Text versus pictures in advertising: effects of psychological distance and product type

Abstract

The authors examine effects of marketing messages that use text or pictures for advertising durable or nondurable products appealing to consumers’ perceptions of close versus far psychological distance. In three studies, ads featuring text (pictures) evoke more favourable attitudes and purchase intentions toward products to be purchased in the distant (close) future or at a distant (close) location. In addition, ads featuring text (pictures) evoke more favourable attitudes and purchase intentions for durable (nondurable) goods. The research shows that marketers will be most persuasive if they ensure congruence among message formats, product types, and psychological distance.

Keywords::

• message format
• product type
• psychological distance
• congruency effect

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2018S1A5B8A02082562)