How do consumers with different need for cognition appreciate visual metaphor advertisements? Multifaceted aspects of human-made and AI-generated images

Abstract

This research aims to examine how consumers with low versus high need for cognition (NFC) appreciate visual metaphor ads varying in the multifaceted aspects (complexity, conceptual similarity, verbal anchoring, and explicitness) and creator types (human vs. artificial intelligence [AI]). Two studies test hypotheses deduced from the modified theory of constructive choice. In Study 1, which uses human-made images as the baseline, low-NFC consumers appreciate visual metaphor ads characterized by low complexity, high conceptual similarity, direct verbal anchoring, and high explicitness. Conversely, high-NFC consumers prefer visual metaphor ads involving high complexity, low conceptual similarity, no verbal anchoring, and low explicitness. Study 2 extends these findings by comparing consumer responses to human-made and AI-generated images. Specifically, high-NFC consumers appreciate AI-generated visual metaphor ads less than human-made ones, while low-NFC consumers exhibit no difference. This research advances our understanding of visual metaphor ads by considering their multifaceted aspects and generative AI.