Li-Keng Cheng and Chung-Lin Toung
Fear appeals in advertising communication are considered by advertisers when other types of advertising appeals do not achieve expected effects. Fear appeals, by arousing the fear…
Abstract
Purpose
Fear appeals in advertising communication are considered by advertisers when other types of advertising appeals do not achieve expected effects. Fear appeals, by arousing the fear that something may threaten consumers’ present lives, are often adopted to persuade individuals to take a particular action. Although this topic has been widely studied, the internal operation mechanism of fear appeals in consumers has not been fully understood or agreed upon.
Design/methodology/approach
Three experiments were conducted where the type of fear appeal was manipulated (i.e. physical fear appeal or social ear appeal), as well as consumers’ consideration of future consequences (CFC) and mental imagery approaches.
Findings
This study examined the effects of fear appeal on mental imagery fluency and how it affects advertising effectiveness and the moderating effect of consumers’ CFC were discussed. When receiving advertisements with physical fear appeals, consumers with low CFC had greater mental imagery fluency than did those with high CFC. Furthermore, consumers’ purchase intentions could be improved by increasing consumers’ mental imagery fluency on fear appeal. Therefore, the interaction between fear appeal and CFC on purchase intention was mediated by mental imagery fluency. This study found that consumers responded differently to fear appeal advertising when they engaged in different mental imagery approaches.
Originality/value
The present study adds to social marketing literature by showing how consumers’ mental imagery fluency influence the fear appeal effectiveness, and this study’s results also enable social marketers to understand the two factors (i.e. consumers’ CFC level and mental imagery approaches) that affect the influence of fear appeals on consumers’ purchase intentions. Moreover, social marketers are recommended to provide consumers with advertising information by using various message types to facilitate consumers’ imagination of advertising appeals. This heightens the importance of consumers’ acceptance and absorption of advertising content, in turn, strengthening their purchase intentions.
Details
Keywords
Li Keng Cheng and Chung-Lin Toung
Because of an increase in consumer awareness and the ease of information dissemination on the Internet, brands have increasingly become the target of online criticism. Several…
Abstract
Purpose
Because of an increase in consumer awareness and the ease of information dissemination on the Internet, brands have increasingly become the target of online criticism. Several factors affect consumers’ reactions to public criticism against brands that they support. The present study investigated the interactive effects of psychological ownership, agency–communion orientation, and internal attribution on self-threat in the context of such criticism.
Design/methodology/approach
Three studies were conducted to test several research hypotheses. The psychological ownership, agency–communion orientation, and internal attribution of the participants in this study were manipulated using an experimental scenario. Subsequently, they completed a questionnaire with items used to assess purchase intention, self-threat, and demographic variables and for performing manipulation checks.
Findings
When a brand is criticized, (1) consumers with high psychological ownership of the brand are likely to buy more of that brand’s products, (2) communion-oriented consumers with high psychological ownership of the brand experience greater self-threat relative to those with low psychological ownership, and (3) agency-oriented consumers experience a consistent level of self-threat regardless of their level of psychological ownership.
Research limitations/implications
Brands should endeavor to enhance consumers’ psychological ownership of the brand to increase their support in times of crisis.
Originality/value
This study investigated how psychological ownership of a brand among consumers affected their reactions when a brand was criticized. The effect of self-threat as a mediating mechanism was also considered. Furthermore, agency and communion orientation were proposed as crucial moderators that should be considered in research on consumer–brand relationships.