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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Media Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1338249

When "I" or "S/He" uses the product: The impact of narrative perspective on consumers' brand attitudes in storytelling ads

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Hangzhou Vocational and Technical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
  • 2 Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Storytelling ad is presented from one or more narrative perspectives. Narrative perspective, which can alter the way in which the plot is physiologically or psychologically perceived, can significantly affect consumer experience. This study conducts three experiments with 526 participants to analyze the influencing mechanism of narrative perspective (first-versus third-person) on consumers' brand attitudes in storytelling ads of products with different involvement (high versus low). The research results are as follows: (a) Narrative perspective (first-versus third-person) exerts persuasive effects on consumer brand attitudes; (b) Processes of social presence and self-brand connection explain the effects of narrative perspective on brand attitudes; (c) When product involvement is high, the use of the firstperson narrative perspective in storytelling ads will result in a more positive brand attitude than the use of third-person narrative will; With lower product involvement, there is no significant difference in the impact on brand attitudes regardless of narrative perspective (first-person versus third-person). This research finds that different narrative perspectives significantly impact the persuasiveness of advertising. Boundary conditions exist for the effect of narrative persuasion, and product involvement moderates the effect of narrative perspective on brand attitudes.

    Keywords: story advertisement, Narrative perspective, Social presence, product involvement, brand attitude

    Received: 14 Nov 2023; Accepted: 01 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chen, Fan, He, Fan and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jun Fan, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.