The Influence of Art-provoked Affect on Product and Product Attributes Evaluation

명화(名畵)에서 유발된 감정이 차용된 제품과 제품속성 평가에 미치는 영향

In recent years, a new way of differentiating product design has emerged -better known as 'masterpiece marketing,' this is a strategy where famous art pieces are borrowed on to product designs. Because the recent trends of well-being and LOHAS have encouraged the consumers' desires to enjoy culture and live a more opulent lifestyle, famous and notable paintings have grown to be more of "approachable masterpieces" to the public. As a strategy intended to develop a new consumerism, while still prioritizing customers' values and their satisfaction, companies have been drawn to this new type of marketing. The current consumption society has converted renowned art pieces from simply works of 'high culture' to a further way of marketing, aimed to differentiate products and dominate the market. Though many products have had masterpieces applied to their designs and have been noticed for their marketability, there has been less systematic research done on the scientific background behind this marketing approach. This research focused on the art pieces' fundamental nature of inducing emotions in the viewer, and hypothesized about how the evaluation of a product may be influenced by the affect provoked by the art piece used. To be more specific, if art pieces with different levels of pleasure and arousal -the two axis of emotion suggested by existing research on emotion -were used on each product, the goal was to see how the different levels influenced the consumer's assessment of the products, focusing on product's type as well as the evaluation of their attributes. First, a pretest was done to verify the relationship between the emotion provoked by the art piece and the consumer's preference. There were two types of surveys, each with five drawings from the ten that were assumed to differ in levels of the two axis of emotion. The survey was composed of questions asking for positive emotion, negative emotion, level of arousal, and preference. The correlation between the measurements of positive and negative emotions was -0.792, so an integrated entry was used in the analysis by subtracting the measurement of negative emotions from that of positive emotions. The first hypothesis that paintings that provoke positive emotions will be more preferred than paintings that bring out negative emotions was supported; and through this research, paintings that were to be used for the products were selected. The second pretest was conducted to settle on an item that would be used in the research. Items meant to measure utilitarian and hedonic attributes of milk and chocolate, the two products to be used in the research, were extracted. Because milk is a utilitarian product with strong practical attributes while chocolate is a hedonic product with strong hedonic attributes, these two were selected to be used in this research. The first study was executed to see if there is a difference in attitude about products that have different painting on their designs, which either induces positive or negative emotions. It was also to verify whether this difference in attitude was mediated by the viewer's preference for the art piece. This study showed that when positive emotion inducing painting was used, the product was better evaluated compared to the product with a painting that provokes a negative emotion, thus supporting the second hypothesis. It was also supported that the effect of affect on product evaluation was mediated by preference for the art piece. The second study was done to see the influence of the level of arousal on the evaluation of the product's attributes. Art pieces that differ in the level of arousal were selected through the pretest, and later it verified the hypothesis that the level of arousal has an effect on the assessment of the attributes of the product. In the case of milk, a utilitarian product, the fourth hypothesis that a high-arousal painting will better evaluated for its hedonic attributes was supported, as well as the fifth, which hypothesized that a low-arousal painting will receive a higher assessment for its utilitarian attributes. However, for chocolate, a hedonic product, both fourth and fifth hypotheses were not supported. This study is significant for the following basis: first, it verified the importance of the emotion induced by the painting on the evaluation of the product's attributes, by applying a systematic and scientific method. Second, it expanded from the existing research on positive/negative emotions to confirm the additional influence of the state of arousal on product evaluation.

최근, 제품 디자인의 차별화 방법 중 하나로 제품에 명화(名畵)를 차용하는 이른바 '명화 마케팅(masterpiece marketing)'이 각광받고 있다. 본 연구는 시장에서 널리 사용되고 있는 명화 마케팅에 체계적이고 과학적인 방법을 적용하여, 명화에서 유발되는 감정이 제품 속성 평가에 영향을 미치는 중요한 요소임을 밝혀내고자 하였다. 본 연구는 명화가 가지는 본질적 기능인 감상자의 정서 유발에 초점을 맞추어, 차용된 명화에서 유발되는 감정(affect)이 해당 제품 평가에 어떠한 영향을 미치는 가에 대한 가설을 세웠다. 보다 구체적으로 기존 감정 연구에서 제시된 감정의 두 축, 쾌(pleasure), 환기(arousal)의 수준에서 차이가 나는 명화가 각각 제품에 차용되었을 경우, 소비자의 제품 평가에 어떠한 영향을 미치는 가에 대해 제품의 유형(실용재/ 쾌락재)과 각 속성(실용적 속성/ 쾌락적 속성)에 대한 평가의 차이를 통해 살펴보았다. 분석 결과, 긍정 감정을 야기하는 명화에 대한 선호도가 부정감정을 야기하는 명화에 대한 선호도보다 높았으며, 제품 유형에 관계없이 긍정감정을 유발하는 명화를 제품에 차용하였을 경우 부정감정을 유발하는 명화를 제품에 차용했을 때보다 제품태도가 더 높게 나타났다. 또한 이를 바탕으로 명화가 유발하는 감정이 제품태도에 미치는 영향은 명화에 대한 선호도에 의해 매개됨을 밝혀냈다. 감정의 또 다른 한 축인 환기 수준이 높은 명화를 실용재인 우유에 차용했을 경우, 쾌락적 속성에 대한 평가가 높아진 반면, 환기 수준이 낮은 명화를 차용했을 경우에는 실용적 속성에 대한 평가가 높아졌다. 그러나 쾌락재인 초콜릿의 경우 이러한 차이가 발견되지 않아 제품에 차용된 명화에서 유발되는 감정 수준(환기 수준)이 제품 유형에 따라 각각 다른 영향을 미치고 있음을 확인할 수 있었다. 본 연구는 다음과 같은 점에서 의의가 있다. 첫째, 시장에서 널리 사용되고 있는 명화 마케팅에 체계적이고 과학적인 방법을 적용하여, 명화에서 유발되는 감정이 제품 속성 평가에 영향을 미치는 중요한 요소임을 밝혀내었다. 둘째, 긍정/부정 감정에 초점을 두어 진행되었던 기존 연구에서 더 나아가 감정의 또 다른 축인 환기가 제품 속성평가에 차별적인 영향을 미칠 수 있음을 확인하였다.