The Impact of Regulatory Focus on the Effects of Two-Sided Advertising

Abstract

The authors examined the impact of regulatory focus on the persuasive effects of two-sided advertisements. Since individuals in a prevention focus are more sensitive to negative information than individuals in a promotion focus, the authors predicted that two-sided ads would have less positive effects than one-sided ads in prevention-focused as compared to promotion-focused recipients. In Experiment 1, the chronic regulatory focus of participants was measured. In Experiment 2, a promotion or prevention focus was experimentally induced. In Experiment 3, participants with an experimentally induced prevention focus were compared to a control group. Supporting the predictions, two-sided ads led to less positive product evaluations in prevention-focused participants than in promotion-focused participants or participants of a control group. Analysis of cognitive responses show that the moderating effect of regulatory focus on the impact of two-sided ads on product evaluations is mediated by the positivity of thoughts elicited by the ad. Regulatory Focus and Two-Sided Advertising 3 The Impact of Regulatory Focus on the Effects of Two-sided Advertising Most advertisements praise the advantages of the advertised products and keep quiet about the disadvantages. Sometimes, however, it might be beneficial to rely on two-sided ads and to mention shortcomings of the products. Indeed, a few studies found that two-sided communication can be superior to one-sided

Honesty Only Gets You So Far! The Effects of Two-sided Content on Re-purchase Intentions

“…We found a main effect of regulatory focus on repeat purchase likelihood (F(1,93) = 3.99, p = .04, ɳ 2 = .04; M promotion focus = 4.71, SD = 1.50; M prevention focus = 4.07, SD= 1.55). Our findings are in line with Florack et al (2009). Participants were more likely to re-purchase the ice cream under promotion focus compared to prevention focus.…”

“…Therefore, using other product categories including a prevention-focused product (i.e., mouthwash), we wanted to rule out that explanation. Moreover, two-sided ads have been shown to boost purchase under promotion focused contexts (Cornelis 2013;Cornelis, Cauberghe and De Pelesmacker, 2014;Florack et al 2009), yet there has been no research done for re-purchase intentions that also takes into account consumer experiences. While it is not a theoretical test, we conducted an ancillary study and a mathematical model (please see Appendix) that validated the effect of promotion versus prevention focus on re-purchase intentions.…”

Visual Art and Regulatory Fit Messages on Consumer Evaluations

“…These studies demonstrate how regulatory focus manipulation directly affects consumers' preferences and evaluations towards products (Dholakia, Gopinath, Bagozzi, & Nataraajan, 2006;Mogilner, Aaker, & Pennington, 2008;Werth & Foerster, 2007), as well as persuasion (Lee & Aaker, 2004), ad message evaluation (Florack, Ineichen, & Bieri, 2009;Pham & Avnet, 2009), interpretation and attitudes (Lee, Keller, & Sternthal, 2010), among other aspects. …”

The Obesity Epidemic: The Effect of Pre-existing Lifestyle on Attitude to the Ad, Attitude to the Brand, and Purchase Intention

“…Considerable evidence supports the theory that negative information in ads reduces the positive effects of positive information (Pechmann [19], Bohner, Einwiller, Erb and Siebler [20]; Florack et al [21]). However, there remains room for further understanding of the effect of such information on attitudes and further behaviors.…”