SHARED FIRST PRODUCT MOMENTS: THE IMPACT OF UNBOXING VIDEOS ON THE EVALUATION OF NEW PRODUCTS

摘要

Private users upload videos on video platforms that show them opening the packaging of a new device for the first time (Smith et al. in press). These films, which are often referred to as "unboxing videos," usually feature the product packaging and the user's hands as he or she opens the original box (Blythe and Cairns 2009). Unboxing videos are far from uncommon. Nevertheless, the state of the research on the impact of unboxing videos on their recipients remains surprisingly vague: As far as user-generated content is concerned, research shows that web-users tend to trust product information placed on the web by private users more than if it stems from the producers of the products (Cheong and Morrison 2008). Precisely how this information affects the purchasing process or how significant it is for branding, however, largely remains open. Studies that specifically examine the effects of unboxing videos are few and far between. Even so, we can conclude that unboxing videos that constitute precisely the private experience reports of other consumers (Blythe and Cairns 2010) influence the attitude of the recipients towards the product. Two aspects of unboxing videos seem particularly interesting and will be considered more closely here: (1) On the one hand, the homemade videos differ in terms of the expertise of the producers for the product: Thus, unboxing videos in which laymen talk about their experiences during their initial contact with the product differ while in other videos consumers with a lot of expertise in the corresponding product category comment on their experiences. (2) Secondly, the state of research suggests that unboxing videos work precisely because they have been produced by a private individual who is trusted more than the manufacturers when it comes to product information. Thus, our study addresses these questions: Does the impact of unboxing videos on the recipients' attitudes towards the product depend on the expertise the recipients ascribe to the maker of the video (sender)? And does it make a difference whether the unboxing video comes from a reliable source?