Consumer Reactions to AI-Versus-Human Designed Packaging

Sammanfattning

Abstract: As brands increasingly deploy Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) for creative marketing purposes, understanding of consumer acceptance and evaluations remains ambivalent. Despite rising legislation mandating AI disclosure, research on consumer perceptions within the field and particularly in packaging design remains limited. Drawing on signaling theory, machine heuristics, Mind-Perception Theory, and AI lay beliefs, this thesis aims to contribute to the body of research by investigating how disclosing AI (versus human) as the packaging design creator influences consumer brand evaluations. To do so, this thesis develops a dual-pathway model capturing core trade-offs triggered by AI disclosure. The model examines whether AI disclosure activates warmth-based deficits (reduced brand authenticity and creativity) or competence-based gains (enhanced brand modernity), and how these competing inferences shape brand attitudes. Moreover, this thesis aims to test brand identity as a moderating factor in shaping consumer brand evaluations when exposed to an AI-generated packaging design. Through an experiment, this thesis provides empirical evidence that AI disclosures trigger negative warmth-based inferences that fully dominate brand evaluations even when competence-based benefits are theoretically plausible. Specifically, brands disclosing their packaging design as AI-generated will be perceived as less authentic and less creative which ultimately results in lower brand attitudes, compared to brands disclosing their packaging design as human-created. Contrary to prior findings, AI disclosure did not enhance perceptions of brand modernity, nor did brand identity moderate the effects. These findings reveal substantive risks for brands employing AI in packaging design, offering important theoretical and managerial implications.