Mr. Oven or Mr. Pizza? How Cause‐Effect Anthropomorphism Influences Consumer Response
研究广告中因果拟人化（如拟人化烤箱vs拟人化披萨）对消费者说服效果的影响，发现拟人化原因增强能动性感知，拟人化效果增强体验感知，且信息诉求与拟人化类型匹配时效果更佳。
ABSTRACT This study investigates how advertisements utilizing cause or effect anthropomorphism (e.g., a humanized oven vs. a humanized pizza) influence consumer persuasion. Three studies were conducted using field and experimental data. The findings show that anthropomorphizing the cause (i.e., the product or ingredient) increases perceptions of agency, while anthropomorphizing the effect (i.e., the desired outcome) enhances perceptions of experience. Moreover, consumer responses are more favorable when the message appeals are congruent with the anthropomorphized entities. Specifically, participants exposed to a humanized cause (or effect) reported more positive attitudes toward the advertised product, stronger purchase intentions, and greater leaflet‐taking behavior when the message emphasized feasibility (or desirability). These effects were driven by perceived agency (or perceived experience). Overall, the findings contribute to anthropomorphism research by moving beyond the traditional binary approach to investigate its multidimensional nature, particularly by examining causally related humanized objects.