Effects of Color in Disaster Relief Advertising and the Mediating Role of Cognitive Elaboration

ABSTRACT

The current research examined the effects of color format (text only, text with black-and-white photo, text with full-colored photo, and text with color highlighted on the main visual subject) and issue involvement (high versus low) on individuals’ psychological reactions (attitude, feeling of empathy, and intention to help) to disaster relief ad. Two studies were conducted using student and general public samples. Results from both studies indicated ads with photos, especially black-and-white photos, generated more positive attitude, greater feeling of empathy, and stronger intention to participate in charity activities. Higher issue involvement also leads to more positive attitude and stronger behavioral intention. An interaction effect between color format and issues involvement was found in Study 2. The mediating role of cognitive elaboration was also explored.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognitive elaboration
• color format
• disaster relief advertising
• issue involvement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.