Scientific Annals of Economics and Business

63 (3), 2016, 391-414

DOI: 10.1515/aicue-2016-0030

EMOTIONAL OR RATIONAL? THE DETERMINATION OF THE

INFLUENCE OF ADVERTISING APPEAL
ON ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS

Viktorija GRIGALIUNAITE*, Lina PILELIENE**

Abstract
In prevailing competition-based market economy, organizations have to search factors influencing
advertising effectiveness. This research aims at developing the model of the influence of advertising
appeal on advertising effectiveness. While achieving the aim of the article, the analysis and synthesis
of scientific literature is provided. Furthermore, traditional marketing research methods as well as
neuromarketing research methods are applied in order to determine the influences of different
advertising appeals on advertising effectiveness. As a research result, the model of the influence of
advertising appeal on advertising effectiveness is elaborated. Accordingly, this research fills the gap
in scientific literature by determining the influences of emotional and rational appeals on print /
outdoor advertising effectiveness in the context of convenience product category. Moreover, by
answering the research question, the contribution to the field emerges in integrating both marketing
theory and neuroscience in order to analyze and evaluate consumer behavior.

Keywords: advertising appeal, eye-tracking, advertising effectiveness, structural equation modeling

JEL classification: M310, M390

1. INTRODUCTION

The main mechanism of market economy – competition – has forced organizations to

search factors influencing advertising effectiveness. One of the advertising elements that is
said (Rizwan et al., 2013) to have influence on the all of the advertising effectiveness
aspects (attention, awareness, attitude, and behavior) is advertising appeal. Consequently,
choosing the right advertising appeal becomes crucially important when creating effective
advertising campaigns.
Authors (Armstrong, 2010; Lantos, 2015) argue that emotional appeals are more
relevant for hedonic products, while rational appeals are more relevant for utilitarian
products. On the other hand, many authors (Belch and Belch, 2004; Berman and Blakeman,

*
Faculty of Economics and Management, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania; e-mail: [email protected].
**
Faculty of Economics and Management, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania; e-mail: [email protected].
392 Viktorija GRIGALIUNAITE, Lina PILELIENE

2009; Blakeman, 2015) support the view that appeals to consumers’ emotions work better at
selling brands that do not differ markedly from competing brands. Thus, according to this
view, emotional appeals are more relevant for brands that have little differentiation from
competing brands, while rational appeals are more relevant for differentiated brands, since
rational differentiation of them is simple.
Nevertheless, when taking into account convenience product category, the contradiction
between latter two views is evident, as many brands / products in convenience product
category fall into utilitarian products’ category and they have little differentiation from
competing brands as well. In such case, the implementation of both rational and emotional
appeals to one advertisement would seem to be an option, but, according to Armstrong
(2010), print / outdoor advertisements that do not mix rational and emotional appeals have
better recall. Hence, it could be stated, that for print / outdoor advertising of convenience
product category, emotional or rational advertising appeal should be applied, but there is no
agreement among the researchers which one of latter appeals can enhance advertising
effectiveness. Consequently, the object of this research is the influence of advertising appeal
on print / outdoor advertising effectiveness in the context of convenience product category.
The scientific problem analyzed in the research is formulated by a question: what is the
influence of advertising appeal on advertising effectiveness?
The aim of the research is to determine the influence of advertising appeal on
advertising effectiveness.
To meet the aim of the research following tasks were set:
 To elaborate the theoretical model of the influence of advertising appeal on
advertising effectiveness;
 To provide an empirical research;
 To analyze the influences of different advertising appeals on advertising effectiveness;
 To elaborate the model of the influence of advertising appeal on advertising
effectiveness.
Research methods: the analysis and synthesis of scientific literature, eye tracking
experiment, implicit-association test (IAT), questionnaire research, descriptive and inferential
statistical analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM) using partial least squares path
modeling methodology (PLS), the PLS multi-group analysis, and logical analysis.

2. SCIENTIFIC SUBSTANTIATION

There can be found many researches regarding advertising appeal theme in the
scientific literature. Keshari and Jain (2014) argued that there are various models which
explain the response of consumers to advertisements. Latter models can be classified into
two broad categories: Cognitive Information Model and Pure Affect Model. Cognitive
Information Model is based on cognitive response. This model assumes that consumers’
preferences are not changed by advertising and that consumers’ decisions are only rational.
Advertising provides only information and / or utility. Pure Affect Model focuses on
affective responses, the familiarity and feelings advertisements may evoke. According to
this model, consumers form their preferences on the basis of elements such as liking,
feelings, and emotions induced by the advertisement or familiarity triggered by mere
exposure to the advertisements, rather than product / brand attribute information. As a result,
advertising appeals are normally categorized as emotional and rational, and are used
interchangeably as mood / logical or transformational / informational in different contexts.
 Emotional or Rational? The Determination of the Influence of Advertising Appeal… 393

Nevertheless, Du Plessis (2008) stated that just as with all things we experience,
exposure to a brand / advertisement triggers all its related feelings, associations and
memories to create an initial emotional response that then shapes our more considered
reaction. The origin of these associations does not matter – it can be nostalgia created by
childhood experiences, antipathy based on who we see using the brand, or simply a positive
reaction to the look of the product. All of these things have the potential to shape our more
rational consideration of a purchase. Consequently, according to this view, consumers’
response to advertising is neither fully rational nor fully emotional; it tends to be
rationalized based on our emotional reactions. Thus, both emotional as well as rational
advertising appeals can influence consumers’ response, only in different ways.
Emotional appeals
Keshari and Jain (2014) define emotional appeal as “an attempt to stir up either
negative or positive emotions that can motivate purchase”. Panda et al. (2013) argued that
emotional advertising appeals are mostly used for the product categories, where it is hard to
rationally substantiate the benefits of the product.
Many purchasing decisions are based on the desire to feel good emotions or to make
others feel good emotions (Cavanaugh and Fredrickson, 2010). Emotional appeals usually
provide some kind of event or real life situation, in such a manner creating psychological
need for the advertised product (Rizwan et al., 2013). According to Davies (1993), the aim
of emotional appeal is to encourage consumers to get a positive reward or to avoid
punishment, thus emotional appeals used in advertising can be classified into positive and
negative in accordance to their valence (Taute et al., 2011).
Keshari and Jain (2014) stated that main negative emotions are guilt, fear, and shame.
Kim and Franklin (2015) complemented latter emotions with anger, sadness, frustration, and
hopelessness.
Keshari and Jain (2014) suggested positive emotions – love, pride, prestige, joy. Panda
et al. (2013) complemented latter emotions with patriotism, affection, nostalgia. Kim and
Franklin (2015) stated, that many scientific researches view positive emotions as the desired
result – emotions are related to the positive expectations, hope, faith, courage, and trust. It
could be stated, that such a result emphasized in the advertisement can lead consumers to
purchase the advertised product. Panda et al. (2013) indicated, that advertisements based on
positive emotions causes good feelings and positive associations for the consumers
regarding the advertised brand.
Nevertheless, the influence of different emotional appeals on consumers’ choice is
unequal. Bülbül and Menon (2010) argue, that the influence of emotional appeal on
consumers’ decisions is explained more easily when two types of emotional influence are
separated – abstract (when the situation is shown from the side, the essence of the object or
event is reflected instead of details, relating to emotions such as hope, trust, gratitude) and
specific (adapted to specific situation, the details and specificity of the situation is reflected,
relating to emotions such as joy, elation, excitement).
Rational appeals
Informational / rational appeals focus on the consumers’ practical, functional, or
utilitarian need for the product or service and emphasize features of a product or service and
/ or the benefits or reasons for owning or using a particular brand. The content of these
messages emphasizes facts, learning, and the logic of persuasion. Rational-based appeals
tend to be informative, and advertisers using them generally attempt to convince consumers
394 Viktorija GRIGALIUNAITE, Lina PILELIENE

that their product or service has a particular attribute(s) or provides a specific benefit that
satisfies their needs. Their objective is to persuade the target audience to buy the brand
because it is the best available or does a better job of meeting consumers’ needs (Belch and
Belch, 2004). Keshari and Jain (2014) argued that advertising can be considered as rational
appeal advertising if the advertisement contains one of these information cues: price of the
product or service, quality, function, material, purchasing time and place, any research data
about the product, packaging. If the advertising contains none of the above information, it is
regarded as emotional appeal advertising.
Davies (1993) stated, that informational / rational appeals can reflect the relationship
between price and value, to provide special offers, guarantees (elements of sales promotion).
Heath et al. (2009) research revealed that emotional appeal advertising attracts less
consumers’ attention than the rational one. Rizwan et al. (2013) showed that rational
advertising appeal has more influence on the positive consumers’ attitude toward the
advertisement than emotional appeal has. After the analysis of the advertisements regarding
service sector, Albers-Miller and Stafford (1999) concluded that rational appeal advertising
reduces consumers’ doubts and uncertainty about the service. On the other hand, there is a
view that rational, information-based appeals are dull, not attention-grabbing contrarily to
emotional appeals, and considering that advertising cannot be effective when not noticed,
latter appeal is ineffective (Belch and Belch, 2004).
Sadeghi et al. (2015) classify rational appeals into one-sided (when only one attitude is
presented), two-sided (for the skeptical audience, arguments and counter-arguments are
presented), and comparative (when attributes of the product are compared with the ones of
competitor’s product). The choice of argumentation level highly depends on the product
attributes and the characteristics of the target market.
Theoretical model of the influence of advertising appeal on advertising effectiveness
Summarizing types of advertising appeals found in scientific literature, Albers-Miller
and Stafford (1999) provide possible classification of advertising appeals (see Table no. 1).
This classification is not finite, but it can be seen, that there are much more emotional
appeals found in the scientific literature, than rational appeals.

Table no. 1 – Classification of advertising appeals

Rational appeals Emotional appeals
Effectiveness Exclusivity Popularity
Convenience True to tradition Magic
Cheapness Pleasure Relaxation
Naturalness Youth Maturity
Sophistication Modesty Morality
Productivity Openness Humility
Obedience Adventure Fragility
Independence Freedom Indomitable
Health Abjection Carelessness
Longevity Status Sexuality
Modernity Upholding Protection
Use of technologies Family Membership
Safety Beauty Assistance
Cleanliness Intimacy Sociality
Source: Albers-Miller and Stafford (1999)
 Emotional or Rational? The Determination of the Influence of Advertising Appeal… 395

In order for the advertisement to be effective, first it must attract consumers’ attention.
Attention to the advertisement develops brand awareness, which can be assessed through
brand / advertisement recall and recognition. Brand / advertisement awareness developed by
attention to the advertisement forms attitude toward the advertisement, which influences
attitude toward the brand and purchase intentions, and influenced attitude toward the brand
in turn influences purchase intentions as well (Chang and Chang, 2014; Muda et al., 2014;
Tolley and Bogart, 1994). Moreover, as analysis and synthesis of scientific literature
revealed, emotional and rational appeals can have different influences on the attention to the
advertisement, brand / advertisement awareness, attitude toward the advertisement and the
brand, and purchase intentions (see Figure no. 1).
This model corresponds to the three stages of individual response to advertising,
directly related to the three functions of advertising (inform, create attitudes or feelings
toward the advertised object, and provoke a behavior or action in individuals): 1) cognitive
stage (attention, knowledge, and understanding); 2) affective stage (attitude); 3) conative
stage (behavior). Many techniques to measure advertising effectiveness are classified
according to these three stages of individual response to advertising (Martín-Santana and
Beerli-Palacio, 2013).

Figure no. 1 – Theoretical model of the influence of advertising appeal on advertising effectiveness

Rizwan et al. (2013) indicated that first of all advertising appeals are used to attract
consumers’ attention to the advertisement, and then to influence attitude toward the brand /
product. According to Panda et al. (2013), emotional appeals are used more often than the
396 Viktorija GRIGALIUNAITE, Lina PILELIENE

rational ones to attract consumers’ attention. Contrarily, Sadeghi et al. (2015) declared that
even though emotional appeals are more vivid, but rational appeals are more relevant,
providing clear, product-related information, thus rational appeals attract more consumers’
attention. Hence, there is no consensus among the researchers regarding the question which
advertising appeal attracts more consumers’ attention, especially in the case of convenience
product category.
Panda et al. (2013) specified that positive emotions elicited by advertisement (using
positive emotional appeal) develop higher level of recognition, but this has very strong
relation to the category of advertised product.
When analyzing the influence of advertising on the consumers’ attitude, Sadeghi et al.
(2015) detailed that attitude influenced by advertising can have two components – cognitive
(grounded on thinking) and affective (grounded on emotions). Consequently, it could be
stated, that consumers’ attitudes can be formed by applying either rational or emotional (or
both) advertising appeals.
Attitude toward the advertisement is a continuous reactive orientation, affected by
specific advertising elements and reflecting what consumer likes or dislikes, what is good
and what is bad according to consumer (Rizwan et al., 2013). Sadeghi et al. (2015) stated
that clear, product-related information, which is characteristic to rational appeal advertising,
helps to form better attitude toward the advertisement. Moreover, Manyiwa and Brennan
(2012), after the analysis of fear appeal in advertising, indicated that perceived advertising
compliance with ethical norms have strong influence on consumers’ attitude toward the
advertisement. It could be stated, that for using such emotional appeals as fear, sex, or
horror in advertising, first it should be assessed whether it will not have negative influence
on consumers’ attitude. Nevertheless, Moore and Hoenig (1989) research revealed, that
when considering the context, negative emotional advertising appeals can have a positive
influence on consumers’ attitude toward the advertisement.
Consumers’ attitude toward the advertisement has a direct influence on consumers’
attitude toward the brand (Sadeghi et al., 2015). According to Panda et al. (2013), positive
attitude toward the advertisement positively directly influences attitude toward the brand,
which in turn positively directly influences purchase intentions.
Panda et al. (2013) specified that effectiveness of advertising appeals highly depends
on the product category and culture (consumers’ segment) for which the advertisement is
allocated. Sadeghi et al. (2015) research revealed that rational advertising appeals are more
effective when the advertised product belongs to high-involvement product category,
because such products are associated with high risk and consumers’ needs strong convincing
arguments. Dubé et al. (1996) suggested using informational / rational appeals in the
advertisements of the products, which require thinking, and emotional appeals in the
advertisements of the products, which require emotions.
Nevertheless, this distinction for using emotional and rational appeals became
longstanding in the prevailing competition. There are many high-involvement product
advertisements using emotional appeal, and many rational; as well as there are many low-
involvement product advertisements using emotional appeal, and many rational.
Consumers’ purchase decisions are often made on the basis of both emotional and
rational motives, and attention must be given to both elements in developing effective
advertising (Belch and Belch, 2004). On the other hand, according to Armstrong (2010),
print / outdoor advertisements that do not mix rational and emotional appeals have better
recall, meaning that latter advertisements develop higher brand / advertisement awareness.
 Emotional or Rational? The Determination of the Influence of Advertising Appeal… 397

Thus, it could be stated, that for print / outdoor advertising of convenience product
category, emotional or rational advertising appeal should be applied, but there is no
agreement among the researchers which one of latter appeals can enhance advertising
effectiveness when compared with the other. However, according to Dong-Jenn et al.
(2010), whichever appeal is applied, it must fit the product in order to positively affect
consumers’ attitude and improve purchase intentions – receive advertising effectiveness.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

As convenience product category was chosen for the research, mineral water was chosen
to be the product representing latter category. In order to eliminate the influence of the current
attitudes toward existing mineral water brands during the experiment, two new non-existing
brands were created. The first brand was presented in five different created advertisements
(brand presented on the product) containing information about the quality and the price of the
product, little colour spectrum, few visualizations – rational appeal advertisements. The
second brand was presented in other five different created advertisements (brand presented on
the product) containing no information, only appealing / humorous / attractive visualizations
and the slogans – positive emotional appeal advertisements. Thus, total of 10 advertisements
(5 rational appeal advertisements and 5 emotional appeal advertisements) were used for 3-step
research containing eye-tracking experiment, implicit-association test, and questionnaire
research, which are described in detail below.
Eye-tracking experiment
The eye-tracking experiment was held regarding outdoor advertising, thus all of the
advertisements created for the research were printed. The advertisements’ paper size used
for the research was A4 (210:297 millimeters), because the participants’ walking distance
from the advertisements was 1 meter ± 30 centimeters. Accordingly, with the bigger
distances the advertisements’ paper size respectively has to be bigger in order to capture
consumers’ attention.
All of the advertisements were hung upon the university wall in a random order.
Participants looked (or did not looked if did not noticed) at the advertisements at their own
pace. The experiment was conducted using Tobii Eye-Tracking Glasses – mobile video-
based eye tracker recording monocular gaze data from the right eye at a sampling rate of 30
Hz. This eye tracker has an accuracy of 0.5°. The system has a camera to record a scene
video with a resolution of 640x480 pixels; maximum recording angles are 56° of visual
angle in horizontal and 40° of visual angle in vertical direction.
Each of the participants put on the glasses and performed a standard nine point
calibration. All of the participants were volunteers and had not been paid for the
participation in the eye-tracking experiment. Before the experiment each of the participants
was informed in detail about the experiment. The experiment was held in Lithuania,
Vytautas Magnus University, May, 2016.
30 participants’ (26 females) data appropriate for the analysis were obtained. All of the
participants were right-handed with normal or normal-to-corrected vision. All of the
participants were at the age group of 18-55 years.
For the analysis of eye-tracing results Tobii Studio v.3.2.3 software was applied.
Pieters et al. (2002) stated that consumers extract information from advertisements and their
elements during eye fixations, which reflect the moments of visual attention. Meghanathan
398 Viktorija GRIGALIUNAITE, Lina PILELIENE

et al. (2015) confirmed that fixation duration is sensitive to the amount of attention deployed
to a fixated location. Moreover, the frequency of fixations is a measure of the intensity of
visual attention and the information in advertisements and advertisements’ elements (Pieters
et al., 2002). Thus, advertisements’ total fixation duration (average duration of all fixations
within the specific advertisement) and fixation count (average number of times the
participants fixated on the specific advertisement) regarding different criteria were
calculated. IBM SPSS Statistics v.20 software package was applied for the statistical
analysis of the results obtained from the Tobii Studio v.3.2.3 software.
Implicit-Association test
After the eye-tracking experiment, participants were asked to attend the Implicit-
Association Test (IAT). IAT provides a measure of strengths of automatic associations
(strength of association is understood as the potential for one concept to activate another)
(A. G. Greenwald et al., 2003) IAT measures relative attitudinal preferences between two
categories. In the course of a typical IAT, participants only use two response keys to sort
stimuli of four different categories, two target categories (in this research – emotional
advertisements and rational advertisements), and two attribute categories (in this research –
positive and negative). The stimuli appear in the center of computer screen, and the names
of the categories remain in the upper corners of the computer screen. For the inference of
implicit preferences there are two critical steps in the IAT procedure, namely, two combined
blocks. During these steps one target category and one attribute category share the same
response key, and the two remaining categories share the other response key. For each
stimulus presentation (trial) the response time is assessed. During the second combined
block, response assignments are switched for the target, but not for the attribute categories.
The difference between the average response times during these two blocks is referred to as
the IAT effect, which in turn is considered to be an indicator of implicit preferences (Friese
et al., 2006). The usefulness of the IAT in measuring association strength depends on the
assumption that when the two concepts that share a response are strongly associated, the
sorting task is considerably easier than when the two response-sharing concepts are either
weakly associated or bipolar-opposed (see A.G. Greenwald et al., 2002).
Bearing in mind that consumer behavior is not the consequence of entirely rational
cognitive processes, especially where fast-moving-consumer-goods are concerned and when it
became evident that also emotions and unconscious motives needed to be taken into
consideration in understanding responses to advertising and other aspects of consumers’ choice,
the IAT was applied for marketing researches and was proved to be reliable and valid indicator
of implicit consumers’ attitudes / preferences (Friese et al., 2006; Maison et al., 2001).
Thus, the Implicit-Association Test is a widely-used cognitive-behavioral paradigm
that measures the strength of automatic (implicit) associations between concepts in people’s
minds relying on latency measures in a simple sorting task. The strength of an association
between concepts is measured by the standardized mean difference score of the ‘hypothesis-
inconsistent’ (target A with attribute B and target B with attribute A) pairings and
‘hypothesis-consistent’ (target A with attribute A and target B with attribute B) pairings (d-
score). In general, the higher the d-score the stronger is the association between the
‘hypothesis-consistent’ pairings. Negative d-scores suggest a stronger association between
the ‘hypothesis-inconsistent’ pairings.
In this research Inquisit’s Picture IAT by Millisecond Software was applied. Target
stimulus A were emotional advertisements (the same five used in the eye-tracking
 Emotional or Rational? The Determination of the Influence of Advertising Appeal… 399

experiment), target stimulus B – rational advertisements (the same five used in the eye-
tracking experiment), attribute A – positive words (quality, value, advantage, beauty, good),
attribute B – negative words (horror, nonsense, boredom, worthless, bad). Inquisit calculates
d-scores using the improved scoring algorithm as described in A. G. Greenwald et al.
(2003). Error trials are handled by requiring respondents to correct their responses according
to recommendation. The sequence of the steps applied is as follows:
1. Target Category sorting training;
2. Attribute sorting training;
3. 1. Test Block of hypothesis-consistent pairings with 20 trials (half the participant
start with inconsistent pairings);
4. 2. Test Block of hypothesis-consistent pairings with 40 trials;
5. Target Category sorting training with targets switching sides;
6. 1. Test Block of hypothesis-inconsistent pairings with 20 trials;
7. 2. Test Block of hypothesis-inconsistent pairings with 40 trials.
The summary of IAT scoring procedure by A. G. Greenwald et al. (2003) is as follows:
1. Delete trials greater than 10.000 ms;
2. Delete subjects for whom more than 10 percent of trials have latency less than 300 ms;
3. Compute the “inclusive” standard deviation for all trials in Stages 3 and 6 and
likewise for all trials in Stages 4 and 7;
4. Compute the mean latency for responses for each of Stages 3, 4, 6, 7;
5. Compute the two mean differences (Mean Stage 6 – Mean Stage 3) and (Mean Stage
7 – Mean Stage 4);
6. Divide each difference score by its associated “inclusive” standard deviation;
7. D = the equal-weight average of the two resulting ratios.
The experiment was held in Lithuania, Vytautas Magnus University, May, 2016.
Participants sat in front of the computer screen, where the instruction for them about the
IAT procedure was presented. They were told that positive and negative words as well as
pictures of emotional and rational advertisements would be presented on the screen. Their
task was to classify these words and pictures by pressing one of two keys (the response keys
were ‘E’ and ‘I’). Participants were informed that each stimulus would remain on the screen
until a correct classification had been performed.
19 participants’ (15 females) data appropriate for the analysis were obtained. All of the
participants were at the age group of 18-55 years. IBM SPSS Statistics v.20 software package
was applied for the statistical analysis of the results obtained from the Inquisit software.

Questionnaire research
Having finished the IAT / eye-tracking, participants were instructed to fill out a
questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of three main parts:
 Unaided and aided brand recall, and advertising recognition (regarding both emotional
and rational advertisements);
 Explicit attitude toward advertisements and brands (regarding both emotional and
rational advertisements);
 Purchase intentions (regarding brand in emotional advertisement and brand in rational
advertisement).
Attitudes were measured on semantic differential scale (11 indicators for each attitude,
i.e. for attitude toward the advertisement and attitude toward the brand), thus revealing the
strength and direction of a persons’ attitude toward the specific object. 7-point Likert scale
400 Viktorija GRIGALIUNAITE, Lina PILELIENE

was used to measure purchase intentions regarding brands advertised in advertisements with
different advertising appeals.
Based on the 2 reasons (non-normally distributed data and small sample size), the
partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is preferred and applied in this
research in order to test the causal relationships between attitude toward the advertisement,
attitude toward the brand, and purchase intentions, which are grounded on the theoretical
framework. Latter hypothesized relationships are expressed by two structural equations,
which must be analyzed in three cases: general model; the model of the influence of
emotional advertising appeal on advertising effectiveness; the model of the influence of
rational advertising appeal on advertising effectiveness (1-2):
1. Attitude toward the brand = β20 + β21 Attitude toward advertisement + ζ2
2. Purchase intentions = β30 + β31 Attitude toward advertisement + β32 Attitude
toward brand + ζ3
All three latent variables (attitude toward the advertisement, attitude toward the brand,
purchase intentions) are measured by their corresponding manifest variables. The mode of
the measurement model is reflective, because manifest variables are manifestations of the
constructs (not the defining characteristics of the construct), changes in the construct do
cause changes in the indicators, indicators share a common theme, dropping an indicator do
not alter the conceptual domain of the construct and indicators covariate with each other
(Petter et al., 2007).
The questionnaire research was held in Lithuania, Vytautas Magnus University, May,
2016. As the number of respondents in IAT procedure / eye-tracking experiment was not
sufficient for the questionnaire research, the advertisements were shown for the additional
number of students and they were asked to fill the questionnaire (participated only in this
part of the research). Finally, the total sample size was 80 (25 male, 55 female; 71
respondents were at the age group of 18-29 years, 9 respondents were 30 and more years).
As it is suggested using a minimum sample size of ten times the maximum number of paths
aiming at any construct (Hair et al., 2012), hence, the sample of this research is considered
appropriate to reach the aim of the research.
IBM SPSS Statistics V.20, SmartPLS V.3 (Ringle et al., 2015), and XLSTAT 2014
software products were used for the statistical analysis of the questionnaire research results.

4. ANALYSIS OF THE RESEARCH RESULTS

Participants’ total fixation duration (mean viewing time, s) and fixation count (times)
for emotional and rational advertisements are presented in Table no. 2.
All of the results are calculated including zeros (including respondents who did not
fixate on the advertisement being analyzed), thus enabling the comparison of the results
between the different advertisements. As it can be seen, the average viewing time to the
emotional appeal advertisements is 4.02 s, while to the rational appeal advertisements – 6.01
s (fixation count corresponds to the mean viewing time). The average viewing time to the
brand / product presented in the emotional appeal advertisements is 0.77 s, while to the
brand / product presented in the rational appeal advertisements – 1.05 s (fixation count
corresponds to the mean viewing time as well). The mean viewing time and the trajectory of
fixations reveal that participants read the text about the beneficial attributes and the price of
 Emotional or Rational? The Determination of the Influence of Advertising Appeal… 401

the product presented in the rational appeal advertisements; watched at the picture
(unknown advertising spokesperson) in the emotional appeal advertisements. Thus, as
reading takes longer time, viewing time regarding rational appeal advertisements is longer.

Table no. 2 – Mean viewing time (s) and fixation count for the emotional and rational advertisements
95% C.I. for Mean
Fixation
Advertisement Mean S.E. Lower Upper Median S.D. Min Max
count
bound bound
Emotional appeal
Ad 3.98 0.55 2.85 5.11 4.35 3.03 0.03 8.45 120.53
I
Product 0.81 0.17 0.45 1.16 0.47 0.94 0.00 2.87 24.47
Ad 4.13 0.28 3.54 4.71 3.96 1.57 2.43 6.61 124.40
II
Product 0.57 0.12 0.32 0.81 0.23 0.66 0.00 1.77 17.33
Ad 4.19 0.30 3.57 4.8 4.33 1.64 1.94 6.81 126.40
III
Product 1.04 0.19 0.64 1.43 0.48 1.04 0.03 2.90 31.43
Ad 3.50 0.34 2.79 4.20 3.21 1.88 0.57 7.15 105.63
IV
Product 0.60 0.09 0.40 0.80 0.50 0.53 0.00 1.50 18.07
Ad 4.34 0.31 3.70 4.99 4.44 2.94 2.36 8.15 130.83
V
Product 0.86 0.10 0.63 1.08 1.06 0.59 0.00 1.97 26.10
Ad 4.02 0.32 3.36 4.68 4.43 1.76 0.03 8.45 121.56
AVERAGE

Product /
0.77 0.05 0.67 0.88 0.63 0.28 0.00 2.90 23.48
Brand

Rational appeal
Ad 4.04 0.48 3.05 5.03 3.94 2.64 0.14 7.57 121.77
I
Product 1.21 0.16 0.88 1.54 1.28 0.88 0.00 2.67 36.97
Ad 4.82 0.53 3.71 5.92 4.99 2.94 1.17 9.55 145.27
II
Product 1.14 0.21 0.69 1.58 1.08 1.18 0.00 3.54 24.50
Ad 8.19 0.94 6.25 10.13 7.82 5.20 2.17 14.77 246.33
III
Product 0.79 0.13 0.51 1.07 0.53 0.74 0.00 2.1 23.80
Ad 5.54 0.59 4.32 6.74 5.1 3.23 1.46 10.11 166.63
IV
Product 0.38 0.07 0.22 0.54 0.27 0.42 0.00 1.47 11.70
Ad 7.47 0.96 5.50 9.44 6.21 5.27 1.34 17.88 225.17
V
Product 1.74 0.42 0.87 2.60 1.25 2.31 0.00 7.66 52.63
Ad 6.01 0.66 4.65 7.37 6.05 3.64 0.14 17.88 181.03
AVERAGE

Product /
1.05 0.10 0.82 1.27 0.71 0.60 0.00 7.66 29.92
Brand

The mean viewing time to the separate emotional and rational appeal advertisements of
the experiment is visualized in Figure no. 2. Mean viewing time to the four out of five
rational appeal advertisements is substantially longer. Nevertheless, mean viewing time to
the brand presented in rational appeal advertisements has no substantial difference when
compared to the brand presented in the emotional appeal advertisements.
As the data of eye-tracking experiment are non-normally distributed, Wilcoxon Signed
Ranks Test is applied in order to evaluate the difference between two dependent samples
(see Table no. 3).
402 Viktorija GRIGALIUNAITE, Lina PILELIENE

Figure no. 2 – Mean viewing time to the advertisements of the experiment

As it can be seen in Table no. 3, viewing time to the rational appeal advertisements is
statistically significantly longer than viewing time to the emotional appeal advertisements.
Despite this, there is no statistically significant difference in viewing time to the brand
presented in the rational appeal advertisements and to the brand presented in the emotional
appeal advertisements. Hence, it is confirmed, that participants read the text about the
beneficial attributes and the price of the product presented in the rational appeal
advertisements, consequently it took longer viewing time compared to the pictures’ viewing
time, but it made no difference for brand viewing time regarding emotional and rational
appeal advertisements.

Table no. 3 – Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test

Statistics
Criteria
Z p-value
Rational appeal advertisement – Emotional appeal advertisement 3.884 0.000*
Brand in rational appeal advertisement – Brand in emotional appeal advertisement 1.535 0.125*
Note: *p < 0.05.

The results of implicit-association Test (IAT) are presented in Table no. 4. Comparison
of the reaction times in the task in which one category (emotional appeal advertisements)
was paired with positive words with those obtained in the task in which the other category
(rational appeal advertisements) was paired with positive words, provides a measure of
implicit attitudes toward the two categories. Faster reaction times for one category together
with pleasant words indicate a more positive implicit attitude toward that category (Maison
et al., 2001). As it can be seen from Table no. 4, when emotional appeal advertisements was
paired with positive words and rational appeal advertisements – with negative words, the
average reaction time was 1396 ms; while when rational appeal advertisements was paired
with positive words and emotional appeal advertisements – with negative words, the average
reaction time was 1761 ms. When analyzing separately, it could be seen, that when
emotional appeal advertisements was paired with positive words, the average classification
time was 1306 ms, while when rational appeal advertisements was paired with positive
words, the average classification time was 1684 ms. As the data of latency measures in a
sorting task obtained through IAT procedure are non-normally distributed, Wilcoxon Signed
 Emotional or Rational? The Determination of the Influence of Advertising Appeal… 403

Ranks Test is applied in order to evaluate the difference between two dependent samples.
Latter test revealed, that reaction time to the emotional appeal advertisements paired with
positive words is statistically significantly shorter than reaction time to the rational appeal
advertisements paired with positive words. Moreover, reaction time to the rational appeal
advertisements paired with negative words is statistically significantly shorter than reaction
time to the emotional appeal advertisements paired with negative words. This finding
indicates that participants, in general, had more positive implicit attitudes toward emotional
appeal advertisements than rational appeal advertisements. This is substantiated by the final
D score, which pas positive (average 0.55) for 16 participants (out of 19), indicating that
they have more positive implicit attitude for emotional appeal advertisements, and negative
(average -0.456) for 3 participants (out of 19).

Table no. 4 – Results of Implicit-Association Test (IAT)

LATENCY (ms) Average D Average D
for for
No. Emotional/ Rational/ Emotional/ Rational/ D score Preference
Emotional Rational
Positive Negative Negative Positive
(N=16) (N=3)
1 1614.8 1795.6 2588.5 2041.8 0.27 Emotional
2 854.6 1221 1368.1 1216 0.69 Emotional
3 2035.7 1757.9 941.2 1124.8 -0.92 Rational
4 1130 1052.4 1613.9 1822.6 1.05 Emotional
5 795.6 1018.6 1779.8 2250.4 1.2 Emotional
6 1622.2 1691.6 2524.6 2516.4 0.27 Emotional
7 1180.1 1056.6 1972.4 1631.7 0.39 Emotional
8 1495.6 2660.4 2529.3 3233 0.56 Emotional
9 1718.8 2932.8 2664.7 1980.2 0.09 Emotional
10 1365.8 1155.1 1446.0 1328.6 0.39 Emotional
11 2132.6 2030.6 3372 2927.1 0.73 Emotional
0.550 -0.456
12 888.4 1193.1 1411.4 1220.2 0.59 Emotional
13 832.0 877.0 1041.8 844.1 0.17 Emotional
14 1240 1192.2 1215.3 804.4 -0.35 Rational
15 1686.0 1964.4 2427.4 1941.2 0.36 Emotional
16 781.2 797.9 1887.6 1558.6 1.22 Emotional
17 1278.2 2261.4 1879.2 1329.8 -0.1 Rational
18 796.4 776.8 948.0 1085.2 0.56 Emotional
19 1366.2 806.1 1321.8 1143.2 0.27 Emotional
1306.0 1486.4 1838.6 1684.2
average

0.391 -
1396.2 1761.4
Rational appeal / Negative – Emotional appeal / Positive Z = 1.207; p-value = 0.227
Wilcoxon Signed

Emotional appeal / Negative – Emotional appeal / Positive Z = 3.018; p-value = 0.003*

Ranks Test

Rational appeal / Positive – Emotional appeal / Positive Z = 2.455; p-value = 0.014*

Emotional appeal / Negative – Rational appeal / Negative Z = 2.495; p-value = 0.013*
Rational appeal / Positive – Rational appeal / Negative Z = 1.288; p-value = 0.198
Rational appeal / Positive – Emotional appeal / Negative Z = 1.771; p-value = 0.077
Note: *p < 0.05.

Interestingly, the same number of respondents, who recalled the brand (regarding both
rational and emotional appeal advertisements), recognized the advertisements. From the 80
404 Viktorija GRIGALIUNAITE, Lina PILELIENE

respondents, 65 recalled the brand and recognized the advertisements regarding emotional
appeal; and 55 recalled the brand and recognized the advertisements regarding rational appeal.
Descriptive statistics of explicit attitudes and purchase intentions evaluations are
presented in Table no. 5. As it can be seen, attitude toward the emotional appeal
advertisements and to the brand presented in the emotional appeal advertisements are more
positive than attitude toward the rational appeal advertisements and to the brand presented in
the rational appeal advertisements. On the other hand, purchase intentions are higher for the
brand presented in the rational appeal advertisements than to the brand presented in the
emotional appeal advertisements.

Table no. 5 – Descriptive statistics of explicit evaluations

Variables Min Max Mean S. D.
Attitude toward emotional appeal advertisement 3.09 6.18 4.7943 0.76345
Attitude toward rational appeal advertisement 2.36 6.64 4.4284 0.89788
Attitude toward brand presented in emotional
2.64 6.73 4.8795 1.17367
appeal advertisement
Attitude toward brand presented in rational appeal
3.09 5.91 4.4852 0.84019
advertisement
Intention to purchase product presented in
1.00 6.50 3.9750 1.72638
emotional appeal advertisement
Intention to purchase product presented in rational
1.00 7.00 4.1250 1.86829
appeal advertisement

The data obtained through questionnaire research are non-normally distributed, thus
Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test is applied in order to evaluate the difference between two
dependent samples (see Table no. 6). As it can be seen, attitude toward emotional appeal
advertisements is statistically significantly more positive than attitude toward rational appeal
advertisements, which supports the results obtained by implicit-association test. Thus,
implicit as well as explicit attitude is more positive toward the emotional appeal advertising
than the rational one regarding convenience product category.

Table no. 6 – Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test

Statistics
Criteria
Z p-value
Attitude toward rational appeal advertisement - Attitude toward emotional
2.429 0.015*
appeal advertisement
Attitude toward brand presented in rational appeal advertisement - Attitude
-2.326 0.020*
toward brand presented in emotional appeal advertisement
Intention to purchase product presented in rational appeal advertisement -
-0.460 0.645
Intention to purchase product presented in emotional appeal advertisement
Note: *p < 0.05.

Attitude toward brand presented in emotional appeal advertisements is statistically

significantly more positive than to the brand presented in rational appeal advertisements as well.
Nevertheless, there is no statistically significant difference in purchase intentions when
comparing brand presented in emotional and brand presented in rational appeal advertisements.
 Emotional or Rational? The Determination of the Influence of Advertising Appeal… 405

Evaluations of the attitudes toward the emotional / rational appeal advertisements

regarding all of the 11 indicators are visualized in Figure no. 3. As it can be seen, emotional
appeal advertisement seems more interesting, pleasing, beautiful, effective, and good for the
respondents, while rational appeal advertisement seems more appropriate, useful, and
informative for the respondents. Nevertheless, rational as well as emotional appeal
advertisements seem both nearly equally important, persuasive, and relevant.

Figure no. 3 – Evaluations of advertisements

Evaluations of the attitudes toward the brands presented in the emotional / rational
appeal advertisements regarding all of the 11 indicators are visualized in Figure no. 4. As it
can be seen, the brand presented in the emotional appeal advertisement seems more reliable,
attractive, exclusive, positive, and effective for the respondents, while the brand presented in
the rational appeal advertisement seems more valuable and useful for the respondents.
However, brands presented in the rational appeal advertisement and brands presented in the
emotional appeal advertisements seem both nearly equally of the good quality, good,
recommended to use, and superior.

Figure no. 4 – Evaluations of brands presented in the advertisements

406 Viktorija GRIGALIUNAITE, Lina PILELIENE

For the analysis of causal relationships between attitude toward the advertisement,
attitude toward the brand, and purchase intentions, first the quality criteria of measurement
and structural models must be assessed. The assessment of the reflective (outer)
measurement model contains the evaluation of internal consistency, indicator reliability,
convergent validity, and discriminant validity. The measure of Cronbach’s Alpha is usually
applied for assessing internal consistency of the measurement model, though Cronbach’s
Alpha assumes that all indicators are equally reliable; moreover, Cronbach’s Alpha is
sensitive to the number of items in the scale and generally tends to underestimate the
internal consistency reliability, hence the measure of composite reliability should be
preferred for assessing internal consistency of the measurement model. Latter measure takes
into account the different outer loadings of the indicator variables. As Table no. 7 shows,
composite reliability values of latent variables are above 0.7 and below 0.95 (as well as
Cronbach’s Alpha), therefore it could be stated that there is no lack of internal consistency
reliability in the measurement model.
The mean values of the squared loadings of the indicators associated with the specific
constructs, i.e., the values of average variance extracted (AVE) measure, are above the
threshold value of 0.5, revealing that each construct explains more than half of the variance of
its indicators. Thus, it is substantiated that the degree of convergent validity is sufficient
regarding reflective measurement model. When assessing individual indicator reliability, it is
revealed that all of the indicators’ outer loadings are above the value of 0.7 and statistically
significant (p < 0.05). Consequently, all of the individual indicators are assessed as reliable.

Table no. 7 – Reflective measurement model evaluation

Average
Composite Cronbach Heterotrait-Monotrait
Latent variables Variance
Reliability Alpha Ratio (HTMT0.85)
Extracted
Purchase Intentions 0.927 0.846 0.865 -
-> Purchase intentions:
Attitude toward brand 0.924 0.915 0.529
0.217* (p=0.001)
-> Purchase intentions:
0.495* (p=0.000)
Attitude toward advertisement 0.862 0.806 0.514
-> Attitude toward brand:
0.572* (p=0.000)
Note: *p < 0.05.

For assessing whether there is no lack of discriminant validity in the reflective

measurement model, two standard criteria are applied: Fornell-Larcker criterion and cross-
loadings. Based on the cross-loadings criteria, all of the indicators’ outer loadings with their
corresponding latent constructs are greater than their outer loadings with all the remaining
constructs. Based on the Fornell-Larcker criterion, each construct’s squared root value of
average variance extracted is higher than its correlations with other latent constructs. Hence,
each construct shares more variance with its associated indicators than with any other
construct. Consequently, based on latter two criteria, it could be stated that there is no lack
of discriminant validity in the reflective measurement model.
Nevertheless, the alternative approach based on the heterotrait-monotrait ratio of
correlations (HTMT) criterion (Table no. 7) is applied for the final assessment of
discriminant validity. The values of HTMT criterion are lower than the predefined threshold
value of 0.85, substantiating previous criteria revealing that there is no lack of discriminant
 Emotional or Rational? The Determination of the Influence of Advertising Appeal… 407

validity in the reflective measurement model. Hence, it could be stated that each construct of
reflective measurement model captures the specific part of the attitude toward the
advertisement, the brand, or purchase intentions not represented by other constructs of the
model. Consequently, reflective measurement model is assessed as reliable and valid.
For the assessment of the structural model the evaluation of variance inflation factor
(VIF), Cohen f2 effect size, Stone-Geisser Q2, and coefficient of determination (R2) values
are applied.
As it can be seen from Table no. 8, the values of predictor constructs VIF are below
the threshold value of 5, indicating that the model does not exhibit multicollinearity
problems. Cohen f2 effect sizes are used to evaluate whether if the specific exogenous
construct is omitted then a substantive impact on the endogenous construct is made. From
the data in Table no. 8 it can be seen that exogenous variable ‘attitude toward
advertisement’ has a moderate effect size on the variable ‘purchase intentions’ and high
effect size on variable ‘attitude toward brand’, thus cannot be omitted from the model.
Stone-Geisser Q2 values are above zero, revealing that model exhibits predictive relevance.
The coefficient of determination (R2) values of variables ‘attitude toward brand’ and
‘purchase intentions’ are respectively 21 percent and 34 percent, indicating that the amount
of explained variance of latter variables is sufficient bearing in mind that R2 results of about
0.20 are considered high in disciplines such as consumer behavior.

Table no. 8 – Structural model evaluation

Latent
R2 f2 Q2 Variance Inflation Factor
variables
Purchase
0.209 - 0.171 -
Intentions
Attitude toward
0.343 - 0.162 -> Purchase intentions: 1.523
brand
Attitude toward -> Purchase intentions: 0.260 -> Purchase intentions: 1.523
- -
advertisement -> Attitude toward brand: 0.523 -> Attitude toward brand: 1.000

Path coefficients and total effects in the general structural model are presented in Table
no. 9. Attitude toward advertisement directly positively and statistically significantly
influence attitude toward the brand (high influence). Attitude toward the brand has negative
moderate direct statistically significant influence on purchase intentions. Attitude toward
advertisement has a direct positive high statistically significantly influence on purchase
intentions, but total effect of attitude toward advertisement on purchase intentions is
moderate (lower than the direct effect, because of the mediating negative effect by attitude
toward the brand) positive and statistically significant.
As the total sample contained two equal groups (i.e., segments) – evaluating
advertisements with different advertising appeals, PLS path modelling multi-group analysis
(PLS-MGA) is applied to analyze causal relationships between attitude toward the
advertisement, attitude toward the brand, and purchase intentions regarding different
advertising appeals. Before evaluating inner model relationships, the reliability and
discriminant validity of both segment-specific models was tested and approved.
408 Viktorija GRIGALIUNAITE, Lina PILELIENE

Table no. 9 – Path Coefficients and total effects

Path T Total T
Latent Variable S.D. p-value S.D. p-value
Coefficient Statistics Effect Statistics
Attitude toward
advertisement -> 0.604* 0.069 8.514 0.000 0.604* 0.069 8.514 0.000
Attitude toward brand
Attitude toward
advertisement -> 0.586* 0.090 6.243 0.000 0.419* 0.093 4.341 0.000
Purchase intentions
Attitude toward brand
-0.275* 0.133 1.998 0.046 -0.275* 0.133 1.998 0.046
-> Purchase intentions
Note: *p < 0.05

Path coefficients regarding segment-specific models are provided in Table no. 10.
When analyzing emotional appeal advertisements, it can be seen, that attitude toward
advertisement does not have direct statistically significant influence on attitude toward the
brand. Nevertheless, attitude toward advertisement has direct positive statistically significant
influence on purchase intentions; however, this influence is negatively statistically
significantly mediated by the attitude toward the brand. When analyzing rational appeal
advertisements, it can be seen that attitude toward advertisement does have strong direct
statistically significant influences on attitude toward the brand and purchase intentions. The
negative mediating effect of attitude toward the brand on purchase intentions is statistically
non-significant in this case.

Table no. 10 – Multi-Group analysis of path coefficients

Emotional appeal advertisement Rational appeal advertisement
Latent Variable Path T Path T
S.D. p-value S.D. p-value
Coefficient Statistics Coefficient Statistics
Attitude toward
advertisement 0.469 0.361 1.459 0.145 0.789* 0.032 23.590 0.000
-> Attitude toward brand
Attitude toward
advertisement 0.606* 0.235 2.712 0.007 0.686* 0.189 3.543 0.000
-> Purchase intentions
Attitude toward brand -
-0.345* 0.191 2.183 0.030 -0.226 0.222 0.973 0.331
> Purchase intentions
Purchase Intentions R2 0.345 0.303
Attitude toward brand R2 0.350 0.624
Note: *p < 0.05

Nevertheless, the negative mediating effect implies that for the final assessment of the
influence of different advertising appeals on advertising effectiveness total effects must be
taken into account. Latter measures are provided in Table no. 11. As it can be seen, when
analyzing emotional advertising appeal, attitude toward advertisement does not have
statistically significant influence on attitude toward the brand. Moreover, the influence of
attitude toward advertisement on purchase intentions is statistically non-significant as well.
The only one statistically significant effect is from attitude toward the brand on purchase
intentions, but latter influence is negative.
 Emotional or Rational? The Determination of the Influence of Advertising Appeal… 409

When analyzing rational advertising appeal, attitude toward advertisement does have
strong positive statistically significant influence on attitude toward the brand. Furthermore,
the influence of attitude toward advertisement on purchase intentions is strong positive and
statistically significant as well. The only one statistically non-significant effect is from
attitude toward the brand on purchase intentions.

Table no. 11 – Multi-Group analysis of total effects

Emotional appeal advertisement Rational appeal advertisement
Latent Variable Total T Total T
S.D. p-value S.D. p-value
Effect Statistics Effect Statistics
Attitude toward
advertisement - 0.469 0.361 1.459 0.145 0.789* 0.032 23.590 0.000
> Attitude toward brand
Attitude toward
advertisement 0.428 0.246 1.697 0.090 0.508* 0.088 5.735 0.000
-> Purchase intentions
Attitude toward brand
-0.345* 0.191 2.183 0.030 -0.226 0.222 0.973 0.331
-> Purchase intentions
Note: *p < 0.05

Hence in the case of rational appeal advertising purchase intentions are positively
influenced by attitude toward advertisement, while in the case of emotional appeal
advertising none of the effects positively and statistically significantly influence purchase
intentions. The assumption can be made, that even though attitude toward emotional appeal
advertisements is more positive as those advertisements seem more interesting, pleasing,
and beautiful, but consumers tend to rationalize such emotional reaction. As attitude toward
emotional appeal advertisements does not influence attitude toward brand presented in the
emotional appeal advertisements, it could be stated that consumers feel that brand / product
does not fit with the advertising appeal. Consequently, attitude toward the brand of
convenience product category which does not fit with the emotional advertising appeal
negatively influences purchase intentions. On the other hand, even though consumers did
not have such preference for rational appeal advertisements themselves as for emotional
ones, but the appropriateness, usefulness, and informativeness of such advertisements made
the fit with the product of convenience product category. As the brands / products in
convenience product category have little differentiation from competing brands, attitude
toward the brand presented in rational appeal advertisements does not influence purchase
intentions. Nevertheless, attitude toward advertisement positively influence attitude toward
the brand and purchase intentions of the brand presented in rational appeal advertisements.
Consequently, in the context of this research, advertisements, but not the brands are the
factors driving purchase intentions.

5. DISCUSSION

Based on the analysis of the research results, the model of the influence of advertising
appeal on print / outdoor advertising effectiveness in the context of convenience product
category is elaborated and provided in Figure no. 5. According to the elaborated model, this
research is partly in alignment with the studies (Heath et al., 2009; Sadeghi et al., 2015)
arguing that emotional appeal advertising attracts less consumers’ attention than the rational
410 Viktorija GRIGALIUNAITE, Lina PILELIENE

one, because rational appeals are more relevant, providing clear, product-related
information. This research revealed that consumers read the text about the beneficial
attributes and the price of the product presented in the rational appeal advertisements,
consequently it takes longer viewing time compared to the pictures’ viewing time in the
emotional appeal advertisements, but selected advertising appeal makes no difference for
brand viewing time regarding emotional and rational appeal advertisements. Therefore, as
the advertising’s core message of communication is the brand’s name, it could be stated that
both emotional and rational appeal advertising attract similar amount of visual attention.
This research is also partly consistent with studies (Panda et al., 2013) arguing that positive
emotions elicited by advertisement (using positive emotional appeal) develop higher level of
recognition in the context of convenience product category. Even though more respondents
recalled and recognized brand / advertisement regarding emotional appeal advertising when
compared to the rational one, the difference was not substantial (12 percent). Consequently,
it could be stated, that convenience products’ print / outdoor advertising effectiveness
regarding cognitive stage of consumer response to advertising can be achieved by applying
either emotional or rational advertising appeal. This is visualized in the elaborated model
with green circles in the cognitive stage part.

Figure no. 5 – Model of the influence of advertising appeal on print / outdoor advertising
effectiveness in the context of convenience product category
 Emotional or Rational? The Determination of the Influence of Advertising Appeal… 411

Sadeghi et al. (2015) stated that clear, product-related information, which is

characteristic to rational appeal advertising, helps to form better attitude toward the
advertisement. This differs from the findings presented here, revealing that implicit as well
as explicit attitude toward emotional appeal advertisements of convenience product category
is more positive and that those advertisements seem more interesting, pleasing, and
beautiful. Moreover, attitude toward brand presented in the emotional appeal advertisements
was more positive as well when compared to the attitude toward the brand presented in the
rational appeal advertisements. Consequently, because of the preference for emotional
appeal advertising itself, attitude toward the emotional appeal advertisement and attitude
toward the brand presented in the emotional appeal advertisement are visualized in the
elaborated model with green circles in the affective stage part.
Nevertheless, even though attitude toward emotional appeal advertisements is more
positive, but research revealed that consumers tend to rationalize their emotional reaction
regarding advertising of convenience product category. Attitude toward emotional appeal
advertisements does not influence attitude toward brand presented in the emotional appeal
advertisements, which implies that brand / product of convenience product category does not fit
with the emotional advertising appeal. Consequently, neither attitude toward the emotional
appeal advertising nor attitude toward the brand presented in the emotional appeal advertising
positively and significantly influences purchase intentions. Therefore, there are no arrows
between latter variables in the elaborated model and purchase intentions are visualized with red
circle in the conative stage part as print / outdoor emotional appeal advertising of convenience
product category does not lead to enhanced level of consumers’ purchase intentions.
On the other hand, even though consumers did not have such preference for rational
appeal advertisements themselves as for emotional ones, but the appropriateness, usefulness,
and informativeness of such advertisements made the fit with the product of convenience
product category. As the brands / products in convenience product category have little
differentiation from competing brands, attitude toward the brand presented in rational appeal
advertisements does not influence purchase intentions. Nevertheless, attitude toward
advertisement positively influence attitude toward the brand and purchase intentions of the
brand presented in rational appeal advertisements. Therefore, there are two positive-relation
arrows between latter variables in the affective stage part of the elaborated model and
purchase intentions are visualized with green circle in the conative stage part. Consequently,
in the context of this research, rational appeal advertisements, but not the brands are the
factors driving purchase intentions.
These results further support the idea that rational appeal advertising reduces
consumers’ doubts and uncertainty about the product / service (Albers-Miller and Stafford,
1999). Sadeghi et al. (2015) stated that rational advertising appeals are more effective when
the advertised product belongs to high-involvement product category. This research
complements those findings by revealing that rational advertising appeals are more effective
when the advertised product belongs to convenience product category, of which much of the
products belong to low-involvement product category.
Finally, this research seems to be consistent with other researches (Armstrong, 2010;
Lantos, 2015) which found that rational appeals are more relevant for utilitarian products, as
many brands / products in convenience product category fall into utilitarian products’
category. Moreover, the findings of the current study reveal that rational appeal advertising
is relevant for brands that have little differentiation from competing brands, as many brands/
products in convenience product category have little differentiation from competing brands.
412 Viktorija GRIGALIUNAITE, Lina PILELIENE

6. CONCLUSIONS

The present research was designed to determine the influence of advertising appeal on
print / outdoor advertising effectiveness in the context of convenience product category. The
analysis and synthesis of the scientific literature revealed that advertising appeals are normally
categorized as emotional and rational, and are used interchangeably as mood / logical or
transformational / informational in different contexts. Nevertheless, each contact with
marketing stimuli creates an initial emotional response that then shapes our more considered
reaction, meaning that consumers’ response to advertising is neither fully rational nor fully
emotional; it tends to be rationalized based on our emotional reactions. Thus, both emotional as
well as rational advertising appeals can influence consumers’ response, only in different ways.
Many advertising researches are performed in order to determine the most effective
advertising appeal; nevertheless, there is still no consensus among the researchers regarding
the question which advertising appeal attracts more consumers’ attention, and which
advertising appeal is most effective regarding specific product category.
The findings of this research enhance our understanding of the influence of advertising
appeal on print / outdoor advertising effectiveness in the context of convenience product
category. This research has identified that convenience products’ print / outdoor advertising
effectiveness regarding cognitive stage of consumer response to advertising can be achieved
by applying either emotional or rational advertising appeal.
Moreover, implicit as well as explicit attitude toward emotional appeal advertisements
of convenience product category is more positive than to the rational appeal advertisements.
Despite this, latter more positive attitude does not lead to the enhanced level of consumers’
purchase intentions.
The analysis of the research results leads to the conclusion that convenience products’
print / outdoor advertising effectiveness regarding conative stage of consumer response to
advertising has the higher possibility to be achieved when rational advertising appeal is applied.
Accordingly, this research fills the gap in scientific literature by determining the
influences of emotional and rational appeals on print / outdoor advertising effectiveness in
the context of convenience product category. Moreover, by answering the research question,
the contribution to the field will emerge in integrating both marketing theory and
neuroscience in order to analyze and evaluate consumer behavior.

Acknowledgements
This research was funded by a grant (No. MIP-098/2014) from the Research Council of Lithuania.

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