The Understanding of Sad Appeal in Emotional Advertisement among Audiences in Klang Valley, Malaysia (original) (raw)

Abstract

The rise in emotional advertising comes at a time when brands are making every effort in creating contents rather than just making advertisements. The aim of this study is related to advertisements that contain sad emotional appeals, and its impact on the viewers and their purchasing decisions. The research methodology of qualitative method and phenomenological approach were applied. The data of this study was then collected by conducting in-depth interview. The data from the interview session was transcribed verbatim to ensure the words and sentences are transcribed accordingly. The findings discuss the attitude shown by the audiences towards the emotional contents in advertisements. The attitude shown by the audiences was observed closely on their reactions after watching advertisements that contains emotional appeals; particularly sad appeals. In point of fact, this research has managed to reveal on the pattern involved among advertisement audiences in navigating the content from advertisements with emotional appeals. This study is predominantly a study of emotional advertisements; Sadvertisement, as catchy as it sounds, as a popular culture terminology that describes an advertising trend for consumers in which advertisers are using a certain set of game plan to jockey on people's emotions and galvanise feelings of sadness, melancholy or wistfulness. The study adheres to the idea of a growing number of emotional advertisements and its effect on the advertisement audiences.

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What role do emotional advertisements play in consumer purchasing decisions?add

The study reveals that emotional advertisements significantly influence purchasing decisions, particularly those utilizing sadness appeals, which can evoke strong emotional responses and motivate consumers to buy.

How do audiences perceive sad advertisements compared to other emotional appeals?add

Participants reported that sad advertisements resonate more deeply than positive ones, often leading to a stronger psychological engagement and subsequent brand recall.

What factors contribute to the effectiveness of emotional advertisements?add

Factors such as empathy, brand association, and relatable storytelling enhance the impact of emotional advertisements, making them more likely to spur consumer action.

Why are festive seasons significant for emotional advertisements?add

Advertising during festive seasons taps into heightened emotional states, with participants noting that such ads are expected and resonate due to their thematic familiarity and emotional messaging.

What methodology was used to study audience reactions to emotional advertisements?add

The research employed a qualitative phenomenological approach, utilizing semi-structured interviews with eight participants to capture their subjective experiences and feelings towards emotional advertisements.

Figures (1)

Table 1: Categories and sub categories derived from the in-depth interview with individual informants As claimed by Mitchell and Olson (2000), attitude is defined as an individual’s internal evaluation of an object. This is in agreement with Fishbein and Ajzen in 1975 which stated that a person’s attitude is a function of his salient beliefs at a given point in time. In the first research objective, the researcher attempts to find the answers to the question “What are the attitudes of the audience on the emotional contents in advertisements?”. Learning how emotional advertisement affects the participants helped to understand the participants’ attitudes prior to this phenomenon. In this study, the attitudes of the audience on emotional contents in advertisements are gathered in six themes: (i) festive season, (ii) the age of social media, (iii) personal time, (iv) social participation, (v) personal journey growing up, and (vi) fictional life. These themes were derived from the AA responses towards their attitudes towards emotional advertisements. Four out of eight participants had responded that the excessive number of emotional advertisements available either through mass media or alternative media such as on social media had led to their consumption of these advertisements. SR SES SEE SR SES NE 8 ee ee i ba In point of fact, this research has managed to reveal on the pattern involved among advertisement audiences in navigating the content from advertisements with emotional appeals. The excessive availability of emotional advertisements especially during festive seasons has led to AA’s high consumability. With the advancement of technology, digital communication has been taking control of every aspect in our lives, including advertising. The age of social media where everything is at a click has also led to AA’s excessive consuming of emotional advertisements. The attitude shown by audiences was explained further in the resemblance between themselves and the characters in the advertisements where it reflected on their own personal journey growing up and to some, it does not, as the life on screen are just another fictional life.

Table 1: Categories and sub categories derived from the in-depth interview with individual informants As claimed by Mitchell and Olson (2000), attitude is defined as an individual’s internal evaluation of an object. This is in agreement with Fishbein and Ajzen in 1975 which stated that a person’s attitude is a function of his salient beliefs at a given point in time. In the first research objective, the researcher attempts to find the answers to the question “What are the attitudes of the audience on the emotional contents in advertisements?”. Learning how emotional advertisement affects the participants helped to understand the participants’ attitudes prior to this phenomenon. In this study, the attitudes of the audience on emotional contents in advertisements are gathered in six themes: (i) festive season, (ii) the age of social media, (iii) personal time, (iv) social participation, (v) personal journey growing up, and (vi) fictional life. These themes were derived from the AA responses towards their attitudes towards emotional advertisements. Four out of eight participants had responded that the excessive number of emotional advertisements available either through mass media or alternative media such as on social media had led to their consumption of these advertisements. SR SES SEE SR SES NE 8 ee ee i ba In point of fact, this research has managed to reveal on the pattern involved among advertisement audiences in navigating the content from advertisements with emotional appeals. The excessive availability of emotional advertisements especially during festive seasons has led to AA’s high consumability. With the advancement of technology, digital communication has been taking control of every aspect in our lives, including advertising. The age of social media where everything is at a click has also led to AA’s excessive consuming of emotional advertisements. The attitude shown by audiences was explained further in the resemblance between themselves and the characters in the advertisements where it reflected on their own personal journey growing up and to some, it does not, as the life on screen are just another fictional life.

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