Abstract
With the increasing attention of brand managers to brand image building of agricultural products, it is particularly important to explore strategies to effectively enhance the brand image of agricultural products. This study explores the applicability of anthropomorphic marketing strategies in the field of agricultural products and their impact through three Study designs. In Study 1A, we explored the effects of anthropomorphization or not of agricultural product brands on consumer brand attitudes. Study 1B further classified the types of brand anthropomorphism, which extended and verified the hypotheses of Study 1A. In Study 2, we explored the effects of the interaction between brand anthropomorphization type and agricultural product type on consumer brand attitudes. The results showed that consumers had more positive attitudes toward anthropomorphized product brands (competence or passion) compared to non-anthropomorphized ones. In addition, the Study results demonstrated that brand anthropomorphization type and product type have an interactive effect on consumers’ brand attitudes. The findings of this study have important theoretical and practical value for image design and branding of agricultural products. On the one hand, this study verifies the effectiveness of anthropomorphism strategies and their impact in the context of agricultural products; on the other hand, it advances theoretical research on anthropomorphism within the field of branding.
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Data availability
The materials and data supporting the findings of this study are available to ensure transparency and reproducibility. 1. The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. 2. Survey Tools and Methods. The survey instruments used in this study (including anthropomorphization manipulation materials, brand attitude scales, and measures of warmth and competence from the Stereotype Content Model) are detailed in the Supplementary Materials. Specific experimental procedures and participant instructions are described in the “Methods” sections of Studies 1A, 1B, and 2. 3. Variable Details. We have compiled all variable definitions and coding schemes into a single PDF file and uploaded it to the Supplementary Materials Section. 4. Analyze Resources. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software. The analysis scripts (SPSS syntax files) used for independent samples t-tests, analysis of variance, and simple effect analyses in this study are available in the Supplementary Materials. The formulas used for effect size calculations (Cohen's d and partial eta-squared ηp²) followed standard procedures in the behavioral sciences. 5. Supporting Documents. Additional supporting materials, including the full set of pre-test questionnaires and the visual stimuli used for the anthropomorphic brand manipulations (e.g., images of ‘Fule’ rice with smiling faces vs. without), are included as supplementary files.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Gansu Province Higher School Innovation Fund Program “Consumer Psychological Recognition Mechanism and Output Strategy of Green Agricultural Product Brand Image in Gansu Province under Dual Carbon Targets” [2022A-009].
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LC: Conceptualization, Supervision, Resources, Funding Acquisition. LG: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data Curation, Software, Validation, Formal Analysis, Writing-Original Draft, Resources. JMY: Data Curation, Writing-Review & Editing, Visualization. YLZ: Data CuratChenion, Writing-Review & Editing, Visualization.
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All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the National Research Council and the ethical standards of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its subsequent amendments. Ethical approval for the procedures used in this study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the School of Psychology, Northwestern Normal University(Date: 2022.12.14/Ethics Approval No. 2025051).
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All participants were fully informed and assured of their anonymity, why the study was being conducted, and how their data would be used, and that there were no risks to them by participating in this study, and informed consent was obtained from the subjects prior to data collection (Date: 2023.01.05).
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Chen, L., Gao, L., Yang, J. et al. The influence of brand personification and agricultural product type on consumer brand attitudes. Humanit Soc Sci Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-06901-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-06901-0
