TY - JOUR
T1 - Advertising during COVID-19
T2 - Exploring Perceived Brand Message Authenticity and Potential Psychological Reactance
AU - Shoenberger, Heather
AU - Kim, Eunjin
AU - Sun, Yuan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2021, American Academy of Advertising.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
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U2 - 10.1080/00913367.2021.1927914
DO - 10.1080/00913367.2021.1927914
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107673395
VL - 50
SP - 253
EP - 261
JO - Journal of Advertising
JF - Journal of Advertising
SN - 0091-3367
IS - 3
ER -