It has been generally assumed that higher levels of scepticism towards advertising invariably lead to higher resistance to advertising appeals. The main purpose of the present research was to examine whether highly sceptical consumers' resistance can be overcome by appeals associated with higher credibility. We tested our hypotheses using message sidedness as an advertising variable that has been associated with higher (two-sided) versus lower (one-sided) credibility. In three experimental studies, we examined more versus less sceptical consumers' responses to two- versus one-sided appeals. We found that two-sided messages are more effective in increasing purchase intentions, through enhanced credibility, but only for consumers who are more sceptical of advertising. Less sceptical consumers trust both messages equally and their purchase intentions are not affected by the type of message. Importantly, we also showed that highly sceptical consumers trust two-sided appeals as much as their less sceptical counterparts. The study contributes to the literature on advertising and persuasion knowledge by showing that advertising scepticism does not elicit a single response tendency, as originally conceptualized. Rather, advertising scepticism is more consistent with the underpinnings of the Persuasion Knowledge Model, in that higher knowledge about persuasion tactics aids consumers to better cope with, and not invariably resist persuasion attempts. We conclude that transparency pays off because it may entice a more sceptical audience and, at the same time, it does not harm less sceptical consumers' trust and purchase intentions.

中文翻译：

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当透明度得到回报时：用双面广告吸引持怀疑态度的消费者

人们普遍认为，对广告的更高水平的怀疑总是会导致对广告吸引力的更高抵制。本研究的主要目的是检验高度怀疑的消费者的抵制是否可以通过与更高可信度相关的吸引力来克服。我们使用消息侧性作为广告变量来测试我们的假设，该变量与较高（双侧）与较低（单侧）可信度相关联。在三项实验性研究中，我们检查了更多与更少怀疑的消费者对双面诉求和单方面诉求的反应。我们发现，通过增强可信度，双面信息在增加购买意愿方面更有效，但仅适用于对广告持怀疑态度的消费者。不那么多疑的消费者对这两种消息的信任程度相同，他们的购买意愿不受消息类型的影响。重要的是，我们还表明，高度怀疑的消费者与不那么怀疑的消费者一样信任双面诉求。该研究表明，广告怀疑主义不会像最初概念化的那样引起单一的反应倾向，从而对广告和说服知识的文献做出了贡献。相反，广告怀疑主义更符合说服知识模型的基础，因为关于说服策略的更高知识有助于消费者更好地应对，而不是总是抵制说服尝试。我们得出结论，透明度是有回报的，因为它可能会吸引更多持怀疑态度的观众，同时，它不会伤害不那么持怀疑态度的消费者