The Effect of Advertisement Vividness and Regulatory Focus on Consumer Choice

Purpose – This study aims to explore how a combination of the advertisement presentation vividness and consumers’ regulatory focus affects choice. In addition, it seeks to the understanding for the psychological process by using consumers response with experimental designs. Research design, data, and methodology - This research conducted two experiments based on the scenario. Specifically, Experiment 1 used a 2 (vividness of advertisement presentation: picture vs. word) x 2 (regulatory focus: prevention focus vs. promotion focus) between-subjects design. Experiment 2 used a 2 (vividness of advertisement presentation: detailed description vs. less detailed description) x 2 (regulatory focus: prevention focus vs. promotion focus) between-subjects design. Results - Two studies showed that prevention-focused individuals, when presented with a vivid presentation, were more likely to choose the advertised option compared with advertisements presented less vividly appearance. In contrast, promotion-focused individuals showed no difference in choice shares regardless of advertisement presentation vividness. In addition, these effects were mediated by the imagery toward the advertised information. Conclusions - The current research found how consumers inherent motivation affects the extent of imagery in a purchase decision and a new perspective to previous studies with regards to regulatory focus. Further, this research suggested new advertisement strategies to corporations.