Social threat appeals in commercial advertising: The moderating impact of perceived level of self-efficacy and self-esteem on advertising effectiveness

Tine Faseur; Verolien Cauberghe; Liselot Hudders

doi:10.1515/commun-2015-0002

Article

Social threat appeals in commercial advertising: The moderating impact of perceived level of self-efficacy and self-esteem on advertising effectiveness

, and

Published/Copyright: June 2, 2015

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Submit Manuscript Author Information Explore this Subject

From the journal Communications Volume 40 Issue 2

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of the level of fear evoked by an advertisement (for deodorant) framing a threatening social situation. Where the effectiveness of threat appeals has been investigated extensively in health communication, this study focuses on the impact of social threat appeals in a commercial setting. The study investigates the moderating impact of self-esteem on the interaction effect between the level of fear (evoked by a social threat ad) and perceived level of self-efficacy on brand attitude and purchase intention. Results show that for high self-esteem individuals fear evoked by a social threat is effective only when perceived self-efficacy is increased (in line with the EPPM). However, for low self-esteem individuals, high versus low perceived self-efficacy does not influence brand attitude and purchase intention in case of a social threat appeal, but perceived self-efficacy does increase the effectiveness of appeals in which a positive social situation is shown.

Keywords: Social threat; fear appeals; self-esteem; self-efficacy; advertising effectiveness

Published Online: 2015-6-2

Published in Print: 2015-6-1

You are currently not able to access this content.

Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2015-0002

Keywords for this article

Social threat; fear appeals; self-esteem; self-efficacy; advertising effectiveness