The role of advertising in consumer emotion management

Abstract

Consumer research has demonstrated that emotions play an important role in the decisionmaking process. Individuals may use consumption or purchasing as a way to manage their emotions. This research develops a model to help explain the process by which individuals engage in consumption to manage their emotions, and examines the efficacy of an advertisement for a hedonic product that uses affect-laden language to stimulate such a process. Results suggest that favourable emotional responses from an advertisement can lead to positive attitudes towards the advertisement, prefactual thinking in the form of hedonic rationalisations and greater behavioural intentions. Additionally, guilt from consuming and purchasing these hedonic products can be mitigated, which is also associated with greater behavioural intentions. Findings have implications for marketers and advertisers of hedonic products.