According to theory of consumer contamination (Argo, Dahl & Morales, 2006), a product, after being touched by a customer, will be disgusted and devalued by the following customer. However, Argo, et al. (2006) considered only a high salience of contact product, i.e., T-shirts, and did not consider low salience of contact products. This study extended the study of Argo, et al. (2006) and examined whether perception of consumer contamination varies between products of different saliences of contact. The gender difference was also considered. The result from an experiment showed that consumers’ reactions to ‘contaminated’ products vary, depending on the salience of contact. The result also shows that female consumers tend to be more sensitive to consumer contamination.

• Fu-Yung Kuan(National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology)
• En-Chi Chang(Perfect Translation & Compunet, Taichung)
• Sin-Yao Chen(National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology)