Articulo Journal Of Marketing

How Images of Other Consumers Influence Subsequent Taste Perceptions

Images of food are seemingly everywhere, and yet the influence that such images have on important consumer outcomes is not weii understood. The authors propose that the effect that image exposure has on taste perceptions largely depends on the interaction between the type of food (healthy vs. unhealthy) and whether the image shows the food alone (food image) or the food being consumed by a person (consummatory image). Specifically, the authors show that exposure to consummatory images of unhealthy (vs. healthy) foods increases taste perceptions relative to food images. To explain this effect, the authors argue that seeing an image of someone else indulging in an unhealthy food serves as social proof of the appropriateness and acceptability of indulgent consumption. As such, images of consumers eating act as a justification agent for real consumers, thereby reducing the conflict associated with the subsequent indulgent consumption experience and, in effect, increasing taste perceptions. The authors test this effect across five studies and eliminate rival explanations pertaining to emotional contagion, goal contagion, and source attractiveness.

Keywords: images, taste, conflict, justification effects, social norms

Online Supplement http://dx.doi.org/10.1509/jm.12.0021

Appetizing food images beckon to consumers from seemingly everywhere, from paid media (e.g., advertising) to owned media (e.g., product packaging, restaurant menus, websites), and now even in earned media (e.g., social media websites). Yet, although an increasing body of research has examined the various ways external food cues can influence consumers' perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors (e.g., Chernev 2011; Mishra and Mishra 2011; Raghunathan, Naylor, and Hoyer 2006; Scott et al. 2008; Shiv and Fedorikhin 1999; Wansink and Chandon 2006), researchers still know little about whether, when, and how exposure to images of food can influence important consumer outcomes. For example, consider the two pizza ads in Figure 1. The image in the ad on the left shows the food with a nonperson contextual background (a "food image"), whereas the image in the ad on the right shows a person interacting with the food in a way that suggests consumption (a "consummatory image"), in this case, eating the food. A content analysis of the June 2011 issues of the top 20 circulating consumer magazines revealed that the use of both types of images is common (for further information, see the "Content Analysis" section in the Web

Morgan Poor is Assistant Professor of Marketing, School of Business Administration, University of San Diego (e-mail: poormorgan@sandiego. edu). Adam Duhachek is Associate Professor and Nestié-Hustad Professor of Marketing (e-mail: aduhache@indiana.edu), and H. Shanker Krishnan is Professor of Marketing and Whirlpool Facuity Fellow (e-mail: skrishna® indiana.edu), Keiley School of Business, Department of Marketing, Indiana University. Wayne Hoyer served as area editor for this articie.

Appendix). Specifically, of the 195 food and beverage ads published, 60% showed an image of the food alone (i.e., food images). The other 40% showed an image of the food and a person or persons; of those images, 60% could be classified as consummatory images (24% of the total images). Because of the overwhelming use of images in food advertising and other media (both owned and earned) and this clear divergence in the type of images used in practice (food images vs. consummatory images), it is important for marketers to understand the impact that such images have on important consumer outcomes, particularly taste perceptions. Previous research has shown that the use of images in marketing materials can influence a host of important consumer outcomes, including attitude toward the advertisement and the brand (e.g., Mitchell 1986), information-processing strategies (e.g., Edell and Staelin 1983), emotional responses (e.g., Chowdhury, Olsen, and Pracejus 2008), product inferences (e.g.. Underwood and Klein 2002), and consumption volume (e.g., Madzharov and Block 2010). Recent research has also shown that a variety of visual strategies differentially influence such outcomes, such as visual complexity (Pieters, Wedel, and Batra 2010), the combination of positively and negatively valenced images (Chowdhury, Olsen, and Pracejus 2008), the number of product units depicted (Madzharov and Block 2010), camera angle (Yang, Zhang, and Peracchio 2010), and the use of visual artwork versus nonart images (Hagtvedt and Patrick 2012). Although researchers have yet to investigate the relative impact of images featuring a product alone versus one being used by a consumer, we know from research on social norms and food

© 2013, American Marketing Association ISSN: 0022-2429 (print), 1547-7185 (electronic) 124

Journal of Marketing Vol. 77 (September 2013), 124-139

FIGURE 1 Food Image Versus Consummatory Image

consumption that the mere presence of other consumers can affect both consumption choices and amount (e.g., Ariely and Levav 2000; McFerran et al. 2010a, b; Ratner and Kahn 2002). Combining and extending both of these literature streams, we show that exposure to images of others can also influence important consumer outcomes, even those related to the actual consumption experience (i.e., taste). In the present research, we explore the relationship between image exposure and taste perception and propose that this relationship depends on the interaction between the type of image (food image vs. consummatory image) and type of food (healthy vs. unhealthy). Specifically, we argue that for unhealthy foods (vs. healthy foods), exposure to consummatory images leads to increased taste perception relative to food images. To explain this effect, we integrate research on justification effects and social norms research to contend that seeing an image of someone else indulging in an unhealthy food can serve as social proof for the appropriateness and acceptability of such behavior and can therefore be used to justify indulgent consumption. As such, images of consumers eating act as a justification agent for real consumers, thereby reducing the conflict associated with the subsequent indulgent consumption experience and, in effect, increasing taste perceptions.

This research has important implications for both theory and practice. With regard to theory, we view this research as making the following key contributions. First, we extend research on visual strategies in marketing by introducing a new image factor (i.e., whether the image focuses on the product or consumption of the product) and show when it is more effective to use one strategy versus the other in the context of food advertising. Second, we extend research on social influence and food consumption by showing

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