Revealing Unconscious Consumer Reactions to Advertisements That Include Visual Metaphors. A Neurophysiological...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Advertising Research
• Consumer Psychology

Background:

• Visual metaphors enhance advertising recall, persuasiveness, and positive consumer attitudes.
• Previous research suggests an inverted U-curve relationship between metaphor complexity and consumer response, limited by comprehension.
• There is a lack of neurophysiological evidence on consumer responses to visual metaphors in advertising.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess neurophysiological responses to print advertisements featuring visual metaphors.
• To investigate the relationship between visual metaphor complexity and cognitive processing.
• To evaluate the utility of electroencephalogram (EEG), eye tracking (ET), and galvanic skin response (GSR) in measuring responses to visual metaphors.

Main Methods:

• Forty-three participants were exposed to 28 print advertisements with varying visual complexity.
• Neurophysiological data were collected using EEG, ET, and GSR.
• Participants' responses to advertisements with and without visual metaphors were analyzed.

Main Results:

• Advertisements with visual metaphors elicited more positive consumer reactions than those without.
• EEG data indicated a positive correlation between cognitive load and conceptual complexity, suggesting cognitive load as a complexity indicator.
• ET and GSR were not suitable measures for cognitive load but may reflect attention and emotion.

Conclusions:

• Visual metaphors positively influence consumer reactions in advertising.
• Cognitive load, measured by EEG, is a valid indicator of visual metaphor complexity.
• Neurophysiological measures are crucial for optimizing the impact of visual metaphors in advertising.