Models should look away from the camera (for most DTC brands)
When a model looks away from the camera, viewers more easily imagine themselves in the scene - leading to 30% higher sales in A/B tests. A direct gaze works better for informational or warning-heavy content.
Quick Summary
Models looking away from the camera produced 30% higher sales and 19% better ad ratings than models making direct eye contact, in controlled A/B tests. An averted gaze invites the viewer to imagine themselves in the scene; a direct gaze signals "someone else talking at you" and breaks the fantasy.
Audit your hero images and model photography. For lifestyle, fashion, beauty, and homewares, switch to models looking away. Reserve direct eye contact for content where authority and trust matter more than aspiration, such as health claims or complex product explanations.
Key Finding
30%
Higher sales recorded when models looked away from the camera compared to direct eye contact, across A/B tests on lifestyle product advertising.
To & Patrick, 2021
It seems counterintuitive. Isn't direct eye contact more engaging? More human? More trustworthy?
For most DTC products, no. Research found that when a model looks away from the camera - out toward a horizon, down at the product, or into the middle distance - sales were 30% higher and ad ratings were 19% better than when the model made direct eye contact with the viewer.
The psychology
A model looking away invites you into their world. Your brain finds it easier to step into their place - to imagine yourself wearing those jeans, drinking that coffee, sitting on that sofa. The scene feels like something you could be part of.
A direct gaze does the opposite. It signals: this is someone else, talking at you. That's useful when you need authority or credibility - a doctor explaining a supplement, a trainer demonstrating technique - but it pulls the viewer out of the fantasy for lifestyle-led products.
When to use each
Look away: fashion, food, lifestyle, beauty, homewares, travel, anything where imagination is the primary sales tool.
Look at camera: health claims, safety products, complex B2C products with strong informational needs, anything where trust and authority matter more than aspiration.
The quick audit
Go through your hero images and model photography. If your lifestyle brand has every model staring directly into camera, you're blocking the viewer from picturing themselves in that life. That's the opposite of what the image is supposed to do.
Research: To, R.N. & Patrick, V.M. (2021). Journal of Consumer Research, 47(5). Bauer College of Business, University of Houston.
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