TITLE:
When and Why Negative Emotional Appeals Work in Advertising: A Review of Research
AUTHORS:
Minxia Zheng
KEYWORDS:
Advertising Appeals, Negative Emotion, Explanation Mechanism, Influ-encing Factors
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.8 No.3,
March
6,
2020
ABSTRACT: This paper reviews
theoretical and empirical evidence relating to the effectiveness of negative emotional
advertising appeals in marketing. Through the review
of research, it figures out when and why negative emotional appeals work in
advertising. According to the research, the common negative emotions in
advertisements are fear, guilt, sadness and anger. And the Elaboration Likelihood Model, Self-brand Connection
Theory, Cognitive Dissonance Theory and so on are regarded as main explaining
mechanisms of the effect. Further, the influence factors of the negative
emotional appeals’ effect are summarized, too. Finally, this paper presents the possible ideas in future research.