Nostalgia Drives Donations The Power of Charitable Appeals Based on Emotions and Intentions

摘要

The authors find that appeals for charity that evoke personal nostalgia will have an effect on the charitable-donation intentions of consumers. In study 1 (with 103 respondents), nostalgic charity appeals evoke higher levels of emotions and donation intentions than non-nostalgic appeals. Study 2 (457 respondents) indicates that this effect is moderated by the consumer's propensity towards being nostalgic. In study 3 (sample: 186 consumers), the effect of nostalgia emotions and intentions is, in turn, moderated by the importance of the memory evoked. Nostalgia-based charity appeals work better when they evoke important memories for the consumer. The results indicate that advertising/fund-raising professionals can effectively use nostalgia to stimulate donations.