Using Guilt: Donors Wary of High-Emotion Appeals

The Theory

Guilt has been seen as a powerful ally for some cause marketers. Just ask whoever thought up those ASPCA commercials with Sarah McLachlan. But how does the public receive those messages? Does guilt induce good will, or does it turn off potential supporters? A study published in the Journal of Advertising Research tried to find out.

The Test

The study’s authors created several one-minute cause-oriented video advertisements about child-hunger and child-cancer awareness and showed them to a group of 250 British consumers, who were polled afterward. One group of videos had a high “guilt appeal,” featuring imagery of starving children and dramatic language. The other group of videos had lower guilt appeal, focusing on children beating cancer and less dramatic language.

The Results

Participants in the study walked away with a more positive image of the advertisers featured in the low-guilt ads. They became suspicious of those featured in the high-guilt ads and questioned whether they were committed to the cause.

Dig Deeper

The researchers note their study only examines “existential guilt” appeals in advertising and that further work is needed to understand what impact other emotional appeals have on audiences.

Find it

“How Intensity of Cause-Related Marketing Guilt Influences Consumers,” by Jaywant Singh, Benedetta Crisafulli, and La Toya Quamina, was published December 2018 in the Journal of Advertising Research.