Content Analysis of the Guilt Appeal in Internet Commercial Advertisements

doi:10.11885/j.issn.1674-5094.2019.04.18.01

Abstract

Abstract: The guilt appeal is a widely-used technique of negative emotional appeals in advertising, but the fact that it has negative effects besides positive ones is often neglected. Therefore, based on the content analysis method, this study explores the guilt appeal used in the 345 online commercial advertisements selected from Taobao.com and JD.com. We studied the types, the information framework, the proportion of guilt appeals in online commercial advertising and the relation between the two. We found that reactive guilt is most common target in online commercials and it usually has negative effects. The anticipated guilt tends to be related to avoidable subjects, and ontological guilt were not found. Problem statement and victim approach are common in advertising texts and visual information. Moreover, the proportion of guilt used in advertising is moderate. The research promotes the understanding of the guilty appeals in commercial advertising, hoping to provide a reference for the rational use of guilt appeals.

Key words: content analysis method, guilt appeal, Internet commercial advertisements, advertising coding, advertising effect

CLC Number:

F270

BAI Lin, YANG Xingyuan. Content Analysis of the Guilt Appeal in Internet Commercial Advertisements[J]. 西南石油大学学报(社会科学版), 2019, 21(4): 21-28.

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URL: http://journal15.magtechjournal.com/Jwk_xnsk/EN/10.11885/j.issn.1674-5094.2019.04.18.01

http://journal15.magtechjournal.com/Jwk_xnsk/EN/Y2019/V21/I4/21

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