The effect of severe imagery in advertising on charitable behavior and the moderating role of social closeness

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• Author: Billy Sung,Felix Septianto,Michelle Stankovic
• Date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12531

RESEARCH ARTICLE

The effect of severe imagery in advertising on

charitable behavior and the moderating role of

social closeness

Billy Sung

1

| Felix Septianto

2

| Michelle Stankovic

1

1

Consumer Research Lab, School of

Management and Marketing, Curtin

University, Perth, Western Australia,

Australia

2

UQ Business School, University of

Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland,

Australia

Correspondence

Billy Sung, School of Management and

Marketing, Curtin University, Kent St,

Bentley, Perth, Western Australia,

Australia.

Email: billy.sung@curtin.edu.au

Abstract

The present paper systematically investigated the effec-

tiveness of utilizing severe or disgusting, imagery, and

the moderating effect of social closeness within non-

profit health charity advertising appeals. Across three

experiments, we found an interaction effect, whereby

donations increased when severe images were shown,

but only when high social closeness was also

highlighted. Conversely, severe imagery reduced dona-

tions in the low social closeness condition, when partici-

pants were not prompted to think of their family.

Despite the popularity of using severe imagery within

charity advertising, our findings suggest that severe

images should be used with caution in health charity

marketing. Investigating the underlying mechanisms,

we found that empathy (disgust) underlies the increase

(decrease) of donation when severe imagery was used in

a high (low) social closeness condition. Furthermore, we

ruled out anger and perceived responsibility as compet-

ing moderators for these effects to verify whether other

positive and negativeemotions had similar effects.

KEYWORDS

advertising, charity, disgust, donation, emotion, empathy,

prosocial behavior

Received: 29 July 2022 Revised: 31 January 2023 Accepted: 14 April 2023

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12531

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use,

distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Consumer Affairs published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Council on Consumer

Interests.

1352 J Consum Aff. 2023;57:1352–1376.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/joca

1|INTRODUCTION

Social inequity is steeply rising, particularly in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic

(Bradbury-Jones & Isham, 2020), meaning more people are requiring aid and assistance than

ever before. However, donations to causes advancing health, human rights, and social welfare

have been declining (Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC), 2021).

Thus, there is even greater pressure on not-for-profit organizations to increase their fundraising

capability. Not-for-profit charities often rely on funding and volunteers for their services

(ACNC, 2021), making effective marketing of charity appeals an essential service in promoting

donations and encouraging collective well-being. Social marketing provides charities with the

resources to advertise their appeals in an effective way. A prominent way is to leverage persua-

sive appeals on charity advertising (Kemp et al., 2013; van Esch et al., 2021). These would allow

social marketers the ability to create a larger social impact. However, there is still no consensus

on the best methods to achieve these goals. The present research aims to empirically investigate

how to increase the effectiveness of charity appeals for organizations helping people cope with

medical conditions (e.g., skin cancer, cleft palates) as well as the emotional mechanisms respon-

sible for their effectiveness on actual donation behavior.

Many charity organizations are increasingly using shocking and highly emotional advertising

to promote helping behaviors (Chang & Lee, 2009). The use of realistic images, such as severe

wounds and deformities, is used to increase the emotional impact of charity advertising (Chang &

Lee, 2011;Dahletal.,2003) and communicate the severity of the issue (Hastings et al., 2004;

West & Sargeant, 2004). Severe images utilized in charity advertising appeals serve the purpose of

evoking negative emotions such as shock, sadness, guilt, or fear. These emotions, in turn, are

expected to result in helping behaviors (e.g., charitable giving). However, the existing literature is

filled with mixed findings (see Wymer & Gross, 2021 for a review), reporting both positive

(e.g., Cockrill & Parsonage, 2016) and negative (e.g., Batson, 1991; Brennan & Binney, 2010;Cotte

et al., 2005;Eisenberg&Fabes,1990) effects of severe imagery in advertising on prosocial or

donation behavior towards health charities. Furthermore, shocking imagery and video content

can have negative effects on consumers, including negative mental health outcomes (e.g., when

viewing violence towards an in-group; Bor et al., 2018). Thus, it is important to identify when and

why shocking imagery is effective at eliciting donations and when it may be too much for con-

sumers to view. By manipulating the severity of the health condition (e.g., using shocking imag-

ery) as well as the social closeness of potential victims (e.g., family vs. strangers), the current

study systematically manipulates two different variables which are often utilized in charity adver-

tising. Specifically, we propose that the effect of severe imagery on consumer donation behavior

towards a health charity is modulated by the perceived social closeness of the potential victims.

As charity appeals do not have a direct (e.g., economic) benefit to the donor

(e.g., consumer), advertising strategies may need to apply different approaches from those

encouraging self-serving behavior. Charitable giving falls within the realm of prosocial behav-

iors, which include a wide range of actions aimed at benefitting others, with no direct benefit to

the self (Batson & Powell, 2003). Therefore, the present research employs a theoretical backdrop

aligned with investigating prosocial behavior, which focuses on the role of emotions at a group

level of analysis (Keltner & Haidt, 1999). The group level of analysis explores how emotional

patterns shape group norms and group cohesion (Van Kleef et al., 2016). In the present study,

we therefore explore how emotional responses, specifically empathy and disgust, underlie the

interactive effect of severe imagery and social closeness on consumer donation behavior

towards health charities.

SUNG ET AL.1353