Affective resistance to narrative persuasion

Despite the popularity of narrative persuasion, little is known about the processes underlying resistance to stories. Affective resistance in terms of perceived inauthenticity and corniness is introduced. We show that – akin to counterarguing in non-narrative persuasion – stories may elicit affective resistance, leading to less story impact. Two pre-registered experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 demonstrated that narrative commercials (vs. non-narrative commercials) increase affective resistance, yielding an indirect negative effect on ad attitudes and intentions to share the ad online – while at the same time the stories impart a residual positive effect on the DVs. Presenting narrative commercials only, Experiment 2 showed that affective resistance mediated the influence of a manipulative intent forewarning (vs. control) on participants’ attitudes and behavioral intentions. Narrative transportation was an additional mediator, counterarguing was unrelated to the experimental treatment. Practitioners are advised to abstain from stories that are likely perceived as corny and inauthentic by many consumers.