=3,36) compared to the child-less group (M=2,15). This difference is also highly significant (F=20,79, df=1, p=0,00). This result was expected, because anti-lice shampoo is primarily bought by parents for their children. Figure 4 summarizes these findings.
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Figure 4. Scores for respondents with children and respondents without children.
To test the first hypothesis again on this group of respondents, I perform another ANOVA. After comparing the group who viewed the advertisement without a face on it (M=4,03, SD=2,04) with the group who viewed the advertisement with an image of eyes looking at the participant (M=3,91, SD=2,30) with the last group who viewed the advertisement with an image of eyes looking away (M=4,67, SD=1,71), I found no significant differences on the level of embarrassment (F=1,69, df=2, p=0,189). The first hypothesis can also not be supported by the responses of these participants.
The second hypothesis, again, predicts that a higher level of embarrassment will decrease purchase intention. Analysis also do not show a significant result for this hypothesis for this group of participants (F=0,83, p=0,36). It is possible that this group of participants, mothers and fathers, do not let the level of embarrassment play a role in their purchase intention. These participants are maybe more willing to buy the product, regardless of their level of embarrassment.
Lastly, the third hypothesis predicts that the purchase intention depends on the type of advertisement used. After comparing the group who viewed advertisement 1 (M=5,17, SD=1,41) with the group who viewed advertisement 2 (M=5,69, SD=1,17) with the group who viewed advertisement 3 (M=5,37, SD=1,28) with an ANOVA, I found no significant differences in the purchase intention (M=5,41, SD=1,30, df=2, F=1,81, p=0,17). The third hypothesis can also not be supported.
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I can conclude that all three hypotheses cannot be supported by this research. Although the group of participants which have indicated that they have children do significantly have a higher score on purchase intention compared to the group of participants who do not have any children, this does not lead to different results for this research.
5. Discussion
5.1 General Discussion
The goal of this research was to identify possible advertisement designs that can decrease the feeling of embarrassment for the consumer. To be more precise, this research focused on the inclusion of a face in an advertisement for an embarrassing product, which was looking directly at the consumer or away from the consumer, and its effect on the level of embarrassment. The findings can increase the understanding of the effects of certain types of advertisements for embarrassing products.
Previous research showed that customers who have the feeling of being watched, engage in more pro-social behavior (Haley & Fessler, 2005). This ‘watching eyes effect’ has been researched in multiple studies. These studies however focused on behavior associated with being honest by paying an honest amount for your product, or behaving socially acceptable by donating an acceptable amount of money to a charity. The effect of the watching eyes effect on purchase intention had not been looked at before. This research was therefore focused on the effect of the watching eyes on the purchase intention of embarrassing products.
After conducting the study, this relationship was not found. The results seem to indicate that the watching eyes effect does not exist when purchasing embarrassing products.
The second hypothesis of this study predicts that the level of embarrassment influences the purchase intention. Previous research showed that embarrassment when purchasing a product, often results in negative consequences. One of these negative consequences is that consumers try to avoid purchasing the embarrassing product altogether (Blair & Roese, 2013). This is why I expected that a higher level of embarrassment will lead to a lower purchase intention. After conducting the study however, this effect was not significant. The results however do seem to indicate that this relationship could exists in a different study. The differences in the results for all participants were much larger compared to the differences for the participants which indicated that they have children. A possible explanation for this is that parents are more likely to purchase the product, regardless of their level of embarrassment. Another study using a different embarrassing product, is likely to find a relationship between the level of embarrassment and purchase intention. I discuss this further at the limitations and future research section.
The last hypothesis of this study predicts a direct effect of the type of advertisement on the purchase intention of an embarrassing product. This last effect was also not found from this study, indicating there is no other underlying motive for these advertisements to have different effects on the purchase intention.
This study found not one of the expected effects. This indicates that embarrassment when purchasing a product, is not influenced by the watching eyes effect in advertisements. In other words, including a picture of a face in an advertisement of an embarrassing product, does not increase the level of embarrassment when purchasing an embarrassing product. The results of this study can co-exist next to previous research on this topic. Previous
The findings of the second hypothesis do seem to contradict previous research. This study found no significant effect between the level of embarrassment and purchase intention, while previous research did find several counter measures consumers take to reduce the level of embarrassment (Modigliani, 1971). The ultimate form of a counter measure to reduce embarrassment is to avoid purchasing the product altogheter (Blair & Roese, 2013). While this study did not find a significant relationship between the level of embarrassment and purchase intention, the results do seem to indicate that this relationship could exist. It is possible that a different study with a different design can find a significant relation. This is being discussed more closely at the limitations section.
The findings of this study can be important for marketing managers of a brand with products that are considered embarrassing. When designing advertisements, they do not have to take the watching eyes effect into account. Including a face in an advertisement is not expected to influence the purchase intention of the product or brand.
5.2 Limitations and future research
This study has some limitations to it, which will be discussed here. I will also suggest some improvements for other research to further investigate this topic. The data of this study was collected using a survey. The respondents were assigned to one of the three advertisements, before their level of embarrassment was measured using a scale from previous research. Future research could try to measure the level of embarrassment in a different way, for example using an experiment in a controlled environment. Participants to the study could be asked to walk through a real store or a fake store. The level of embarrassment could then be measured from the behavior of the respondents instead of using a survey. This can prevent the problem that respondents of a survey cannot really imagine their selves being in an artificial situation by reading a text at the start of a survey. The results from this study point towards this direction, since participants which have indicated that they have children
scored different compared to the participants which have indicated to not have any children.
These individuals first choose to join the Mechanical Turk program and next choose to participate in the survey in exchange for a small monetary compensation. Because these respondents are used to filling out surveys, it is possible they thought about their answers less carefully than another population of participants would have done. Furthermore, the compensation of the respondents could lead to respondents that are not interested in the survey or their answers, but only in their compensation. Further research could use a group of participants that is less used to filling out surveys and will not receive a compensation for participating in the study. This new group of participants might be more willing and able to more accurately indicate their expected level of embarrassment compared to the group of participants recruited using Amazon Mechanical Turk, because these participants do not have a financial motive to participate in the study.
The choice of the product is another limitation of this study. Previous research about embarrassing products show a range of products that are considered embarrassing. During this study, an anti-lice shampoo was used as the embarrassing product. It is possible that different advertisements did not have a large impact on the level of embarrassment because of the choice of the product. Anti-lice shampoo is a product purchased to help solve a
medical condition. Respondents might feel embarrassed to purchase this product, however the different advertisements might not make a difference in the level of embarrassment because the respondents feel they need the product. In other words, the watching eyes effect might not occur for this product because of the nature of the product. Further research could focus on different products that are considered embarrassing, for example condoms (Brackett, 2004).
The last limitation of this study that I want to discuss, is the scenario that every participant before filling out the survey reads. This scenario described a situation in which the
6. Summary
Embarrassment can make consumers avoid making certain purchases which they would otherwise have made. Embarrassing situations can cause a deficiency in the individual’s public identity. It is important for brands producing products which elicit embarrassing feelings, to know what they can do to lower the embarrassment their product causes.
This study looks closer into the so-called watching eyes effect, and its effect in
advertisements for embarrassing products. The watching eyes effect is the effect that an image of a pair of eyes has on the behavior on individuals. Prior research has shown that individuals are more likely to engage in pro-social behavior when they are confronted with an image containing a pair of eyes. People are more aware of their desired public identity when they have the feeling that they are being watched, which in turn increases their pro-social behavior. They tend to give more money to charity or spend more money voluntarily on a product. The watching eyes effect has not yet been studied in relation to the purchase of embarrassing products.
Because the watching eyes effect makes people more aware of their public identity, and embarrassing products can cause a deficiency in the individual’s public identity, I expected that the level of embarrassment would increase when the consumer is first confronted with an image containing a pair of eyes. In this study, this relation is tested by displaying an advertisement to three different groups of participants. The first group gets to view an advertisement containing only the product, the second group views an advertisement which includes a woman looking directly at the respondent and the third group views an
advertisement which includes a woman looking away from the respondent. In order to make any conclusions about which advertisement is the most effective, the respondents are also asked about their purchase intentions.
The tests were repeated for the group of respondents which have indicated that they have children. This was done because the respondents were asked to place themselves in an imaginary situation in which they had to purchase anti-lice shampoo for their child. The results for this group of respondents also did not show a significant relationship between the advertisement being displayed and the level of embarrassment. There was also no
7. Literature
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8. Appendices
8.1 Appendix 1: introduction before questionnaire.
The following introduction was displayed to the respondents before showing the questions from the questionnaire.
Before answering the questions, read the following scenario. Imagine yourself to be in this scenario when answering the questions.
Your 8-year-old daughter comes home from school after a lice inspection. This inspection found head lice in your daughters’ hair. The most common symptom is an itching head. Head lice don't carry bacterial or viral infectious diseases. Some lice experts think that children are most likely to get lice from family members.
Your daughter's classmates and their parents are not aware that she has head lice. You do not know of any other children also having head lice.
8.2 Appendix 2: Complete questionnaire
After the introduction, the following questionnaire was presented to the participants.
Read the following advertisement carefully. Next, click on the button below the advertisement to continue to the questions.
[1 of 3 advertisements is displayed here]
When purchasing this product, I feel
Embarrassed 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Not embarrassed at all very embarrassed
Uncomfortable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Not uncomfortable at all Very uncomfortable
Awkward 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Not awkward at all Very awkward
If I were going to buy anti-lice shampoo, the probability of buying this brand is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Very low very high
The probability that I would consider buying is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Very low very high
The likelihood that I would purchase this anti-lice shampoo is
Very low very high
How often do you purchase anti-lice shampoo?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Very rarely very often
What is the last time you have purchased anti-lice shampoo?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Never purchased within the last month
How familiar are you with purchasing anti-lice shampoo?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Not familiar very familiar
What is your age? What is your gender?
- Male - Female
What is your relationship status? - Single, without children - Single, with children
- In a relationship, without children - In a relationship, with children
The advertisement I just saw, contained: - No images of people
8.3 Appendix 3: different advertisements
Participants were shown 1 of the following 3 advertisements: 1. Advertisements which only includes the product
