Creating a Sincere Look: Face Ratios of Brand Mascots Affect Social Categorisation and Trust

Abstract

Firms deploy humanised entities such as mascots or avatars in many ways. These entities have multiple purposes, including brand representation, brand message transfer, or online customer assistance. Prior research on the deployment of humanised entities has provided insight into the impact of the design of such entities. However, the existing research has primarily focused on obvious dimensions of design, such as avatar type or perceived attractiveness.