Thesis
Mental Health App Advertising: How Does Emotional Flow Influence Attitude and Behavioral Intentions?
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000006308
Abstract
In recent years, there has been an unprecedented surge in venture capital funding for mental health apps and related services. This increase in investment was primarily driven by the heightened demand for mental health support during the COVID-19 pandemic and a growing preference for telehealth services. In this backdrop, the study aims to test the effect of emotional appeals and their flow in the advertisements for mental health apps on participants’ attitudes towards the advertisements, attitudes towards the brand, and behavioral intentions toward the advertised app. The study employed a 3 (emotional flow conditions) x 3 (message repetition) within-group repeated measures design. The three emotional flow conditions are consistently negative, consistently positive, and negative to positive. Experimental stimuli used in this study are nine TV advertisements on mental health apps regularly aired on TV channels in the United States of America. A total of N=93 participants (47 male and 46 female) aged 18-35 were recruited in this web-based study. They viewed the manipulated experimental stimuli followed by questionnaires that recorded their attitudinal responses and behavioral intentions toward the advertised product. When they finished watching all 9 TV advertisements, participants watched a short TV clip from a popular TV show as a distracter task, followed by a memory recall test. The memory recall test was administered to test participants' message encoding from TV ads with different emotional flows. Testing these TV advertisements provided evidence that emotional flow (message from negative to positive shift) affects the experience of the desired valance, influencing audiences’ attitudes toward the brand and behavioral intentions toward the advertised product. The study generated essential insights for marketers and advertisers of mental health products. Moreover, the study theoretically adds to the emotional flow literature in the context of mental health advertising and provides directions for future research in the area.
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Details
- Title
- Mental Health App Advertising
- Creators
- Sultana Ismet Jerin
- Contributors
- Paul David Bolls (Advisor)Erica W. Austin (Committee Member)Alexis S. Tan (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Edward R. Murrow College of Communication
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 84
- Identifiers
- 99901086722001842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis