Social threat appeals in commercial advertising: the moderating impact of perceived level of self-efficacy and self-esteem on advertising effectiveness

This study investigates the impact of the level of fear evoked by an advertisement (for deodorant) framing a threatening social situation. Where the effectiveness of threat appeals has been investigated extensively in health communication, this study focuses on the impact of social threat appeals in a commercial setting. The study investigates the moderating impact of self-esteem on the interaction effect between the level of fear (evoked by a social threat ad) and perceived level of self-efficacy on brand attitude and purchase intention. Results show that for high self-esteem individuals, fear evoked by a social threat is effective, only when perceived self-efficacy is increased (in line with the EPPM). However, for low self-esteem individuals, high versus low perceived self-efficacy does not influence brand attitudes and purchase intentions in case of a social threat appeal, but perceived self-efficacy does increase the effectiveness of appeals in which a positive social situation is shown

Different positive feelings leading to different ad evaluations: the case of coziness, excitement and romance

This study contributes to the debate about the valence-based versus the multi-dimensional views of feelings. By conducting an experiment using 317 subjects, we compared the differential impact of three different positive feelings on ad effectiveness. Support for the multi-dimensional view of feelings was found in the sense that ad- and context-evoked coziness, excitement and romance had a different impact on attitudes to ads. Moreover, in the area of context effects further support for the multi-dimensional view of feelings was found: the exciting, the romantic and the cozy ads scored best after recounting a feeling-congruent story

Brand placement in music videos: the effect of brand prominence and artist connectedness on brand recall and brand attitude

This study uses a 2 by 2 between subjects factorial design to investigate the impact of brand prominence and artist connectedness on brand placement effectiveness in music videos. The results show that brand prominence has a positive effect on brand recall, regardless of the respondents’ connectedness to the artist. Furthermore, when respondents do not identify themselves with the artist, brand prominence does not influence brand attitude, but when respondents identify themselves with the artist in the music video, the attitude toward the music video is higher for prominent than for subtle brands