How Allusion Enhances Consumer Response to Hope Appeals in Health Messaging
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Journal of Business Research
ISSN
0148-2963
Volume
191
DOI
10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115237
First Page
1
Last Page
14
Publication Date
3-2025
Abstract
While fear appeals often appear in health-oriented Public Service Announcements (PSAs), three experiments demonstrate that a positive appeal, hope, can be effectively used in PSAs to promote healthy eating when combined with an allusion, a type of figurative language. Specifically, Study 1 uses eye-tracking to establish that allusion moderates hope’s encouragement of visual attention and engagement. Study 2′s experiment illustrates how allusion moderates hope’s influence on message outcomes. Study 3 tests whether self-efficacy mediates the relationships between hope and allusion on message outcomes using Hayes PROCESS modeling. Results support self-efficacy’s mediation of the hope-allusion interaction on message response outcomes. One contribution is the investigation of a multimodal allusion incorporating both visual and verbal elements and its ability to enhance message effectiveness. This study also advances the theoretical understanding of the use of positive emotional appeals and the power of self-efficacy to account for their effects in health promotion PSAs.
Recommended Citation
Albinsson, P.,
Huhmann, B.,
&
Burman, B.
(2025).
How Allusion Enhances Consumer Response to Hope Appeals in Health Messaging.
Journal of Business Research, 191, 1–14.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115237
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/esob-facarticles/361
