RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Why Older Adults Show Preference for Rational Over Emotional Advertising Appeals
JF Journal of Advertising Research
JO J Advert Res
FD WARC
SP 441
OP 455
DO 10.2501/JAR-2016-048
VO 56
IS 4
A1 Lynn Sudbury-Riley
A1 Lisa Edgar
YR 2016
UL http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/56/4/441.abstract
AB Conventional advice when targeting older adults is to use factual, rational appeals over emotional appeals due to age-related differences in information processing. Socioemotional selectivity theory posits that when people perceive time as limited, they pursue emotionally-orientated rather than knowledge-orientated goals. Advertising experiments using socioemotional selectivity theory suggest conventional advice may be misleading and advocate using emotional appeals. The current study tested the theory in a specific advertising context among adults (n = 2,550) ages 19 to 90 years. Contrary to expectations and prior socioemotional selectivity theory research, older adults demonstrated clear preferences for rational over emotional appeals, which suggests that conventional advice was correct all along.