Fishing for Feelings? Hooking Viewers Helps!

To better understand individual variation in emotional responses to advertising, the authors recommend considering three general factors: characteristics of the individual who sees the ad, characteristics of the ad itself, and the nature of the ad/individual interface. This paper examines one aspect of the individual, affect intensity; one aspect of the ad, the degree to which the ad tells a story; and one aspect of the ad/individual interface, whether the individual is hooked by the ad. Experimental results reveal that an individual's being hooked by an ad has a positive relationship with upbeat and warm feelings, a negative relationship with disinterested feelings, and significantly enhances the viewer's attitude toward the ad. We find that affect intensity has a positive relationship with upbeat and warm feelings, and affect intensity moderates the effect of being hooked on upbeat and warm feelings. Findings also reveal that narrative ad structure has a positive relationship with upbeat and warm feelings, a negative relationship with disinterested feelings, and that being hooked moderates the effect of narrative ad structure on upbeat and warm feelings responses.