Exploring Consumer Responses to AI-Generated Visual Marketing Content: A Dual-Process Theory Perspective

Abstract

With the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) content generation tools, companies are increasingly utilizing AI to create visual marketing content. However, research on how consumer responses to AI-generated content differ from those to human-generated content remains limited. Based on the dual-process theory, this research examines the impact of three types of visual content creators—AI creators, human-AI co-creators, and human creators—on consumer responses. An online experiment involving 450 consumers evaluated their reactions to visual marketing content labeled with different creator information. The findings indicate that content generated by AI creators elicits greater emotional arousal among consumers compared to content generated by human-AI co-creators or exclusively by human creators. Moreover, content generated by AI or co-created by humans and AI is perceived as requiring less effort from companies, yet it conveys a greater perception of company innovation ability than content created solely by humans. These types of content creators indirectly influence consumer attitudes toward the content and their perceptions of product premiumness. This effect is mediated by emotional arousal, perceived company effort, and perceived company innovation ability. As one of the early studies exploring the effects of AI-generated visual content in marketing, this research offers novel insights into the psychological mechanisms underlying consumer responses—based on evaluations of both the content and the company's strategic approach.