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Journal of Advertising, vol. 41, no. 3 (Fall 2012), pp. 107–120.
© 2013 American Academy of Advertising. All rights reserved. Permissions: www.copyright.com
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
