How to Capture the Heart? Reviewing 20 Years of Emotion Measurement in Advertising

TLDR

Emotions have become a central topic in behavioral sciences, including advertising, yet measuring them in advertising remains complex. The article aims to update on the methods used to measure emotions in advertising and to discuss their validity and applicability. The authors review and evaluate various emotion‑measurement techniques employed in advertising. The review concludes that emotion measures relate to traditional advertising effectiveness metrics and offers recommendations for method selection and future research directions.

Abstract

<h3>ABSTRACT</h3> In the latest decades, emotions have become an important research topic in all behavioral sciences, and not the least in advertising. Yet, advertising literature on how to measure emotions is not straightforward. The major aim of this article is to give an update on the different methods used for measuring emotions in advertising and to discuss their validity and applicability. We further draw conclusions on the relation between emotions and traditional measures of advertising effectiveness. We finally formulate recommendations on the use of the different methods and make suggestions for future research.