Marketing Communications

104 CHAPTER 3 HOW MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS WORK

Consequences of ads evoking irritation

Contradictory hypotheses can be found in the literature regarding the effects of irritating

communications. In line with feelings transfer models, one can expect negative evoked feelings,

such as irritation, to have a negative influence on ad- and brand-related responses. This

has also been referred to as ‘the superiority of the pleasant’ hypothesis. On the other hand,

the law of extremes theory assumes that the relationship between the attitude towards the

ad and the attitude towards the brand follows a J-shaped curve (Figure 3.10).^123 The latter

means that not only a very positive, but also a very negative Aad can eventually lead to a

positive Ab, while communications evoking a moderate instead of an extreme Aad result in

a less positive Ab.

Both models found empirical support. Some studies show negative feelings lead to

exclusively negative effects on Ab, brand recall and brand confusion.^124 Moreover, irritation

caused by either an unlikeable ad or many ads in a short time period has also been shown

to negatively impact unrelated subsequent ads.^125 These results can be explained by the

law of extremes theory or the feelings transfer that is likely under low elaboration like-

lihood, affective attitude formation. Another study^126 found that the effect of irritating com-

munications depends on the type of buying motive the ad appeals to. As mentioned before,

transformational buying motives consist of positive motivations such as sensory gratification,

social approval or intellectual stimulation, while informational buying motives refer to redu-

cing or turning of negative motivations such as solving or avoiding a problem, or normal

depletion.^127 It turns out that ad-related responses are negatively affected by irritation in any

case, but correct brand recall, the attitude towards the brand and purchase intention are

only affected negatively by irritating commercials when transformational buying motives

are appealed to. In other words, for informational motives, the law of extremes theory seems

to be confirmed. People did not like the ad, but the negative feelings were not transferred to

the brand. This corresponds with the Affect-as-Information model that can be expected

to apply under high elaboration likelihood, affective attitude formation. Consumers experi-

enced negative feelings but, depending on their motive, they considered these feelings

relevant or irrelevant. Only when the feelings were deemed relevant were they taken into

account, resulting in a negative impact for transformational purchase motivations. For infor-

mational purchase motivations, feelings apparently were not perceived to be relevant and

therefore they did not serve as information input. Again, the important role of consumer

motivations is shown.

Figure 3.10 The J-shaped relationship between Aad and Ab

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