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An Exploratory Study Examining Fear Appeals in Print Advertisements: A Comparison between China and Canada

Title:

An Exploratory Study Examining Fear Appeals in Print Advertisements: A Comparison between China and Canada

Hu, Weiluo (2015) An Exploratory Study Examining Fear Appeals in Print Advertisements: A Comparison between China and Canada. Masters thesis, Concordia University.

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Abstract

This thesis compares the fear appeal usage frequency differences between Chinese and Canadian magazine advertisements. Through comparing the Canadian and Chinese fear appeal magazine ads, the author wants to try to find some features for academic fear appeal research and for marketing practice, such as, to which kind of industries the fear appeals are intensively applied, which types of fear appeals (social, physical, economy, and self-esteem) are mostly used in each country, and what kind of the information is most often used in each country. It is surprising to realize that “text” is the most frequent fear appeal, perceived threat, rewards, efficiency and cost carrier in these two countries’ magazine ads. The second half of the research questions and hypotheses are proposed based on the Protection Motivation Model. The paper discusses the different use frequency of perceived threat, perceived rewards, perceived efficiency and perceived costs found in Chinese and Canadian magazine ads. The findings reveal Canadian fear appeal ads use more both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards; Chinese and Canadian ads both focus on expressing protective behavior in two perceived rewards.

Divisions:Concordia University > John Molson School of Business > Marketing
Item Type:Thesis (Masters)
Authors:Hu, Weiluo
Institution:Concordia University
Degree Name:M. Sc.
Program:Business Administration (Marketing specialization)
Date:2015
Thesis Supervisor(s):Laroche, Michel
Keywords:fear appeal, China, Canada, Magazine ads
ID Code:980742
Deposited By: WEILUO HU
Deposited On:17 Jun 2016 14:54
Last Modified:18 Jan 2018 17:51

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