Framing in Healthcare Advertising: The Moderating Effects of Regulatory Focus and Product Category on Advertising Attitudes

Abstract

This research explores the moderating roles of regulatory focus and product category in the impact of advertising framing on consumers’ advertising attitudes toward healthcare products. 236 persons participated in a 2 (framing: negative vs. positive) × 2 (regulatory focus: prevention-focused vs. promotion-focused) × 2 (product category: informational vs. transformational) factorial design. Results indicate that for informational healthcare products, prevention-focused (no-loss seeking) individuals hold more favorable advertising attitudes toward negatively framed advertisements than positively framed advertisements; in contrast, promotion-focused (gain-seeking) individuals do not express differentially favorable advertising attitudes toward negatively framed advertisements over positively framed advertisements. In addition, for transformational healthcare products,
promotion-focused individuals hold more favorable advertising attitudes toward positively framed advertisements than negatively framed advertisements; in contrast, prevention-focused individuals do not express differentially favorable advertising attitudes toward negatively framed advertisements over positively framed advertisements.