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In this article, the authors explore the role of affective appeals in advertising on
time-dependent decisionsthat is, decisions for the short term versus the long
term. They introduce the distinction between abstract an concrete affect and, in two
GEETA MENON
experiments, show that concrete affective appeals drive behavioral intentions more
University of
Pennsylvania, The
Wharton School
drive behavioral intentions more strongly in the longer-term perspective. Their findings
gmenon@wharton.upenn.
edu
help extend our thinking on the role of emotional appeals in advertising as they
also introduce a new distinction in such appeals: "concrete versus abstract affect."
The authors provide examples and illustrations for concrete and abstract affect and
discuss the implications of their finding.
INTRODUCTION
functional appeals (Heath, Nairn, and Bottomley, 2009). Is it that affective appeals do
not drive as much attention as functional
appeals? Or is it that different types of
affective appeals would receive different
levels of attention? Is it that all emotional
appeals in advertising lead to long-term
loyalty of the target? Or is it that some
emotional appeals also may drive consumer behavior very strongly but mostly
for short-term actions? The authors' theorizing and empirical work help shed light
on these issues by bringing more meaning
to affective experiences.
The article demonstrates that we can
understand the role of affect in consumer
decision making better when we distinguish between two types of affect: abstract
and concrete affect. Furthermore, these
two types of affect also predict whether
affective relationships have a stronger
influence on brand judgments when
thought of in the short versus the long run.
The authors propose that the nature of
an affective experience (or a claim) determines whether affect will be more influential for short- versus long-term decisions.
Some affective states are experienced and
represented very concretely; hence, they
share similar properties to the short-term
perspective of events (being very contextualized, subordinate, and linked to the
details and specifics of the situation). The
authors refer to this type of affect as "concrete affect."
Alternatively, some affective states are
experienced, rather abstractly, and share
similar properties to the long-term perspective of events (being de-contextualized, super-ordinate, and linked to the
gist [versus details] of an event or a target
object. The authors refer to this type of
affect as "abstract affect." They propose
that it is the difference in the specificity of
the affective experiences (abstract versus
concrete) that causes affect to be associated
with different time periods. They therefore
Experiment 1 explored the concrete versus abstract nature of positive affect and
investigates how abstract (versus concrete) affect can influence behavior more
under a long-term (versus a short-term)
perspective.
The following additional example further clarifies the distinction between the
conceptualization of concrete and abstract
affect. One might feel very excited (a concrete affective state) toward a romantic
partner and hence plan to go on a date
with that person the next weekend (shortterm decision). The concrete feeling of
excitement can drive behavioral intentions
for the short term. However, if one feels
very affectionate (an abstract affective
state) toward a romantic partner, then she
or he might commit to spending several
yearsmaybe even a lifetimewith that
person (long-term decision). Affection is
a warmer and less concrete affective state
that also is much more pallid and experienced with less certainty than excitement.
Such feelings of affection and sentimentality typically are associated more with the
higher level goals in life, such as getting
married, having kids, buying a house, and
building a family, and can drive longerterm decisions.
Measures. After presenting the participants with the ad for this hybrid car, the
authors administered the main dependent measures. Participants answered questions about their behavioral intentions:
intention to "visit a dealer to check out
ABC Hybrid," "gather more info about
ABC Hybrid," and "visit a demo stand
of ABC Hybrid at school" on nine-point
semantic-differential scales anchored at
"1 = Definitely will not," and "9 = Definitely
will." Participants then responded
Positive abstract affect word-phrase
to manipulation checks for affect (the
sequence accompanying the orange
extent
the ad made them feel "desire,"
car: "awww, nice...," "safe," "a friend!,"
"excitement," "stimulation," affection,"
"yes,
re-engineered!," "family," "the
new music system," "the peacefulness of "sentimental," and "warm" on nine-point
semantic-differential scales) and time perdriving."
spective (the extent they were focusing on
Positive concrete affect word-phrase
"1 = Now" versus "9 = A year from now,"
sequence accompanying the red car:
and
"1 = The very near future" versus "9
"hmmm, exciting," "fast," "hot," "yes,
= The very distant future" while watching
re-engineered!," "sexy," the new music
the ad). They then responded to control
system," "the pleasures of driving."
measures such as subjective knowledge
of cars (two items), attitude toward cars
(The authors ran a qualitative pretest
(two items), motivation in the experi(n = 72) to determine these phrases that
ment, experiment hypothesis guessing
constituted the affect manipulation. In this
(open-end), and difficulty of task and
pretest, they presented the participants
background variables such as gender, age,
either with an orange or with a bright
and year at school. None of the control or
red version of ABC Hybrid and provided
background measures had any significant
them with a detailed descripfion of ABC
perspective were significantly and positively correlated (r = 0.68, p < 0.01) and
hence averaged to form a time index. A 2
X 2 between-subjects ANOVA on the time
index revealed only the predicted main
effect of time perspective (f (1, 97) = 31.67,
p < 0.01), exemplifying a longer time perspective in the "in a year" condition (M
= 4.48) than "now" condition (M = 2.35).
This manipulation, therefore, worked as
intended.
^ H Abstract Affect
6n
D 4.15
Buy a Car
Now
Buy a Car
in a Year
Figure 1 Experiment 1:
Influence of Abstract
Versus Concrete Affect on
Behavioral Intentions
appeal, participants indicated significantly stronger behavioral intentions (f (1,
93) = 4.10, p < 0.05) when looking for a
car "now" (M = 5.32) versus "in a year"
Experiment 1
Abstract Affective Appeal
Buy a Car
Buy a Car
Buy a Car
Buy a Car
Now
in a Year
Now
in a Year
4.75
5.13
(1.88)
(2.20)
(1.80)
4.15
(1.88)
3.76*
2.63
(2.17)
(1.61)
2.88
3.15
(1.91)
(2.10)
2.35
5.32*
(1.67)
of overall package. I made the most logical decision by purchasing ABG Hybrid!").
The affect-based testimonials were aimed
to induce abstract feelings of warmth and
affection toward ABG Hybrid, whereas
the reason-based testimonials were aimed
to induce no feelings but simply a rational
perspective.
The goals and fime perspective manipulations were administered through
instructions before the ad was presented.
Affective goal instructions were designed
to instigate more desire (and hence were
more concrete) than warmth (and hence
less abstract). An affective goal of having
pleasure and enjoying oneself should create feelings of desire and approach/avoidance behavior (Liberman et al., 2006). Time
perspective was manipulated as per Trope
and Liberman (2000) through instructions.
Participants were asked to imagine that
they will buy a car tomorrow (Near Future
condition) versus next year (Distant Future
condition). After this, the authors manipulated either a concrete affective goal
You are mainly concerned about feeling
good about yourself. You try to make the
decision that will make you feel best. You
want to consider all the positive and negative feelings you will have by buying each
one of the options you are considering
or a cognitive goal:
You are mainly concerned about getting a
good deal on the car. You try to make the
most rational decision. You want to consider all the benefits and costs provided
by buying each one of the options you are
considering.
Results
ioral Intentions Index yielded results supporting our theory: while the three-way
interaction was not significant (f < 1), the
two-way interactions of message content
Panei A
iVIessage Content x Time Perspective
^ H Abstract Affective Ad
6 r-
Concrete Ad
TABLE 2
5
4.76 D
' - : .^^^_
4.41
Mean
(Standard Deviation)
Abstract Affective Ad
I
Content
Short-term
Long-term
Panei B
Goais X Time Perspective
****.,,,,,^^
D 4.54
Buy a Car
Buy a Car
Buy a Car
Next Year
Tomorrow
Next Year
3.99
4.41"
(1.50)
(1.15)
(1.05)
Thinking-Feeling Index
(1.23)
Cognitive Goai
Buy a Car
Buy a Car
Buy a Car
Buy a Car
Tomorro w
Next Year
Tomorrow
Next Year
4.67 =
(1.30)
4.13
4.11
4.54"
(1.23)
(1.34)
(1.18)
4.09=
Cognitive iVIessage
3.33
(1.33)
(1.27)
Tomorrow
Next Year
Figure 2 Experiment 2:
Influence of Affect Versus
Reason (Cognition) on
Behavioral Intentions
4.25
Affective Message
Long-term
4.76
4 - 4.11
Short-term
Buy a C ar
Tomorrc w
3
O
Cognitive Ad Content
Time Perspective
[1 item; 1-7 scale with 7 reflecting
3.84
5.55"
(2.09)
(1.51)
longer-term perspective)
Significant at 0.05; ' directionally significant at 0.10; all comparisons are pair-wise.
Discussion
For nearly 25 years, there have been numerous contributions to the understanding of
the role of affective versus reason-based
appeals in advertising (Edell and Burke,
1987). This article capitalizes on the thinking that different affective experiences
have different associations and hence
may affect behavior differentially (Lerner
and Keltner, 2000, 2001). In this context,
the authors show how concrete versus
abstract affective appeals influence shortversus long-term consumer decisions.
Through two experiments, the authors
showed that the concrete versus the abstract
nature of affect determines whether it will
be more influential in short-term versus
long-term decisions. Experiment 1 found
that while concrete affect has more influence on behavioral intentions relating to
the shorter term, abstract affect has more
influence on behavioral intentions relating to the longer term. Experiment 2 contrasted the two types of affect (concrete
versus abstract) to reason (cognition) and
showed that affect should be more influential than reason on long-term behavior
when it is abstract and more influential
It is very important to
matcii the rigiit time
perspective witii the right
affective appeai to drive
consumer behavior.
decisions is now a well-established concept (Schwarz and Clore, 1996; Heath,
Brandt, and Nairn, 2006). There have been
several empirical findings that advanced
the theory of affect and specific emotions
in the past few decades, including one that
laid out other appraisal dimensions of specific emotions than mere valence (Smith
and Ellsworth, 1985).
The common theme of these research
studies is that it is the specific meaning
of affect or an emotional state that determines how it will be used in judgment
and decision making rather than mere
valence (Lerner and Keltner, 2000, 2001;
Gilovich, Medvec, and Kahneman, 1998;
Raghunathan and Pham, 1999; Tiedens
and Linton, 2001). The authors advance
this line of thinking by studying the specificity of affect and the resulting effects
on time-dependent judgment and behavior. They suggest that this research adds
to our knowledge of consumer decision
making by bringing together two very relevant streams of consumer research: the
interplay of feelings and reasons (Pham,
1998; Pham, Cohen, Pracejus, and Hughes,
2001) and time-dependent decision making (Malkoc, Zauberman, and Ulu, 2005).
The article's findings not only contribute to the literature on time-dependent
effects of affect and cognition but highlight important findings for successful
marketing strategies and advertising. Like
P&G, advertisers frequently use affective
appeals. The authors suggest that it is very
important to match the right time perspective with the right affective appeal to drive
consumer behavior. It is not always the
best strategy to highUght rational thinking and reasons to influence consumers
to overcome temptations and make virtuous decisions. An affective appeal also can
be used to overcome temptations of the
present but only if that affective appeal
is an abstract one and matched with a
longer-term perspective.
To return to the P&G example on use
of affect to build loyalty for products, the
authors ask the additional question, "How
should P&G formulate and communicate
its new branding strategy for Tide to 'emotionally tie' its customers?" The authors'
findings show that affect can be influential
on both short-term and long-term decisions. On the one hand, inducing affective
states such as excitement can help P&G
create a spike in their short-term market
for Tide. If their product lives up to expectations, this short-term market may likely
convert to a long-term one based on product experience. It might be rather challenging, however, to expect consumers to
build an exciting relationship with a laundry detergent. On the other hand, P&G
also has the ability to build a long-term
emotional rapport for Tide with its customers by inducing feelings of affection
and warmth with its brand experiencea
strategy that it has been using.
The persuasive power of concrete
versus abstract affect on time-dependent
decisions can inform and predict many
other advertising challenges of our day.
The authors suggest three ways in which
the distinction of concrete versus abstract
affect may help marketers and advertisers
make better use of feelings for consumer
persuasion:
Concrete and abstract affect may have
their favorite contexts and channels.
For instance, location-based messaging
This topic has not been directly investigated by researchers, but there are emerging findings in the literature that support
this conceptualization. For instance, some
studies show that relationships with sincere brands deepen over time, whereas
relationships with exciting brands decline
over time (Aaker, Fournier, and Brasel,
2004). Sincerity can be considered an
abstract affective state with long-term
associations, and excitement can be considered a concrete affective state with
short-term associations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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