The usage of textual argumentation in advertising durable goods.

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2021-06-23

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en

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Arguments are daily used in spoken interactions, whereas it is also used in advertising. In spoken interaction the presence of arguments can imply a delicate situation where someone is mitigating their public face (Brown & Levinson, 1987). In this field of study, it is occasionally more beneficial to withhold arguments if someone does not want to imply a delicate situation (Baranova & Dingemanse, 2016). The current study examined if this effect could also apply to the field of commercial advertising. The research question was ‘How does the presence or absence of textual argumentation affect the persuasiveness of an advertisement in durable goods?’. The textual arguments which were used were all utility arguments, these arguments provide information about the advertised products. A survey experiment was conducted to investigate this. Persuasiveness was measured on three items: attitude towards the product, attitude towards the advertisement and intention to buy (Jeong, 2008). A total of 175 Dutch participants finished the survey. The result showed a significant effect of the presence of argumentation on persuasiveness. This indicates that the presence of argumentation results in a more persuading advertisement. Whereas the absence of argumentation results in a less persuading advertisement. Therefore, it is beneficial for advertisers of durable goods to implement utility arguments.

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