How intensity of cause-related marketing guilt appeals influences consumers: The roles of company motive and consumer identification with the brand

Jaywant Singh, Benedetta Crisafulli, and La Toya Quamina

When exposed to cause-related marketing advertisements that use guilt appeals, consumers actively try to interpret the motives behind the company’s message and consequently accept (or resist) the persuasion attempt. This study demonstrates that high-emotional-intensity cause-related marketing advertisements create suspicion that the company truly might not be committed to the social cause. If the advertisement is low in emotional intensity, however, guilt appeals lower negative inferences and act as a stimulus to foster consumer identification and positive perceptions of corporate image.
Singh, Crisafulli, Quamina

MANAGEMENT SLANT

  • Guilt-appeal intensity, as manifested with varying levels of emotion aroused by advertisements, influences consumer perceptions of corporate image.
  • Guilt appeals that are high in emotional intensity are perceived as manipulative and can affect consumer perceptions and sales.
  • Evoking high-intensity guilt appeals should be avoided in cause-related marketing advertising.
  • Pretesting is recommended for guilt-appeal...

WARC subscribers can sign in to keep reading

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands