Showcase the smiles or the tears? How elicited perspectives determine optimal charity appeal content

Diogo Hildebrand (), Rhonda Hadi and Sankar Sen
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Diogo Hildebrand: Baruch College, CUNY
Rhonda Hadi: University of Oxford
Sankar Sen: Baruch College, CUNY

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2024, vol. 52, issue 6, No 14, 1805-1819

Abstract: Abstract Some charitable communications employ deprived beneficiary (DB) appeals (showcasing the distressing circumstances of suffering victims), while others feature satiated beneficiary (SB) appeals (depicting the improved state of victims after receiving help). We propose and demonstrate that the relative efficacy of these appeals depends on the perspective viewers are prompted to take. Across three incentive-compatible experiments, we demonstrate that while DB appeals are more effective in increasing donation behavior when an ad evokes a beneficiary-perspective (i.e., asking viewers to imagine how a beneficiary feels), SB appeals are more effective when an ad evokes a self-perspective (i.e., asking viewers to imagine how they themselves would feel if they were in the beneficiary’s position). We also provide evidence for the affect-based mechanism theorized to underlie this basic interaction, and proffer a managerially actionable, ad copy-based moderator.

Keywords: Donation behavior; Charity appeal; Deprived beneficiary appeal; Satiated beneficiary appeal; Perspective taking; Affect management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s11747-024-01013-0

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