Current Issue Summary
March 2024 (Vol. 64, Issue 1)
Pride Appeals and Temporal Framing Compatibility Effects in Green Advertising: Will the Match Lead to Persuasive Outcomes by Consumers?
Can a positive spin in an ad that tunes into the pride people take in their behaviors encourage them to do something good for the environment—like buy green products? In this work, Chung In (Hazel) Yun and Kathrynn Pounders (both with University of Texas at Austin) examine two types of pride: authentic (“proud of what I do”) versus hubristic (“proud of who I am”) when paired with messaging focused on proximal outcomes (happening in the near future) versus distal temporal message frames (happening much later). Their findings from two studies support the hypothesized compatibility effect, with the first study examining responses to ads promoting a green product (environmentally friendly soap) and the second examining outcomes from a public service announcement (PSA) promoting green behaviors. As with other research in this issue, processing fluency (the cognitive ease with which a person processes an ad message) plays a significant role in the findings. Here, it mediates the interaction between the type of pride appeal and temporal message frame.
Among the takeaways:
- Ads and PSAs that feature products, services, or convey risk of a certain behavior or outcome in the near future (proximal temporal message frame) should feature authentic pride appeals to enhance persuasion.
- Ads and PSAs that feature products, services, or convey risk of a certain behavior in the distant future (distal temporal message frame) should feature hubristic pride appeals to enhance persuasion.
- “As incidental or context-based emotions influence consumer reactions to advertising messages, advertisers should be mindful of selecting a media vehicle or timing that emotionally matches temporal message framing.”