How Advertising Influences Consumption Impulses.

Journal of Advertising, vol. 41, no. 3 (Fall 2012), pp. 107–120.

ISSN 0091–3367 (print) / ISSN 1557–7805 (online)

DOI: 10.2753/JOA0091-3367410307

One ad execution strategy food advertisers may use to stimu-

late consumption impulses is describing the pleasures of

consumption so vividly that message recipients may actually

visualize the emotions they are likely to experience, and even

anticipate the very taste of the product (Baumgartner, Pieters,

and Bagozzi 2008; MacInnis and Price 1987; O’Doherty et

al. 2002). In this paper, our objective is to demonstrate that a

hedonic advertising execution format highlighting the plea-

sures of food consumption rather than the utilitarian benefits

of the product may play an effective role in improving the

consumer’s ability to visualize the imagery of the consump-

tion experience (Babin, Darden, and Griffin 1994; Batra and

Ahtola 1990; Dhar and Wertenbroch 2000; Homer 2006;

Kosup, Creyer, and Burton 2003; MacInnis and Price 1987;

Voss, Spangenberg, and Grohmann 2003). This visualiza–

tion process, in turn, should lead to stronger anticipation of

the emotions to be experienced when the food is consumed

(Baumgartner, Pieters, and Bagozzi 2008). These anticipated

emotions, once activated, may be so overwhelming that a

tug-of-war between impulse and restraint may be initiated

(Hofmann, Friese, and Strack 2009), which may prompt the

message recipient to generate excuses to justify conceding to

the eating temptation (De Witt Herberts, Evers, and De Rid-

der 2011; Kober et al. 2010; Kemp, Bui, and Chapa 2012). All

these responses are ultimately expected to influence consump–

tion impulses. The question is: What is an impulse?

MacInnis and Patrick (2006) describe an impulse as “a

sudden, forceful urge” to yield to a given stimulus that is as-

sociated with pleasure. Hofmann, Friese, and Strack (2009)

identified three characteristics of impulses: First, an impulse

is specific, in the sense that it is manifested when a more

general drive state (e.g., hunger) confronts a more specific

appetitive stimulus in the environment, such as the smell of

warm delicious cookies. Second, an impulse may stimulate

short-term gratifications, but the incentive to satisfy those

appetitive desires may quickly diminish, as time and spatial

distance from the stimulus increase. Third, in response to an

emotionally compelling stimulus, an impulse often carries

with it a forceful urge to act on one’s desires, such as reaching

forward for the opportunity to grab or to sample the product

(Hofmann 2009; Shiv and Fedorikhin 2002).

This paper contributes to the literature by demonstrating

how four factors play important roles in determining how

hedonic advertising appeals influence consumption impulses:

imagery visualization (MacInnis and Price 1987), anticipated

emotions (Baumgartner, Pieters, and Bagozzi 2008; Mellers,

Schwartz, and Ritov 1999), taste anticipation (O’Doherty

et al. 2002), and hedonic rationalization (Moore and Bovell

2008; Kober et al. 2010). In essence, we show that effective

hedonic advertising appeals must first ensure that message

recipients can visualize the consumption experience, and this

imagery visualization process in turn serves as a catalyst that

ignites anticipated emotions (Study 1), taste anticipation

(Study 2), and hedonic rationalizations (see Figure 1). Imagery

David J. Moore (Ph.D., Indiana University) is an associate profes-

sor of marketing, Department of Sport Management, University of

Michigan.

Seung Pil Lee (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is a post-doctoral

research fellow, Department of Sport Management, University of

Michigan.

The authors acknowledge the many helpful comments from the

Editor and three anonymous reviewers on earlier versions of this

paper. We are also grateful to the following people, who provided

insightful comments: David Wooten, Aradhna Krishna, Dae Hee

Kwak, Ketra Armstrong, Nitika Garg, and Kate Heinze.

HOW ADVERTISING INFLUENCES CONSUMPTION IMPULSES

The Role of Visualization, Anticipated Emotions, Taste Anticipation, and Hedonic Rationalization

David J. Moore and Seung Pil Lee

ABSTRACT: This paper examines some of the key factors that determine how hedonic advertising appeals influence con-

sumption impulses. Study 1 demonstrates that when advertising appeals vividly describe the pleasures of consumption

rather than the utilitarian functions of the product, message recipients are able to visualize the emotions they are likely to

experience during the consumption process. These anticipated emotions, once activated, may be so overwhelming that a

tug-of-war between impulse and self-restraint occurs, prompting message recipients to generate excuses to justify yielding

to their consumption impulses. Study 2 replicates this process and goes further by showing how hedonic appeals influence

taste anticipation and consumption impulses. Ideas for future research and implications for advertising researchers and

practitioners are also discussed.

108 The Journal of Advertising

visualization is conceptualized as the capacity to mentally “pic–

ture” or imagine the sensory dimensions of the consumption

experience of a product or service (Escalas 2004a; MacInnis

and Price 1987; Phillips, Olson, and Baumgartner 1995; Shiv

and Huber 2000).

First, this paper demonstrates how hedonic advertising ap-

peals influence the generation of anticipated emotions through

the mediation of imagery visualization. Because anticipated

emotions are based on the certainty of the future occurrence

of an imagined experience (Baumgartner, Pieters, and Bagozzi

2008), the exploration of this concept should be profitable to

both researchers and practitioners in the advertising indus-

try. Second, Study 2 goes even further by showing how the

ability of hedonic message appeals to activate a more visceral

representation of the pleasure of eating (taste anticipation)

(Elder and Krishna 2010; O’Doherty et al. 2002) is highly

dependent on the imagery visualization process. Affective

neuroscientists have demonstrated that the anticipation of a

pleasant taste reward can be as powerful as the taste experience

itself (O’Doherty et al. 2002). It is therefore quite possible

that exposure to an advertising appeal that vividly describes

sensory attributes of the product (e.g., thick creamy mozza-

rella cheese sizzling over the pizza topping), may activate the

imagery visualization process in such a powerful way that it

becomes a significant mediator of the influence of the adver-

tising appeal on taste anticipation itself. However, very little

research has been done to explore the conditions under which

advertising appeals may influence taste anticipation among

message recipients (Elder and Krishna 2010; Raghunathan,

Naylor, and Hoyer 2006).

Third, this paper proposes that the imagery visualization

process stimulates not only affective responses such as an–

ticipated emotions and taste anticipation, but also cognitive

deliberations about the message proposition itself (Loewenstein

and O’Donoghue 2007). For example, as a result of enhanced

visualization stimulated by exposure to the hedonic advertis-

ing appeal, the message recipient may automatically gener–

ate excuses (hedonic rationalizations) to justify the decision

to yield to consumption impulses (Kemp, Bui, and Chapa

2012; Kober et al. 2010; Moore and Bovell 2008; Shiv and

Fedorikhin 2002). Alternatively, it may be the anticipated

emotions or taste anticipation that triggers the hedonic ra-

tionalizations. Our investigation therefore focuses on how

hedonic advertising stimulates consumption impulses through

the dynamism of imagery visualization (MacInnis and Price

1987) (see Figures 1 and 2).

The rest of this paper covers the relevant literature and the

development of associated hypotheses. Study 1 features a mul–

tiple mediation model with one independent variable (product

description), one dependent variable (consumption impulse),

and three mediators (mental visualization, anticipated emo-

tions, and cognitive deliberations). Study 2 replicates Study 1,

but focuses on taste anticipation instead of anticipated emo-

tions. The paper ends with a discussion of the findings, the

implications for advertising researchers and practitioners, and

new ideas for future research.

LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES

Hedonic Versus Utilitarian Product Descriptions

Advertisements featuring the hedonic dimensions of a prod-

uct or service should typically stimulate the affective rather

than the cognitive processing system (Hofmann et al. 2009;

Loewenstein and O’Donoghue 2007; Metcalfe and Mischel

1999; Shiv and Fedorikhin 2002). Descriptions of the hedonic

features of a product often include the joys of consumption,

and the sensory experiences associated with pleasure, fantasy,

and fun (Batra and Ahtola 1990; Dhar and Wertenbroch 2000;

Holbrook and Hirschman 1982). In contrast, the same adver–

tising appeal may be targeted at a different audience segment,

where the goal is to highlight utilitarian features such as the

nutritional values associated with the product ingredients

(Kosup, Creyer, and Burton 2003). Because this strategy as-

sumes that consumption is cognitively motivated and goal

oriented toward the functional benefits to be derived by the

consumer (Batra and Ahtola 1990; Dhar and Wertenbroch

2000), the utilitarian appeal will stimulate weaker levels of

anticipated emotion and pleasure (Baumgartner, Pieters, and

Bagozzi 2008).

Differences in the processing of affective versus cognitive

orientations in the external stimuli processed by the human

mind have been the subject of considerable research driven

by dual processing models (Hofmann, Friese, and Strack

2009; Loewenstein and O’Donoghue 2007; Metcalfe and

Mischel 1999; Shiv and Fedorikhin 2002). One interesting

model distinguishes between a “hot” emotional system that

is fast, impulsive, and action oriented, leading to immediate

gratification, versus a “cool cognitive system” that is slow,

self-controlled, and reflexive (Metcalfe and Mischel 1999).

Adapting critical elements of this model, Loewenstein and

O’Donoghue (2007) proposed that an emotional or he-

donically charged stimulus is capable of activating both the

affective processing system driven by visceral drive states,

as well as the deliberative processing system that encourages

slower and deeper evaluations of the information available to

the decision maker (Shiv and Fedorikhin 2002). A pleasure-

focused (hedonic) stimulus emphasizing the sensory experi-

ences associated with pleasure, fantasy, and fun (Holbrook

and Hirschman 1982) may be more imagery provoking than

a utilitarian advertising appeal (Anand-Keller and Block

1997; MacInnis and Price 1987; McGill and Anand 1989;

Voss, Spangenberg, and Grohmann 2003). It is to be assumed,

therefore, that a hedonic product description will enhance the

Fall 2012 109

message recipient’s ability to form mental images of future

consumption situations, and this in turn may influence con-

sumption impulses (Anand-Keller and Block 1997; MacInnis

and Price 1987; Phillips, Olson, and Baumgartner 1995; Shiv

and Huber 2000). However, an interesting question in this

paper is whether the ability to form mental images of future

consumption can mediate the influence of advertising appeals

on consumption impulses (Hofmann, Friese, and Strack 2009;

Shiv and Fedorikhin 2002).

Imagery Visualization

Burns, Biswas, and Babin define imagery elaboration as “the

activation of stored information in the production of mental

images beyond what was provided by the stimulus” (1993,

p. 35). When imagery visualization operates at a higher level

of cognitive elaboration, hedonic symbolic consumption re-

sponses may be evoked as sensory experiences—a process that

encourages rehearsals or even fantasizing about plausible future

FIGURE 1

Study 1: Visualization, Anticipated Emotions, and Hedonic Rationalization as Mediators

of Product Description → Consumption Impulse

FIGURE 2

Study 2: Visualization, Taste Anticipation, and Hedonic Rationalization as Mediators

of Product Description → Consumption Impulse

110 The Journal of Advertising

scenarios (Escalas 2004a; MacInnis and Price 1987). Imagery

visualization may also involve concrete representations of feel–

ings or memories of past experiences, involving multisensory

inputs such as smell, taste, sight, and tactile sensations (Elder

and Krishna 2010). It has therefore been speculated that be-

cause of this multisensory activation, message recipients may

vicariously experience the pleasures of consumption even in

the absence of the product itself (Burns, Biswas, and Babin

1993). High elaboration imagery visualization is therefore a

process that facilitates anticipatory gratification and vicari-

ous satisfaction even before actual consumption occurs, thus

enhancing the ability to clearly visualize the consumption

experience (Petrova and Cialdini 2005; Phillips, Olson, and

Baumgartner 1995; Shiv and Huber 2000). The activation

of consumption visions may energize consumers to find some

way to engage in actual consumption of the product (Phillips,

Olson, and Baumgartner 1995), and for this reason, imagery

visualization is likely to influence consumption impulses (Shiv

and Fedorikhin 2002).

Although prior research has examined the impact of im-

agery visualization on ad attitudes, brand evaluation, and ad

message involvement (Bone and Ellen 1992; Escalas 2004a;

Polyorat, Alden, and Kim 2007), there has been very limited

research focusing on responses that are swift and visceral, such

as consumption impulses (Hofmann, Friese, and Strack 2009;

Shiv and Fedorikhin 2002). In this paper, we propose that the

mental imagery visualization experience can be so strong that

it excites the impulses to consume the product at the earliest

currently feel specific emotions (e.g., hope or fear) due to the

uncertainty that a future event with desirable or undesirable

consequences may occur (Baumgartner, Pieters, and Bagozzi

2008; Lee and Qiu 2009). In contrast, anticipated emotions are

based on the premise that there is no uncertainty about the

future occurrence of the imagined experience (Baumgartner,

Pieters, and Bagozzi 2008). These anticipated emotions are

presumed to be driven by the perceiver’s ability to mentally

visualize the occurrence of the event (Baumgartner, Pieters, and

Bagozzi 2008; Mellers, Schwartz, and Ritov 1999). A hedonic

advertising appeal, for example, may inspire message recipients

to visualize very vividly the actual emotions they will experience

in the future because of the certainty that a specific desirable

future event will definitely occur (e.g., anticipated joy, fun, or

excitement). Anticipated emotions are therefore structured like

prefactual thinking about one’s imagined positive or negative

consequences of future events—a type of affective forecast (e.g.,

what type of emotion would I experience if X occurred?).

Although Baumgartner, Pieters, and Bagozzi (2008) tested

the influence of anticipated emotions on behavioral intentions,

the assumption that the process of engaging in mental visual–

ization actually stimulates anticipated emotions has not been

formally tested. High elaboration imagery facilitates anticipa–

tory gratification and vicarious satisfaction even before actual

consumption of a delightful product takes place, thus enhanc–

ing the ability to clearly visualize the consumption experience

(Babin and Burns 1997; Phillips, Olson, and Baumgartner

1995; Shiv and Huber 2000). This suggests that imagery