Facebook advertising is embedded in today’s society and is explicitly beneficial for small and medium-sized companies (SME’s), also the ones operating in the fitness industry. However, its popularity has created an advertisement clutter which is detrimental for consumer visual attention and ad effectiveness by causing avoidance behavior, memory interference and lower recognition. This research creates a deeper understanding of how consumers visually process and react to Facebook native advertisements by investigating how different emotional appeals
in the visual design of an ad (joy vs. anger) affect consumers’ visual attention, purchase intention and clicking behavior. A conceptual framework was tested through two studies: an eye-tracking experiment and a field study with real Facebook data. Results showed that a joy
appeal significantly led to a higher purchase intention and more ad clicks. Consumers’ visual attention, however, did not affect purchase intentions. This research contributes in understanding emotional appeal in advertising and its influence on consumer viewing behavior in digital media environments. Furthermore, it gives owners of SME’s operating in
the fitness industry insights in how to design their Facebook advertising campaigns. In order to increase advertising effectiveness, owners should include a positive emotional appeal (joy) in the visual design of their ads.
https://theses.ubn.ru.nl/handle/123456789/13864?locale-attribute=en