The moderating effect of manipulative intent and cognitive resources on the evaluation of narrative ads

Abstract

This research examines how salience of manipulative intent affects the evaluation of ads that are presented in a narrative or expository format. Study 1 shows that when manipulative intent is not salient, narrative ads are evaluated more positively than expository ads because they trigger a narrative processing style. When manipulative intent is salient, however, consumers regard the advertiser's tactics more suspiciously and adopt an analytical processing style to evaluate both narrative and expository ads. As a result, the relative advantage of narrative ads over expository ads disappears. A mediational analysis reveals that these effects are mediated by inferences of manipulative intent. Furthermore, Study 2 shows that cognitive load moderates these effects and that the negative impact of manipulative intent is significantly attenuated when cognitive load is high. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Much of the information that individuals obtain in their daily lives is conveyed to them in the form of narratives, that is, in thematically and temporally related sequences of events (Bruner, 1986(Bruner, , 1990. Marketers seem to be intuitively aware of the advantages of information presented in a narrative form: A content analysis by Escalas (1998) found that over 20% of ads depict well-developed stories. For instance, a recent ad from FedEx tells the story of a white-collar employee

To think or not to think: The effect of cognitive deliberation on the influence of injunctive versus descriptive social norms

“…Cognitive deliberation on injunctive norms may increase these effects, whereas cognitive load decreases them. After all, when consumers are under cognitive load, they are less likely to perceive a persuasive message as manipulative (Wentzel, Tomczak, & Herrmann, 2010) and therefore are less likely to resist it.…”

Using Eye Tracking to Understand the Effects of Brand Placement Disclosure Types in Television Programs

“…When the manipulative intent of a message is inferred a change of meaning can occur, and the viewer may adapt a more critical processing style, which may influence the evaluation of the sender (Campbell 1995;Campbell and Kirmani 2000;Wentzel, Tomczak, and Herrmann 2010), which is the brand in this case. Prior studies have indeed demonstrated that brand placement disclosures affect brand responses, such as brand memory and brand attitudes (e.g., Boerman, Van Reijmersdal, and Neijens 2012a;Campbell, Mohr, and Verlegh 2013;Van Reijmersdal, Tutaj, and Boerman 2013).…”

“…When persuasion knowledge is activated, people may adopt a more critical processing style and evaluate the persuasive message suspiciously (Campbell 1995;Campbell and Kirmani 2000;Wentzel, Tomczak, and Herrmann 2010). As a result, the activation of persuasion knowledge can lead to diminished persuasion (Buijzen, Van Reijmersdal, and Owen 2010).…”

Flag backlash: Why does the presence of the American flag reduce product evaluation?

“…These studies show that consumers negatively respond to religious advertising (McDaniel, ) and pharmaceutical marketing (McGraw et al., ). When an advertisement exhibits a salient manipulative intent through the employment of biased endorsers (Kirmani & Zhu, ), excessive use of rhetorical questions (Ahluwalia & Burnkrant, ) or borrowed interest appeals (Campbell, ), consumers evaluate the ads negatively, even if the ads are narrative in nature (Wentzel et al., ). Prominent product placement also results in negative brand attitude.…”