Abstract

This study seeks to examine under what circumstances brand advertising that advocated for socially desirable behaviors (e.g., mask wearing) during the COVID-19 pandemic may be successful in increasing the intention to engage in such behaviors. In doing so, we examine the effectiveness of real brands’ persuasive attempts via activist advertising, focusing on messages used in real advertisements that may cause psychological reactance. Using a 2 (message type: threat to freedom vs. no threat) × 2 (brand: Uber vs. Heineken) between-subjects design, our study confirms that threat to freedom messages lead to lower ad attitudes, lower intention to engage in socially responsible behaviors, and greater psychological reactance. Brands should be careful when using “threat to freedom” language in their advertising. Further, our results suggest that perceived authenticity of a brand’s messaging is key to the success of activist advertising.

摘要

本研究旨在研究在 COVID-19 大流行期间倡导社会理想行为（例如戴口罩）的品牌广告在什么情况下可能会成功提高参与此类行为的意愿。在此过程中，我们检查了真实品牌通过激进广告进行说服尝试的有效性，重点关注真实广告中使用的可能引起心理反应的信息。使用 2（消息类型：对自由的威胁与无威胁）×2（品牌：优步与喜力）之间的主题设计，我们的研究证实，对自由消息的威胁导致较低的广告态度，较低的参与社交的意愿负责任的行为和更大的心理反应。品牌在其广告中使用“威胁自由”语言时应小心谨慎。更多，