The role of storytelling in advertising: Consumer emotion,narrative engagement level,and word‐of‐mouth intention

This experimental study with a national online sample (n = 300) tested the effects of storytelling in radio advertisements on participants' positive emotional responses and intentions to share information about the product, depending on audiences' narrative engagement level. Treatments included a commercial for a fictitious brand of luggage using a story told by the founder of the company, another version of the same commercial manipulated so the speaker was a customer of the company, and a control stimulus consisting only of information about the product. Results showed that narrative transportation and narrative preference are positively associated with favorable responses toward ad. Stories elicited more favorable emotional responses and had some effect on participants' intention to share information about the product by word‐of‐mouth. This was especially true among participants hearing the founder's story. Results support previous assumptions about the power of storytelling in advertising, including distinctions regarding the identity of the speaker (founder vs. customer).     

Motivational determinants of transportation into marketing narratives

This paper identifies factors that facilitate narrative transportation, where people become immersed in the storyline of an advertisement. Specifically, using a lottery context, this research shows that consumers who feel lucky or believe in personal good luck are motivated to engage in transportation, a process that is intensified as the attractiveness of the outcome increases. Further, this research shows that highly transported consumers (a) become more focused on ad outcomes and less on the low personal probability of winning, and that (b) attempts to attenuate consumers’ transportation are most efficacious if undertaken before the ad (and transportation) begins.     

Adult attachment and transportation into narrative worlds

Adult attachment affects close bonds, including bonds with fictional characters, but does it also influence the level of engagement with fictional worlds? This article aims to build on previous research on how attachment relates to narrative transportation. In Study 1, attachment anxiety, but not attachment avoidance, predicted a greater tendency to become transported into narratives, even after controlling for broader personality traits related to attachment. In Study 2, attachment anxiety again predicted a greater tendency to engage in narratives but only at high levels of attachment avoidance. In Study 3, this interaction between attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance in predicting narrative transportation was again observed when transportation was measured immediately after viewing a specific narrative.     

Do Narrative Engagement and Recipients’ Thoughts Explain the Impact of an Entertainment-Education Narrative on Discouraging Binge Drinking?

Previous research suggests that narrative engagement (NE) in entertainment-education (E-E) narratives reduces counterarguing, thereby leading to E-E impact on behavior. It is, however, unclear how different NE processes (narrative understanding, attentional focus, emotional engagement, narrative presence) relate to different thought types (negative or positive; about the narrative form or about the target behavior) and to E-E impact. This study explores these relations in the context of alcohol binge drinking (BD). Participants (N = 172) watched an E-E narrative showing negative BD consequences, thereby aiming to discourage BD. The main findings were that the E-E narrative had a positive impact on discouraging BD on almost all assessed BD determinants such as beliefs and attitude. It was shown that attentional focus, emotional engagement, and narrative presence were associated with BD-discouraging impact, albeit on different BD-related determinants. No evidence was found that negative thoughts about BD mediated these associations. From this, we conclude that attentional focus, emotional engagement, and narrative presence were important for E-E impact but that negative thoughts about BD did not play a role therein. The study’s empirical and practical implications are discussed.     

Testing the Explanatory Power of Two Measures of Narrative Involvement: An Investigation of the Influence of Transportation and Narrative Engagement on the Process of Narrative Persuasion

Achieving a more sophisticated understanding of narrative persuasion requires an examination of how the experience of narrative involvement influences persuasive resistance. In this study, we used a multiple message design approach to test two models of narrative involvement, one with transportation and the other with narrative engagement, with programs featuring persuasive stories about sexual and reproductive topics from primetime television. Although both transportation and the narrative engagement influenced processes related to changes in participants’ (N = 362) beliefs, attitudes, and behavioral intentions, the two scales influenced different cognitive and affective responses to the narratives. Transportation was positively related to enjoyment and the perception that the narrative topic was personally relevant. Narrative engagement predicted enjoyment and reduced reactance. Neither transportation nor narrative engagement significantly influenced cognitive elaboration or counterarguments, based on the application of a thought-listing procedure designed to measure counterarguments related to the realism of the narratives. Put together, these findings suggest that the study of narrative persuasion necessitates the use of different measurement instruments that can adequately assess the multidimensional nature and influence of narrative involvement.     

Sexual Liberalism as a Determinant of Consumer Response to Sex in Advertising

The use of sex in advertising continues unabated, public outcry against it notwithstanding. Although some sex in ads might sell, as advertisers obviously believe to be the case, the question is, when is the use of sex appropriate, and for which target audiences? The present research examines this question, with consumer data from a study where consumers were shown an ad with either low or high sexual content. Results show that while the ad with high sexual content was uniformly judged to be ethically more unjust (compared to ads with low sexual content), the adverse effect on attitude toward the ad is not obtained for all consumers. Our results show that it depends on the sexual liberalism of the audience and on whether or not the use of sex is considered manipulative. Our research suggests that advertising professionals should assess sexual liberalism of their target audience and use sex only within the requisites of the communication task.     

The persuasive effectiveness of mini‐films: Narrative transportation and fantasy proneness

Little empirical investigation has been made on mini‐films, an innovative online marketing technique of branded entertainment. This study intends to gain a deeper understanding of the advertising effectiveness of mini‐films. Employing a narrative persuasion research approach, an online survey with hyperlinks to a variety of real mini‐films was conducted to test the aggregate persuasive effectiveness of this marketing innovation. The results demonstrated that narrative transportation has a major influence on the attitude toward the mini‐film; the mini‐film attitude fully mediates the effect of narrative transportation to brand attitude, and subsequently to purchase intention. Furthermore, conceptualized as a normal consumer characteristic, the influence of fantasy proneness on the persuasive mechanism of this online advertising genre has also been under study. Empirical evidence showed that fantasy proneness has a positive influence on narrative transportation. This study has made a contribution to academics and practitioners alike for future research into branded entertainment. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Impacts of Emotion Elicited By Print Political Advertising on Candidate Evaluation

This study examines viewers' emotional responses to print political advertising. It demonstrates that positive and negative (direct attack) political advertising differ in the emotional responses that they elicit. Consistent with prior research on emotion, positive and direct attack political advertising generate different amounts of message recall and produce different quantities of positive and negative cognitive responses. Most importantly, this study establishes the importance of ad-evoked emotion in the formation process of ad exposure and candidate evaluation. Integrating findings from this study, a model is proposed that establishes the relationship of four important variables: ad valence, ad-evoked emotion, attitude toward the ad, and candidate liking. It suggests that (1) ad valence has an impact on attitude toward the candidate via the mediation of ad-evoked emotion; (2) ad valence has an impact on attitude toward the ad via the mediation of ad-evoked emotion; (3) attitude toward the ad has an impact on candidate evaluation; and (4) ad-evoked emotion can explain variations of candidate evaluations beyond that which can be accounted for by attitude toward the ad.     

Narrative Persuasion,Transportation, and the Role of Need for Cognition in Online Viewing of Fantastical Films

Two studies examine narrative persuasion in the context of fantastical narratives viewed on a computer. In Study 1, participants (N = 160) used a personal computer to watch one of two short films that dealt with a contemporary social issue (privacy or the environment) set in an imaginary future. Neither film resulted in those who viewed it holding stronger story-consistent beliefs. However, viewers of the film about privacy who experienced higher levels of transportation were more likely to possess story-consistent privacy beliefs than those less transported or than viewers of the environmental film. Additionally, higher need for cognition was associated with stronger beliefs and intentions across both films, and viewers of the privacy film who were higher in need for cognition were most likely to endorse story-consistent privacy beliefs, perhaps due to extra cognitive effort demanded by the online delivery mode of the narrative. To explore this, in Study 2 (N = 126), participants were shown the privacy-themed film in either a low or high distraction condition. This successfully manipulated transportation, but in high distraction conditions, transportation was not significantly related to endorsement of story-consistent beliefs.     

Reviews,expectations, and the experience of stories

ABSTRACT

Theory suggests that information encountered prior to a story affects the actual experience of the story due to elicited expectations. In two experiments (N = 100; N = 167) short movies that were introduced with a positive review yielded higher transportation scores than the same movies introduced with a more negative (or neutral) review. Mediation analyses indicate that the reviews had an influence on recipients’ expectations, which in turn predicted the experience of the movie. Using the more fine-grained narrative engagement scale, we found evidence for a consistent effect on narrative presence, whereas the influence on emotional engagement, narrative understanding, and attentional focus varied between experiments. Moderation analyses (moderated mediation) showed that recipient’s opinion seeking and need for cognitive closure were unrelated to the influence of reviews on expectations and the link between expectations and narrative experience. Our findings add to the theory of story processing and they are of practical relevance for everyone who intends to influence recipients’ experience of narrative worlds.     

Regulatory Fit,Processing Fluency,and Narrative Persuasion

For millennia, people have used narratives to inform and persuade. However, little social psychological research addresses how and when narrative persuasion occurs, perhaps because narratives are complex stimuli that are difficult to vary without significantly changing the plot or characters. Existing research suggests that regulatory fit and/or processing fluency can be varied easily and in ways completely exterior to narrative content but that nonetheless affect how much narratives engage, transport, and persuade. We review research on narrative transportation and persuasion and then discuss regulatory fit and its relationship to processing fluency. Afterward, we discuss how regulatory fit and processing fluency may affect psychological engagement, transportation, and persuasion via narratives.     

Transportation and Need for Affect in Narrative Persuasion: A Mediated Moderation Model

Two experiments investigated the idea that individual differences in need for affect are critical for narrative persuasion. Need for affect, that is, the disposition to approach emotions, was assumed to facilitate the experience of being transported into the mental world of the narrative. An intense experience of transportation, in turn, should enhance the persuasive impact of narrative information on readers' beliefs. A mediated moderation analysis was used to test these assumptions. In both experiments (N = 314), need for affect (approach) and transportation moderated the persuasive effects of a fictional narrative compared to a belief-irrelevant control story (Experiment 1) and the persuasive effects of a story with high emotional content compared to a story with low emotional content (Experiment 2). The moderator effects of need for affect were shown to be mediated by the moderator effects of transportation. In sum, the magnitude of a person's need for affect determines whether and to what extent the person experiences transportation into the story world and is persuaded by the information presented in the narrative.     

Fishing For Feelings? Hooking Viewers Helps!

To better understand individual variation in emotional responses to advertising, the authors recommend considering 3 general factors: characteristics of the individual who sees the ad, characteristics of the ad itself, and the nature of the ad–individual interface. This article examines 1 aspect of the individual, affect intensity (AI); one aspect of the ad, the degree to which the ad tells a story; and 1 aspect of the ad–individual interface, whether the individual is hooked by the ad. Experimental results reveal that an individual's being hooked by an ad has a positive relation with upbeat and warm feelings, a negative relation with disinterested feelings, and significantly enhances the viewer's attitude toward the ad. We find that AI has a positive relation with upbeat and warm feelings, and AI moderates the effect of being hooked on upbeat and warm feelings. Findings also reveal that narrative ad structure has a positive relation with upbeat and warm feelings, a negative relation with disinterested feelings, and that being hooked moderates the effect of narrative ad structure on upbeat and warm feelings responses.     

A novel conceptual framework investigating the relationship between roadside advertising and road safety: The driver behaviour and roadside advertising conceptual framework

This paper proposes a conceptual framework to understand the relationship between roadside advertising signs, driver behaviour, and road safety outcomes. Roadside advertising signs are external distractions that may take a driver's attention away from safety-critical driving tasks, potentially increasing crash risk through driver distraction and inattention. Although studies report safety concerns, as a whole, the body of research in the field is inconclusive with inconsistent quality, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions. Definitive links between roadside advertising and road trauma are not yet evident, which has major consequences for road regulators' capacity to develop evidence-based policy to safely administer public roads. However, a lack of consistent evidence does not indicate an absence of risk but underscores its complexity. To address this problem, the Driver Behaviour and Roadside Advertising Conceptual Framework (DBRA framework) was developed to strategically investigate and conceptualise the phenomena of roadside advertising. A new term – “extended engagement” – has also been proposed to account for situations of prolonged attentional engagement with a roadside advertising sign. Further, it is posited that important variations in driving performance may be associated with a driver's extended engagement with a roadside advertising sign. Built on extant theories of driver behaviour and empirical research, the DBRA framework is designed to be a robust tool that encourages a common agenda for future roadside advertising research.     

Drawn to the gloss: Examining the effect of product reflection on product aesthetics

While advertising products with reflections is a common industry practice, this research is the first to investigate their impact on product aesthetics. Reflections are endowed with an inherent shine since they are naturally formed by the interaction of light with an object and a reflecting surface. We draw upon this property along with Evolutionary Psychology (EP) research documenting an intrinsic human attraction towards gloss to predict their positive effect on product aesthetics. Further in line with the EP principles, we propose that this effect is mediated by enhanced pristineness perceptions about the product in the presence of its reflection in the ad. Finally, we draw upon the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to identify product design complexity as a boundary condition for the positive effect of reflection on product attractiveness perceptions. For a product with relatively high (vs. low) design complexity, with design being the focal aspect that is elaborated via a central route, we predict the effect of a peripheral stylistic cue like product reflection to attenuate. Three experimentally designed studies employing different product types offer empirical support to these predictions. Our work extends prior marketing research studying the effects of executional elements in advertising on consumers' product reactions, particularly the aesthetic impact of product reflections as creative stylistic cues. The managerial implications of this work span both traditional and digital marketing channels. Incorporating a product reflection in advertising can work as an easy-to-implement option that can help practitioners elevate product pristineness and aesthetics. On the other hand, avoiding their use when advertising products with relatively complex designs can save both ad space and money.     

神经质人格与MMORPG游戏成瘾的关系:链式中介效应分析

采用方便抽样法,通过问卷测量了山西省太原市某高校268名大学生,探讨神经质人格与MMORPG游戏成瘾的关系,同时考察叙事传输和化身认同在其中的中介作用。结果发现：（1）神经质人格可以显著预测叙事传输和MMORPG游戏成瘾。（2）叙事传输在神经质人格与MMORPG游戏成瘾之间起部分中介作用。（3）叙事传输和化身认同在神经质人格与MMORPG游戏成瘾之间起链式中介作用。研究结果表明高神经质人群的确存在较高的网络游戏成瘾风险,且叙事传输和化身认同在其中起重要作用。     

自我构念对想象广告策略的影响与分析

以叙事运输理论和社会心理自我概念模型为理论背景, 通过两个实验对自我构念对想象广告策略的影响进行了探讨。实验结果验证了想象广告会显著提高独立自我构念者的购买意愿, 但对依存自我构念者影响不显著; 自我构念对想象效应的调节作用不因广告场景提示的变化而变化; 无论是强说服或弱说服的想象广告都能提高独立自我构念者的购买意愿, 而对于依存自我构念者, 只有强说服想象广告会收到好的效果。     

Distress and recurrence of intrusive thoughts in younger and older adults

The current study incorporated a life span perspective into existing theories of intrusive thoughts to examine age-related differences in the difficulty controlling intrusive thoughts, the distress following intrusive thought recurrences, and the meanings assigned to these recurrences. Younger (N = 51) and older (N = 49) community adults were randomly assigned to suppress (i.e., keep out of mind) or monitor an intrusive thought. Participants rated their positive and negative affect throughout engagement with the intrusive thought, and they also rated the meanings they gave to recurrences of their everyday intrusive thoughts. The results demonstrated that older adults tended to perceive greater difficulty with controlling the intrusive thought than younger adults despite the fact that they did not differ in the actual recurrence of the intrusive thought. With regard to distress, older adults experienced steadier levels of positive affect than younger adults throughout engagement with the intrusive thought. However, older adults also reported greater residual negative affect after engaging with the intrusive thought than younger adults. Finally, older and younger adults appeared to assign meanings to recurrences of intrusive thoughts in line with age-relevant concerns. Specifically, older adults were prone to interpret the recurrence of intrusive thoughts as a sign of cognitive decline, but they were less likely than younger adults to see intrusive thoughts as a sign of moral failure. Together, these results highlight a range of potential risk and protective factors in older adults for experiencing emotion dysregulation after intrusive thoughts.     

Mixing emotions: The use of humor in fear advertising

Fear is used to advertise many products, services, and causes such as antismoking, sunscreen usage, and safe driving. Past research indicates that high levels of fear tension arousal can prompt defensive responses in the audience, which, in turn, can reduce the persuasive effect of the ad. We show in two studies that humor can reduce these defensive responses and hence increase the persuasiveness of fear advertising. Specifically, we show that increasing the level of fear tension arousal decreases persuasion when humor is absent but increases persuasion when humor is present. Further, this interaction of humor and fear tension arousal is mediated by defensive responses related to message elaboration and vulnerability to threat. Our results suggest that the effectiveness of fear advertising can be increased by adding an element of humor to the ad. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coherent accounts of coping with a chronic illness: convergences and divergences in family measurement using a narrative analysis

Researchers and clinicians have shown increasing interest in family narratives as an avenue for accessing the family meaning-making process. In this study, we examine the convergences and divergences between narrative assessment, family self-report, and verbal accounts of family climate. Sixty-two families with a child with pediatric asthma were interviewed about the impact that asthma had on family life. These interviews were coded for narrative coherence, relationship expectations, and engagement with the interviewer. Primary caregivers were also interviewed using the Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) and completed self-report assessments of family functioning (Family Assessment Device [FAD]; Impact on the Family Scale [IOF]). Contrary to prediction, narrative coherence was higher in those cases where Emotional Over-involvement (EOI) was present on the FMSS. Narrative coherence and engagement with the interviewer were positively related to self-report of family problem solving, communication, and affective responsiveness as measured on the FAD. Divergences and convergences between different types of family measurement are discussed in light of meaning-making processes associated with coping with a chronic illness.