Narrative advertising copy with hedonic and utilitarian products: when does narrative persuasion attenuate?

Lu, Xin

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/78507 Copy

Description

Title

Narrative advertising copy with hedonic and utilitarian products: when does narrative persuasion attenuate?

Author(s)

Lu, Xin

Issue Date

2015-04-30

Department of Study

Advertising

Discipline

Advertising

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Narrative
• Persuasion
• Transportation
• Advertisement

Abstract

The present study aims to test persuasiveness within narrative ads copy. It is suggested that narrative advertisements are better at persuading consumers than non-narrative advertisements because stories transport people into the narrative world, which prevents people from counterarguing and scrutinizing ad copy information. The study tested how product type and argument strength would affect narrative persuasion. A hedonic product and a utilitarian product, along with strong and weak arguments, were used as independent variables in the present study to test their effects on narrative transportation and persuasion. The study collected a general sample from the US and Canada using an online survey. Qualtrics, an online survey tool, was used to randomly and evenly distribute participants to experimental conditions. A two-way ANOVA analysis showed that narrative advertisements with hedonic products were evaluated more favorably than narrative advertisements with utilitarian products. People were more likely to be transported when exposed to narrative ad copy featuring hedonic products than utilitarian products. People were also more persuaded by strong arguments than weak arguments for both hedonic and utilitarian products. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Graduation Semester

2015-5

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/78507

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2015 Xin Lu

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