Negative Emotional Appeals in Online Attorneys' Marketing in North America

Abstract

The current paper attempts to highlight the technique of persuasion used in online Attorneys' Marketing by means of appeal to pathos in which persuasion is done through arousing emotions. Pathos is usually achieved by means of emotions. This paper focuses particularly on the arousal of feelings through the use of negative emotional appeals to arouse emotional reactions. Basically, the research intends to identify negative words and phrases that are used to arouse emotions and at the same time to provide information on legal issues. The results show that emotions of fear, guilt and shame are specifically aroused in the attorneys' websites. Hence, the paper describes how online Attorneys' Marketing uses negative emotional appeals as an effective method to persuade prospective clients who might be involved in any legal problem in order to get the services of experienced attorneys.

Social marketing, shock advertising and risky consumption behavior

“…On the other hand, emotional appeals are concerned with consumers' social and psychological needs that drive their wants and purchase decision. Emotional appeal "stands for the effective text that will activate the emotions of the audience to accept an idea, proposition or perform an action" (Jabbar, Christopher 2012). Emotions evoked in advertising can "either be positive (e.g., love and contentment) or negative (e.g., fear, disgust, anger, and sadness)" (Taute, McQuitty & Sautter 2011).…”