The effects of visually primed pharmaceutical advertising disclosure on attitudes and perceived CSR practices

Purpose – This study seeks to examine how consumers perceive the visually primed disclosure in a pharmaceutical company's advertisement and form their attitudes toward the disclosure, perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and attitudes toward the pharmaceutical company. Design/methodology/approach – An online study with a convenient sampling consisting of college students is used to manipulate the visual communication of a pharmaceutical company's advertising disclosure for the purpose of examining the effects of visually primed advertising disclosure on attitude toward the disclosure, perceived CSR practices, and attitude toward the pharmaceutical company. Findings – The results reveal that a visually primed disclosure affects consumers' attitudes toward the disclosure positively. Visual priming also enhances consumers' perceived CSR practices and attitudes toward the company. This is evident as the impact of attitude toward the disclosure on attitude toward the company is mediated by perceived CSR practices. Practical implications – Pharmaceutical companies should improve their advertising disclosure practices by enhancing visual communications of their advertising disclosures. Since a mediating relationship between attitude toward the disclosure and attitude toward the pharmaceutical company is materialized by perceived CSR practices, visually primed advertising disclosures perceived as socially responsible practices can facilitate advertising effectiveness and enhance consumers' attitudes toward the pharmaceutical company. Originality/value – This paper adds value to the existing literature on pharmaceutical marketing and CSR practices, and promotes the effective management of advertising disclosures by reinforcing their communications through visual priming.