Finding the Right Shade of Green: The Effect of Advertising Appeal Type on Environmentally Friendly Consumption

There are two forms of advertising appeals for environmentally friendly products and policies: those that provide consumer benefit (e.g., cost savings) and those that provide societal benefit (e.g., lower emissions). This research examines the role of decision-making and consumption contexts on the efficacy of each appeal. The results of three studies indicate that in contexts where consumers experience heightened public accountability they are more responsive to other-benefit appeals, and in more private settings they favor self-benefit appeals. We replicate this finding across multiple samples, product categories, and consumption and decision-making contexts. Our findings reconcile previously conflicting research on the efficacy of either appeal type and provide guidance for marketers seeking to promote environmentally friendly consumption.     

The moderating role of religiosity on nonprofit advertising

Nonprofits need to compete for donations now more than ever. Maintaining a socially responsible reputation and developing ads that are emotional and likable are tactics used to encourage donations. This study explores the role of religiosity as a moderator of antecedents to intent to donate to the nonprofit sponsor of pro-social ads and finds that religiosity acts as a moderator in the relationship between liking of the ad, perceived corporate social responsibility of the nonprofit, and intent to donate to the nonprofit. Managerial implications suggest that nonprofits employing negative emotional appeals in advertising should (1) feature real victims (not actors) to generate empathy and (2) target more religious individuals through demographic and psychographic segmentations.     

Moral Emotions and Self-Construal in Charity Advertising: Communication on Focus

Many charity organizations face ongoing challenges to promote monetary donations and other helping behaviors. Integrating the literature on the role of emotion in persuasive communication and intercultural communication, two studies were conducted to explore the impact of moral emotions and self-construal in charity advertising. A survey investigated the extent to which moral emotions with different referent of focus operated differently among individuals with varying self-construal in affecting the intent to donate. An experiment examined the impact of ego- versus other-focused emotional appeals in the processing of charity advertising. Results indicated that moral emotions significantly influenced participants' purchase intention towards social-cause products. In addition, self-construal moderated the influence of positive moral emotions on purchase intention, as well as the influence of positive emotional appeals on the intent to donate. Specifically, the persuasive effectiveness was enhanced when independents were associated with ego-focused emotions or ego-focused emotional appeals; and interdependents with other-focused emotions or other-focused emotional appeals. These two studies expanded the knowledge on the effects of emotions on communication and persuasion, and provided relevant implications for practitioners in creating effective messages to promote social causes. Limitations and directions for future research were also outlined.     

Persuasive Charity Appeals for Less and More Controllable Health Causes: The Roles of Implicit Mindsets and Benefit Frames

This research investigates whether donors' beliefs in changeability influence the persuasiveness of charity ads for less and more controllable health conditions. Across three studies and using different health conditions, we show that fixed-mindset consumers' beliefs about immutability lead them to donate more to less (vs. more) controllable causes. The results show that this effect is driven by their tendency to blame people with more controllable health conditions. Conversely, controllability does not influence consumers with growth mindsets, who believe in the changeability of health conditions. Moreover, we examine benefit framing as a potential persuasive factor encouraging donations of consumers with growth mindsets. Specifically, we find that in less controllable cases, consumers with growth mindsets are more persuaded to donate by other-benefit appeals (focusing on how donating enhances others' lives and makes others feel better); in more controllable conditions, they are more persuaded by self-benefit appeals (focusing on how donating enhances their own lives and makes them feel better). The perceived efficacy of donation drives this effect. Meanwhile, consumers with fixed mindsets are more willing to donate to less (vs. more) controllable causes regardless of benefit frames used in the charity ad. This research offers managerial implications for advertisers and marketers.     

The Effects of Guilt-Appeal Intensity on Persuasive and Emotional Outcomes: The Moderating Role of Sponsor Motive

Studies examining the persuasive effects of guilt appeals have yielded mixed results. The current study hypothesizes that source motive (profit versus not for profit) is a key moderating variable underlying these inconsistences. A controlled experiment tested the moderating role of sponsor motive on the relationship between guilt-appeal intensity and persuasiveness of the appeal and ad liking. Findings confirmed the notion that sponsor motive moderates the effects of guilt appeals: When guilt appeals are commercially oriented there is a relative failure of high-intensity guilt appeals compared to moderate-intensity guilt appeals. Moderate-intensity guilt appeals cause more-positive brand attitudes than high-intensity appeals. Yet, when guilt appeals are nonprofit, increases in intensity of guilt communicated lead to positive results. As the guilt-intensity increased, ad liking and persuasiveness increased. It appears that guilt-appeal intensity did not have an effect on brand attitudes when the message was nonprofit.     

The Role of Beneficiaries’ Group Identity in Determining Successful Appeal Strategies for Charitable Giving

What types of message appeals in charity advertisements are most likely to convince people to donate? Using university rivalry (Studies 1 and 2), nationality (Study 3), and freely chosen groups (Study 4), this research proposes that the beneficiaries’ group identity moderates the relative effectiveness of three benefit foci of message appeals in charity advertisements. The results indicate that other‐benefit appeals produce greater donation intentions than external self‐benefit appeals for in‐group beneficiaries, whereas external self‐benefit appeals produce greater donation intentions than other‐benefit appeals for rival (Studies 1–3), dissociative (Study 4), and neutral (Study 4) out‐group beneficiaries. Emotional‐benefit appeals are more effective than external self‐benefit appeals for in‐group beneficiaries, and are more effective than other‐benefit appeals for neutral out‐group beneficiaries, whereas they are less effective than external self‐benefit appeals for dissociative out‐group beneficiaries (Study 4). Empathy and belief in personal benefits mediate the interaction effect of benefit focus and beneficiary group on donation intentions (Studies 3 and 4). Theoretical and managerial implications of the current findings are discussed.     

Shame‐Free Guilt Appeals: Testing the Emotional and Cognitive Effects of Shame and Guilt Appeals

Although many health communication researchers use the terms “shame” and “guilt” interchangeably, arguably these constructs are distinct and have widely divergent psychological consequences. The purpose of this study was to explore distinct cognitive and emotional outcomes resulting from shame relative to guilt appeals. Specifically, this paper provides empirical evidence that negative outcomes such as anger and perceived manipulative intent are more likely to be associated with shame than guilt. Using an experimental design, participants were randomly assigned to view either a shame or a guilt appeal about getting tested for STDs and completed an online questionnaire. Shame was correlated with both anger and perceived manipulative intent whereas guilt was not. Participants who viewed the shame appeal reported higher levels of shame, anger, and perceived manipulative intent. Tactics for creating shame‐free guilt appeals and future research are discussed.     

Guilt appeals: Persuasion knowledge and charitable giving

This paper applies the persuasion knowledge model to explain consumers' responses to charity guilt appeals. With data obtained through a stimuli‐driven survey, the research examines the relationships between knowledge of persuasion tactics and charities, and the level of felt guilt experienced in response to an advertisement and subsequent donation intentions. The findings show that guilt arousal is positively related to donation intention, and that persuasion and agent knowledge impact the extent of guilt aroused. The research confirms that consumers are active rather than passive processors of marketing communications by revealing the role of persuasion and agent knowledge as methods of coping with and informing responses to guilt appeals. Specifically, the research finds that manipulative intent and the respondents' skepticism toward advertising tactics in general are negatively related to guilt arousal but that their affective evaluation and beliefs about a charity are positively related to feelings of guilt. However, it also shows that there is a positive direct relationship between perceived manipulative intent and the intention to donate. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Attitudes and Donation Behavior When Reading Positive and Negative Charity Appeals

This article tries to clarify whether negative charity appeals (i.e., advertisements emphasizing the bad consequences of not helping) or positive charity appeals (i.e., advertisements emphasizing the good consequences of helping) are more effective. Previous literature does not provide a single answer to this question and we suggest that one contributing reason for this is that different studies have operationalized appeal effectiveness in different ways (e.g., actual behavior, self-rated helping intentions, or expressed attitudes about the ad or the organization). Results from four separate studies suggest that positive appeals are more effective in inducing favorable attitudes toward the ad and toward the organization but that negative appeals are more effective (in studies 1A and 1B) or at least equally effective (in studies 1C and 1D) in eliciting actual donations. Also, although people’s attitude toward the appeal (i.e., liking) was a good predictor for the expected effectiveness in increasing donation behavior (in Study 2), it was a poor predictor of actual donation behavior in all four main studies. These results cast doubt on marketing theories suggesting that attitudes toward an advertisement and toward the brand always lead to higher purchase behavior.     

How donor's regulatory focus changes the effectiveness of a sadness-evoking charity appeal

Past research offers conflicting findings on whether sadness-evoking charity appeals help solicit a donation. To reconcile these findings, we introduce prospective donors' regulatory focus as a moderator for understanding when and why sadness appeals motivate or demotivate giving. Specifically, we propose that the sense of helplessness or loss of control associated with sadness appeals increases donors' sensitivity to advertiser's manipulative persuasion tactics, as those tactics can threaten donors' control over their donation decision. As a result, sadness appeals are more likely to activate persuasion knowledge among prevention- (vs. promotion-) oriented donors who tend to be vigilant against manipulative persuasion attempts. Across six main studies and two supplementary studies, we find that a prevention (vs. promotion) focus discourages charitable giving when it is solicited using a sadness appeal, whereas regulatory focus does not affect the giving when other emotion appeals (e.g., happiness appeal or guilt appeal) are used. We find that a prevention (vs. promotion) focus demotivates donation solicited by a sadness appeal because it activates persuasion knowledge that evaluates solicitor's motive behind the sadness appeal, resulting in increased skepticism, dampened feelings of sympathy, and consequently, reduced charitable giving. However, when persuasion knowledge is deactivated (e.g., when donors' cognitive capacity is constrained or the soliciting charity has a reliable reputation), regulatory focus no longer affects donor skepticism, sympathy, and charitable giving, even when a sadness appeal is used to call for donation.     

内疚广告诉求对消费者道德消费意愿的影响机制研究

基于认知失调理论和心理抗拒理论,通过两个实验探究了企业道德营销中内疚与非内疚诉求影响消费者道德消费意愿的心理作用机制。结果表明,内疚诉求比非内疚诉求更能促进消费者的道德消费意愿,强迫性感受和操纵意图推断发挥了中介作用,且该中介作用受到消费者涉入度的调节。具体而言,低消费者涉入度情境中,相比于非内疚诉求,内疚诉求能够降低消费者的强迫性感受和操纵意图推断,进而增强其道德消费意愿;高消费者涉入度情境中,相比于内疚诉求,非内疚诉求能够降低消费者的强迫性感受和操纵意图推断,进而增强其道德消费意愿。研究结论有助于企业设计道德属性产品的广告策略,有效降低受众心理抗拒反应,提升受众广告体验,进而推动道德消费。     

The Influence of Religiosity on Consumer Ethical Judgments and Responses Toward Sexual Appeals

This research explores the influence of religiosity on consumer perception of, and response toward, sexual appeals. The first study (survey, national sample; n = 423) examines the relationship between religiosity and consumer response toward sexual appeals using causal modeling. Study 1 finds that high intrinsic religiosity consumers exhibit more adverse ethical judgments toward the company’s use of sexual appeals and these judgments, in turn, result in inferior attitudes and purchase intent toward the advertised brand. To confirm and expand on these findings, the second study (experiment, young adult sample; n = 216) examines the influence of intrinsic religiosity on consumer response toward both sexual and nonsexual appeals. The results show that sexual appeals elicit inferior (superior) ethical judgments, attitudes, and purchase intent among consumers high (low) in intrinsic religiosity. In contrast, nonsexual appeals elicit (un)favorable responses from consumers who are (low) high in intrinsic religiosity.     

The effectiveness of different advertising message appeals in the Eastern emerging society: using Taiwanese TV commercials as an example

This study explores the effectiveness of transformational vs. informational and traditional vs. Westernised appeals in the Taiwanese market. Using 116 televised commercials in Taiwan as the objects of study, the results showed that although Westernised appeals were becoming popular, transformational and traditional appeals were still favoured more in the market. The results also showed that the information/effective factor was not as effective as the warmth factor in generating ad liking in this Eastern and rapidly developing society.     

How cultural branding,story-telling,and personification can save the iconic Australian koala

This article addresses the question as to why such a much loved and iconic Australian animal—the koala—has long been headed on a trajectory of extinction; primarily due to a lack of public concern and political will. Despite the affectionate regard in which they are held, koalas remain out of sight and out of mind for most Australians. However, the widely publicized catastrophic Australian bushfire season of 2019–2020 is a rare and illuminating case in which public support for koala welfare was stimulated by significant national and international media attention. The primary problem facing koala conservation was thrown into sharp relief—the need to proactively protect them from human activities destroying their habitat. This article explores how a marketer-lead intervention, employing cultural branding, story-telling, and personification, could potentially motivate the public to apply pressure at all levels of government to proactively protect the koala's habitat and grow their numbers. This solution is grounded in an awareness of several issues likely to impact its success, including: (1) the koala's biology and behavior, (2) uncertainty around koala population numbers, (3) the emergence of the koala as an (inter)national) icon, (4) the Australian 2019–2020 bushfire emergency, (5) postfire complacency, (6) Lewis and other koala stories, (7) acknowledging competing interests, and (8) taking learnings forward. Finally, the proposed campaign centers on forging emotional links between the koala and consumers, which are likely to positively impact consumers' attitudes, information processing and memory functions associated with messages highlighting the need to preserve the koala's habitat.     

The Devil might wear Prada,but Narcissus wears counterfeit Gucci! How social adjustive functions influence counterfeit luxury purchases

People buy counterfeit luxury goods for a range of reasons, including status and belonging. Previous research has shown these stem from an individual's value-expressive or social-adjustive attitudes. However, there appears to be limited research identifying a clear causal relationship between these and intention to purchase counterfeit goods, or how these attitude functions might be used to inhibit purchase of counterfeit luxury products. Using a mixed (survey/experiment) design, in two studies this research demonstrates an individual's social adjustive function has a positive influence on purchase intent for counterfeit luxury goods. However, the use of value expressive ad appeals can limit this effect on consumer decision making. The findings also demonstrate the existence of contingent effects across different levels of product involvement and product knowledge. The contingent effects help better understand the inconsistent findings in the literature regarding the influence of value-expressive and social-adjustive functions on counterfeit purchase intention, and shed light on the interplay among these variables.     

Development of the Persuasion Knowledge Scales of Sponsored Content (PKS-SC)

Abstract

Despite the popularity of the Persuasion Knowledge Model, and its persistent relevance given the omnipresence of sponsored content (e.g. brand placement in TV programmes and video games, or paid product reviews in blogs), the way scholars measure persuasion knowledge varies widely. This study aims to develop valid and reliable scales for standardized measurement of consumers' persuasion knowledge of sponsored content. In three phases, we developed the Persuasion Knowledge Scales of Sponsored Content (PKS-SC) that measures nine components: (1) recognition of sponsored content, (2) understanding of selling and persuasive intent, (3) recognition of the commercial source of sponsored content, (4) understanding of persuasive tactics, (5) understanding of the economic model, (6) self-reflective awareness of the effectiveness of sponsored content, (7) skepticism toward sponsored content, (8) appropriateness of sponsored content, and (9) liking of sponsored content. All scales have good to appropriate validity and reliability. Recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Examining the influence of different levels of sexual-stimuli intensity by gender on advertising effectiveness

Abstract

Sexual appeals grab attention and elicit emotional responses, yet the existing literature surrounding this area of research has yielded inconsistent findings with regard to their ability to influence consumer liking and preference. Little attention has also been given to investigating sexual appeals beyond the scope of the effects of gratuitous sexual stimuli (nudity), and as such, most of what is known about sexual appeal advertising is centred on the effects of nudity alone. The current study examines sexual-stimuli intensity (explicit vs. mild) in print advertising and assesses its influence on advertising effectiveness and how this varies by gender for Australian consumers. An experiment is conducted as a test of the hypothesised relationships, with findings indicating that the level of sexual-stimuli intensity in print advertising is more effective in influencing consumers’ attitudinal and behavioural responses when depicted at a mild intensity level than at an explicit intensity level. These findings offer important insights for marketers in the design and configuration of sexual appeals used in advertising to maximise the effectiveness of ads to achieve favourable consumer behaviour outcomes.     

中国背景下的全球品牌:洞察中国消费者的决策(英文)

本文探究了与全球十大品牌相关的中国消费者决策。通过四个层面(品牌熟悉度、品牌喜爱度、品牌信任度以及知晓一个品牌的原产国)来预测中国消费者样本的品牌购买意向,同时分析指出,中国消费者对世界主义、民族优越感、全球—本地身份的认识以及与全球消费者文化的区别也可能会影响其全球品牌购买意向。本文为全球十大品牌建立了回归模型,并有提供最有力证据的层级模型。品牌熟悉度、信任度和喜爱度基本上在很大程度上解释了差异的存在。     

The Effect of Consumer Persuasion Knowledge on Scarcity Appeal Persuasiveness

Past research identifies demand-related scarcity appeals and supply-related scarcity appeals as effective persuasive influences on consumer behavior. The present research uses a persuasion knowledge approach to examine the persuasiveness of demand- versus supply-related scarcity appeals in advertising messages. Study 1 shows that supply-related scarcity appeal ad messages are less likely to activate persuasion knowledge than demand-related scarcity appeal messages. Study 2 demonstrates that message specificity moderates this effect. In line with an elaboration likelihood model perspective, results show that stating the appeal in specific (versus vague) terms decreases the persuasiveness of supply-related scarcity appeal ad messages.     

The impact of self-construal and message frame valence on reactance: a cross-cultural study in charity advertising

In the context of charity advertising, this two-study design project aims to contribute at the intersection of three literatures: psychological reactance theory (PRT), messaging framing, and self-construal theory. Using a survey with student samples from the US and China, Study 1 demonstrated that self-construal affected reactance, such that independent self-construal was more associated with reactance. Further, it outperformed cultural background in predicting reactance. People with predominantly interdependent self-construals showed higher intention to purchase a product with social causes. Study 2 was a 2 (framing: gain vs. loss)?×?2 (self-construal: independent vs. interdependent) between-subjects experiment using a non-student sample in the US results on the associations between self-construal and reactance and the intent to donate were consistent with findings of Study 1. Study 2 also indicated that compared to gain-framed appeals, using loss-framed appeals in charity advertising generated more reactance, the gap was more pronounced among individuals with relatively higher interdependent self-construals (i.e. moderate and high levels of interdependent-independent self-construal). This project offers important theoretical and applied implications and provides a robust avenue for future research. Limitations were also outlined.