Is a picture really worth a thousand words?

Automated pink bunnies playing the drums. A man made of tires. A burger-selling clown. Almost every advertisement is accompanied by a visual image. And consumers use these images to infer about the product being offered. But are those inferences the right ones? According to an article in the June 2005 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research consumers do not always connect the dots. Furthermore, researchers conclude that it may often have to do with how the visual images are presented.

“This research finds that people will make inferences about products–even if the ad copy does not explicitly address those features–just from viewing a product picture. However, when both the ad copy and a feature of the picture both direct the ad viewer to think about a product feature, viewers are most likely to infer that a product has that feature and will perform well. Under these conditions, they also seem to like products better. Thus, consistency of the picture and ad copy helps people to make positive inferences about a product,” explain the authors, Laura Peracchio (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and Joan Meyers-Levy (University of Minnesota).

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

Like this author?
Catch up on other posts by John M. Grohol, PsyD (or subscribe to their feed).

Comments

This post currently has no comments. You can read the comments or leave your own thoughts on our new comments page.

Trackbacks

    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 3 Jun 2005
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.