When Do Consumers Avoid Imperfections? Superficial Packaging Damage as a Contamination Cue
通过六项实验，研究发现表面包装损伤会像污染线索一样自动引发消费者的健康安全担忧，即使损伤不构成实际威胁；这种回避可通过正面品牌联想或物理缓冲消除。
Across six experiments, the authors demonstrate that superficial imperfections in the form of packaging damage can engender negative consumer reactions that shape subsequent attitudes and behaviors in ways that are not always objectively justified. Their findings show that these reactions function in a relatively automatic fashion, even emerging under conditions in which the packaging damage does not convey information about a health and safety threat from the product. The authors extend work on contagion to show that superficial packaging damage can act as a contamination cue, automatically activating thoughts of contamination and health and safety concerns. This tendency to avoid superficial packaging damage can be eliminated by counteracting these thoughts of contamination. This can be done with positive brand associations (i.e., by branding the product as organic) or by creating a physical buffer between the packaging damage and the product itself. The authors close with a discussion of implications for marketers, consumers, and public policy makers.