When Do Mouths Matter? : A Cross-Cultural Assessment of Consumers' Preferences Towards Anthropomorphic Car Fronts

Although of present economic importance, to date marketing research knows only little about cross-cultural variations of consumers' design preferences. In two studies featuring participant samples from China, Germany and the USA, an investigation of consumers' perception of car fronts is pursued. Building on previous research on anthropomorphic (human-like) product design and emotion perception, it is found that consumers across all countries perceive anthropomorphic car fronts on two affective core dimensions. However, clear differences emerge with respect to the effect of particular design features on the participants' liking between East and West. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.