The Effect of Negative Emotion Appeals on Charitable Giving Behaviour

individual donations contribute more than 70% of charitable giving each year, and up until now, the most dominant advertising appeal has been targeting negative feeling such as sadness and guilt even though the exact effect of such appeals is under researched. This review examines the potential disadvantages of negative appeals and according to the studies that being reviewed, negative appeals are not better at promoting prosocial behaviour than a mix of negative and positive appeals; also, when negative appeals are repeated to a certain degree, the targeted sympathy may be reduced. Studies have also found evidence that negative appeals may create distance between the beneficiaries and the potential donors. the predominant guilt-based appeals are also examined and showed different effect in groups and gender. One very interesting aspect to the negative appeals is the activation of persuasion knowledge such appeals cause due to their perceived manipulation intent. The results of this review support the unfavorable effect of negative appeals in charitable advertising.