The prevalence of emotional and rational tone in social advertising appeals
Purpose – This paper aims to analyse the prevalence of emotional and rational appeals in social advertising campaigns. There are studies about the effectiveness of these tones of appeals in social marketing, but there is no evidence about their prevalent use in social advertisements. Design/methodol...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Emerald Publishing
2021-08-01
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| Series: | RAUSP Management Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/RAUSP-08-2020-0187/full/pdf?title=the-prevalence-of-emotional-and-rational-tone-in-social-advertising-appeals |
| _version_ | 1811342652993437696 |
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| author | Beatriz Casais Aline Costa Pereira |
| author_facet | Beatriz Casais Aline Costa Pereira |
| author_sort | Beatriz Casais |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Purpose – This paper aims to analyse the prevalence of emotional and rational appeals in social advertising campaigns. There are studies about the effectiveness of these tones of appeals in social marketing, but there is no evidence about their prevalent use in social advertisements. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a content analysis of forty social advertisements promoting attitudes and behaviours regarding social causes. The selected ads were in video format and were extracted from the YouTube channels of Portuguese governmental and non-governmental organisations. The ads were coded according to the characteristics of each tone of appeals and classified as emotional, rational or a mix of both. Findings – The authors classified 25 social ads as rational appeals, 8 as emotional and 7 as a mix of both appeals. The results of the research show that social marketers have preference for the use of rational tone in social advertising campaigns. Originality/value – This study shows that there is a disruption between theory and practice in social marketing, considering the higher prevalence of rational appeals in contexts where theory recommends emotional appeals for higher effectiveness. This evidence is surprising, considering a previous study that evidenced a higher use of emotional appeals in advertising connected to social causes than in commercial advertisements. This paper focus on how practice may disrupt theory and explores possible reasons for the phenomenon. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T19:14:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-63f8f5a1ac79408d9d28a5379c4eb668 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2531-0488 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T19:14:35Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | Emerald Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | RAUSP Management Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-63f8f5a1ac79408d9d28a5379c4eb6682022-12-22T02:33:42ZengEmerald PublishingRAUSP Management Journal2531-04882021-08-0156328229410.1108/RAUSP-08-2020-0187663045The prevalence of emotional and rational tone in social advertising appealsBeatriz Casais0Aline Costa Pereira1School of Economics and Management, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal and CICS.NOVA-UMinho, Braga, PortugalSchool of Economics and Management, University of Minho, Braga, PortugalPurpose – This paper aims to analyse the prevalence of emotional and rational appeals in social advertising campaigns. There are studies about the effectiveness of these tones of appeals in social marketing, but there is no evidence about their prevalent use in social advertisements. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a content analysis of forty social advertisements promoting attitudes and behaviours regarding social causes. The selected ads were in video format and were extracted from the YouTube channels of Portuguese governmental and non-governmental organisations. The ads were coded according to the characteristics of each tone of appeals and classified as emotional, rational or a mix of both. Findings – The authors classified 25 social ads as rational appeals, 8 as emotional and 7 as a mix of both appeals. The results of the research show that social marketers have preference for the use of rational tone in social advertising campaigns. Originality/value – This study shows that there is a disruption between theory and practice in social marketing, considering the higher prevalence of rational appeals in contexts where theory recommends emotional appeals for higher effectiveness. This evidence is surprising, considering a previous study that evidenced a higher use of emotional appeals in advertising connected to social causes than in commercial advertisements. This paper focus on how practice may disrupt theory and explores possible reasons for the phenomenon.https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/RAUSP-08-2020-0187/full/pdf?title=the-prevalence-of-emotional-and-rational-tone-in-social-advertising-appealsemotional appealsrational appealsappeals toneinformational appealssocial advertisementsocial marketing appeals |
| spellingShingle | Beatriz Casais Aline Costa Pereira The prevalence of emotional and rational tone in social advertising appeals RAUSP Management Journal emotional appeals rational appeals appeals tone informational appeals social advertisement social marketing appeals |
| title | The prevalence of emotional and rational tone in social advertising appeals |
| title_full | The prevalence of emotional and rational tone in social advertising appeals |
| title_fullStr | The prevalence of emotional and rational tone in social advertising appeals |
| title_full_unstemmed | The prevalence of emotional and rational tone in social advertising appeals |
| title_short | The prevalence of emotional and rational tone in social advertising appeals |
| title_sort | prevalence of emotional and rational tone in social advertising appeals |
| topic | emotional appeals rational appeals appeals tone informational appeals social advertisement social marketing appeals |
| url | https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/RAUSP-08-2020-0187/full/pdf?title=the-prevalence-of-emotional-and-rational-tone-in-social-advertising-appeals |
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