The Impact of Regulatory Focus on the Effects of Two-Sided Advertising

Abstract

The authors examined the impact of regulatory focus on the persuasive effects of two-sided advertisements. Since individuals in a prevention focus are more sensitive to negative information than individuals in a promotion focus, the authors predicted that two-sided ads would have less positive effects than one-sided ads in prevention-focused as compared to promotion-focused recipients. In Experiment 1, the chronic regulatory focus of participants was measured. In Experiment 2, a promotion or prevention focus was experimentally induced. In Experiment 3, participants with an experimentally induced prevention focus were compared to a control group. Supporting the predictions, two-sided ads led to less positive product evaluations in prevention-focused participants than in promotion-focused participants or participants of a control group. Analysis of cognitive responses show that the moderating effect of regulatory focus on the impact of two-sided ads on product evaluations is mediated by the positivity of thoughts elicited by the ad.