Emotional responses to tourism advertisements: the application of FaceReader™

Abstract

Traditionally, tourists’ emotional responses to advertising and associated stimuli have been assessed using self-report questionnaires. Image recognition software, such as FaceReader™ provides a means to analyse emotional responses to stimuli, specifically the type of emotion, valence (positive/negative) and arousal (intensity) via facial expressions. This research note reports on the benefits and drawbacks of FaceReader™. Respondents from Iran (5) and Australia (5) were invited to a laboratory to watch a tourism advertisement (ski resort in Iran). A video camera was used to record the facial expressions of respondents while viewing the advertisement. Results provide an indication that participants had overall low arousal and positive emotions while watching the tourism video. FaceReader™ proved useful for collecting and analysing real time data concerning seven discrete emotions plus valence and arousal. Since FaceReader™ is sensitive to light and participants with thick frame glasses, it is recommended that future studies apply this software with additional physiological and self-report measures to advance understanding of the measurement of emotions in the tourism field.