IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/mktlet/v32y2021i1d10.1007_s11002-020-09553-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sad but smiling? How the combination of happy victim images and sad message appeals increase prosocial behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Felix Septianto

    (University of Queensland
    University of Auckland)

  • Widya Paramita

    (Gadjah Mada University)

Abstract

The present research examines how a combination of a happy (vs. sad) victim image and a strong sad message appeal can promote prosocial behavior. The underlying reason is that consumers can more easily see how their help can positively change the victim’s situation (i.e., high levels of perceived outcome efficacy). This research tests these predictions across four experimental studies, involving volunteering behavior (study 1) and donation allocations (studies 2–4) across two different markets (Indonesia and the USA). We address the challenge charities face to represent the victims in a good light while at the same time showing their “need” to potential donors. These findings provide advice to marketers and consumers on how to develop effective charitable advertising strategies by combining a happy victim image and a strong sad message appeal.

Suggested Citation

  • Felix Septianto & Widya Paramita, 2021. "Sad but smiling? How the combination of happy victim images and sad message appeals increase prosocial behavior," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 91-110, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:mktlet:v:32:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s11002-020-09553-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s11002-020-09553-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11002-020-09553-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11002-020-09553-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Felix Septianto & Billy Sung & Yuri Seo & Nursafwah Tugiman, 2018. "Proud volunteers: the role of self- and vicarious-pride in promoting volunteering," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 501-519, December.
    2. Williams, Patti & Aaker, Jennifer L, 2002. "Can Mixed Emotions Peacefully Coexist?," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 28(4), pages 636-649, March.
    3. Yael Zemack-Rugar & Sona Klucarova-Travani, 2018. "Should donation ads include happy victim images? The moderating role of regulatory focus," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 421-434, December.
    4. Septianto, Felix, 2020. "Do past scandals influence the present performance? The moderating role of consumer mindset," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 75-81.
    5. Brennan, Linda & Binney, Wayne, 2010. "Fear, guilt, and shame appeals in social marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 140-146, February.
    6. Daniella Kupor & Kristin Laurin & Chris Janiszewski & J Jeffrey Inman, 2020. "Probable Cause: The Influence of Prior Probabilities on Forecasts and Perceptions of Magnitude [Perceived Intent Motivates People to Magnify Observed Harms]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 46(5), pages 833-852.
    7. Sergio W. Carvalho & Diogo Hildebrand & Sankar Sen, 2019. "Dressed to Impress: The Effect of Victim Attire on Helping Behavior," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(4), pages 376-386.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Veronica L. Thomas & Hooman Mirahmad & Grace Kemper, 2022. "The role of response efficacy and risk aversion in promoting compliance during crisis," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(4), pages 1454-1474, December.
    2. Li, Meng-Ran & Yin, Cheng-Yue, 2022. "Facial expressions of beneficiaries and donation intentions of potential donors: Effects of the number of beneficiaries in charity advertising," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Athey, Susan & Karlan, Dean & Palikot, Emil & Yuan, Yuan, 2022. "Smiles in Profiles: Improving Fairness and Efficiency Using Estimates of User Preferences in Online Marketplaces," Research Papers 4071, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    4. Jesús García-Madariaga & Pamela Simón Sandoval & Ingrit Moya Burgos, 2024. "How brand familiarity influences advertising effectiveness of non-profit organizations," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 21(2), pages 279-293, June.
    5. Zheng, Chundong & Qian, Fangyuan & Song, Jiehang & Wang, Han, 2024. "Make the photo in good shape: The matching effect of photo shapes and donation appeals on donation intentions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    6. Bataoui, Soffien & Boch, Emmanuelle, 2023. "The role of socially rich photos in generating favorable donation behavior on charity websites," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Felix Septianto & Joya A. Kemper & Fandy Tjiptono & Widya Paramita, 2021. "The Role of Authentic (vs. Hubristic) Pride in Leveraging the Effectiveness of Cost Transparency," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(2), pages 423-439, November.
    2. Septianto, Felix, 2020. "Do past scandals influence the present performance? The moderating role of consumer mindset," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 75-81.
    3. Nguyen, Hoang Sinh & Laufer, Daniel & Krisjanous, Jayne, 2020. "The effectiveness of guilt and shame appeals on health communications: The moderating role of self-construal and personal cultural orientation," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 310-324.
    4. Khalil, Mary & Khan, Saira & Septianto, Felix, 2020. "Effects of power and implicit theories on donation," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 98-107.
    5. Xin, Benlu & Zhu, Chengfeng & Septianto, Felix, 2022. "The effects of mixed emotional appeals in leveraging paradox brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 266-275.
    6. Björn Vollan & Karla Henning & Deniza Staewa, 2017. "Do campaigns featuring impact evaluations increase donations? Evidence from a survey experiment," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 500-518, October.
    7. Matthew Fisher & Milica Mormann, 2022. "The Off by 100% Bias: The Effects of Percentage Changes Greater than 100% on Magnitude Judgments and Consumer Choice [Numerosity and Consumer Behavior]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 49(4), pages 561-573.
    8. Leonidas A. Zampetakis & Manolis Lerakis & Konstantinos Kafetsios & Vassilis S. Moustakis, 2016. "The moderating role of anticipated affective ambivalence in the formation of entrepreneurial intentions," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 815-838, September.
    9. Tang, Pok Man & Yam, Kai Chi & Koopman, Joel, 2020. "Feeling proud but guilty? Unpacking the paradoxical nature of unethical pro-organizational behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 68-86.
    10. María del Mar García‐De los Salmones & Andrea Perez, 2018. "Effectiveness of CSR Advertising: The Role of Reputation, Consumer Attributions, and Emotions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(2), pages 194-208, March.
    11. Rita Ferreira Gomes & Beatriz Casais, 2018. "Feelings generated by threat appeals in social marketing: text and emoji analysis of user reactions to anorexia nervosa campaigns in social media," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 15(4), pages 591-607, December.
    12. Jana Holthöwer & Jenny Doorn, 2023. "Robots do not judge: service robots can alleviate embarrassment in service encounters," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 767-784, July.
    13. Klaus Schoefer & Adamantios Diamantopoulos, 2008. "Measuring experienced emotions during service recovery encounters: construction and assessment of the ESRE scale," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 2(1), pages 65-81, March.
    14. Douglas Chiguvi & Elvis Madondo & Zenzo Dube, 2019. "The Importance of Customer Relationship Management in the Local Government Authorities in Zimbabwe," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 6(6), pages 15-29, November.
    15. Reich, Taly & Fulmer, Alexander G. & Dhar, Ravi, 2022. "In the face of self-threat: Why ambivalence heightens people’s willingness to act," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    16. Gelbrich, Katja, 2011. "I Have Paid Less Than You! The Emotional and Behavioral Consequences of Advantaged Price Inequality," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 207-224.
    17. Lancellotti, Matthew P. & Thomas, Sunil, 2018. "Men hate it, women love it: Guilty pleasure advertising messages," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 271-280.
    18. Rothman, Naomi B., 2011. "Steering sheep: How expressed emotional ambivalence elicits dominance in interdependent decision making contexts," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 66-82, September.
    19. Ana C. Martinez-Levy & Dario Rossi & Giulia Cartocci & Marco Mancini & Gianluca Flumeri & Arianna Trettel & Fabio Babiloni & Patrizia Cherubino, 2022. "Message framing, non-conscious perception and effectiveness in non-profit advertising. Contribution by neuromarketing research," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 19(1), pages 53-75, March.
    20. Septianto, Felix & Kemper, Joya A. & Chiew, Tung Moi, 2020. "The interactive effects of emotions and numerical information in increasing consumer support to conservation efforts," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 445-455.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:mktlet:v:32:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s11002-020-09553-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.