Visual attention paid to negative comments in cause-related posts: visual style and emotionality matter

Abstract

The goal of this study is to explore how the execution style (product vs. cause) and the emotionality of pictures in brand-generated cause-related marketing (CRM) posts accompanied by negative user comments impact on visual attention. A between-subjects eye-tracking-based experiment was conducted in which 123 participants were exposed to CRM posts published by a fast-food restaurant. The findings showed that the text in CRM posts attracts longer fixation duration than do pictures, although pictures attract attention first. The attention paid to pictures is significantly greater in product-focussed posts, whereas text attracted greater attention in cause-focussed posts. Emotional images received significantly less attention than non-emotional images. Corporate image perceptions and visual attention paid increase customer brand advocacy. We outline theoretical contributions and practical implications for the restaurant sector and make suggestions for future research in the field of CRM persuasion.

Keywords:

• cause-related marketing
• eye-tracking
• visual attention
• execution style
• Instagram
• electronic word of mouth

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Ministry of Science and Innovation-Spanish Agency for Research under Grant PID2019-111195RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Not revealed at this stage to maintain anonymity.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alberto Badenes-Rocha

Alberto Badenes-Rocha is Research and Teaching Fellow (P IF) with an FP Ugrant, awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. His research interests focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), communication strategies through digital and customer engagement, and neuromarketing, especially in the tourism and hospitality sectors. His work has been published in International Journal of Advertising, Psychology & Marketing, and Spanish Journal of Marketing-ESIC, among others. He has made contributions in more than 20 national and international academic conferences. He also participates in various research and teaching innovation projects funded at a national and international level (Erasmus +).

Enrique Bigne is Professor of Marketing at the University of Valencia (2001-) and formerly at Jaume I University (1996-2001). He has been visiting scholar at the University of Maryland and Berkeley Haas School of Business His main research interests are advertising, neuromarketing and virtual reality. His work has been published in Psychology & Marketing, Frontiers in Psychology, International Journal of Advertising, Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, and International Journal of Research in Marketing, among others. He has served as Head of Department, Dean, and Vice-Chancellor.

Carla Ruiz-Mafe is an Associate Professor of Maketing at University of Valencia, Spain (2010-). Her research interests include online customer behaviour, neuromarketing and tourism marketing. She has been visiting scholar at the University of Glasgow. Her research has been published in highly-ranked journals including Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, Service Industries Journal, Journal of Service Management, Industrial Management and Data Systems, Current Issues in Tourism, among others.