Emotion in Advertising: Pervasive, Yet Misunderstood

Advertisers talk a lot about the importance of generating an emotional response from people. However, they rarely stop to specify exactly what characterizes such a response or why they believe it is important.

Emotion in Advertising: Pervasive, Yet Misunderstood

Nigel Hollis

Advertisers talk a lot about the importance of generating an emotional response from people. However, they rarely stop to specify exactly what characterizes such a response or why they believe it is important.

Granted, this definition is not a simple task, and the lack of clarity surrounding terms such as “emotional,” “rational,” “subconscious,” etc., is a further complication. However, a review of current learning on the way emotion guides our thinking reveals that emotion is both more and less important than most advertisers realize. Furthermore, attempts to classify responses as emotional versus...

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