Engaging the Human Mind: The Effects of Anthropomorphism on Engagement, Trust, and Ad Attitude in Fashion Brands

Abstract

This study examines the role of anthropomorphism in AI-driven fashion advertising and its impact on consumer engagement, perceived trust, and attitude toward advertisements. Drawing on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model, the study conceptualizes anthropomorphism as a stimulus that is positively associated with cognitive and emotional engagement, which, in turn, shapes consumer responses. A quantitative research design was employed using survey data collected from fashion consumers, and the proposed model was tested using structural equation modeling. The findings reveal that anthropomorphic features in fashion advertisements significantly enhance both cognitive and emotional engagement, thereby fostering greater trust and more favorable attitudes toward the advertisements. The study further demonstrates the mediating role of engagement in linking anthropomorphism with consumer outcomes. These results contribute to the literature by extending the S-O-R model to AI-driven fashion advertising and by highlighting the importance of human-like design elements in shaping consumer psychology. The results of this study provide empirical support to the idea that advertisements featuring AI with human-like characteristics can increase consumer engagement with brands by appealing to their cognitive and emotional processes. Marketers can enhance consumer trust and favorable ad evaluations by designing AI-driven campaigns that strike a balance between human-like features and emotionally and cognitively engaging content. In addition, the classical idea that human design alone improves positive appraisal is refined through this dual-mediation method. Instead, the results provide a process-oriented explanation that has been overlooked in prior research that anthropomorphism’s effectiveness depends on the extent to which the consumer is emotionally and cognitively invested.