视觉信息的间接表达方式向消费者传递产品特性的有效性及说服力研究

Visual advertisements have been widely used to convey consumer knowledge. Though plenty research have investigated the superiority of using visual information over using verbal information, its use in advertisement design is usually indirect and requires cognitive effort to comprehend. Consumers’ processing of visual information as indirect claim has rarely been studied. This project therefore will examine the effectiveness of visual indirect claim in advertisement design, and more importantly investigate the process that consumers comprehend these information and its subsequent impact on judgments. .The indirect claim of visual information can activate consumers’ inference of alternative attributes besides the target attribute being conveyed. Once these alternative attributes are generated, they may interfere with the comprehension of the target attribute. Subject 1 will address this issue by focusing on the use of visual metaphors in advertising. Perceptual attributes are assumed to be easily conveyed by visual metaphors. Conceptual attributes, however, are difficult to be inferred from visual metaphors, and this was probably due to the failure of visual metaphors to mask alternative attributes. .Subject 2 further compares visual metaphors with verbal metaphors, suggesting that visual metaphors have a direct effect on inferences of the target attribute by highlighting it at the time of ad exposure. Verbal metaphors, however, facilitate comprehension of the target at the time of judgment by masking alternative inferences..Though visual information is more vivid than verbal information, it is less effective in articulating causal relations. Subject 3 focuses on problem-solving ads, investigating how consumers identify causal relations based on visual information and how their processing of information influences subsequent judgments. We assume that the effectiveness of such ads was a non-linear function of the difficulty in identifying the causal relationship between an ad’s picture and the product (i.e., whether the ad presents a problem that the product purports to solve or a solution that the product can achieve). Specifically, we hypothesize that when the conveyed attribute is strongly associated with the product, problem-focused ads would be more persuasive than solution-focused ads. This effect, however, will be reversed when the conveyed attribute is weakly associated with the product..This project will enrich the literature of visual processing by exploring how consumers make inferences based on visual information alone. Moreover, although the use of visual information in ads appeal is widespread, our project suggests that caution is warranted in employing it without considering the context in which it is applied.

本项目重点研究视觉信息的间接表达方式在广告中的应用和有效性。项目针对在广告中最频繁出现的两种视觉信息的间接表达方式（视觉比喻和因果推理）进行深入的分析，从传递产品特性的有效性以及对消费者的说服力等方面定量地做出测评。课题一将依据产品特性的分类检测视觉比喻有效性的边界条件。另外，我们还将对视觉比喻的无效性作出解释。课题二对视觉比喻和文字比喻的机制进行对比分析，进一步解释为什么视觉比喻比文字比喻更加有效。课题三将重点研究有待开发的一种新的视觉信息的间接表达形式——因果关系的推理。我们将对比问题导向型和结果导向型两类广告的说服力，并解释消费者判断因果关系的推理过程。本项目将对已有文献做出理论上的补充，同时对广告设计和商家的广告策略有直接的指导作用。

目前已有的关于视觉信息有效性的研究都是相对于文字信息而言，研究对象主要局限于视觉信息相比文字信息更加直观的属性，从而忽略了对视觉信息间接表达方式的研究，因此视觉信息间接表达方式的效果以及成因都还是未知。该项目以此为切入点，分三个子课题通过定量的方式对其展开深入的研究。在课题一中，我们将产品特性的类型分为感知型和非感知的抽象概念型并以此界定视觉比喻的有效性。我们发现视觉比喻对传递感知型的产品特性有显著的积极作用，帮助消费者更好的理解了广告中想要表达的感知型的产品属性。在课题二中，我们对比了消费者处理视觉比喻和文字比喻的不同方式。我们发现视觉比喻的作用发生在信息的接收阶段它可以直接提高产品的目标特性在大脑中被激活的可能性，因此比文字比喻更有效。但是它对产品其它属性在大脑中被激活的可能性没有影响。但是文字比喻的作用发生在之后的判断阶段。它不能直接提高产品的目标特性在大脑中被激活的可能性，但是可以有效地避免其它产品属性被激活，从而通过“排除法”的机制间接促进目标特性被激活。在课题三中，我们研究了问题导向型和结果导向型两类不同表现方式对传递同一产品特性的效果。我们发现当产品特性与产品的关联度较强时，问题导向型的广告比结果导向型的广告更有说服力；但是当这个关联度较弱时，结果导向型的广告比问题导向型的广告更有说服力。 另外，该类因果关系型的广告有效性与广告的理解难度呈U型函数的关系。这些研究结果不仅填补了对视觉信息的间接表达方式的研究空白，也对不同类型商品的广告设计有直接的指导意义。

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