Long-standing wisdom and academic research consistently agree that consumers choose attractive products and avoid ugly ones. And yet, multiple luxury brands successfully sell distinctively ugly products. This research provides an explanation, identifying distinctive ugliness as a signal of luxury and examining its impact on consumer choice. We explore this in seven studies, including a field study, a market pricing analysis, and five controlled laboratory experiments, three with consequential behavioral measures, incorporating a variety of fashion products, brands, aesthetic manipulations, and audiences. When products are from a non-luxury brand, consumers choose the attractive option and avoid the ugly. However, when from a luxury brand, consumers choose distinctively ugly products as often as attractive ones, not despite their ugliness but due to their ugliness and resulting ability to signal luxury. As such, brand prominence offers a boundary condition, as both a loud logo and distinctive ugliness serve to signal. Implications for both luxury and non-luxury brands are discussed.

长期以来的智慧和学术研究一致认为，消费者选择有吸引力的产品，避免丑陋的产品。然而，多个奢侈品牌成功地销售了丑陋的产品。这项研究提供了一种解释，将独特的丑陋识别为奢侈品的标志，并研究其对消费者选择的影响。我们在七项研究中探讨了这一点，包括一项实地研究、一项市场定价分析和五项受控实验室实验，其中三项具有相应的行为措施，结合了各种时尚产品、品牌、审美操作和受众。当产品来自非奢侈品牌时，消费者会选择有吸引力的选择并避免丑陋的选择。然而，当消费者从一个奢侈品牌中选择丑陋的产品时，与选择吸引人的产品的频率一样高，不是尽管它们丑陋，而是由于它们的丑陋和由此产生的奢侈信号。因此，品牌知名度提供了一个边界条件，因为响亮的标志和独特的丑陋都可以发出信号。讨论了对奢侈品牌和非奢侈品牌的影响。