Why does advertising work? exploring the neural mechanism of concreteness and emotional effects of donation advertising slogans

Abstract

Advertising is methods to encourage donations, and text is one of the most crucial fundamental elements in advertising. Therefore, we chose advertising slogans as the focus of this study. The main goal of this research is to investigate how the emotional and concrete aspects of advertising slogans can impact information processing procedures and neural mechanisms, ultimately influencing advertising effectiveness. We conducted a two-factor experiment with a 2 × 2 design, using the ERPs experimental paradigm. The results reveal that slogans with an emotionally positive appeal outperformed in terms of advertising memory (recognition response time) and audience intention (liking, acting, and sharing). Emotional-negative advertising slogans performed better in eliciting early attention (P1). Concrete advertising slogans excelled in enhancing advertising memory (recognition response time, correct recognition rate), as well as in the later stages of information processing stage (N400 and LPC). Furthermore, abstract advertising slogans performed better in capturing early attention (P2) and influencing action intention. We introduce a framework comprising five distinct phases for individuals to process the advertising slogans and emphasize the foundational role of emotions in individual cognition and the processing of advertising. These findings uncover the underlying mechanism behind the effectiveness of donation advertising and provide valuable insights for the design of philanthropic advertising practices.