What is the glamor of black‐and‐white? The effect of color design on evaluations of luxury brand ads

Abstract Visual esthetic stimuli are believed to be an important factor in increasing luxury brands attitudes. However, less attention has been given by existing research to how the presence or absence of color (i.e., color vs. black‐and‐white) influences consumers' perceptions of products and evaluations toward luxury ads. Drawing on the perspective of esthetic meaning and the theory of psychological distance, this study provides key evidence for addressing this gap. Three studies have found that black‐and‐white (BW) (vs. color) is associated with the luxuriousness of products and evaluations of luxury brand ads. Specifically, Study 1 shows that BW (vs. color) design can enhance consumers' evaluations of luxury brand ads by enhancing the perceived luxuriousness of products. In addition, Study 2 indicates that ad appeal plays a moderating role in the link between color design (BW vs. color) and ad evaluations such that the effect of BW designs (vs. color design) will be higher for consumers when ads focus on hedonic (vs. utilitarian) appeals. Study 3 further shows that BW is more effective for luxury brand ads than both iconic and noniconic colors. In sum, our results extend the existing literature and provide valuable management strategies for luxury brand marketing management in visual esthetic design.