When philanthropic organizations adopted inappropriate communication strategy to persuade potential donors, it may lead to an undesired result that they may lose donors (Lwin & Phau, 2014). This study, providing insights regarding the effects of image valence, both negative and positive, and empathy that can be used in charity advertising in animal welfare related field, which may help the decision makers in this field avoid such strategy. Different from previous studies that arguing the influence of negative valence images used in charitable advertising is more effective than positive valence images (e.g. Haynes, Thornton, & Jones, 2004), the findings of this study shed new light in this field by a different result: both negative valenced and positive valenced images are equally effective in terms of generating viewer emotional response and the feeling of guilt. Furthermore, as a novel finding of the presented paper that examines the effect of empathy embedded in animal welfare context, it was revealed that the higher the empathy is, the higher the guilt
generates.
The findings provide academic support for marketeers to implementing
advertisements to generate emotional responses on certain degrees. In terms of designing charitable advertisements to induce certain emotional responses as well as increase donations, both negative valence and positive valence images can be used since no significant difference on emotional response, guilt and donation intention between these two conditions were found. Furthermore, empathy should also be considered because it is able to strengthen the impact of image valence on viewer response. To be more specific, a high level of empathy enhances the impact when using negative valence images, while a low level of empathy is more
influential when combined with positive valence images.
As of the target groups (in this case the potential donors for animal welfare organizations), the conclusion of this study also differs from the previous ones. Is was observed that parents have higher donation intentions than childless people
(e.g. Zagefka & James, 2015) and the same situation goes for pet owners and people who do not have any pet. It is believed that people who have donated to charity before as well as individuals who care about animal rights related topics influence their emotional response, guilt and donation intention. It is suggested for animal welfare organization to not target parents and pet owners for donations. However, the influence of people who have donated to charity before and people who care about animal welfare issues should still be examined in future study.
References
Albouy, J. (2017). Emotions and prosocial behaviours: A study of the effectiveness of
shocking charity campaigns. Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition), 32(2), 4-25.
Alonso Dos Santos, M., Lobos, C., Muñoz, N., Romero, D., & Sanhueza, R. (2017). The
Influence of Image Valence on the Attention Paid to Charity Advertising. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 29(3), 346-363.
Antonetti, P., & Baines, P. (2015). Guilt in marketing research: an elicitation–consumption perspective and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 17(3), 333-355.
Archer, J. (1997). Why do people love their pets?. Evolution and Human behavior, 18(4), 237-259.
Bagozzi, R. P., & Moore, D. J. (1994). Public service advertisements: Emotions and empathy guide prosocial behavior. The Journal of Marketing, 56-70.
Barraza, J. A., & Zak, P. J. (2009). Empathy toward strangers triggers oxytocin release and subsequent generosity. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1167(1), 182-189. Barry, A. M. (1997). Visual intelligence: Perception, image, and manipulation in visual communication. SUNY Press.
Basil, D. Z., Ridgway, N. M., & Basil, M. D. (2006). Guilt appeals: The mediating effect of responsibility. Psychology & Marketing, 23(12), 1035-1054.
Batson, C. D. (1990). How social an animal? The human capacity for caring. American psychologist, 45(3), 336.
Baumann, D. J.; Cialdini, R. B.; Kenrick, D. T. (1981). "Altruism as hedonism: Helping and self-gratification as equivalent responses". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 40: 1039–1046. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.40.6.1039.
Beatty, S. E., Kahle, L. R., Homer, P., & Misra, S. (1985). Alternative measurement
approaches to consumer values: the list of values and the Rokeach value survey. Psychology & Marketing, 2(3), 181-200.
Bebko, C., Sciulli, L. M., & Bhagat, P. (2014). Using eye tracking to assess the impact of advertising appeals on donor behavior. Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing, 26(4), 354–371.
Bennett, R. (2003). Factors underlying the inclination to donate to particular types of charity. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 8(1), 12-29.
Bennett, R., & Gabriel, H. (2003). Image and reputational characteristics of UK charitable organizations: an empirical study. Corporate reputation review, 6(3), p.276-289.
Blewitt, J. (2011). The media, animal conservation and environmental education.
Boudewyns, V., Turner, M. M., & Paquin, R. S. (2013). Shame-free guilt appeals: testing the emotional and cognitive effects of shame and guilt appeals. Psychology & Marketing, 30(9), 811-825.
Bradshaw, J. W. S., & Paul, E. S. (2010). Could empathy for animals have been an adaptation in the evolution of Homo sapiens?. Animal Welfare, 19(2), 107-112.
Breeze, B., & Dean, J. (2012). Pictures of me: user views on their representation in
homelessness fundraising appeals. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 17(2), 132-143.
Brennan, L., & Binney, W. (2010). Fear, guilt, and shame appeals in social marketing. Journal of business Research, 63(2), 140-146.
Burt, C. D., & Strongman, K. (2005). Use of images in charity advertising: Improving donations and compliance rates. International Journal of Organisational Behaviour, 8(8), 571-580.
Cao, X., & Jia, L. (2017). The effects of the facial expression of beneficiaries in charity appeals and psychological involvement on donation intentions: Evidence from an online experiment. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 27(4), 457-473.
Cárdenas, S. A., & Lew, D. K. (2016). Factors influencing willingness to donate to marine endangered species recovery in the Galapagos National Park, Ecuador. Frontiers in Marine Science, 3, 60.
Caya, S. (2015). The Importance of House Pets in Emotional Development. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 185, 411-416.
Chaiken, S., & Eagly, A. H. (1976). Communication modality as a determinant of message persuasiveness and message comprehensibility. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 34(4), 605.
Chang, C. T., & Lee, Y. K. (2009). Framing Charity Advertising: Influences of Message Framing, Image Valence, and Temporal Framing on a Charitable Appeal 1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 39(12), 2910-2935.
Cotte, J., Coulter, R. A., & Moore, M. (2005). Enhancing or disrupting guilt: The role of ad credibility and perceived manipulative intent. Journal of Business Research, 58(3), 361-368. Coulter, R. H., & Pinto, M. B. (1995). Guilt appeals in advertising: what are their effects?. Journal of applied Psychology, 80(6), 697.
Cowley, E., McKenzie, T., Pharoah, C., & Smith, S. (2011). The new state of donation: Three decades of household giving to charity. Downloaded November, 14, 2014.
Cuddy, A. J., Rock, M. S., & Norton, M. I. (2007). Aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: Inferences of secondary emotions and intergroup helping. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 10(1), 107-118.
Custer, B., Schlumpf, K. S., Wright, D., Simon, T. L., Wilkinson, S., & Ness, P. M. (2011). Donor return after temporary deferral. Transfusion, 51(6), 1188-1196.
Ducoffe, R. H. (1996). Advertising value and advertising on the web-Blog@
management. Journal of advertising research, 21.
Ein-Gar, D., & Levontin, L. (2013). Giving from a distance: Putting the charitable organization at the center of the donation appeal. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 23(2), 197-211. Erlandsson, A., Björklund, F., & Bäckström, M. (2015). Emotional reactions, perceived impact and perceived responsibility mediate the identifiable victim effect, proportion dominance effect and in-group effect respectively. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 127, 1-14.
Glocker, M. L., Langleben, D. D., Ruparel, K., Loughead, J. W., Valdez, J. N., Griffin, M. D., ... & Gur, R. C. (2009). Baby schema modulates the brain reward system in nulliparous women. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(22), 9115-9119.
Grigaliunaite, V., & Pileliene, L. (2016). Emotional or rational? The determination of the influence of advertising appeal on advertising effectiveness. Scientific Annals of Economics and Business, 63(3), 391-414.
Haynes, M., Thornton, J., & Jones, S. C. (2004). An exploratory study on the effect of positive (warmth appeal) and negative (guilt appeal) print imagery on donation behaviour in animal welfare.
Hill, C. A., & Helmers, M. (Eds.). (2012). Defining visual rhetorics. Routledge.
Hibbert, S., Smith, A., Davies, A., & Ireland, F. (2007). Guilt appeals: Persuasion knowledge and charitable giving. Psychology & Marketing, 24(8), 723-742.
Höijer, B. (2004). The discourse of global compassion: The audience and media reporting of human suffering. Media, Culture & Society, 26(4), 513-531.
Hsieh, Y. C., & Chen, K. H. (2011). How different information types affect viewer’s attention on internet advertising. Computers in human Behavior, 27(2), 935-945.
Huhmann, B. A., & Brotherton, T. P. (1997). A content analysis of guilt appeals in popular magazine advertisements. Journal of Advertising, 26(2), 35-45.
Izard, C. E. (1977). Human emotions. New York: Plenum Press.
Jones, M. P., Chapman, P., & Bailey, K. (2014). The influence of image valence on visual attention and perception of risk in drivers. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 73, 296-304. Keller, K. L., Parameswaran, M. G., & Jacob, I. (2011). Strategic brand management: Building, measuring, and managing brand equity. Pearson Education India.
Klock, S. C., Stout, J. E., & Davidson, M. (2003). Psychological characteristics and factors related to willingness to donate again among anonymous oocyte donors. Fertility and Sterility, 79(6), 1312-1316.
Lee-Wingate, S. N. (2006). Alleviating Mommy’s Guilt: Emotional expression and guilt appeals in advertising. ACR North American Advances.
Liang, J., Chen, Z., & Lei, J. 2016. Inspire me to donate: The use of strength emotion in donation appeals. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 26(2), 283-288.
Lwin, M., & Phau, I. (2014). An exploratory study of existential guilt appeals in charitable advertisements. Journal of Marketing Management, 30(13-14), 1467-1485.
Mamon, A. (Director). (2016). The Story of cats. United kingdom: ITV series.
Marchand, J., & Filiatrault, P. (2002). AIDS prevention advertising: Different message strategies for different communication objectives. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 7(3), 271-287.
Martínez Fiestas, M., Del Jesus, M. I. V., Sánchez Fernández, J., & Montoro Rios, F. J. (2015). A psychophysiological approach for measuring response to messaging.
Norton, M. I., Anik, L., Aknin, L. B., & Dunn, E. W. (2011). Is life nasty, brutish, and short? Philosophies of life and well-being. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2(6), 570-575.
processes by which past behavior predicts future behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 124(1), 54-74.
Pieters, R., & Wedel, M. (2004). Attention capture and transfer in advertising: Brand, pictorial, and text-size effects. Journal of Marketing, 68(2), 36-50.
Plassmann, H., Ramsøy, T. Z., & Milosavljevic, M. (2012). Branding the brain: A critical review and outlook. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22(1), 18-36.
Powell, T. E., Boomgaarden, H. G., De Swert, K., & de Vreese, C. H. (2015). A clearer picture: The contribution of visuals and text to framing effects. Journal of Communication, 65(6), 997-1017.
Powell, K. L., Roberts, G., & Nettle, D. (2012). Eye images increase charitable donations: Evidence from an opportunistic field experiment in a supermarket. Ethology, 118(11), 1096-1101.
Sanders, M., & Smith, S. (2014). A Warm Glow in the After Life?: The Determinants of
Charitable Bequests. Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol.
Sargeant, A., 1999. Charitable Giving: Towards a Model of Donor Behavior. Journal of Marketing Management. 15 (4), 215-238.
Schlumpf, K. S., Glynn, S. A., Schreiber, G. B., Wright, D. J., Randolph Steele, W., Tu, Y., ... & National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study. (2008). Factors influencing donor return. Transfusion, 48(2), 264-272.
Sciulli, L. M., Bebko, C. P., & Bhagat, P. (2017). How Emotional Arousal and Attitudes Influence Ad Response: Using Eye Tracking to Gauge Nonprofit Print Advertisement Effectiveness. Journal of Marketing Management, 5(1), 1-11.
Shorter, J. E. (2012). The Use of Mass Communication in Animal Rights Fundraising Campaigns.
Shuttlewood, C. Z., Greenwell, P. J., & Montrose, V. T. (2016). Pet Ownership, Attitude Toward Pets, and Support for Wildlife Management Strategies. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 21(2), 180-188.
Small, D. A., & Loewenstein, G. (2003). Helping a victim or helping the victim: Altruism and identifiability. Journal of Risk and uncertainty, 26(1), 5-16.
Small, D. A., Loewenstein, G., & Slovic, P. (2007). Sympathy and callousness: The impact of deliberative thought on donations to identifiable and statistical victims. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 102(2), 143-153.
Small, D. A., & Verrochi, N. M. (2009). The face of need: Facial emotion expression on charity advertisements. Journal of Marketing Research, 46(6), 777–787.
Stürmer, S., Snyder, M., & Omoto, A. M. (2005). Prosocial emotions and helping: the moderating role of group membership. Journal of personality and social psychology, 88(3), 532.
Sudhir, K., Roy, S., & Cherian, M. (2016). Do sympathy biases induce charitable giving? The effects of advertising content. Marketing Science, 35(6), 849-869.
Verhaert, G. A., & Van den Poel, D. (2011). Empathy as added value in predicting donation behavior. Journal of Business Research, 64(12), 1288-1295.
Wen, T. (2016). A content analysis of guilt appeals in animal welfare campaigns (Doctoral dissertation, Iowa State University).
Wiepking, P., & Bekkers, R. (2012). Who gives? A literature review of predictors of charitable giving. Part Two: Gender, family composition and income. Voluntary Sector Review, 3(2), 217-245.
Zagefka, H., & James, T. (2015). The psychology of charitable donations to disaster victims