Persuasive Advertising - J. Scott Armstrong [65]
Bill Bernbach advertised Chivas Regal scotch in an ad headlined “Tsk, tsk” using the text: “After a party, the host is often faced with several almost empty Scotch bottles. And there’s a natural tendency to consolidate the leftovers into a single bottle. Guess whose.”
Ads designed for products that show one’s good taste should be subtle. Some advertisers, however, choose to flaunt their “status appeal,” as illustrated by a Mercedes-Benz ad in the April 17, 2005 edition of the Wall Street Journal: “More horses. Bigger engine. Increased envy.”
This principle is based on received wisdom. I was unable to find evidence. It seems worthy of study.
3.4. Guilt
Guilt can arise from doing something that violates one’s standards (e.g., breaking a contract) or by failing to take proper action (e.g., failing to help someone in need). Guilt can be resolved by taking actions that compensate for the guilt.
Guilt has strong effects and it applies under many conditions It applies whether the guilt arose from a transgression that is accidental or on purpose; whether there is a direct request for help or merely an opportunity; whether the request for help is from the victim or someone else; and whether the help benefits the victim or not.
3.4.1. Lead people to think about their standards
The New Haven Railroad used guilt to get people to accept crowded trains during World War II. When troops were being sent to war, the journey was often by train. A 1942 print ad, The Kid in Upper 4, said:
It’s 3:42 on a troop train. Men, wrapped in blankets, are breathing heavily. Two in every berth. One in every upper …. Next time you are on the train, remember the kid in Upper 4. If you have to stand—it is so that he may have a seat. If there is no berth for you—it is that he may sleep.
This was intended to make customers feel ashamed to complain about poor service. The ad was a big success. Thousands of people wrote to the New Haven Railroad office requesting copies (Watkins 1959).
Another application: “Saturday mornings—you can spend your time catching up on your sleep or catching up with your kids over Bisquick pancakes.”
Guilt is especially useful for ads dealing with altruistic behavior, such as fundraising for charities. And indeed, guilt is relatively more common in ads for charities or public service announcements than in ads for commercial products (Huhmann and Brotherton 1997). Customers are wary of attempts to use guilt for commercial gain.
One way to induce guilt through an ad is to use words that support ethical standards. Another is to encourage people to think about their standards.
Ads employing guilt should avoid scolding the target market. Guilt should be raised in a gentle and tactful manner; otherwise, feelings of anger and annoyance might replace guilt. A 1926 print ad for Prudential Insurance failed the test. It showed a small boy explaining to a woman in an orphanage, “They said father didn’t keep his life insurance paid up.”
Evidence on the effects of attempts to induce guilt
A meta-analysis of 14 experimental comparisons found that explicit guilt appeals provoke strong feelings of guilt. Five of these studies examined the relationship of explicit guilt to persuasion, and all of them were more persuasive than less explicit guilt messages. This meta-analysis also supported many of the conditions for this principle (O’Keefe 2000).
A small-scale, non-experimental study involving 63 subjects who viewed two ads found that guilt appeals were less effective, and perhaps damaging, when the subjects perceived a manipulative intent by the advertiser (Cotte, Coulter, and Moore 2005).
The following is an example of a study on guilt that relies on people thinking about their standards:
A lab experiment showed how to use guilt to save water: An experiment on water conservation