Look closely at many advertisements, and they often have a common pitch: We’ll make your life easier. But according to a study, this approach may backfire when the products are aimed at helping consumers care for a loved one.

The reason is that in those cases, people often value their own effort so much that they feel bad for using products designed to make their life easier.

“Exerting...

Look closely at many advertisements, and they often have a common pitch: We’ll make your life easier. But according to a study, this approach may backfire when the products are aimed at helping consumers care for a loved one.

The reason is that in those cases, people often value their own effort so much that they feel bad for using products designed to make their life easier.

“Exerting more effort makes people feel like better caregivers,” says Ximena Garcia-Rada, an assistant professor of marketing at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School and one of the co-authors of this study.

In one experiment, for instance, students were asked to make a card for a grandparent or elderly relative. Students either received art supplies likes glitter, glue and markers to make their own card, or were asked to pick one of several premade greeting cards. Both groups spent about 10 minutes on the task. Students then answered a questionnaire.

Students from both groups thought making their own card required more effort. Students making their own cards were more likely to agree or strongly agree that they were dedicated family members. They also were more likely to agree or strongly agree that they took good care of the grandparents.

This was true even though people uninvolved in the experiment thought premade greeting cards had nicer designs; even they believed, though, that the homemade cards better expressed love.

The same pattern ran through several experiments—people felt better about themselves, and their caregiving, if they exerted more effort.

There were two notable exceptions: Caregivers preferred to exert less effort when they were caring for themselves or when there was no expectation the extra effort was necessary.

For example, in one experiment, participants were asked to imagine they were baking cookies either for themselves or for their partner during the pandemic as a way of giving a little tender loving care. Participants could choose between using a cookie mix or premade, frozen cookie dough. The authors found that more participants chose the cookie mix (the choice that required more effort) when they were baking for their partner compared with when they were baking for themselves, 44% to 36%.

In another experiment, authors asked participants to imagine their romantic partner was sick. Some were told they bought soup; others were told they made soup. Some of the participants were also told to imagine that their partner cooked soup for them the last time they were sick; others were told their partner bought soup. The authors found that participants who were told they cooked soup felt like equally good caregivers, whether or not their partners had previously cooked for them. Participants who were told they bought soup felt like worse caregivers if their partners previously cooked soup, but didn’t feel as bad about themselves if their partner had bought soup.

In other words, it was fine to exert less effort if their partner likely didn’t expect them to do anything more.

One of the key implications of this study, says Prof. Garcia-Rada, is that better understanding caregivers’ psychology could help marketers reframe the benefits of products that make their lives easier. For instance, caregivers responded better to advertisements acknowledging their efforts, this study showed. Marketers may achieve similar results by acknowledging that caregivers often juggle multiple responsibilities, or highlighting the long-term benefits for caregivers’ own health, or showing that their products allow them to spend more quality time with their loved ones.

Ms. Ward is a writer in Vermont. Email her at reports@wsj.com.