Global Conference 2019

Cause Related Advertising
Emotion and Affect
Experimental Research
Survey Reseaarch

Following the Cognitive Functional Model (CFM) in persuasive communication and the self-construal theory, this two-study design project examines the impact of guilt and shame in charity advertising. Study 1 was a survey that investigates the extent to which anticipatory guilt and shame operate in affecting people’s purchase intention relating to a product with social causes. Study 2 was an experiment that examines the impact of guilt vs. shame appeals in processing charity advertising messages. The role of self-construal was examined in both studies. Results indicated that both the anticipatory guilt and ad-induced guilt were positively connected with behavioral intentions. People with higher interdependent self-construal were more prone to perform charitable behaviors. The anticipatory shame was positively connected with behavioral intention, whereas the ad-induced shame was not. In addition, self-construal negatively moderated the effect of shame, such that the impact of anticipatory shame and shame arousal on behavioral intentions were more pronounced among people with higher independent self-construal. This project offers important theoretical and practical implications and provides a robust avenue for future research. Limitations were also outlined.