The spread of COVID-19 changes consumer preferences and behaviors greatly across the world. Extant literature has demonstrated that when there is a threat to disease, people stay away from those who do not seem healthy as they can be potentially infectious. Based on the previous literature, this research shows that individuals exposed to disease threat avoid products of which designs are high in visual complexity. When disease threat was present, individuals had lower purchase intention for products with complex designs. The perceived uncleanliness mediated the effect of visual complexity and disease threat on purchase intention. The findings provide a novel insight into the effect of disease salience on consumer perception of product design.

• Seojin Stacey Lee(Seoul National University, Republic of Korea)
• Joonkyung Kim(Independent Researcher, Canada)
• Yaeri Kim(Seoul Women’s University, Republic of Korea)
• Kiwan Park(Seoul National University, Republic of Korea)