Is Your Product on the Right Side? The “Location Effect” on Perceived Product Heaviness and Package Evaluation

Abstract

The authors show that location of the product image on a package facade influences consumers’ perceptions of the visual heaviness of the product and evaluations of the package. The “heavier” (“lighter”) locations are on the bottom (top), right (left), and bottom-right (top-left) of the package. For products for which heaviness is considered a positive attribute, packages with the product image placed at heavy locations are preferred, whereas for products for which heaviness is considered a negative attribute, packages using light locations are preferred. Furthermore, in the former category (e.g., snacks), a salient health goal, as opposed to a neutral goal, weakens the preference for packages using heavy locations, though this moderating effect of goal is weaker for healthful snacks than for regular snacks. Store shelf context is a boundary condition, such that the location effects on perceived product heaviness and package evaluation appear in a contrasting context but disappear in an assimilating context. Moreover, perceived product heaviness mediates (1) the location effect on package evaluation and (2) the moderating role of store shelf context (i.e., mediated moderation).