Effects Of Anti-Tobacco Brands Ad Parodies On Cigarette Brands Attitude

Abstract

This paper compares the effects of anti-tobacco ad parodies and visual cigarette package warnings on emotional and cognitive responses of young adults. The findings indicate that graphic-only ad parodies can compete with warnings in their attempt to damage consumers' attitude toward tobacco brands through the health beliefs they lead consumers to associate to the brand. On the contrary, text-only ad parodies prove counterproductive and lead to a boomerang effect characterized by an increase in consumers' tobacco brand attitude.

Response strategies to maintain emotional resonant brand reputations when targeted by user-generated brand parodies

“…Skilfully created, compelling and popular user-generated parody accounts are said to enjoy a committed following and are appreciated for their satirical criticism (Cutler, 2015;Kantrowitz, 2012;Manning;. Therefore, popular parodies attract significant attention, visibility and influence (Valinsky, 2012), share funny content that is highly credible and humorous (Sabri & Michel, 2014:243), mimic the brand personality (Jones, 2012;Mann, 2012) and use sarcasm as confirmed in a related study (Parguel, Lunardo & Chebat, 2012). Other reasons why skilfully written parody accounts are appreciated, include having a distinct voice (Colebrook, 2005:181), providing comedy that is fun and entertaining (Bal et al, 2009:231;Hutcheon, 2000:32;Jiramonai, 2012:37;Mikkonen & Bajde, 2013:315;Neacsu, 2011:89;Skågeby, 2013:65) and challenging orthodox seriousness by offering comic relief (Haomin & Xin, 2010:16).…”