Maybe this has happened to you — you’re at a party or celebration, and among the snacks there are foods with someone’s photo on them, maybe a cake or cookies, for example. And, maybe you’ve felt a little apprehensive about cutting a slice or taking a bite out of that photo food. If so, it turns out you’re not alone.
New research from Arizona State University finds there appears to be some limits to the billion-dollar photo integration industry. Items like magnets, pillows and bags? Those seem to be just fine. But more disposable items like foods and even napkins? People seem a little more squeamish about eating or using those.
Adriana Samper is an associate professor of marketing in ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business and one of the authors of the paper. Samper joined The Show to discuss what they found, starting with how prevalent these personalized products are, where there’s an actual photo of an actual human on an actual product.
Full conversation
ADRIANA SAMPER: Yeah, no, it's something that it's always kind of occurred, but now with advances in technology, it's very common in gift giving. If you've ever gone to Shutterfly, if you've ever, even on your phone, there's a variety of apps that you can use to personalize items.
And for a long time, it was mostly more durable items, you know, mugs, blankets. I've seen cushions, pillows, throw pillows, but now there seems to be a greater focus on items that are more novel, disposable items like M&Ms or some napkins or cookies.
So it's something that's growing in prevalence, but it's often used either as a gift or promotional material, kind of a celebratory event. I've seen images of graduation type photos, somebody with a cap and gown on that you can use as a gift.
MARK BRODIE: Well, so perhaps not surprisingly, you found that, you know, some people at least have kind of an aversion to like taking a bite out of an item that has a picture of a friend or family member on it or cutting into a cake that has, you know, a family or friend's face on it. And I guess, like, as I said, it's not entirely surprising and yet as you say, these items are increasingly popular.
SAMPER: Absolutely. I think one thing that I'm always interested in is studying how people might anticipate purchasing something for the novelty and they have expectations of what it'll be like to consume, how cool it might be. But, then when the consumption actually happens, it's not what they were expecting.
They're more uncomfortable. They eat, if it's a cookie, they'll eat less of it. They'll consume fewer M&M’s. They won't even use napkins in the same way. Even though these napkins were purchased specifically for a special event, celebrating perhaps an individual. But we get this sense that there's a disconnect between what people expect and what they actually consume and what they experience.
BRODIE: So, your research finds that, that people have what you're calling a moral discomfort with some of this, and I'm wondering what exactly are people uncomfortable about when they are eating something or maybe using something that they're going to throw away that has a picture of somebody that they know and love on it?
SAMPER: So the discomfort emerges from this notion of the kind of a two-fold dimension of first, it feels a little disrespectful, right? To kind of consume in a way that's destroying something or a person that you care about. And that disrespect is also something that translates into, “OK, I want to do this, I'm uncomfortable destroying something that is kind of a living entity, a living being.” And so, to that end, we actually find the effect, not just with specific individuals or loved ones, but even with a kitten or an image of a sacred item like the Bible.
BRODIE: Do you have a sense of where the line is in terms of these kinds of products that people are comfortable using versus not? Like, I, for example, have made coasters for family members, like, with my kids picture on to descend to, to their grandparents and I wonder, like, would people feel uncomfortable, like putting a glass on it and like leaving a ring or like having some kind of beverage spill on it? You know, when it's the face of their grandchild versus, for example, like eating a cookie with a family member's face on it.
SAMPER: Absolutely. Yeah. So that's one thing that we studied because we were very curious about this and when it's durable, when it's enduring, then you consuming it isn't changing the image, it's not marring it. Like you're not immediately seeing this marring of the image, and in turn, kind of eliciting moral discomfort and so more durable products.
I don't know if you've seen save the dates with magnets on them, magnets with images on them, those types of products people really enjoy consuming danger, getting them in consuming them. And so, these effects are not there for those. It's specifically these disposable items which have grown in popularity, in part because it's like, oh wow, they could put an image on a cookie. But yet that creates this discomfort down the line when you actually have to consume the product with the image on it.
BRODIE: So for people who buy these, you mentioned a lot of times that they're bought as gifts, do the givers not realize that people will have this discomfort with them? Like I just, I just imagine buying a cake with, you know, a family member's picture on it and then serving it and realizing, "Oh gosh, like I can't, I can't eat this and neither can anybody else."
SAMPER: No. So it is really interesting because we were considering that as well and we had a study at the end where we had people think about actually consuming it. And so, when you think about consuming a product, then you expect that your guest, who might consume the product, is going to like it less when it has a photo on it.
But when you're not thinking about it, like you're, you're just seeing the image, you're like, “oh, that's kind of cool. That's kind of neat.” And so, because consumption itself of the item is decoupled from just seeing it and purchasing it, then you can get this disconnect between what you think is cool and what people will enjoy consuming.
BRODIE: How do you think the, the companies that provide these, these products should take this research to the extent they're going to use it and, and incorporate it into their businesses? How, how do you think they ought to do that?
SAMPER: Absolutely. So there are a few things we think are important takeaways. First, this does impact word of mouth. And so it's something and purchase. So if you see something like this, then maybe you didn't buy it, but it was given to you and you are actually seeing this product, you're less likely to say like, oh, I'm going to recommend that to a friend or I'm going to purchase this for myself in the future.
And so we recommend something like if you are going to use these, these items first recognize that if it's a buzz type of campaign where you're not reliant on consumption, maybe just for promotional materials, maybe accepting the fact that it's not going to be consumed, which is an ideal. But, if you are trying to do something with selling people products, actually having a cartoon representation might be something but that will lead to a higher consumption rates and interest in consumption.
And in addition, if you're trying to decide what types of products to photo customize, the more durable ones, tins, magnets, things like that, can actually be seen as more enduring and more enjoyable to consume and more likely to be consumed once the purchase is done and the individuals have these products.
