Sadly and Joyfully Moving Ads: The Influence of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Experiences on the Attitude toward the Ad

Narrative ads are more appreciated and more persuasive than non-narrative ads. This superior effect is ascribed to the pleasant, entertaining experience narrative ads provide. Humorous narratives do so by evoking positive emotions and providing a hedonic experience. There are also ads that tell moving stories thereby evoking negative emotions too and providing a eudaimonic experience. In two studies, the questions are addressed to what extent moving ads evoke both positive and negative emotions and what their impact is on the attitude toward the ad. In each study, 96 participants saw and evaluated three narrative ads: a humorous ad, a joyfully moving ad, and a sadly moving ad. The results reveal that whereas humorous ads evoked only positive emotions and provided a hedonic experience, the moving narrative ads evoked positive and negative emotions, and provided a eudaimonic experience. Nevertheless, the attitude toward the moving ads was as high, or even higher, than those of the humorous ads. These results thus show that for a thorough understanding of how narrative ads exert their influence, it is important to distinguish whether they aim to provide a hedonic or a eudaimonic experience and that eliciting negative emotions may lead to a better liked ad.