The "Art Infusion Effect"

The stuff you find when you make typing "Gogh" into Google News part of your lunchtime routine. A new study coming out in the Journal of Marketing Research suggests that consumers are more likely to consider various items "luxurious" when they are promoted using art. The two researchers carried out a series of studies; in one of them, they posed as waiters in a restaurant and showed 100 patrons boxes of silverware. Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night appeared on the boxes of some of the silverware, while the rest of the boxes had a photograph of an outdoor cafe. The researchers found that the diners rated the silverware that came from the van Gogh-decorated box more "luxurious," even though it was the same as the utensils in the other boxes. The researchers determined that the "art infusion effect" works with all kinds of everyday items in terms of enhancing perceived prestige among consumers. Not surprising, really, but I love they went with van Gogh in their study, and with a painting that many people would recognize as being his.

Source: www.world-science.net