The Advertisement Puts Me Down, But I Like It: Examining an Emerging Type Of Audience-Targeted Negative Advertisement

Advertisements often use positive appeals to please consumers. One exception: an emerging device that uses negative messages to target audiences: audience-targeted negative advertisements (ATNAs). Through in-depth interviews and two experiments, this research systematically explores audiences’ perceptions and feelings about ATNAs (Study 1); empirically distinguishes them from humorous advertisements and other negative advertisements (Study 2); and investigates when ATNAs are more likely to be effective for advertisers (Study 3). The results show that ATNAs have unique features that include negativity, uniqueness, humor, and realism, and emotional influences such as empathy. Findings include practical guidance for advertisers on degree of negativity and product type conditions in which ATNAs are most effective.