An image of a face looking at the camera pulls your attention to the face. An image of a face looking at text pulls your attention to the text. Breeze (2014) tracked eye movement in advertising: when a model's gaze was directed at the viewer, viewers spent 47% more time looking at the model and 22% less time reading accompanying text. When the model's gaze was averted toward the text, viewers spent 34% less time on the model and 58% more time reading the text.1
The gaze direction of a face in an image controls where your eyes naturally move. This is gaze cueing—your brain automatically follows the direction another person is looking.
Averted gaze is the principle that when a face in an advertisement or image looks away from the viewer (toward text, product, or other elements), it triggers gaze-following behavior, directing the viewer's attention toward the gazed-upon object rather than the face itself.
The mechanism is social attention and gaze-following. Your brain evolved to read other people's gazes as signals of where attention should be directed. If someone looks at a predator, you should look too. If someone looks at food, you should look too. Gaze direction is a powerful social cue that hijacks your visual attention system.
In advertising, gaze direction can redirect attention from the model (usually not the objective) to the product or text (usually the objective). By having a model avert their gaze toward the product, the advertiser leverages gaze-following to pull viewer attention toward the product.
Gaze-following is automatic and unconscious. You don't decide to look where someone is looking; your brain does it involuntarily. This automatic response evolved for social coordination: following others' gaze increased survival (shared attention to threats or resources).
In modern advertising, gaze direction redirects this automatic system. A model looking at the camera creates mutual gaze—social engagement between model and viewer. The viewer attends to the model's face (social signal processing).
A model looking away from the camera (averted gaze) breaks mutual gaze engagement and instead points toward the product or text. The viewer's gaze-following system automatically directs attention toward the gazed-upon object.
Breeze's research quantified this effect across eye-tracking data in print and digital ads. Averted gaze increased product attention by 58% and text reading by comparable amounts. The effect was strongest when the averted gaze was toward the specific object you wanted viewers to attend to.
Step 1: Identify the primary object you want viewers to attend to Is it product, headline, call-to-action, or testimonial? This is where you want the model's gaze directed.
Step 2: Direct the model's gaze toward that object In photography or illustration, have the model look at the object, not at the camera. The gaze should be natural and intentional-seeming, not awkward.
Step 3: Position the object in the direction the gaze points The gaze should lead naturally to the object. If the model's eyes point left, the product should be positioned left. Consistency increases gaze-following effect.
Step 4: Test with eye-tracking if possible If you have the resources, use eye-tracking to confirm viewers' eyes follow the model's gaze toward the intended object.
Step 5: Use sparingly Averted gaze works when you want to redirect attention from the face (model) to other elements. For campaigns where the model is the primary object (celebrity endorsements, personality-driven branding), mutual gaze might be better.
Averted gaze fails when it looks forced or unnatural. If a model is staring intently at a product in an awkward way, the unnaturalness breaks the gaze-following effect—viewers notice the manipulation.
Also, context matters. In social media and personal branding, viewers often want mutual gaze with the person (parasocial relationship building). Averted gaze in those contexts can feel like rejection.
The boundary is authenticity: use averted gaze when the natural gesture aligns with the message (looking at product, reading text). Avoid it when it feels forced or when mutual engagement is the goal.
Behavioral-Mechanics → Attention Direction: Gaze direction controls visual attention allocation. Pareidolia and face-detection work with gaze direction: faces capture attention; gaze direction then redirects that attention. Combined, you can control attention flow.
Psychology → Social Attention & Theory of Mind: Gaze-following is automatic social cognition. Your brain treats others' gazes as meaningful signals and follows them unconsciously.