To Be Afraid or to Be Proud? The Impact of Emotional Valence and Response Efficacy on Persuasion in Anti-Drink Driving Advertising

Social marketers traditionally use negative emotions although they can be ineffective on persuasion. However, few social marketers use positive emotions while commercial marketers use them extensively. Accordingly, this study aims to understand the impact of positive versus negative emotional appeals on persuasion of young adults in a road safety context through a 2 (pride versus fear) × 2 (low versus high response efficacy) factorial design. ANCOVA results show the significant role of both types of emotions on persuasion, regardless the level of response efficacy. Surprisingly, “fear” is more persuasive than “pride”. Hence, social marketers should consider using emotions when building future models and communication campaigns targeting young adults. Future research should investigate under which conditions ‘pride’ can be the most persuasive.