Abstract

According to advertising research, brand purpose advertisements can be classified into three types: those that use positive emotional appeals, negative emotional appeals, or a mix of both. While much of the earlier literature has primarily concentrated on either positive or negative appeals, the concept of mixed emotional appeals is a newer area of interest. This study is the first to further divide mixed brand purpose ads into two categories: concrete mixed appeals and abstract mixed appeals. The primary objective of this research is to explore how abstract and concrete mixed emotional appeals affect consumer attitudes toward advertisements. It also examines the mediating role of inspiration, the moderating role of self-construal, as well as the downstream consequence on behavioral intentions. Through two experimental studies, the findings reveal that abstract mixed appeals lead to more favorable consumer attitude towards the ad and this effect is mediated through inspiration. Furthermore, findings show that favorable attitude towards the ad leads to behavioral intentions.