The Artification of Luxury: How Art Can Affect Perceived …
81
by our study, leveraging on both art and craftmanship means to elicit perceptions of
product durability and thus enhance consumers’ purchase intention. In light of the
previously mentioned issues affecting the luxury sector, we believe that these findings could be relevant to two main reasons. Firstly, as claimed by Kapferer [25, 38],
art is per se able to restore luxury attractiveness in the eyes of the élite and to protect
luxury from its democratization. Stressing the craftmanship inherent in the artwork
and thus eliciting perceptions of product durability may even enhance this positive
effect, since it recalls one of the founding principles of luxury—that is the eternity
of its value, which the passing of time cannot affect. Secondly, eliciting perceptions
of product durability can also help luxury firms to be perceived as more sustainable
and to consequently defuse the moral criticism fueled by the recent overexposure of
luxury brands. Indeed, high product durability resounds with the concepts of “slow
production” and “slow consumption,” two practices that are known to be highly compatible with sustainable development because of their commitment in the protection
of both natural and human resources. From a strictly managerial perspective, it follows that it is firstly recommended to continue the ongoing process of artification
undertaken by the luxury sector. The incorporation of artistic elements in luxury
visual advertising is today more relevant than ever, given the increasing importance
that visual communication has gained thanks to the dominant role of social networks.
It is secondly recommended to carefully select the type of artwork to display, as well
as to privilege the ones in which the intensity of artist’s craftmanship is higher, possibly making also use of claims recalling it. Lastly, given all the above-mentioned
benefits related to product durability, we also recommend luxury firms to leverage
on all the means at their disposal besides art to communicate it (such as packaging
and quality certifications).
The present work certainly features some limitations which open the way to further investigations. The most relevant criticality concerns the experiment itself and
specifically the stimuli used to manipulate the independent variable. Indeed, since
the two levels of intensity of artist’s craftmanship (low vs high) have been simulated
by resorting to two different types of visual art (abstract vs Renaissance art), findings may be affected by respondents’ level of knowledge and liking of the type of
visual art they have been exposed to. Indeed, among the two scenarios developed to
manipulate the intensity of artist’s craftmanship, respondents showed significantly
different levels of knowledge of the specific art genre they have been exposed to.
In particular, respondents exposed to the Renaissance condition showed a higher
level of knowledge of the art displayed than the respondents exposed to the abstract
condition. Consequently, we suggest to researchers who desire to further validate
our findings to do that by controlling the above-mentioned external variables. Furthermore, the experiment has been conducted by taking into consideration only one
product type, while it would be interesting to verify if any changes in the results
occur for different types of products. Moreover, considering the strict link between
product durability and sustainability, we also suggest to further investigate the effects
that product durability may have on consumers’ perceptions and behaviors, in order
to substantiate the managerial implications we have inferred. Finally, given the consistent variety of tools today used by firms to convey their visual messages, we also
81
by our study, leveraging on both art and craftmanship means to elicit perceptions of
product durability and thus enhance consumers’ purchase intention. In light of the
previously mentioned issues affecting the luxury sector, we believe that these findings could be relevant to two main reasons. Firstly, as claimed by Kapferer [25, 38],
art is per se able to restore luxury attractiveness in the eyes of the élite and to protect
luxury from its democratization. Stressing the craftmanship inherent in the artwork
and thus eliciting perceptions of product durability may even enhance this positive
effect, since it recalls one of the founding principles of luxury—that is the eternity
of its value, which the passing of time cannot affect. Secondly, eliciting perceptions
of product durability can also help luxury firms to be perceived as more sustainable
and to consequently defuse the moral criticism fueled by the recent overexposure of
luxury brands. Indeed, high product durability resounds with the concepts of “slow
production” and “slow consumption,” two practices that are known to be highly compatible with sustainable development because of their commitment in the protection
of both natural and human resources. From a strictly managerial perspective, it follows that it is firstly recommended to continue the ongoing process of artification
undertaken by the luxury sector. The incorporation of artistic elements in luxury
visual advertising is today more relevant than ever, given the increasing importance
that visual communication has gained thanks to the dominant role of social networks.
It is secondly recommended to carefully select the type of artwork to display, as well
as to privilege the ones in which the intensity of artist’s craftmanship is higher, possibly making also use of claims recalling it. Lastly, given all the above-mentioned
benefits related to product durability, we also recommend luxury firms to leverage
on all the means at their disposal besides art to communicate it (such as packaging
and quality certifications).
The present work certainly features some limitations which open the way to further investigations. The most relevant criticality concerns the experiment itself and
specifically the stimuli used to manipulate the independent variable. Indeed, since
the two levels of intensity of artist’s craftmanship (low vs high) have been simulated
by resorting to two different types of visual art (abstract vs Renaissance art), findings may be affected by respondents’ level of knowledge and liking of the type of
visual art they have been exposed to. Indeed, among the two scenarios developed to
manipulate the intensity of artist’s craftmanship, respondents showed significantly
different levels of knowledge of the specific art genre they have been exposed to.
In particular, respondents exposed to the Renaissance condition showed a higher
level of knowledge of the art displayed than the respondents exposed to the abstract
condition. Consequently, we suggest to researchers who desire to further validate
our findings to do that by controlling the above-mentioned external variables. Furthermore, the experiment has been conducted by taking into consideration only one
product type, while it would be interesting to verify if any changes in the results
occur for different types of products. Moreover, considering the strict link between
product durability and sustainability, we also suggest to further investigate the effects
that product durability may have on consumers’ perceptions and behaviors, in order
to substantiate the managerial implications we have inferred. Finally, given the consistent variety of tools today used by firms to convey their visual messages, we also