Disgust images and nonprofit children’s causes

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the usefulness of disgust imagery in a nonprofit organization context as one part of the broader social marketing paradigm. Design/methodology/approach An experiment was conducted in the child victim segment of the market using disgust and nondisgust images. Data were collected from 167 subjects via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Dependent variables measured included donation intention, empathy and guilt. Control variables included religiosity and attitude toward helping others, along with demographic factors. Findings MANCOVA results indicate that while the disgust image evoked greater empathy, the nondisgust image evoked greater donation intentions. The disgust image had a nonsignificant effect on the level of guilt felt by subjects. Mediation analysis indicates that empathy serves as a competitive mediator for the disgust–donation intentions relationship. Research limitations/implications This study examines the effects of disgust images on empathy, guilt and donation intentions. Although the findings indicate a contrasting effect of disgust on empathy and donation intentions, more research is needed to validate these findings with diverse samples, contexts and various donation behavior measures. Regarding charitable giving, the current findings suggest caution should be used when using disgust images to evoke empathy, as the tactic may also negatively affect donation intentions. Social implications Nonprofits that effectively apply marketing can change individual and community behavior. To continue their work, they rely on donors and volunteers. This study provides social marketers. Originality/value Past research has demonstrated the effectiveness of disgust appeals for deterring behavior. In contrast, this research provides unique insights into disgust appeals as a catalyst for motivating behavior. This research provides a much-needed empirical evaluation of disgust appeals in a social marketing context.

Message framing, non-conscious perception and effectiveness in non-profit advertising. Contribution by neuromarketing research

“…Some discrepancies exist in the current literature of negative emotions and helping behaviour within the non-profit sector. While some authors supported the positive relationship between negative emotions, empathy and helping behaviours (Bagozzi & Moore, 1994), other authors found that too strong images of disgust, while invoking higher levels of empathy, showed lower donation intention (Allred & Amos, 2018). It seems that elicited negative emotions help to motivate donation but avoid too strong negative ones or abrupt interruption.…”

The effect of children’s facial expressions in eliciting benevolent behavior for child sponsorships versus one-time donations

“…For example, Bagozzi and Moore (1994) found that public service ads about child abuse that evoked negative emotions led to greater empathic reactions and greater likelihood to help abused children than less emotional, more rational appeals for help. Allred and Amos (2018) showed that child images evoking disgust led to greater empathy than those not evoking disgust. Saleme et al (2020) suggested a social marketing program to improve empathy in children.…”

“…Thus, empathy was expected to lead to helping behavior, whereas personal distress was expected to lead to avoidance behaviorpeople are motivated to leave the scene of a victim suffering without helping. As for empathy, a large body of research has shown that empathy promotes benevolent behavior (Allred and Amos, 2018;Ashar et al, 2016Ashar et al, , 2017Batson et al, 1983Batson et al, , 1987Batson et al, , 1988Bekkers, 2006;Fultz et al, 1986;Lee et al, 2014;Toi and Batson, 1982;Zhou et al, 2011). In contrast, the findings for personal distress were mixed: some studies have found that personal distress decreased helping behavior (Batson et al, 1981(Batson et al, , 1983(Batson et al, , 1986Toi and Batson, 1982), whereas others have found that personal distress increased helping behavior (Ashar et al, 2016(Ashar et al, , 2017.…”

“…Social marketing researchers have examined various emotions that may lead people to engage in socially desirable behaviors. These emotions include empathy, sadness, disgust, guilt, fear and shame, and socially desirable behaviors include making charitable donations, helping abused children, driving sober, stopping smoking, using seatbelts, using fire extinguishers, reducing alcohol intake, preventing AIDS and exercising (Allred and Amos, 2018;Awagu and Basil, 2016;Baberini et al, 2015;Bagozzi and Moore, 1994;Biener et al, 2000;Brennan and Binney, 2010;Collymore and McDermott, 2016;De Pelsmacker et al, 2011;Lwin and Phau, 2011;Marchand and Filiatrault, 2002;Small and Verrochi, 2009;Sutton and Eiser, 1990). For instance, De Pelsmacker et al (2011) found that people who saw messages with pictures evoking strong fear were more likely to adopt the messages' recommendations to never drink and drive than those who saw messages with pictures evoking less fear.…”

A literature review of experimental studies in fundraising

“…In our review, we found two prominent themes emerging that focused on the relationship between images in solicitations and giving: (a) sad versus happy children, and (b) a single child versus a group. Studies suggest that images of children with sad faces increase sympathy and guilt for not giving among donors, thereby increasing donation intentions (Albouy, 2017;Allred & Amos, 2018;Cao & Jia, 2017;Cockrill & Parsonage, 2016;Fisher & Ma, 2014;Hideg & Van Kleef, 2017;Merchant, Ford, & Sargeant, 2010;Small & Verrochi, 2009). In a laboratory experiment with university students and staff, participants were more willing to donate when they saw a sad child versus a happy child's face (Small & Verrochi, 2009).…”