Redefining Rational and Emotional Advertising Appeals as Available Processing Resources: Toward an Information Processing Perspective

This paper redefines emotional versus rational advertising appeals from a media psychology perspective in terms of changes in cognitive load placed on viewers’ limited processing capacity during ad consumption. Appeal type interacted with perceived personal relevance such that relevance exerted a stronger influence on cognitive resources for advertisements employing rational appeals. As a result, rational appeals should be used with caution when advertisements have low perceived relevance as viewers may withdraw attention and stop processing the advertisement. In contrast, emotional appeals may help sustain attention for low-relevance messages.