Companies often use aesthetics or salient visual attributes to differentiate their products from those of their competitors and to appeal to customers. However, consumers may make unfavorable inferences about highly aesthetic products due to concerns about the products’ functionality. To address the issue of how retailers can most effectively engage in the deployment and promotion of product aesthetics, the present research proposes that consumers will respond more favorably (i.e., enhanced choice of product, enhanced product and advertisement evaluations, and a heightened willingness to pay) to a highly aesthetic product when they are in an abstract, rather than a concrete, mindset. Five studies using multiple product categories and applying various mindset manipulations provide convergent evidence to support the proposed hypothesis. The findings hold true for utilitarian, but not hedonic, products, and the focus of attention on product functionality accounts for the results. With the insight that the mindset consumers are in is critical in determining their response to highly aesthetics products, retailers can capitalize on selected situations in which to promote product aesthetics.

公司经常使用美学或显着的视觉属性来将他们的产品与竞争对手的产品区分开来并吸引客户。然而，由于对产品功能的担忧，消费者可能会对高度美观的产品做出不利的推断。为了解决零售商如何最有效地参与产品美学的部署和推广的问题，本研究提出消费者会做出更积极的反应（即增强产品选择，增强产品和广告评价，以及更高的支付意愿） ) 当它们处于抽象而不是具体的心态时，是高度审美的产品。五项使用多种产品类别并应用各种思维方式操作的研究提供了支持所提出假设的收敛证据。这些发现适用于功利产品，但不适用于享乐产品，并且对产品功能的关注是结果的原因。了解消费者的心态对于决定他们对高度美学产品的反应至关重要，零售商可以利用选定的情况来提升产品美学。