The moderating impact of product shadows on ad effectiveness perceptions for gestalt versus component product frames, product presentation color, and consumer visual processing modes

Purpose This research aims to investigate the moderating impact of product shadows in gestalt versus component product frames on ad effectiveness perceptions. It offers insights on shadow-compatible and incompatible modes of product presentation color as well as consumer visual processing modes that offer optimal advertising effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach This research begins with a content analysis of some popular print magazines and builds on qualitative findings from interviews conducted with two industry executives. It then undertakes four experiments to test the proposed hypotheses following a more deductive approach. Findings Results reveal that incorporating product shadows increase ad effectiveness for gestalt products presented in black-and-white, but lower ad effectiveness for component products presented in color. Additionally, ad effectiveness for a gestalt (component) product presented in black-and-white (color) increases (decreases) in the presence of product shadow when consumers are currently processing in a compatible, gestalt (component) visual mode. Research limitations/implications In addition to extending the limited marketing research on product shadows, this research contributes to the literature studying information communication theory (ICT) and advertising effectiveness, Construal-Level Theory (CLT), Heuristic–Systematic Model (HSM) of information processing and stylistic visual cues used in advertising. Practical implications This research is focused on advertising effectiveness, providing a tangible outcome of interest to practitioners. An optimal use of this simple, inexpensive and stylistic ad element can help managers design effective communications without forgoing established brand equity. Originality/value Limited marketing research on product shadows has only looked at their impact on product luxury implications (Sharma, 2016), experiential versus functional brand evaluations (Sharma, 2018) and product heaviness perceptions (Sharma and Romero, 2020). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is the first to investigate specific gestalt versus component product contexts and the role of black-and-white and colored product presentations, along with specific consumer visual processing modes where shadows either increase or decrease the overall ad effectiveness.