THE IMPACT OF ASSOCIATIVE ADVERTISING ON PERSONAL VALUES AND BEHAVIOR

The current paper explores the impact of value-laden advertisements on consumer values and behavior. Study 1 revealed that participants who were exposed to ads that strongly communicated self-direction acted more in a way that was congruent to openness to change values in different scenarios and choose more often a candy bar that was perceived as unpopular. In study 2, exposure to advertisements featuring benevolence (versus exposure to achievement-oriented ads) increased participants’ interest in blood donation and decreased their endurance in a difficult word puzzle task. The influence was even stronger for participants who perceived advertising as a source of information.